"policy on paper" is correct and usable in written English
It can be used to refer to a policy that is written down, either in a document or on paper. For example, "We need to ensure that all workplace policies are in place and written down in a policy on paper."
A policy on paper was one thing.
"It's one thing to have a policy on paper," he said.
Before he retired in 1977, Mark tried to improve relations between the press and the police, changing the force policy – on paper at least – from "tell them only what you must" to "withhold only what you must".
"Like having a good policy on paper, it's still only pretty words and people with fancy titles if the spirit of the policy is not implemented properly or taken seriously," Clark said.
Putting a dating abuse policy on paper is a significant first step in a series of events that will need to happen to truly have an impact on relationship violence.
Whereas four papers focus on emissions mitigation policies, one paper examines challenges to adapt fast growing transport infrastructures to future climate change induced risks.
The truth is that, in the past, the skills required to rise up the ranks in Whitehall were devising policies on paper, dealing with ministers and getting laws passed through Parliament, with little thought as to what happened afterwards.
"They do what church officials have done for decades: shrewdly fixate on and discuss meaningless internal policies on paper that give the impression of progress while changing virtually nothing," he said.
While seemingly attractive, forward-thinking industrial policies on paper, on closer inspection it is argued that each is as empty and as meaningless as Oasis lyrics – nothing but frothy vanity projects in an age of latte-fuelled capitalism, some might say.
Second, policy-making in modern states is usually characterized by incoherencies and discrepancies between policy discourses, policies on paper and policy implementation (Czaika & de Haas, 2013).
This decision to focus on the legal aspects of migration policies has been adopted by most major policy databases (such as Mayda and Patel 2004; Ortega and Peri 2012; Bjerre et al. 2014; Gest et al. 2014), while other, more qualitative research projects have investigated the implementation of policies on paper (Infantino 2010; Eule 2014).
