By Richard Johnstone | 4 March 2013
Ministers today announced the creation of four evidence-gathering bodies to measure the effectiveness of government policies and improve the value for money of £200bn worth of public spending.
The ‘What Works’ centres, announced by Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander and Cabinet Office minister Oliver Letwin, aim to increase the knowledge and evidence for policies in four areas: tackling crime; promoting active ageing; effective early intervention; and fostering local economic growth.
The centres will be joined by two existing bodies – the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence and the Educational Endowment Foundation –in a network to improve the evidence for policies across the public sector.
Each centre will produce and disseminate research for both central and local government to help them produce the best outcomes for citizens and value for money for taxpayers.
Plans to establish a ‘Nice for social policy’ were first set out in the Open public services white paper of July 2011, and reiterated in last June’s Civil Service Reform Plan.
Following these publications, ministers have worked with the Economic and Social Research Council to develop a model to collate research in a number of public service policy areas.
Each centre, which will be independent of government, will have six core functions. These include producing evidence on the effectiveness of various social interventions by government, as well as establishing a ‘common currency’ for comparing the effectiveness across policies.
Where there is a gap in the evidence base, the centres will be able to commission research and advise those undertaking new and innovative policies on how to ensure their work can be evaluated effectively.
Ahead of the launch of the network, Alexander said evidence-based policymaking was ‘vital’ to shape decisions on public spending, particularly in this financial climate.
‘The What Works Network will bring a real step-change to our evidence-generating capabilities, and will further ensure government takes decisions at the spending round and future events on the basis of high-quality research aimed at delivering the best possible outcomes for the public,’ he added.
Letwin added that the centres would ‘support commissioners and decision-makers at every level of government’, providing assistance to head teachers and local police chiefs as well as ministers and civil servants.
A What Works national adviser will be appointed by the Cabinet Office to chair the network and ensure the research produced is of high quality.
While each centre will have a sector-specific focus, they will also work together as part of the network, sharing best practice and drawing on local and international experience.
Labour MP Graham Allen chairs the Early Intervention Foundation, which will be one centre. He said the launch was ‘a welcome sign of Whitehall itself realising that the dominant culture of short-term, expensive and ineffective late intervention has had its day’.
Allen added: ‘The driving force behind What Works are evidence-based programmes which also lie at the heart of early intervention. By using programmes that improve the social and emotional capabilities of babies, children and young people, early intervention tackles the root causes of persistent social problems rather than their symptoms.