Guidance

Evaluation Registry FAQs

Published 15 May 2024

1. What is the Evaluation Registry?

The Evaluation Registry is the new home for all Government evaluations. It is a website where all planned, live and published evaluations conducted or commissioned by Government Departments are registered. Evaluations on the Registry can be searched and browsed by users looking to learn from previous evaluations of Government policies, projects and programmes. 

It is mandatory for all Government evaluations to be registered on the Registry. This requirement was announced by the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chief Secretary to the Treasury in correspondence to all Secretaries of State in March 2024. 

2. Why do we need an Evaluation Registry? 

All government evaluations should be published and made available to the public by default, as per the Government Social Research publication protocol, which states that “outputs from the evaluation of policy/delivery initiatives/pilots and trials” should be “made publicly available in accordance with the government’s commitment to openness as underpinned by Freedom of Information (FoI) legislation.” 

However, not enough evaluations or planned evaluations are currently being published, and those that are published can be difficult to find and compare. The Registry makes it easier than ever before to search and browse published evaluations, whether you’re a project manager looking for evidence to support a new business case or an evaluation specialist looking to compare research designs.

3. Does my policy/project/programme need to be evaluated?

All policies, programmes and projects should be subject to proportionate evaluation. The Green Book states that all proposals for funding should include a proportionate budget, and a management plan, for monitoring and evaluation. 

Not all interventions will require the same level of scrutiny or have the same learning needs. In the case of a low-risk, well-evidenced and low priority intervention, a light-touch monitoring and evaluation exercise to ensure it has been delivered as intended and achieved the predicted outcomes is likely to be all that is necessary. On the other hand, a high risk, high profile, high spend and/or high learning potential intervention is likely to require a large-scale evaluation. 

It is compulsory for Government funded interventions to be evaluated in cases where the intervention meets one or more of the following criteria:

• The intervention is part of the Government Major Projects Portfolio
• HM Treasury has requested an evaluation of the intervention is conducted.

4. Which evaluations need to be entered on the Evaluation Registry?

All planned and live evaluations and evaluation reports signed off from 1st April 2024 onwards should be uploaded to the Evaluation Registry. Evaluation reports should be published and entered on the Registry within 12 weeks of sign-off by the relevant internal Departmental governance processes.

“Evaluation” refers to impact, process, and value for money evaluation studies conducted in line with the Magenta Book. The Magenta Book defines evaluation as “as a systematic assessment of the design, implementation and outcomes of an intervention.”

In the context of the Registry, this includes:

• Pilot evaluations
• Impact evaluations
• Process evaluations
• Value for Money evaluations (cost benefit and cost effectiveness analyses)
• Evidence syntheses, including systematic reviews, rapid evidence assessments, meta-analyses, meta-ethnography and realist synthesis 
• Post implementation reviews, in cases where these apply one or more evaluation methods outlined in Annex A of the Magenta Book

This does not include:

• Regulatory or Enactment Impact assessments, also known as regulatory impact assessments or final impact assessments, used for policy regulation
• Feasibility studies
• Literature reviews
• Post implementation reviews, in cases where these do not apply evaluation methods outlined in Annex A of the Magenta Book
• Benefits monitoring and realisation reports (excluding cost benefit or cost effectiveness analyses)
• Outputs from user research, where this is not part of an evaluation
• Cases in which the evaluation in question is currently subject to embargo, is classified as SECRET or TOP SECRET, or is exempt from publication under Freedom of Information legislation for any other reason.

Where a planned or live evaluation has been uploaded, the same evaluation entry should then be amended to include the results of the evaluation or edited if the scope, method or plans for the evaluation change. Evaluation findings should be published no more than 12 weeks following the agreement of final outputs, as per the Government Social Research (GSR) Publication Protocol, which states that “Outputs from the evaluation of policy/delivery initiatives/pilots and trials” should be “made publicly available in accordance with the government’s commitment to openness as underpinned by Freedom of Information (FoI) legislation.” 

This applies to planned evaluations, live evaluations, and evaluation reports produced by all Central Government Departments. “Central Government Departments” refers to all Ministerial Departments, HM Revenue and Customs, and the UK Statistics Authority (including the Office for National Statistics, the Government Analysis Function, and the Office for Statistical Regulation). It also applies to evaluations of all Major Projects in the Government Major Projects Portfolio, including those which are being delivered by external bodies.

