The Social Research Unit's Annual Lecture, 2010

'Which?' reports are famous for ranking computers, refrigerators, cameras and other consumer goods according to their quality and value for money ('Consumer Report' is the US-equivalent). 

At the Social Research Unit's annual lecture, held in London on 17th June, Steve Aos described how he and his team at the Washington State Institute of Public Policy produce 'Which?' style reports for State policy makers on programmes designed to improve outcomes for children.
 
The method has three steps: find out which programmes work, work out their costs and benefits, and develop portfolios of potential investments. The focus is on programmes that have been evaluated in real-world settings by randomised controlled trial or other rigorous comparison group designs. Benefits are calculated in terms of gains not just for programme recipients but also for taxpayers and wider society.
 
The Institute has conducted this work in numerous policy areas, including crime reduction, education, substance abuse, mental health and teen pregnancy. So, an early education programme might cost $7,700 per young person but yield $19,500 in benefits from increased earnings and reduced crime (amongst other things) the equivalent of over $2.50 benefits per dollar of cost. The higher the cost-benefit ratio the higher the programme is ranked.
 
The Institute conducts a risk analysis to check what the chances are of an investment not breaking even. But selecting programmes is the easy bit: doing them is harder. Aos also explained to the London audience how Washington State tries to get evidence-based programmes built into mainstream practice. “If we are going to realise some of the financial benefits we anticipate from our model we need to get the right people to the right programmes. The right people means the high risk populations, those who are candidates for expensive interventions like custody.
 
"There is a parallel focus on quality assurance with a strong attention to fidelity, and providers that fail to implement adequate systems to support quality implementation risk having their funding withdrawn." There was huge interest in Aos’s presentation, including leading representatives from government, academia and practice.
 
There was also considerable support for the work of the Social Research Unit and a collective of local government agencies to attempt a translation of the Washington model for use in the UK.
Follow link below to download a copy of the slideshow.