Evaluating British Urban Policy: Ideology, Conflict and Compromise

Since the Conservative government of the late 70s introduced its stringent spending policy, a 'value for money' ideology has dictated most new approaches to policy management. As a result, monitoring and evaluation have become an integral part in the policy process. Focusing on the experience of British Urban Policy, this book examines the theoretical and practical issues in the monitoring or evaluation of public policy. It argues that as a result of the 'value for money' ideology influencing urban policy in Britain, various conflicts have arisen in both policy and implementation, and compromises have had to be made. By exploring the experiences of monitoring and evaluating urban policy, the book examines key issues such as changing approaches, the interface between monitoring and evaluation, and the utilization of monitoring information and evaluation studies. It concludes that a long-term evaluation strategy is required in order to improve the utility value of evaluation studies vis-a-vis policy formulation at the national level and implementation at the local level.