Contents

pp iii-iv

List of figures and tables

pp v-v

List of abbreviations

pp vi-vii

Notes on contributors

pp viii-xvi

Acknowledgements

pp xvii-xvii

Foreword

pp xviii-xxiv

PART I

pp 1-2

1 - The scene is set

pp 3-11

2 - How did we get here? What Works in the UK? A personal journey

pp 12-26

3 - The role of NICE in the evidence-based health system

pp 27-35

4 - What works in crime and policing: getting closer to the frontline

pp 36-53

5 - The Education Endowment Foundation: building the role of evidence in the education system

pp 54-69

6 - Audiences first, evidence second: lessons from the Early Intervention Foundation

pp 70-82

7 - Overcoming the youth employment evidence challenge

pp 83-99

8 - ‘Pulling rather than pushing’: a demand-led approach to evidence mobilisation

pp 100-112

9 - The What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth: some lessons from the first ten years

pp 113-124

PART II

pp 125-126

10 - Criticisms and challenges of the What Works Centres

pp 127-143

11 - Higher aspirations: growing from a university home to an independent body

pp 144-155

12 - Using evidence to end homelessness

pp 156-165

13 - Scaling up: taking ‘what works’ to the next level

pp 166-183

14 - Measuring what matters

pp 184-196

15 - Bringing it all together: the future of evidence synthesis

pp 197-210

16 - Frontiers in equality

pp 211-223

17 - Evidence at the grassroots

pp 224-233

18 - Conclusion

pp 234-242

Index

pp 243-253