The Times reported the Government's head of risk management has said Government policy is often badly formed because it is drawn up in response to tragedies and problems.
Rick Haythornthwaite, head of the Risk and Regulation Advisory Council, said that policy was often affected by pressure from an aggressive media and a confrontational Parliament. "We have got to deal with some of the systemic flaws in policy-making within Whitehall".
He told The Politics Show on BBC One that "calls to protect the public sapped self-reliance, resilience and the spirit of adventure" and that "Some risk could be a very good thing".