Dan Vale

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Citizens Advice and evidence-based policy

• Dan Vale
• Head of Social Policy
• Citizens Advice

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About the Citizens Advice service

• The Citizens Advice service helps people
  resolve their legal, money, consumer and other
  problems by providing information and advice and
  by influencing policymakers.

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About the Citizens Advice service

• At 31 March 2005 there were 475 member bureaux in
  England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
• All Citizens Advice Bureaux are independent
  registered charities
• 95 of the public has heard of us (Mori 2001)
• We help around 2.75 million people a year

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About us
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• of the public that has used us, or has friends
  or family that have
• of those that have used us, who are satisfied
  with the service they received
• of the general public that think we are
  trustworthy
• Citizens Advice/Mori

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Giving advice England and Wales

• Citizens Advice Bureaux helped people deal with
  nearly 5.3 million new problems in 2004/05
• Advice is provided face-to-face, on the phone, in
  community venues, by email and at
  www.adviceguide.org.uk
• Our advice is available from nearly 3,400
  locations one-third of these in health settings

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5.3 million problems
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Advice from 1176 health settings

• 773 GP surgeries
• 256 health centres
• 80 psychiatric hospitals
• 67 hospitals and hospices

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Online advice 24 hours/day
3m visits each year
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21,545 volunteers 76 workforce
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The impact of CAB advice

• Preventing poverty
• Dealing with debt and money problems
• Helping prevent homelessness
• Creating confident consumers
• Lightening the legal load
• Improving health

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New Labour and evidence-based policy

• Key texts
• Modernising Government, Cabinet Office 1999
• The Magenta Book Guidance Notes for Policy
  Evaluation, Cabinet Office 2003

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Behind the theory questions the Government
always asks

• What do we already know?
• Is it statistically significant?
• What do the statistics tell me?
• How are the data colllected?
• How do you know if something works?
• What is the theory underlying a policy?
• How do you know why and how something works?
• Is it worth spending money on?
• What other effects might there be?
• How can the project be managed effectively?

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The role of VCOs

• Agenda setting using evidence to build momentum
  as far as the tipping point
• Influencing the formulation of policy through
  using reputation and credibility of evidence
• Influencing the implementation of policy
  showing what works and what the impact is
• Influencing the monitoring and evaluation of
  policy

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Maximising impact

• Legitimacy
• Credibility
• Robustness
• Professionalism
• Focus on solutions
• Partnership
• Communication

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Using CAB evidence to influence

• CASE
• BEFs
• We use evidence from CAB clients to improve
  policies and services for many more people
• We produce evidence reports, responses to
  consultations and briefings on Bills

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Campaigning for change 2005/06

• 14 major evidence reports
• 53 consultation responses

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Tax credits report
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Our Supercomplaint to the OFT
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Our drivers

• Volume of evidence
• Acuteness of problem
• Uniqueness of evidence
• Avoidability of detriment
• Achievability of change
• Timing
• Corporate priorities

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Presenting evidence responsibly

• Transparent analysis
• Accurate
• Relevant
• Timely
• Objective and unemotional
• Representative
• Proportional

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Contacts

• www.citizensadvice.org.uk for more about us
• www.adviceguide.org.uk for online advice
• Dan.Vale_at_citizensadvice.org.uk to drop me a line

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