Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 15
15
HMT told us it is only recently that it has started to ask departments to...
Conclusion
HMT told us it is only recently that it has started to ask departments to explain why they do not plan to publish some evaluations.48 The Evaluation Task Force raised the issue that there were evaluations that the centre of government did not know about because they had never been published.49This Committee has regularly highlighted departments’ poor timeliness in publishing evaluation findings. The Evaluation Task Force has a core responsibility to maintain a public register of evaluation plan summaries and trial protocols and to encourage departments on the timely publication of evaluation results on GOV.UK. This is to manage ‘publication bias’, the risk that evaluations which have negative findings may not get published,50 to support action on evaluation results and to improve accessibility for decision-makers. To meet its core responsibilities, the Evaluation Task Force explained that it is creating a website which sets out what evaluations departments intend to publish when, and whether this has happened.51 It hopes that this will allow the public to easily see whether departments are complying with requirements and allow the Evaluation Task Force to hold departments to publishing what they have promised.52 HM Treasury told us it has recently started to require that departments publish an evaluation strategy and, given that communication is a central part of evaluation, HM Treasury expects the evaluation strategy will include a communication strategy.53
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Summer 2023 5.2 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation to publish and maintain an evaluation registry. As there is currently no centralised place where government departments can publish evaluation evidence, the Evaluation Task Force is developing an online registry of UK government evaluations that will be publicly accessible. It will allow departments to publish evaluation plans/protocols and reports, in line with expectations outlined in the Government Social Research Publication Protocol and Concordat to Support Research Integrity. It will also allow departments to indicate estimated publication dates of evaluation reports. 5.3 The evaluation registry's functionality will enable users in departments to add or update evaluation information, and the government expects that departments will use this functionality to provide explanations where publications are delayed significantly or withheld. 5.4 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Summer 2022 5.5 The Analysis Function is currently reviewing its Functional Standard which incorporates a variety of different quality dimensions with respect to analysis. Included within this standard are the various codes of practice and guidance books which support analytical best practice, of which the Aqua Book, which covers guidance on producing quality analysis for government, is one. As part of this standards piece – and in light of the Committee’s recommendation – there is a work programme over summer 2022 to review procedures around the quality assurance of models and to incorporate improved practices across departments by the end of the year.