‘How to’ resource
A quick tool to assess a local authority or combined authority’s use of evidence in economic growth decision making and identify areas for improvement.
There is no one recipe for evidence-based decision-making, but there are common ingredients. Across the country, local authorities have a range of ingredients in place – including staffing, processes, training, and culture – to support the use of evidence.
This tool allows individuals and teams to review the elements needed to consistently monitor interventions, collect and analyse data, and use evidence in economic growth policymaking. Criteria are assessed for the best fit on four maturity levels, which can form the basis of an action plan.
The self-assessment tool is available in several formats:
- Within the guide as an editable PDF with dropdown options
- Print out the matrix within the PDF to make notes within a team meeting or workshop
- Complete the Excel version with an automated summary sheet to share with managers
Key things to consider
- There’s no overall score – This tool was developed for self-assessment, not for a league table. Change will be seen by making progress on individual criterion.
- Explore difference of opinion – We recommend that several people within a team, or across different teams complete the self-assessment. An analyst in a central insights team may have different views on whether evidence is easily accessible to an economic development project officer. That difference helps highlight areas for improvement.
- Economic growth isn’t the sole responsibility of one team –Regeneration, transport, planning and skills teams do not always sit within economic development, but may still find this self-assessment tool helpful for thinking about how economic evidence is collected and used.
- Steps to change – No organisation is expected to jump from the first to the last maturity level—it happens step-by-step. Identify actions by comparing the current level of maturity to the next one.
- Prioritise next steps – Changing routines and habits is hard. Select a few areas to focus on first, whether that’s responsibilities within your team’s control, ‘quick wins’, or making the case to leaders.
Get in touch – Ask other local authorities for tips on use of evidence in our online forum ‘Local economic growth in the UK’ on KnowledgeHub. Contact us with queries or suggestions of additional resources.
