As Lead Evaluation Officer for Culture at West Yorkshire Combined Authority, my role is concerned with how evaluation and cultural policymaking processes meet. This is an exciting space to work in, as it’s where insight and learning connect directly with decision-making.

Evaluation for accountability, evidence and learning

For the Combined Authority, evaluation is central to how we hold ourselves accountable for the use of public funds. It helps us understand how our investments represent value for money and contribute to our objectives for the region.

We also need evaluation to provide evidence of the impact and quality of our work. It’s part of how we celebrate the cultural activity happening in our districts and the difference made for, and by, people, communities and businesses.

What’s more, it’s a learning process. Evaluation helps us determine what’s worked well and what hasn’t and how to apply these findings to future policy and practice.

The courage to be realistic

Over the past six months, the Combined Authority has collaborated with the Centre for Cultural Value to strengthen our understanding of the role of evaluation within a local cultural policymaking context. In May 2024, the Centre hosted a roundtable for over 30 people working in combined and local authorities to explore how cultural activity is evaluated at a local and regional level.

Shared challenges surfaced during the discussion. How do we balance different stakeholder needs? How do we ensure we have the right resources to conduct robust evaluations that do justice to the cultural activities taking place? What can we do to address evaluation skills gaps in our teams?

One key takeaway from the roundtable was the importance of being proportionate in what and how we measure impact. Trying to “prove” the value of cultural activity can lead to evaluations that are too thinly spread; collecting vast amounts of data in an attempt to measure a huge range of outcomes can result in less valuable findings. Creating unrealistic expectations undermines the amazing things cultural activity does achieve.

Art on white backing – Yorkshire Sculpture Park (Photo: West Yorkshire Combined Authority)

Measuring the significant, but often intangible, benefits of cultural activity can be a challenge. This is why it’s crucial at the start of the process to agree on clear aims and ambitions for the cultural activity. This establishes what’s in scope for evaluation, and what’s ultimately out of scope, helping to make the most of resources and time available.

Evaluations focusing on a shortlist of core outcomes, explored insightfully, can tell a more compelling story than trying to produce data on everything. Being upfront about what’s possible can require courage but often leads to more well-defined outcomes that can be more effectively measured.

Making reports count

The value of effective dissemination should not be underestimated, particularly in a local government context. Audiences for evaluation activity include our internal colleagues in policymaking, senior leadership, data analysis, contract and performance management, and media and communications. Yet, we also need to address the concerns and interests of our external partners, such as sector representatives, delivery partners, local authorities, central government departments and political figures.

Producing one final report shouldn’t be the endpoint. There’s an art to finding effective ways to sharing learning. For evaluation to be useful to policymaking, the relevant findings must be drawn out for different groups. They need to be shared with the right people at the right time, to align with planning and decision-making processes.

Findings need to be communicated in engaging ways that speak to decision-makers’ expertise and priorities. Building a convincing evidence base, from which clear and actionable recommendations can be developed, ensures that insight from evaluation can feed into what comes next.

Greater than the sum of our parts

Developing the scope of our evaluations and how we draw out relevant insights feels less daunting when it’s grounded in tried-and-tested practice. The Centre’s Evaluation Principles provide a helpful framework to help guide how evaluation is carried out in the cultural sector. By distilling the rich detail of evaluation reports, the new Evaluation Learning Space demonstrates the breadth of good practice to build on.

Other useful resources for policymakers include those developed by the Local Government Association, the UK Evaluation Society, and Spirit of 2012 (including the recently published Golden Thread report).

There’s lots to be learned from each other. I’m immensely proud to be part of the West Yorkshire Cultural Data and Evaluation Working Group, which brings together regional and local authority partners from across the region and representatives from Bradford City of Culture 2025, the Centre for Cultural Value and Yorkshire Sport Foundation.

There’s a wealth of expertise across the group in conducting evaluations. It’s a space for sharing insight, best practices, knowledge and expertise. By developing a greater understanding of what evaluation activity is happening across the region, our meetings are also an opportunity to identify ways to join and work together.

Nurturing an evaluation culture

In the roundtable, we also discussed what being a “learning organisation” means. We agreed the key is embedding ongoing reflection in everyday ways of working. Within my team, we’re scheduling regular meetings to focus on evaluation and reflection. This approach prioritises time for the team to actively reflect together, with the support of prompts and resources, and create ways of logging and reviewing our lessons learned.

Of course, nurturing an evaluation culture isn’t something that can happen overnight. It requires resources, energy and time. Structures need to be put in place that facilitate stepping back, reflecting and making changes. These structures rely on relationships built on trust, honesty and openness.

Valuing the evaluation process

I see my role as demonstrating how evaluation contributes to achieving our shared ambitions for culture in the region. Through a genuine commitment to learning, we’re helping to support and strengthen evaluation practices, creating a more reflective ecosystem that supports the sector to learn and grow.

This is where the intersection between evaluation and policymaking is strongest: when evaluation isn’t an end point but a learning process and a guide.

Glossary

Local Authority: An organisation responsible for the public services and facilities in a particular area. Local councils are the most common type of local authority, and are made up of councillors elected by the public in local elections. Councillors agree and deliver on local priorities, working with local businesses, organisations, and permanent council staff.

Combined Authority: A partnership where councils in a certain area join together and can make collective decisions on matters affecting the whole area. This means member councils can utilise powers and resources devolved to them from national government. The Mayor is directly elected to the lead the Combined Authority.

Further resources

• How to … shape cultural policy through research
• My essential reads: the economic impacts of major events
• Reflecting Value Podcast: Evaluation Principles in Practice – Episode 4, Transparency
• Joining the dots for better cultural policy (ArtsProfessional blog post)
• Research digest: Culture and Placemaking

About the Author: Beth Woods

Beth Woods is the Lead Evaluation Officer for Culture at the West Yorkshire Combined Authority. Her role involves developing and embedding the Combined Authority’s evaluation framework for Culture, Heritage and Sport. She works closely with partners across the region to support evaluation activity, develop shared ways of working, and work together to tell the story of the region.

Beth has a background in research and evaluation in the arts, culture and social sectors, and is particularly interested in understanding perceptions of, and participation in, culture, heritage and sport across the region.

Connect with Beth on LinkedIn.

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