This does not mandate the registration of evaluation plans or reports exclusively undertaken by Devolved Administrations, Arms Length Bodies (including executive agencies, non-departmental public bodies, and non-ministerial departments), Agencies or Public Bodies. These organisations are able to use the site and are encouraged to upload evaluations, but this is not a mandatory requirement with the exception of cases where Major Projects are being delivered and/or evaluated by external bodies as above. 

5. Who is responsible for registering evaluations?

The organisation responsible for delivering the evaluation of an intervention is responsible for creating and updating the Registry entry for the evaluation. 

This will typically be the Department or Arms Length Body delivering the intervention, but in cases where multiple organisations are working together to deliver an intervention the organisation responsible for overseeing the evaluation of said intervention should be responsible for creating the Registry entry. If there is no single organisation responsible for the evaluation, please discuss with your central evaluation team/lead to decide which organisation is best placed to take on this responsibility.

Organisations outside of Government (for example, research companies or contractors who may be undertaking the evaluation) cannot log into the Registry to create entries, and therefore in these cases the organisation managing the company or contractors is responsible for registering the evaluation.

The individual responsible for creating the Registry entry will vary between departments (for example, in some departments central evaluation teams manage all uploads, whereas in others the policy or project delivery colleagues may be responsible for this). Check with your central evaluation team or lead if you are not sure who should create and maintain the entry. 

6. Why do we need to register planned evaluations?

The GSR Publication Protocol states that “Departments should make high level information publicly available on all research and analysis commissioned externally, and internal research where there is an intention to publish. Announcements should be made as early as is practicable”. Please refer to the GSR Publication Protocol for more information.

To register a planned evaluation on the Registry, all you need to do is complete the minimum required fields on the site which outline the proposed evaluation type, methods, intervention description, policy area and planned publication date. This demonstrates a public commitment to evaluating the intervention in question. 

There is no requirement to upload an evaluation plan or framework in a document format. However, it is best practice to publish evaluation plans formally on GOV.UK in addition to registering them. The published plan can then be hyperlinked in the associated Registry entry. 

Entries for planned evaluations should be updated to include the findings and report/s from the evaluation once available.

7. When do planned evaluations need to be registered?

Teams should upload planned evaluations “as early as is practicable” under the terms of the GSR Publication Protocol. For the Registry this means registering planned evaluations at the stage at which the plan for the evaluation, including evaluation type (impact, process, value for money or a combination), methods and timeline, has been approved through the relevant internal governance processes. In all cases plans should be registered before the first round of data collection for the evaluation takes place. 

We appreciate this timeline will vary: in some cases this will happen at the Full Business Case (FBC) stage, and in others the FBC will be seeking funding to commission the evaluation plan externally or may want to commission feasibility studies or further research to finalise the plan. 

We know evaluation plans may also change along the way in relation to scope change or feasibility of planned methods. Users are able to edit and update entries on the Registry to reflect changes in evaluation plans whenever they need to. Entries should be regularly maintained as an up-to-date record for the planned evaluation. 

8. What is the sign-off or approval process for making an entry on the Registry?

Each Department has its own Governance and approval process for signing off evaluation reports. There is not a set system that all Departments should follow. If you are unsure of the approvals you require before making an upload, please get in touch with your Department’s central evaluation team to check. If you have further questions, please email evaluation.registry@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. 

9. What information do I need to provide for a Registry entry?

You will need to know the title of the evaluation and all organisations (e.g. departments) involved in the evaluation. 

You will need to know the type of evaluation (i.e., impact, process or value for money) and you will be asked about the research methods for this, like whether the impact evaluation is using an experimental method such as an RCT or theory-based methods. 

You will be asked to give a brief description of the intervention, and tell us whether your intervention is funded by a grant, and whether your evaluation is in the Major Projects portfolio (for more information see here). You will then be asked to choose from a list of relevant policy areas for your evaluation.

Finally, you will be asked the start date, end date and publication date/s of your evaluation. You will also be asked to provide the link to the published report, a brief summary of the evaluation findings, and the total cost of the evaluation, if available.

The cost figure should represent the total cost of the evaluation (rather than per year). You should include both commissioning costs - in cases where aspects of the work have been commissioned to an external supplier - and internal resource costs. This should cover all aspects of scoping, planning, and delivering the evaluation. The figure should be given in pounds (£). 

10. Do I need to upload historical evaluations to the Registry?

If the evaluation was completed before April 2024, it is not a requirement to upload this to the Registry. All planned and live evaluations and evaluation reports signed off from April 2024 must be registered.

