Expand your mind
A curated list of readings that Frank collects to stretch your policy thinking.
Parliament’s financial scrutiny cycle
This one-page resource includes a diagram showing Parliament’s financial scrutiny cycle, which lasts two-and-a-half years. The cycle starts with the Budget Policy Statement, steps through other parts…
Social Investment Unit: Briefing to the Incoming Ministers
This 2017 Briefing to the Incoming Minister sets out why social investment matters, and what a successful social investment approach could look like. The components to enable a social investment…
Place-based public service budgets: Making public money work better for communities
In the context of austerity, public services in England have been focused on short-term crises rather than long-term solutions. This report argues that pooling central government funding in local…
Let it go: Devolving power and resources to improve lives
New Zealand’s system of social supports does not meet the needs of some people, and significantly fails a small group of people. More resources are not enough to address this failure. Instead,…
Demonstrating the complexities of being poor; an empathy tool
This 2014 research report came out of the Families 100 project, which involved extensive research with 100 families experiencing poverty in Auckland. The report uses ‘composite characters’ to…
Speaking for ourselves: The truth about what keeps people in poverty from those who live it
This 2014 research report came out of the Families 100 project, which looked into the lives of 100 families who use foodbanks, to understand what prevents them from moving out of poverty. Eight key…
Learning what works for whom at what cost
Understanding what works for whom at what cost starts with asking the right questions. Questions should be framed to help a policy professional: • understand the population who will be the target of…
Report writing guidance
This guidance is aimed at any local government officer involved in the report writing process: writers, reviewers, managers and governance professionals. It supports officers to provide robust,…
What is the value of a policy proposal?
Cost-benefit analysis (CBAx) is an important component of good policy advice, setting out not just what a proposal will cost, but the value it will achieve. It helps identify the benefits of a…
Guidance Note: Best Practice Monitoring, Evaluation and Review
This guidance sets out the basics of monitoring, evaluation and review (MER) for legislation, regulation or other policies – and argues MER should be built into any policy process early on. Simple…
