ABSTRACT

This chapter considers the case for monitoring the performance of the program, and for systematic monitoring of the advice provided to government by the civil service and on which a policy decision about a particular program will be influenced. It shows some examples where policy advice has been evaluated and argues that, although possibly more difficult, the activity of policy advice is as open to measurement as is program performance and the benefits of so doing may be significant. Performance measures can be grouped under a variety of classifications. For simplicity, they are hereunder considered under the general categories of efficiency, quality, and effectiveness. The chapter examines the implications of measuring policy advice for each of these categories. It argues that monitoring the performance of policy advice is equally as important as monitoring the performance of any other government program, albeit potentially more difficult in some cases.