The early days of devolution failed to deliver on their promise of ‘national laboratories’, where we could test different approaches to public services reform. Now, argues Professor Steve Martin, times have changed and the newly established Public...

Policy makers and commissioners alike want to identify best evidence. The argument goes that the application of empirical evidence should promote better policies, improve services and promote the more efficient use of resources, but it has...

At a recent Alliance conference, ‘Evidence and well-being’, attendees explored how well-being initiatives would benefit from a dedicated What Works Centre and how the Centre might work in practice, videos of the presentations can be found here. This...

Adrian Bethune argues that the happiness and well-being of our children should be the main aim and purpose of our education system and a What Works Centre for well-being will lead the way – gathering the...

Evaluating a complex community initiative like Well London is always going to be a challenge. A What Works Centre for Well-being would, Alison Pearce argues, help organisations to network and share information – getting evidence out...

What drives well-being? Sam Smethers argues that relationships are the key to our well-being and interventions must focus on this if they are to help their clients cope with the challenges they face. Current research focuses...

Children with higher levels of well-being do better academically, according to evidence discussed by Joe Hayman, Chief Executive of the PSHE Association. But the balance of accountability in schools is biased towards academic outcomes. We need...

Our clients have complex lives and well-being can be both a driver for, and a consequence of the problems clients come to see us about. Understanding how far our services can measure and potentially improve well-being...

The usual Whitehall default towards centralisation should be avoided so that we include more local voices – including politicians – in any What Works Centre for Well-being because local relationships are deeper and more long term, there...

How dangerous is mental illness? Are young people’s job prospects improving? Do prisons work? Megan Clement introduces Hard Evidence; funded by the Alliance, Hard Evidence tackles some of the public policy questions that dominate the news...

Dr. Warren Pearce asks why, when there is such widespread support for evidence-based policy, is it so hard in practice? The answer, he argues, can be found in an array of definitions used for evidence and...

  A House of Commons science and technology committee inquiry is looking into the potential benefits of real-time analysis of social media. According to a report for the Alliance, published last year, social media data could...