The Magenta Book
HM Treasury guidance on what to consider when designing an evaluation.
Documents
Details
The Magenta Book provides guidance on evaluation in government: its scoping, design, conduct, use and dissemination as well as the capabilities required of government evaluators. It provides guidance on how to incorporate evaluation through the design, implementation, delivery and review stages of policy making. It also explains how results can be interpreted and presented, and what should be considered in this process.
The Book is written for the policy, delivery and analytical professions, all of which are responsible for securing and using good evidence. Evaluation should be built into an intervention’s design and delivery from the earliest stages, increasing understanding of who is affected and in what way.
Along with the Magenta Book, Annex A provides detailed guidance on the range of evaluation methods and there are several supplementary guides to specific types of evaluations that are appropriate for specific contexts. The Analytical Evaluation capabilities framework documents provide guidance on the types of skills government evaluators should have or should try to develop.
Updates to this page
Published 27 April 2011Last updated 17 December 2024 + show all updates
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Added the document: Guidance on the Impact Evaluation of AI Interventions
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Updated page copy about Magenta Book.
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Added additional Magenta Book documents to page.
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First published.