Policy paper

Final Report of the 2020 Green Book Review

Budget 2020 announced that the government would review the Green Book to make sure that it did not hinder the levelling up agenda. This report marks the conclusion of the review.

• From: HM Treasury
• Published: 25 November 2020

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

Documents

Green Book Review 2020: Findings and response

Ref: ISBN 978-1-5286-2273-8 , PU 3052, CP 331

PDF, 290 KB, 29 pages

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Details

Budget 2020 announced that the government would take action “to review the Green Book, which sets out how decisions on major investment programmes are appraised in order to make sure that government investment spreads opportunity across the UK.” The Green Book is the government’s guidance on options appraisal and applies to all proposals that concern public spending, taxation, changes to regulations, and changes to the use of existing public assets and resources. It is vital for designing proposals that both achieve government policy objectives and deliver social value.

The review has concluded that current appraisal practice is likely to undermine the government’s ambition to “level up” poorer regions and to achieve other strategic objectives unless there is a step change improvement. This document sets out the detailed finding of that review and the action the government will take to address them.

The updated Green Book review, reflecting these findings, can be found on gov.uk.

Published 25 November 2020