Evidence–based Analysis and the Work of Policy Shops

The New Public Management (NPM) reforms brought about in the 1990s have substantially altered the environment in which agencies mandated to provide policy advice to ministers do their work. Yet, cross–jurisdictional evidence tends to show that systems in place in these policy shops generally do not reflect the rigour that is needed to analyse and render quality policy advice. As one possible remedy, this paper suggests that use of rigorous evidence–based analysis (EBA) to inform the policy advice function be made an integral part of the policy shops' learning and information protocol. EBA is a useful tool in assisting the agencies to demonstrate their adherence to a quality assurance system.