Our Sector Expertise
Working flexibly across disciplines, our staff deliver assignments in the following key policy areas:
- Education and Skills
- Social Inclusion and Health
- Enterprise and Competitiveness
- Low Carbon Economics
- Local Economic Development
- Area Regeneration
To find out more about our sector expertise, click on one of the links above
Evaluation and Monitoring
Ensuring value for money for the public purse has been brought into sharper focus in the last 12 months as public sector resources have become less freely available. Evaluation allows us to assess the effectiveness and impact of project and programme interventions at all stages of the policy cycle and is a cornerstone of our business.
The company regularly tests the forecast impact of projects, programmes and strategies. We have completed ex-ante evaluations of European programmes and prior evaluations of both revenue and capital projects and programmes. We are skilled at developing monitoring and evaluation frameworks which identify from the outset what is required to be collected by who, when, why and how. Many of our evaluations are longitudinal – tracking the impact of interventions on beneficiaries over time - helping to hone and develop project and programme activities as they develop.
Our evaluations tell our clients whether the project or programme is on track (mid-term) or set up in the right way (formative or process evaluations). In these, and in our final or summative evaluations, we always emphasise key learning points, identifying recommendations for future project and programme delivery or future policy development.
Our experience in this field is truly extensive covering health and social policy, innovation, R&D and business support, low carbon and sector interventions and learning and skills. Our current portfolio includes the five year evaluation of the UK’s Big Lottery Young People’s Fund, the evaluation of Resource Efficiency Yorkshire, the Foundation Learning Tier in England, Management and Leadership in Northern Ireland, Innovation Vouchers in the North East and Healthcare Support Workers in Scotland.
In the last couple of years we have carried out more than 50 European Commission, Impact Evaluation Framework and Scottish Enterprise compliant evaluations. In the last few months alone we have completed the evaluation of Skillsnet in Ireland, the Business Gateway in Scotland, Career Chain in the East Midlands, the Big Noise Orchestra in Scotland, Inward Investment in the North of England, Private Equity Schemes for the UK Government, New Deal for Communities in East Manchester, the Integrated Employment and Skills Pilots for the Scottish Government and the Working Neighbourhoods’ Innovation Fund in Birmingham, to name just a few.