Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) Demonstration project (Cabinet Office, 2003, Government Chief Social Researcher's Office)

Goal
The aim of the project was to identify the most effective way of retaining and advancing low paid workers, who had recently left welfare, in the workforce. A number of policy options were suggested and the team was asked to design an evaluation of the final policy using a randomised controlled trial methodology.

Useful approaches

• The project team was based in the Cabinet Office in order to provide an 'off-line' opportunity, and to work in a cross-cutting and cross-departmental way.
  
• The design team consisted of policy officials, policy implementation staff, researchers and specialist consultants from research organisations in the UK and the USA. This mix of personnel ensured a high degree of integration of policymaking, policy implementation and policy research and evaluation.
  
• The research stage was given sufficient time and resources to gather the best available evidence. This extensive review was made possible by the considerable amount of work which had already been undertaken on employment and retention policy by research organisations.
  
• Qualitative evidence (in-depth interviews) and survey evidence was also commissioned on Job Centre's clients' views of the transition from welfare to work and on the Job Centre's view of retention and advancement issues.
  
• A detailed and sensitive cost-benefit study was an essential part of the trial.

How useful is it as an example?
The ERA Demonstration Project was unusual because of the length of time involved (one year for the design phase and five years for full evaluation) and the resources committed to it. It does however provide a useful example of how evidence-based government can be undertaken, and a model of how to integrate policy development, policy implementation and policy evaluation from the outset and over the life course of a policy.

For more information see:
http://www.policyhub.gov.uk/evaluating_policy/era_papers/eradp.asp

The literacy strategy in Britain

In 1996 Michael Barber [then responsible for drafting the Literacy and Numeracy Strategy, now head of the PM's Delivery Unit] and a group of people came together to try to work out why there were such low-levels of literacy and numeracy, particularly at the primary level, and to look at what could be done about it. They looked at a wide range of evidence to try to work out what would work to improve literacy and numeracy. A big part of the success of the literacy strategy was not just that the evidence was put together, but that it was put together by building a coalition and consensus amongst many of the stakeholders.

The literacy strategy was very successful and had a very high profile. Although the ultimate targets have not quite been reached on time, nonetheless it was a spectacular turnaround in terms of Key Stage One and Key Stage Two in British schools. From an evidence-based policy viewpoint, it can and has been criticised on specific points, for example, that there was an insufficient emphasis on phonetics. There is also the question of how far it is possible to argue that the improvements in literacy and numeracy actually resulted from the strategy and therefore from the evidence. This is because it was, for the most part, universally applied and therefore it is actually quite difficult to track whether the original strategy was the cause.

Source: David Halpern speaking on 'Evidence Based Policy: 'Build on' or 'Spray on'?', at Does Evidence Matter? ODI meeting series