2.13 The ultimate outcome of any appraisal is a decision whether or not to proceed with a proposal or a particular option. As these decisions will often have far reaching consequences, the presentation of the conclusions and recommendations to decision makers and key stakeholders can be as important as the analysis itself. In all cases, transparency is vital. Presentations and reports should be clear, logical, well founded, and geared towards helping the decision at hand. Summary reports in particular should be drafted in non-technical language wherever possible, but, if it is necessary to use technical terms, they should be explained.
2.14 Reports should provide sufficient evidence to support their conclusions and recommendations. They should provide an easy audit trail for the reader to check calculations, supporting evidence and assumptions. Major costs and benefits should be described, and the values attached to each clearly shown rather than netted off in the presentation of the analysis. This should help to ensure that decision makers understand the assumptions underlying the conclusions of the analysis, and the recommendations put forward. Appraisal reports should contain sufficient information to support the conduct of any later evaluation.
2.15 The results of sensitivity and scenario analyses should also generally be included in presentations and summary reports to decision makers, rather than just single point estimates of expected values. Decision makers need to understand that there are ranges of potential outcomes, and hence to judge the capacity of proposals to withstand future uncertainty.
BOX 3: POSSIBLE OUTPUTS OF AN ECONOMIC APPRAISAL OR EVALUATION
| ❑ Business cases (either Preliminary, Outline or Full) consisting of: ❑ Strategic Case; ❑ Economic Case (or Option Appraisal); ❑ Financial Case (or Affordability); ❑ Commercial Case; ❑ Programme; ❑ Project Management Case (or Achievability). ❑ Regulatory Impact Assessment ❑ Health Impact Assessment ❑ Environmental Appraisal ❑ Health and Safety Impact appraisal ❑ Consumer Impact Assessment ❑ Integrated Policy Appraisal (IPA)2 ❑ Evaluation and audit reports. |
2.16 Departments and agencies often issue good practice templates for policy and project appraisals and evaluations.3
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2 The IPA is a policy tool that attempts to cover all aspects of an appraisal. It provides a checklist of questions on issues such as climate change, air quality, landscape, land use, waste, water, biodiversity and noise. Further guidance is available from ODPM, DEFRA and DfT.
3 For instance, the OGC provides business case templates on its website, which are recommended for use in project appraisals: http://www.ogc.gov.uk