This Dutch language document contains a description of the process of using policy related data in the policy process in general, and in particular within the Directorate General for Freight Transport (DGG) of the Dutch Ministry of Transport and Waterworks.

Publication Date: January 2005

Publisher: RAND Corporation

Author(s): Eric Kroes; Odette van de Riet; Rebecca Hamer

Research Area: Government

Type: Brief

Abstract:

To encourage the development of evidence-based and effective policies and ensuring value-for-money within government, the Netherlands is in the process of implementing a new budgetary process (VBTB). To make better use of “hard evidence” in the policymaking process, the Dutch Directorate-General for Freight (DGG) commissioned RAND Europe to perform a process analysis. The analysis shows that at any time during a calendar year there are three different processes interacting and competing for the attention of policymakers: --the budgetary process, with a fixed time-frame of a calendar year; --the data collection process, with a fixed time-frame and time lag (for monitoring data) and variable length for specific research questions; and --the policy making process, with a varying time-frame. At any moment these three processes braid together into a complex score of data streams and queries. RAND Europe prepared a briefing for the DGG staff engaged in policymaking and performance management. The briefing contained a simplified representation of this complexity and a flow chart indicating the moments within the budgetary year where up-to-date “hard” evidence on the effectiveness of policies could be included in the process.