Our general impression is that evaluation at its best is very good but in general, is haphazard and incomplete, dependant on funding and the whims of Ministers. Anecdotely we’ve been told programmes are funded but the budget is limited to delivering the programme no allowance is made for the cost of ongoing evaluation. We have also witnessed examples of evaluations being pulled following changes of government. And even where an evaluation does appear to have been done well, the findings are not translated into better policy – the findings have been simply ignored by the government of the day. Good evidence is not translated into policy. The review of the legal drinking age being a case in point. The review pointed to an increased age, a recommendation the government ignored.
Are policies evaluated properly in NZ? was last modified: January 5th, 2015 by