Evidence and Research Strategy - Executive summary

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1 Introduction

The chapter summarises the government's commitment to evidence-based policy as articulated through a number of Cabinet Office, Treasury and Office of Science and Innovation papers. Evidence to inform Department for Transport (DfT) policies is generated through a wide range of activities, and this document represents a further step towards developing a more strategic approach.

2 Aims and objectives

Recent DfT White Papers and our business plan set out how we intend to respond to the challenges of a growing economy and the increasing demand for travel. This high-level strategy will be developed through the Department's Strategy Group and strategic cycle introduced to assist 30-year planning and integration with medium-term and business planning.

Our evidence needs are met through monitoring and data collection, analysis (of internal and information available elsewhere), policy evaluation and commissioned research.

3 Evidence needs

We have assessed our more immediate evidence needs against broad policy themes - reducing congestion, improving accessibility and public transport, reducing environmental impact, improving safety and security and supporting the economy. Though these are often interdependent and overlapping, by assessing evidence against broad themes we are better able to review evidence gaps, priorities, dependencies and possible duplication. This chapter seeks to identify our priorities and gives some examples of how we are meeting the evidence requirements. Further detail will be contained within Unit-level strategies.

We have also sought to define the strategic context within which our policy themes must operate. The issues are not primarily transport-specific but ones which will affect our success in delivering transport objectives: technological, global competitiveness, security, energy and demographic. This helps identify where horizon-scanning of the longer term (10-30 years and beyond) is vital to inform decisions to be taken over the next two to five years (see Chapter 9 on 'Transport futures').

4 Communication

We need to communicate effectively to ensure that stakeholders, delivery partners, other interested bodies and the wider public are informed not only of our strategic plans but also of the evidence and reasoning that underlie them.

The quality of our evidence base also depends on how it is generated and used; we therefore need to be open about the sources of evidence and analytical methods. Making research, statistics and policy evaluations accessible can maximise the benefits we obtain from them and also prevent unnecessary duplication.

At every step of policy development we should be open and transparent, meeting our obligations under the Freedom of Information Act. To meet these needs, initiatives include enhancement of the research management database and the citation of all sources of evidence in policy documents.

5 Collaboration

Collaboration on data collection, analysis and research can bring significant advantages to the Department, local authorities, industry and academic partners. These include not only economic advantages, but also the provision of effective means of knowledge transfer and the opportunity to tap into high-quality research and leading-edge science and technology.

We are developing, with the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) a new Transport Research Centre (TRC) to provide a focus for transport research in the UK with a strong, but not exclusive, socio-economic dimension. We will seek to identify additional scope for building joint evidence bases with OGDs - for example with the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) on land use, agglomeration and regeneration; with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on climate change, air quality and rural issues; with the Home Office on electronic vehicle identification; with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on ageing; with the Department of Health (DH) on health impacts. We will also participate in European and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) initiatives to improve data access and comparability, allowing better international benchmarking.

Our knowledge of EU research will be exploited more widely to anticipate potential future European transport policies.

6 Professional skills

Making the best use of evidence also requires that analytical, research management and other specialist skills are recognised and developed. Among the major groups involved in analytical work are economists, social researchers, statisticians and engineers. Most staff have their own professional structures within DfT assisting in keeping skills up to date, promoting best practice and advising Human Resources.

We are clarifying the role for heads of profession, further securing quality and value for money (vfm) from our analysis and research. However, this support varies considerably across the Department and we need to continue progress towards ensuring high standards for all professions. To address future skills shortages we are expanding our working relations with relevant professions, academic institutions and research councils, for example our participation in the Transport Planning Skills Initiative seeking to rectify the shortage of transport modellers.

7 Evidence and research management

The new strategies will facilitate planning and priority setting at a strategic level and help ensure that evidence and research are aligned with our longer-term goals as well as immediate policy objectives. The Departmental Strategy will be fully reviewed every two years in line with the spending review process and will be informed by more regular assessments of evidence needs by the DfT Board through its strategic planning cycle. The new approach is intended to improve planning and management of the evidence base underpinning the Department's spending bids, budget proposals and regulatory impact assessments.

The Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA) plays a key role in scrutinising Units' evidence and research strategies as part of the improvements to our internal processes and arrangements for improving quality. We have developed an Evidence and Research Quality Framework (ERQF), which sets out the quality standards required for the planning and delivery of 'evidence', against which strategies will be scrutinised. We commission research from a wide range of organisations and will look to develop our procurement arrangements to meet objectives of efficiency, quality and vfm (for example, through increased use of framework contracts).

8 Technology and innovation

As a department we need to improve our awareness of relevant technology and innovation. The Chief Scientific Adviser's Technology Forum will provide oversight and coordination of technology issues, helping to ensure that technology and innovation issues are integrated into wider strategy cycles and delivery planning. The Department recognises the role that procurement of goods and services by the public sector can play in acting as a lever for stimulating and enabling innovation and will continue to improve practices.

The Department will develop its use of technology readiness levels to better manage technology procurement. Along with technology road maps, this approach will help DfT manage risk and provide estimates of timelines to maturity of technology. We will also continue to work towards ensuring that our appraisal methods and risk management guidelines do not impede the adoption of innovative solutions that help meet our objectives. We will consider developing a simple 'technology awareness checklist' to be used alongside the New Approach to Transport Appraisal in appraising schemes and policies with long timescales.

9 Transport futures

Futures thinking is embedded in much of the work of the Department, underpinning strategy and policy development. The Department works with the Office of Science and Technology on the Foresight programme, in particular the Intelligent Infrastructure Systems (IIS) project. The scenarios generated will help us better understand the exogenous assumptions in our high-level modelling, i.e. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), values of time across social groups, vehicle efficiencies, carbon prices and oil prices. We recognise that it is important not only that we seek to identify, manage and reduce uncertainty, but to find effective ways of communicating it. We will develop scenarios further and use them to build up a more systematic risk-based approach to appraisal (e.g. by using real options analysis), quantifying these factors. The focus of this horizon scanning will include:

Technology

  • Satellite navigation and wireless communications technology to make the best use of new and existing infrastructure;
  • Continuing advances in information science, enhancing our ability to manage, access and analyse increasing amounts of data from different sources;
  • Consideration of legal, social-science and public engagement issues alongside the science and technology developments.

Global competitiveness

  • Contractual relationships appropriate for innovative financing, vfm from subsidies and cross-subsidies, and fuller understanding of the benefits and drawbacks of decentralising transport decision-making;
  • Better integrated regional transport, spatial planning and economic strategies, including improved understanding of the interaction of transport with land use and housing and the effects of agglomeration economies;
  • Developing sufficient understanding of the skills and capacity in the labour market related to future transport delivery and delivery chains incorporating advanced technology.

Energy and climate change

  • The impact of the rise in oil prices on the whole transport system and transport industry cannot be ignored and confirms the importance of achieving greater efficiency across all modes;
  • Developing understanding of the science and economics of climate change, including attitudes of the public to climate change and possible measures;
  • Developments in energy production, supply and sustainable technologies;
  • Developing understanding of the effects of vehicle technologies and alternative fuels on emissions/air quality;
  • Increasing understanding of the impact on health due to changes in air quality;
  • Encouraging the provision and take-up of alternatives to car travel and of cleaner vehicles.

International security

  • Recurring terrorist attacks have brought security issues to the top of the agenda - security must be an integral part of our policy development.

Demographics and lifestyle

  • Changes in demography (particularly the ageing population) and social habits;
  • Better segmentation of transport users' requirements across different groups.