Air Transport White Paper Evaluation Framework

In line with the Government's emphasis on effective policymaking and project management, the Department for Transport is committed to conducting evidence-based evaluations of the delivery and impact of key policies. Evaluation provides a means for assessing whether policies are delivering their desired outcomes cost-effectively, and helps to underpin better policymaking by informing the design of future initiatives.

The 2003 Future of Air Transport White Paper (ATWP) sets out a sustainable long-term strategy for the development of air travel to 2030. The ATWP included a commitment, reaffirmed in the 2006 Progress Report, to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness and impact of the policies which it set out, and to develop an evaluation framework to assess the effectiveness of the ATWP policies.  The work has been conducted by NERA Economic Consulting and the results are published in their report Framework for Evaluation of the 2003 Air Transport White Paper Policies. The Framework has been endorsed for publication by an independent peer reviewer, Professor Steve Martin, of Cardiff Business School.  Consistent with the Department’s transparent approach, the peer reviewer’s letter is published alongside this framework.

The framework is not in itself an evaluation, but it provides a range of methodologies for evaluating different aspects of ATWP policy.  It is targeted primarily at those who will be commissioning and undertaking evaluations in future, but will also be of interest to other ATWP stakeholders.

Evaluation results will be just one factor informing robust policymaking and policy delivery.  Future policy decisions would not be made on the basis of evaluation results alone, but would also take account of the full range of Government and stakeholder views and other evidence.  It will be up to the Department to determine whether and how future evaluations should be undertaken taking account of overall cost-effectiveness. The Department will work with stakeholders on the Aviation External Advisory Group to develop a timetable for taking forward any evaluation work.