Alliance blogs

Ahead of our 'Post-Truth': what is it and what can we do about it?' event in Wales, in partnership with the Royal Statistical Society, panel speaker, Professor Leighton Andrews offers up some interesting ideas around how we tackle the beast that is 'fake news' in a fast-moving technological age.

Political and cultural blogger, Alan Meban delivers his reflections from an Alliance hosted debate asking: How can government make the best use of evidence? In this blog he shares an interesting mix of personal observations and insights from both within and outside of government on the interface between analysts, academia, and policy.

In the lead up to the Innovation Growth Lab's annual conference in June, Nesta's Giulio Quaggiotto and Shatha Alhashmi at the UAE Prime Ministers Office are keen to shine a light on Canada's commitment to experimental government. In their joint blog, they capture some of the interesting insights and lessons 'from the trenches' of Canadian government officials, that are proving to be pertinent across the globe for other governments interested in policy experimentation.

Post general election results, Alliance for Useful Evidence Northern Ireland Manager Peter O'Neil asks a key question of how government can challenge themselves to make the best use of evidence to ensure effective policy-making. In this blog, he highlights the work of the Alliance in promoting this agenda, and makes a strong case for the development of a Northern Ireland What Works Centre.

Director of Local Accountability at the Centre for Public Scrutiny (CfPS), Ed Hammond accompanies the launch of our latest collaborative publication with CfPS and SOLACE 'Using evidence in scrutiny: A practice guide for local government scrutiny', with a blog connecting the role of evidence to scrutiny.

In this blog, co-Directors of Affinity Health at Work, Emma Donaldson-Feilder, Jo Yarker, and Rachel Lewis introduce the Affinity work health and wellbeing hub as a new online resource that aims to offer access to a repository of tools and evidence in the fight against work place health and wellbeing.

Ahead of the Early Intervention Foundation's annual national conference in May 2017, Director of Evidence, Tom McBride tells us why evidence matters at a time of rising demand in public services, managing smaller budgets, and the need to understand what works becomes ever more critical.

Most policy organisations argue that evidence should underpin commissioning practice and many commissioners are tuned into the debate. In this blog, Sean Whelan, Realising Ambition Programme Manager at Catch 22, explores learning from the Realising Ambition programme which has assessed the role that evidence has played from the supply-side perspective as delivery organisations have engaged commissioners with their well-evidenced, preventative services.

In his latest blog Alliance Director, Jonathan Breckon lays the land in a darker, more complex 'post-truth' era of heightened distrust between 'experts' and the public. Arguing that 'Business As Usual' is not an option, he proposes 8 approaches to redressing this balance.

Keeping up to date with new reports and papers on using evidence and data can be overwhelming, and difficult to say the least, but a pre-requisite for understanding the latest trends, methods, and discussion in the evidence world. In his latest blog, Alliance for Useful Evidence Northern Ireland Lead Peter O'Neil offers his top ten guide on useful resources for effective evidence use.

Alliance for Useful Evidence Scottish Lead, and co-author of new report with the Carnegie UK Trust 'The Scottish Approach to Evidence' Pippa Coutts, makes the case for different evidence types to reflect the increasing complexity of our public services and the shift towards more integrated and participative approaches. In her latest blog, she lays out five key steps to enable that shift and urges evidence champions and opinion leaders to help further the evidence agenda.

Championing the campaign for evidence in policy-making is an old battle says Christine Boston, Corporate Policy Manager at Cardiff Council, but one we must continue to fight in order to deliver long term social outcomes. In this blog, she highlights some of the progress that has been made in the Welsh context to move towards more cross-sector collaborative approaches, as well as the value of using new evidence frameworks via the Alliance for Useful Evidence Masterclasses.