Evaluating Complex Public Policy Programmes: Reflections on Evaluation and Governance from the Evaluation of Children's Trusts

Abstract

In this paper, I offer a series of reflections on some issues involved in evaluating complex public policy programmes in a context of rapid change and against the background of an activist government setting exacting standards for the delivery of public service outcomes. I argue that the overlay of pressures on programme evaluation as a result of the engagement with such complex public policy interventions presents a series of challenges for evaluation.

Citation

Husbands, C. (2007), "Evaluating Complex Public Policy Programmes: Reflections on Evaluation and Governance from the Evaluation of Children's Trusts", Kushner, S. and Norris, N. (Ed.) Dilemmas of Engagement: Evaluation and the New Public Management (Advances in Program Evaluation, Vol. 10), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 53-65. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-7863(07)10004-1