Refreshing the West Midlands evidence base: a State of the Region dialogue

Download 'Refreshing the West Midlands evidence base' (PDF, 1.3mb)"Better Evidence… Better Policy" is a phrase at the heart of what the Observatory is all about. But what does "better evidence" mean? And how does it translate into "better policy"?

The State of the Region thematic report, Refreshing the West Midlands Evidence Base (pdf, 1.3mb) published in October 2009, starts to answer these questions.

In doing so, we reviewed the state of the region's evidence base and identified some key challenges facing the region as we move towards the new single Strategy for the West Midlands.

The West Midlands has an extensive evidence base to support policy-​making, developed over many years. Most of this evidence is robust and has served the region well, underpinning existing regional strategies and a wide range of local and regional policies.

The State of the Region's evidence base

Evidence to support policy can come in many forms, including:

  • National and international evidence and policies
  • Data-​driven analysis, often involving secondary analysis of existing sources
  • Primary research, such as surveys and consultation exercises
  • Monitoring and evaluation of existing policies and plans

 

Most policy areas have good examples of evidence but few have a balance between all these types of evidence, with the use of monitoring and evaluation reports to inform policy a frequent gap.

The current evidence base has many strengths. Most policy areas have robust evidence underpinning existing policies, in some cases tested through external examination.

There are strong structures in place, with effective partnership working, including the Regional Data & Intelligence Network and the Observatory itself.

There are strong arrangements for monitoring and evaluation of policy, often recognised as leading the field amongst English regions.

Increasingly, the evidence base provides good information about local variations, aided by strong research teams in many local authorities.

However, the region faces a number of challenges which need to be addressed as we continue to refresh the evidence base. Key challenges are:

  • Integrating the evidence across different policy areas, between organisations and across different geographical scales
  • Providing more intelligent analysis of the evidence which we already have
  • Using the evidence to understand future scenarios, so that policy can be "future-​proofed" more effectively
  • Ensuring that the evidence about cross-​cutting themes, which will be major drivers of change in the future, can inform policy across all issues
  • Highlighting local distinctiveness within regional priorities, to ensure that policy interventions are targeted effectively
  • Adopting new approaches to the creation, analysis and presentation of evidence

 

New approaches to evidence

The report includes two chapters written by external contributors. Each gives ideas about new approaches which could be used to refresh the regional evidence base.

Professor Mike Coombes wrote about the challenge of defining functional economic areas. This means understanding the functional links between places which influence their development. The concept forms an important element of government guidance on the new Single Regional Strategies and on Local Economic Assessments.

Colleagues from the Centre for Regional and Local Statistics at the Office of National Statistics highlighted in their chapter how existing data could be used more effectively.

There is already a wide variety of systems and sources which can be used to access official statistics. Many of these provide tools which enable data to be presented in a variety of different ways.

The chapter argued that visual presentation, using charts and maps, is usually more effective than providing data in tables or detailed text, making the messages from the evidence clearer for users.

Following the report's publication, the Observatory worked with a wide range of regional stakeholders to determine the process for developing the evidence base to underpin the new Strategy for the West Midlands. This built on work which has already taken place and has been summarised in the report.

More on State of the Region dialogues

The dialogue on refreshing the West Midlands evidence base was completed in 2009.

You can keep up-​to-​date on developments for current State of the Region dialogues in 2010 via:

 

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