ESRC Funded Workshop: 'The Politics of Policy Appraisal'

Policy appraisal has become increasingly popular in the UK, Europe and more generally the OECD countries. It comes in different shapes, from meta-regulation (that is, rules and standards on the process leading to the formulation of regulation) to policy analysis of various hues. It is intended to facilitate progress on a range of different issues, from sustainable development to better regulation. It operates ex ante, during the implementation of policy programmes, and ex post, in their evaluation. Its ?names? vary, from policy evaluation to value-for-money surveys, citizens? satisfaction with administrative performance, regulatory impact assessment, horizon scanning exercises, sustainability tests, hearings and evidence-inspired policy. Sometimes two forms of policy appraisal are inter-connected, for example in the recent EU evaluation of regulatory impact assessment, in which ex post appraisal is conducted on a tool of ex ante appraisal. Very rarely do organisations in the public sector (such as government departments and independent regulatory authorities) use several forms of policy appraisals in an integrated way. There are several publications on integrated regulatory management, but empirical research suggests that different types of appraisals tend to proliferate in the same organisation without any serious attempt to integrate the various findings.