Priority Areas for the Evaluation Task Force (SR21 Period)
Published 25 October 2022
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1. Priority Areas for the Evaluation Task Force (SR21 Period)
1.1 Reducing Reoffending
We are committed to supporting the Ministry of Justice to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions that aim to reduce reoffending. The Evaluation Task Force will work with the department to further define this remit. Areas currently within scope include probation reform, electronic monitoring and prison-based interventions.
1.2 Youth Investment Fund
Evaluation support will be provided to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to support Youth Investment Fund evaluations. The £400m fund aims to improve the effectiveness of youth services to drive better outcomes for youth, such as improving health and equipping young people with skills for work and life.
1.3 Asylum
The Evaluation Task Force will work with the Home Office to refine and evaluate interventions that enhance the quality and speed of decision-making in processing asylum claims. Currently, this will target opportunities to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of asylum processing, with the prospect to broaden the remit to include evaluation of the New Programme for Immigration.
1.4 Opportunities to Learn from COVID-19 Recovery
Help will be provided across departments to identify opportunities to learn from changes to public service delivery and natural experiments arising from government responses to the pandemic
1.5 Children’s Social Care and Early Help
Our team will coordinate with the Department for Education (and potentially the Department for Health and Social Care) to support evaluations in a range of areas. We are in the process of finalising our focus areas and are considering the following areas: Early Help, Family Hubs, and Children’s Social Care.
1.6 Educational Recovery
The Evaluation Task Force will help the Department for Education design evaluations for the new Recovery Fund, 16-19 additional hours, and other recovery programmes.
1.7 UK Shared Prosperity Fund
In response to the National Audit Office’s recent conclusion that government lacks systematic evaluations of local growth policies, the Evaluation Task Force will work with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. We will support the establishment of a robust and proportionate strategy for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to evaluate its interventions.
1.8 Labour Market Interventions
The Evaluation Task Force will work with the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure that labour market interventions have suitable evaluation plans in place, including Plan for Jobs programmes such as Kickstart and Restart.
1.9 Future Farming and Countryside Programme
The Evaluation Task Force will work with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to incorporate robust testing and trialling methods into the design and delivery of new domestic Environmental Land Management schemes.
1.10 Net Zero
The Evaluation Task Force will work with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and other departments to ensure that evaluations of Net Zero programmes are appropriately targeted and sufficiently rigorous. This will include programmes with a consumer markets focus where insights from experimental evaluation approaches can add particular value.