Lessons from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for social policy and practice –

a critical assessment

Tuesday 6 May 2014

Agenda

Date and venue: Tuesday 6 May, 2014. 12:00 – 14:00 at Nesta, 1 Plough Place, London, EC4A 1DE

Attendees:

Albert Bravo-Biosca (Research Fellow – Economics, Policy & Research, Nesta)Anna Hakobyan (Director Performance Measurement & Effectiveness, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation)Carole Willis (Chief Executive, NfER)Caroline Fiennes (Director, Giving Evidence)Charlotte Ravenscroft (Head of Policy & Research, NCVO)Dan Corry (Chief Executive, NPC)Danielle Mason (Head of What Works Team and Head of Profession for Social Research Cabinet Office)Dr Jonathan Sharples (Senior Researcher, EEF)Francis Ruiz (Associate Director for NICE International)Gill Edelman (Interim Director at Centre for Ageing Better)Halima Khan (Director Innovation Lab, Nesta)Hasan Bakhshi (Director - Creative Economy, Nesta)Jane Aston (Director at Jane Aston Associates) (observer)Jo Casebourne (Director, Public and Social Innovation, Nesta)Jonathan Bacon (Rep for Chief Social Worker, Department for Education)Jonathan Breckon (Head of the Alliance for Useful Evidence)Laura Rivkin (Evidence and Learning Cluster, Department for International Development)Martin Brookes (Director, Paul Hamlyn Foundation)Nalini Tarakeshwar (Executive Director Evidence, Measurement & Evaluation, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation)Phil Sooben (Deputy CEO, ESRC)Professor David Gough (Professor of Evidence Informed Policy and Practice, Institute of Education)Professor David Haslam (Chair, NICE) Professor Stephen Martin (Director Public Policy Institute for Wales)Ryan Li (Adviser for NICE International)Sir Iain Chalmers (Founder of Cochrane Collaboration)Stephen Aldridge (Director for Analysis and Innovation, Department for Communities and Local Government)Thomas Guiney (Head of Strategic Policy, The BIG Lottery Fund) Vivian Tseng (Vice President of Programs, William T. Grant Foundation)

Overview

This roundtable will bring together NICE, Nesta, ESRC, BIG and other bodies interested in evidence-based policymaking to critically assess the ‘NICE model’ and its applicability to policymaking in non-health areas. A joint paper will be written later this year which will draw on discussions at the roundtable.

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Background

In his first media interview as Cabinet Secretary, Jeremy Heywood mooted the idea of setting up a ‘NICE-type’ body in social policy.1 Although details were lacking the proposal received widespread interest. Nine months later, Coalition Government ministers Oliver Letwin and Danny Alexander launched four new ‘What Works’ centres in social (and local economic ) policy at Nesta.2 NICE has reportedly been an inspiration for these centres and is formally part of the ‘What Works’ network. New institutions are planned, in areas such as wellbeing policy. Yet, arguably there is insufficient understanding surrounding the workings of the ‘NICE model’3 and its potential application in domains beyond health and social care. Even the champions of NICE recognise in the model features that might limit its applicability in social policy fields.4

Provocation paper

Following the roundtable, the Alliance, NICE and Nesta researchers intend to write a joint provocation paper on the subject of the 'NICE model' and a critical assessment of its applicability to evidence-based policymaking in non-health areas. The provocation will draw on case studies from NICE’s experience and our understanding of evidence-based policymaking challenges in non-health areas.The provocation paper will also look at the use of experimental methods in evidence-based policymaking, drawing on previous work done by the researchers. The experience of NICE’s international arm, NICE International model, will be used to shed light on some of the particular challenges that arise for evidence-based policymaking in developing countries. The insights from the report will be a will be as readable and jargon-free as possible, aiming at an audience outside the UK health sector.

1 Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Heywood said: "the question mark is whether, just as NICE has been very effective in giving a view on drugs or pharmaceutical interventions worth supporting, there is a role for a similar sort of entity or entities in the social policy intervention sphere” The Guardian (10 January 2012) http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/jan/10/cabinet-secretary-social-policy-kitemark2 http://www.alliance4usefulevidence.org/event/announcing-the-what-works-centres/ 3 By ‘model’ we mean the many different stages in evidence-based policymaking, such as objective-setting, stakeholder consultation, transparency, policy implementation, measurement, evaluation, and so on).4 Mulgan G and Puttick R (2013). Making evidence useful; the case for new institutions. NESTA http://www.nesta.org.uk/library/documents/MakingEvidenceUseful.pdf

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Agenda

12:00 Registration and coffee/ sandwich lunch served

12:30 Welcome from Jonathan Breckon (The Alliance for Useful Evidence)

12:35 Introduction from the Chair: Phil Sooben (Deputy CEO, ESRC)

12.40 Professor David Haslam (Chair, NICE)

12.50 Francis Ruiz (Senior Adviser, NICE International)

12.55 Carole Willis (Chief Executive, NfER and former Chief Scientist at DfE)

13.05 Danielle Mason (Head of What Works Team and Head of Profession for Social Research in Cabinet Office & HMT)

13.10 Open to other delegates

13.50 Final comments from Chair and speakers

14.00 Finish & networking (coffee served)

Key questions for roundtable and report

1. What are the different stages of the 'NICE model' and which – if any – are applicable to evidence-based policymaking in non-health areas?

2. How developed must the evidence base be for the NICE model to be applicable in social policy and in what areas is it already sufficiently developed? 5

3. What can we learn from NICE’s approach to using and synthesising evidence (including, but not restricted to randomized controlled trials) in policy evaluation that is relevant to evidence-based policymaking in areas outside health?

4. What can we learn from NICE’s approach to stakeholder engagement?

If there is time, we will also discuss the following questions

5. In non-health areas, how can we interpret alternative outcomes in the absence of generic measures like the Quality Adjusted Life Year?

6. To what extent can NICE-type guidance and evidence be replicated for frontline professionals in other areas of policy?

5 For instance, a NICE workshop of social science academics concluded that the evidence base (for evidence for effectiveness) in social care was much more limited than health NICE: Social care guidance development methodology workshop report 01.12.2011 http://www.nice.org.uk/media/9A4/43/SocialCareGuidanceMethodologyWorkshopReport.pdf

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