Insights
With Rewiring the state, the Government has set out plans to transfer more powers to Mayoral Strategic Authorities. And, as Spider-Man tells us, “with great power comes great responsibility”. As Mayors and their organisations take on additional policymaking roles, it becomes increasingly important that they have confidence that interventions are delivering meaningful growth outcomes.
Evaluation should help provide that confidence. But too often it is treated as a requirement at the end of a project rather than a tool that informs decisions throughout the policy cycle. The result is a missed opportunity to learn what works, what does not, and how future interventions can be improved.
‘Capacity and capability’ is mentioned four times in Rewiring the state; an important acknowledgement it will take time and resource to get all Mayoral Strategic Authorities (MSAs) to be the robust institutions that devolved powers demand. The Evaluation Maturity Matrix has been developed to help address one part of this challenge. This self-assessment tool allows MSAs themselves to assess how effectively evaluation is embedded and identify realistic next steps for improvement.
Evaluation for learning, not just accountability
Evaluation has an essential role in improving policymaking. Officers and leaders in Mayoral Strategic Authorities have often felt hampered by the accountability requirements placed on them by Whitehall. Definitions around outputs and outcomes don’t always match local ambitions for projects and programmes. With additional devolved powers, responsibilities around accountability and learning will also be held locally. There is a huge opportunity to build in strong systems for evaluation for improving policies, learning from what works and what doesn’t. Our new maturity matrix helps assess whether an organisation can make the most of this opportunity.
Looking beyond individual evaluations
Many organisations can point to examples of good evaluations. The harder question is whether evaluation is used consistently to shape decisions.
The matrix encourages officers and leadership to look beyond individual evaluations and consider the wider systems that support learning and improvements to policy. It covers areas including organisational culture, leadership, strategy, skills and capacity, project development, data management, and the sharing of evaluation evidence.
This broader perspective matters because strong evaluation depends on more than technical expertise. Officers need the knowledge and confidence to develop logic models and evaluation plans. Processes, templates and governance arrangements need to support evaluation from the earliest stages of programme design. And evaluation budgets need to be recognised as securing value for money in delivery, not taking away from it.
Self-assessing capability and capacity
We tested the maturity matrix with MSAs throughout its development; to sense check the dimensions and ensure the criteria described both the level of maturity they were at, and the journey they were on.
Feedback from MSAs was useful, and highlighted the different levels of maturity. One evaluation lead worried “what if we don’t even meet the ‘basic’ criteria in this section?”, whereas others suggested that elements from their evaluation strategy should be included. Several wanted to make sure that ‘culture’ was adequately covered, reflecting painful conversations where colleagues don’t yet value the role of evaluation. This feedback, as well as comments from Whitehall Departments and other What Works Centres, have all shaped the tool.
Supporting officers and leaders within local government to improve their capacity and capability won’t happen overnight. But by identifying practical, step-by-step actions, the maturity matrix helps them move towards a culture where learning is embedded in policymaking. At a time when every investment needs to deliver maximum impact, that is not just good evaluation practice. It is better local economic growth decision-making. We welcome feedback on the tool, either by e-mail or on our forum on Knowledge Hub.
