Recommendation 4

The Cabinet Office has made high-profile statements about the economic benefits to be delivered by Places for Growth, referring to research which supports its estimates. However, it has only just published information about this research, and this information was not written for easy digestion by the general public. This is a clear example of bad practice, as it prevents Parliament and the wider public from comprehensively reviewing the arguments and evidence underlying the alleged benefits of the programme. The Cabinet Office should, alongside its response to this report, publish details of the research underpinning its claims of economic benefits in a form which clearly explains how the claims made in previous Places to Growth press releases have been calculated. Moreover, the Government Analysis Function should, within six months, publish a statement on its website and write to heads of the analysis function within all government departments urging them to bring the transparency requirements of all government analysts into line with the best practice guidelines set by the Office for Statistics Regulation. This should make clear that, whenever economic research is referred to in press notices and ministerial statements, departments should present links to a published form of this research.