Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 1
1
On the basis of two reports by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence...
Conclusion
On the basis of two reports by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from HM Treasury, the Finance Function, the Analysis Function and the Evaluation Task Force about the use of evaluation and modelling across government.1 Cabinet Office introduced cross-government ‘functions’ in 2013 to provide professional support to departments. HM Treasury has overall responsibility for the Finance Function, and the UK Statistics Authority is responsible for the Analysis Function. The Evaluation Task Force, a joint HM Treasury and Cabinet Office Unit, was set up in April 2021 to “deliver a step-change in the scale, quality and impact of evaluation practice in government”.
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
1.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: August 2022 1.2 The Evaluation Task Force (ETF) was established in 2021 as a joint HM Treasury and Cabinet Office unit following a commitment made in the June 2021 Declaration on Government Reform. The ETF’s aim is to ensure that robust evidence on the effectiveness of policies and programmes sits at the heart of government spending decisions through targeted action on policy areas of highest priority and scaling up evaluation skills and understanding throughout HMG. The ETF’s objectives and activities which seek to improve the evaluation system in government are summarised in its Theory of Change, which has been published on its website and will be updated regularly as its work evolves. The ETF will also publish its 7 strategy which will explain how it is working to improve the evaluation system in greater detail. It will also set out the indicators it will be using to measure progress on this. This will help the ETF to track its progress on improving the scale and quality of evaluations across government. These indicators will be published in August 2022 and updated annually.