Evaluation agenda signposts new quality focus for government policy and services

Dr Andrew Leigh has described his ambitions to infuse better evaluation methods of government policy design, development and service delivery as a substantial agenda and important for a strong democracy.

The assistant minister for competition, charities, Treasury and employment told the National Press Club that developing high-quality evaluation — or working out what works — comes about by investing in randomised trials. He suggested this could include the evaluation of alternative approaches via A/B testing and deploying randomised trials at the rollout stage of programs.