However, the more evaluations we have on the Registry, the more useful it will be as a source of evidence for people planning evaluations, or new projects and policies - so if you would like to upload historical evaluations currently missing from the site, we encourage you to do so.

11. I’m working on a policy/project/programme/evaluation classified as “SECRET”. Do I still need to upload it to the Registry?

Evaluation plans or reports relating to Government policies, projects, or programmes which are classified above “OFFICIAL” classification, i.e. classified “SECRET” or “TOP SECRET”, should not be uploaded to the Registry. 

Similarly, if the intervention in question is currently under embargo, or is exempt from publication under Freedom of Information legislation for any other reason, it should not be uploaded to the Registry until it is no longer under embargo.

This applies specifically to the aspect of the intervention classified as “SECRET” or “TOP SECRET”, under embargo, or exempt under Freedom of Information legislation for any other reason, in cases where specific aspects of the intervention (rather than the intervention as a whole) are subject to these clauses. Decisions about classification or embargo of evaluation documents must be made by Departments internally. 

Evaluation falls under the Government Social Research publication protocol, which states that research should be published and made available to the public by default. Departments are not expected to publish research (including evaluation reports) on the rare occasions when publication would threaten national security, destabilise the economy, or would otherwise not be in the public interest. For more information, see the Information Commissioner’s Office Freedom of Information guidance.

In such cases where evaluation plans or reports cannot be shared as a matter of security, this should be made clear in writing to the Evaluation Task Force. 

12. Do I need to publish my evaluation report on GOV.UK as well as the Registry?

Evaluation reports must be published separately online before they can be entered on the Registry. This may be on GOV.UK or it may be on another site. Linking an evaluation report to an existing Registry entry just requires you to copy and paste the link to the published evaluation report in the relevant field. All government evaluations should be published and made available to the public by default, as per the Government Social Research publication protocol. 

Evaluation plans, however, do not need to be published separately online before they can be entered on the Registry (although Departments are encouraged to do so as a matter of best practice). Completion of the compulsory fields for registering a planned or live evaluation on the site is all that is required to register a planned evaluation, although there is an option to add a link to a published evaluation plan if you wish to.

13. Can I access the Evaluation Registry? / Who can access the Evaluation Registry?

Any employee of a Government Department, Arms Length Body, or What Works Centre in the UK can create an account for the Registry in order to log in, browse, and register evaluations. If you are having difficulty accessing the Registry, please get in touch with the team: evaluation.registry@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. 

If you are not employed by one of the organisation types listed above, you will not be able to access the Registry until the public-facing launch in Summer 2024. Following the public-facing launch, any member of the public will be able to view and browse the evaluations on the Registry. Members of the public will not be able to register evaluations on the site.

14. What’s the approval process for uploading an evaluation to the Registry?

Before registering evaluations on the platform, individual users are responsible for ensuring that the planned evaluation or report has been approved through the relevant internal governance processes prior to registration.  

If you are not clear on the required sign-off process in your Department, please refer to your Departmental evaluation team to check your Department’s internal governance sign-off process for evaluation, before registering an evaluation on the Registry site.

15. What happens if Departments don’t comply with mandatory requirements?

The Evaluation Task Force will be monitoring uptake and usage of the Evaluation Registry on an ongoing basis. In cases where Departments which have been mandated to use the Registry fail to enter required evaluation plans and reports on the tool, the Evaluation Task Force will follow up in the first instance with Departmental central evaluation teams or leads. 

In the case of continued failure to comply, the issue will be escalated to the Office for Statistical Regulation under the existing terms of the Code of Practice for Statistics and GSR Publication Protocol in addition to HM Treasury spending teams, which the Evaluation Task Force works closely with to ensure Departments are complying with all evaluation requirements for Government Departments. 

16. I am moving on from my team. How can I transfer ownership of my Registry entries?

Please email evaluation.registry@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. We can assign or reassign existing entries to new users to make changes or updates if needed.

17. I have found an entry on the Registry which is inaccurate, or is a duplicate of another entry. What should I do?

Please email evaluation.registry@cabinetoffice.gov.uk with a link to the entry in question. We can assign or reassign existing entries to new users to make changes or updates if needed, and we can also ensure duplicate entries are removed or merged with original entries.

18. I have questions or feedback about the Evaluation Registry - who can I talk to?

If we haven’t answered your question here, get in touch with the team: evaluation.registry@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. We want to make the Registry as useful and accessible as possible, so we welcome your feedback.