Abstract
The Policy Compass was introduced by the Dutch government in March 2023. It is intended to be applied by all departments of central government. The Policy Compass aims to secure and improve the quality of policy and regulation. The tool consists of a website, which presents policy and legislative officials with a number of key questions that they should answer step by step when designing policy and regulations. The website provides them with an overview of the quality requirements that policies and regulations must meet and a wide range of tools and tests to answer the key questions.
The Policy Compass is the successor to the Integrated Assessment Framework for Policy and Legislation (IAK)
that was introduced in 2011 and had a similar objective. In practice, however, the IAK was not used optimally. The Policy Compass includes several changes to remedy the shortcomings of the IAK. The changes relate to both the content of the Policy Compass and the measures and provisions to improve its use.
Part of the Policy Compass is the regular evaluation of application and achievement of goals. This report reports on the initial evaluation of the Policy Compass instrument. Given the recent introduction of the Policy Compass, it focuses not on the evaluation of goal achievement (outcome), but on the use of the instrument (output). The study also provides a foundation for future evaluations, through the reconstruction of policy theory underlying the Policy Compass and the establishment of an evaluation framework.
The Policy Compass is the successor to the Integrated Assessment Framework for Policy and Legislation (IAK)
that was introduced in 2011 and had a similar objective. In practice, however, the IAK was not used optimally. The Policy Compass includes several changes to remedy the shortcomings of the IAK. The changes relate to both the content of the Policy Compass and the measures and provisions to improve its use.
Part of the Policy Compass is the regular evaluation of application and achievement of goals. This report reports on the initial evaluation of the Policy Compass instrument. Given the recent introduction of the Policy Compass, it focuses not on the evaluation of goal achievement (outcome), but on the use of the instrument (output). The study also provides a foundation for future evaluations, through the reconstruction of policy theory underlying the Policy Compass and the establishment of an evaluation framework.
| Translated title of the contribution | The use of the Policy Compass within the Dutch central government: Design evaluation framework and first evalauation of the Policy Compass |
|---|---|
| Original language | Dutch |
| Place of Publication | Rotterdam |
| Publisher | Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam (EUR) |
| Number of pages | 102 |
| Publication status | Published - 18 Sept 2024 |
Research programs
- ESSB PA