Transcript The Work-Based Welfare State

‘What Works’
The role of evidence based policy and
research in Britain’s welfare to work policies
Professor Dan Finn
University of Portsmouth
“.. Social science should be at the heart
of policy making. We need a revolution
in the relationship between government
and the social research community – we
need social scientists to help determine
what works and why, and what type of
policy initiatives are likely to be most
effective”
(David Blunkett, Secretary of State for Education
and Employment, 2000)
Context
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Relationship between applied research and British social
policy develops from late 1890s
Took considerable time to establish that research was of
use in both formulating social policies and administering
them
Research into, and evaluation, of government policies now
systematic & routine – interest in impacts, efficiency and
value for money (post New Public Management)
Increase in organisations producing ‘evidence’ for
Government (growth in size and diversity of research
community)
New Labour and Evidence Based Policy
Making (EBPM)
New Labour regard EBPM as central to the
modernisation of government
 Multiple influences on policy but in context
of increase in public expenditure and major
social and economic development
programmes, ambition that evidence should
form a key part of the reform process
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Review of evidence use by Government
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Little of the research commissioned by Government
Departments or other academic research appears to be
used by policy makers
Prime Minister’s Cabinet Office develops strategy:
 Policy making must be soundly based on
evidence of what works
 Improve the accessibility of the evidence
available to policy makers
 Improve departments’ capacity to make best use
of evidence (training officials in how to
interpret, use and apply evidence)
EBP – Government Strategy
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Cabinet Office – ‘Policy Hub’
Evidence Based Policy Fund – strengthening links between
universities, research institutes and government (e.g., EPPI –
‘Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Coordination
Centre’)
Economic and Social Research Council programme (see ‘Evidence
Network’)
‘Campbell Collaboration’ – new collaboration for systematic
research synthesis in the social science and policy fields, modelled
on the ‘Cochrane Collaboration’.
Government Social Research Office oversees use of social research
– purpose “to provide government with objective, reliable, relevant
and timely research to inform policy making and delivery”
Evidence of ‘what works’
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Rules of evidence differ greatly between research
cultures (healthcare, education, criminal justice,
social care, welfare, housing, transport and urban
renewal)
Balance between quantitative and qualitative
research in assessing what works and what use to
make of secondary research
Systematic evidence reviews replacing traditional
literature reviews
Primacy given to ‘hard’ quantitative data, esp.
randomised control trials, meta analysis.
UK policy now more informed by evidence
(‘Better Policy Making’, Cab. Office, 2001)
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In UK, evidence based government/policy making well
established
Reviews of existing & proposed policies (international policy
learning)
Commissioning new research/evaluating policy design and
impacts by commissioning/undertaking research. Typically:
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Expert evidence and systematic evidence reviews (internet)
Pilots and case studies
Rapid/Interim evidence assessments
Some Random Control Trials but more typically
statistical/econometric ‘net impact’ studies
Emphasis also on learning from practice – gathering evidence
from delivery agencies and frontline workers
Evidence Based Policy Making and Welfare
to Work Reforms
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Department for Work and Pensions (about 80 social researchers
work with other analysts - economists, statisticians):
 internal research capacity
 contracted out research programmes (about £18m, 2007)
DWP commissions research using a variety of methods – large
scale surveys, in-depth interviews, experiments, ethnographic
methods and analysis of administrative data
Not directly engaged with social theory - the approach tends to
be inductive rather deductive – work on building up ideas,
theories, concepts from the data rather than using data to verify
theories.
Development of Welfare to Work policies has been informed by
continuous process of research and evaluation – major influence
of US welfare experiments and evaluation culture
Pathways to Work
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New way of engaging with people on disability benefits:
 Compulsory Work Focused Interviews with Case Managers
 ‘Choices’ - innovative package of employment and ‘condition
management’ measures
Methodology
 Review of Existing Evidence
 Integrated Evaluation with Policy Development and
Implementation
 Qualitative Interviews (clients, officials, case managers and
employers)
 Administrative Data and Surveys – measuring impacts of pilot
areas with matched statistical control groups
 Local Context Analysis (Qualitative and Quantitative)
 Economic Appraisal (Cost Benefit Analysis)
UK Employment, Retention &
Advancement Demonstration Project
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What is the most effective and efficient way of:
 Retaining people in work
 Advancing low paid people in the labour market
Methodology
 Review of Existing Evidence
 Integrated Evaluation with Policy Development and
Implementation
 Qualitative Interviews (clients, officials, case managers and
employers)
 Experimental Method (Randomised Control Trial)
 Administrative Data and Surveys
 Local Context Analysis (Qualitative and Quantitative)
 Economic Appraisal (Cost Benefit Analysis)
Realities
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Limitations of ‘evidence’ produced from a
Government managed research process (not all
research is of sufficient quality)
Time scale of evaluations (esp. randomised trials)
– often overtaken by events
Absence of impact evidence is not necessarily
evidence of absence of effect
Evidence requires analysis and interpretation!
Conclusion
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Reality of policy making – contingent and
unpredictable, evidence just one factor that policy
makers take into account.
Other (maybe more important) influences in
policy making – rresources; lobbyists and pressure
groups; pragmatism; expediency and
contingencies.
Should ask also why politicians are showing an
increased interest in evaluation and EBP - danger
that legitimising functions are being used in a
purely symbolic (political) fashion.
Conclusion
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Evidence Based Policy Making is a contested
concept – closely tied to the politics of a strong
central state.
Best assessment is there is more ‘evidence
informed policy making’
UK political realities – ‘speaking truth to power’,
academic freedom, and importance of critical
social research
Role of independent foundations – Joseph
Rowntree Trust, Leverhulme Trust, Cadbory
Trusts, etc.
Some useful sources
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Britain
 Policy Hub and ‘Magenta Book: Guidance Notes on Policy Evaluation’ at
http://policyhub.cmps.gov.uk)
 Evidence Based Policy Network (www.evidencenetwork.org)
 Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Coordination Centre
(http//eppi.ioe.ac.uk)
 Social Care Institute for Excellence (www.scie.org.uk)
 Evidence & Policy: A journal of research, debate and practice
(https://www.policypress.org.uk/journals/evidence_policy)
 DWP Research (www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/branch.asp)
 Office for National Statistics (www.ons.gov.uk)
International:
 Cochrane Collaboration (medical: www.cochrane.org)
 Campbell Collaboration (social science and public policy:
www.campbellcollaboration.org)