For nearly half a century the Treasury's Green Book has provided guidance to help officials develop transparent, objective, evidence-based appraisal and evaluation of proposals to inform decision making.
This Green Book is an update of the 2003 edition. It builds on the lessons learned using the 2003 edition and previous editions dating back over 40 years.
Many of the changes in this edition reflect important advances in appraisal and evaluation that government departments and agencies have made since 2003. This is especially notable in environmental appraisal, where scientific advances have transformed our understanding of environmental impacts and improved our ability to understand and value them. Greater emphasis is also placed on building monitoring and evaluation into policy development before, during and after implementation.
The policy landscape has changed since 2003, but there is a continued need to make the best use of resources. Treasury Business Case Guidance for spending proposals has been strengthened, emphasising the importance of assessing proposals on the robustness of their delivery plans alongside more traditional cost benefit analysis. The impact of regulation on business has also been brought into sharper focus with the introduction of business impact targets. Both these developments are reflected in this edition of the Green Book.
The guidance has benefited from discussions across government and with colleagues from academia and the practitioner community. Thanks are due to all that have given their time to supporting this update.
Tom Scholar
Permanent Secretary, HM Treasury
March 2018