At Transport for the North, our vision is of a thriving North of England, where world class transport supports sustainable economic growth, excellent quality of life and improved opportunities for all. A strong, coherent, and efficient evidence base is needed for us to make the case for such transformational investment. So, what currently exists in this space, and how can we improve it?
There is a lot of robust and reliable work being done on the key issues impacting the Northern Powerhouse. Whether it be by Central Government, Local Government or independent bodies, the evidence base exists for us to make a strong case for transforming the North.
The issue with this is it all stored separately, some of it can be quite hard to find, and it is not always publicised very well.
This is where we feel that the Northern Evidence Hub can add value. We see the platform as being directly relevant for work related to the Northern Powerhouse Independent Economic Review, as well as supporting collaboration on future related projects.
With the Northern Evidence Hub, we have collated a wide range of evidence in one place, with the aim of making this a first port of call in the formulation of policy and research. This gives Northern policymakers access to the same, wide-reaching evidence base, regardless of resource capacity, and we believe that will have positive impacts through three key functions.
The first of these is by making it easy to find key reports and research, or to search for evidence in a policy area that is being explored. Part of the challenge of implementing evidence-based policies comes from being able – or unable – to find the information that already exists in that space. By reducing the amount of resource used on the search, partners will be able to spend more time putting the evidence to good use, applying it to develop evidence-based policy. This will also provide Northern policymakers with one joined-up database from which to start, levelling the playing field and helping the North to speak with one voice.
The second way is by improving the accessibility of relevant evidence. This one ties into the first way, and is an extension of the reduced pressure on resources. Each entry to the hub contains a wide range of information. These include:
Ultimately, we want to make it as easy as possible for policymakers to access up-to-date, relevant evidence to base policy decisions on. The executive summaries contained within a lot of reports do not always capture the most relevant information for policymakers, so providing short summaries tailored to the users of the platform was something that was important to us when developing the NEH.
In addition, we have developed the platform with Knowledge Hub, in order to make use of their expertise and existing online infrastructure. This has allowed us to categorise entries by type and subject, as well as applying tags to each document. These can all be used to sort the evidence base, helping users find all of the hosted documents within a specific subject area. In addition to this, users can access related content from the page of a source they are already viewing, allowing evidence on similar subjects to be browsed freely and easily.
Clearly, the NEH is not an exhaustive list of useful evidence for Northern policymakers. Like we said, part of the challenge of implementing evidence-based policies comes from being able – or unable – to find the evidence that already exists in that space, and TfN are not immune to that. The evidence that we are launching the platform with are a select list of useful sources from which policies and strategies can be developed.
In order to be as wide-reaching as possible, we have developed the platform to take submissions from users to the evidence base. Creating a Knowledge Hub account allows you to upload evidence that you think other users would find useful when developing policies. This process can be moderated by super-users, who will be able to remove content which is unsuitable for the platform.
We ask that users share published reports that they have found useful, and may be useful to other policymakers in the North, along with a short summary of the key messages within the document. This will contribute significantly to the use of the platform, and further the knowledge sharing aspect of the platform.
If you would like to support the running of the Northern Evidence Hub by becoming a super-user, email us to find out more at: [email protected].