Evidence transparency framework

While there were important moves in the last Parliament to promote both the better use of evidence and justification of policy decisions (e.g. the creation of what works centres and the establishment of the Office for Budget Responsibility), none of these developments have resulted in a transparent, systematic method for assessing the use of evidence across the full range of government policymaking.

In partnership with practitioners from a number of research organisations and Parliament, we have produced a framework that offers a rapid assessment tool to rate government departments on how transparent they are in the use of evidence in policy decisions.

This framework is intended to assist those responsible for, or interested in, holding policymakers to account. It is also intended as a resource for policymakers – helping the Civil Service demonstrate the extent to which it is making progress on its commitment in the Civil Service Reform Plan: One Year On to “publish more of the evidence base that supports policy making” and meeting its commitments on transparency in the Open Government Action Plan. Over the next 12 months, in partnership with Sense About Science and the Alliance for Useful Evidence, we plan to run an initial benchmarking exercise to see how government is faring on evidence transparency.

Update 2 May 2024: Following the Transparency of evidence: a spot check of government policy proposals July 2016 to July 2017 conducted by Sense about Science and the Institute for Government, the framework was further elaborated and updated including changes to the language and guidance to scorers following discussion with departments. You can access the revised and up-to-date version of the framework on Sense about Science’s webpage.