The Department of the Premier and Cabinet (DPC) helps our state government departments make better long-term policy decisions by:
- assisting them to build capability and capacity in planning for the future
- promoting evidence-based decision making
- providing guidance, tools and methods for doing data analysis and evaluation.
Evaluation guidelines
The South Australian Productivity Commission (SAPC) published South Australia’s Regulatory Framework - Final Report in 2021. It recommended that state government agencies improve their policy evaluation capabilities. This would help agencies show:
- whether they are achieving their policy objectives
- the impact their policies are making on stakeholders and members of the public
- they are being transparency in developing policy
- what they have learned and how they can improve their policy making.
Evaluation guidelines handbook
The Evaluation guidelines handbook encourages evaluation-thinking from the very beginning of policy and program planning. It includes tools and templates to use at each step of the evaluation process.
The handbook aims to improve how we develop and evaluate our department's policies. It provides a common standard and methods for doing evaluation in our department.
Other agencies can use the handbook to learn what information they will need if they are collaborating with us. They can also use the handbook to evaluate their own policies and programs.
Download the Evaluation Guidelines handbook (PDF, 671.4 KB)
Agencies with existing evaluation systems do not need to change. They are welcome to use the handbook if they are reviewing and improving their systems.
Linked micro-data
To help support economic and social policy development and evaluation, we encourage government agencies, universities and other organisations to do collaborative research using state and federal data.
The South Australian government was the first jurisdiction to integrate state datasets with data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Business Longitudinal Analysis Data Environment (BLADE).
Industry and employment dynamics in South Australia
By the end of the ABS BLADE pilot project, we had a better understanding of South Australia’s employment and industry performance. This now helps the state government develop stronger economic policies.
Although the pilot ended in 2020, its insights have continuing benefits, including:
- assessing historical impacts and forecasting future conditions
- understanding emerging sectors and technologies, and their influence on economy growth
- evaluating state government policies, programs and initiatives
- discovering interactions between clusters of industries and regions, and their impact to the economy
- identifying labour supply and demand drivers.
Thriving people and communities
We are now looking at how we can use multi-agency data to create stronger government plans, policies and programs for enhancing human, social and community wellbeing. This includes:
- investigating the impact policies and programs have on relevant health, wellbeing, justice, education, social and welfare outcomes, as evidence of what is working
- identifying populations that may be eligible for specific support programs
- looking at state and Commonwealth funded health, education, justice, social and welfare services to get a better understanding of client population profiles, service contact patterns and client crossovers
- investigating the precursors and consequences of people’s contact with specific services, such as
- child protection
- justice
- hospital, health and addiction support
- education
- housing
- family support.
Reports and publications
Atlas of Opportunity is an interactive tool developed with MIT Living Lab. It provides insight into how community movement patterns are crucial for understanding economic growth and mobility.
Economic value of creative businesses in South Australia (PDF, 7.9 MB) is a report by Deloitte, which was commissioned by the Government of South Australia to assess the direct economic contribution of creative businesses in the state’s economy.
Firm Size and Dynamics (PDF, 248 KB) (PDF, 247.7 KB) is an insight paper on the performance and dynamism of firms of different sizes in South Australia.
Contact
To learn how to partner with us to use the evaluation guidelines and tools, and to access formal and informal training and advice, contact:
Cabinet Office
Department of the Premier and Cabinet
Phone: (08) 8429 0179
Email: DPCCabinetOffice@sa.gov.au