Inclusive Growth Evaluation

Description

Inclusive Growth (IG) remains a key policy objective in Scotland, including within the context of infrastructure, as emphasised within the Scottish Government Infrastructure Investment Plan1 (IIP) where it is one of three priority areas for appraising infrastructure investment, alongside Environmental Sustainability and Sustainable Places. Despite this focus, the 2019 Fraser of Allander study2, commissioned by the Infrastructure Commission for Scotland, showed that the evidence base for any relationship between IG and infrastructure was weak, instead primarily relied on a theoretical understanding of impacts. This position is unchanged, as noted within a follow up commission by SFT, recently undertaken by EKOS and Dark Matter Labs. This commission established an evaluation framework to begin to address this evidence gap and was the first phase of a longer-term project to address the evidence gap. SFT now wish to appoint a consultant to implement the evaluation framework with a number of projects and programmes; and establish a cohesive approach that will ensure data can be captured and interrogated at key points. Scottish Futures Trust would like to commission a consultancy to test a recently developed evaluation framework with a number of infrastructure projects across Scotland. This activity seeks to address the current evidence-gap in understanding the role of infrastructure to support inclusive growth outcomes. This is a follow-on activity from research recently completed on behalf of SFT. The initial commission will be for a select number of projects and will include, as a minimum: identifying inclusive growth challenges; using the developed framework to identify metrics; establish a baseline; establish a clear process and timeframes for data gathering, which should align with any existing monitoring and evaluation system. While there is expected to be a discrete number of initial projects, we will also be seeking day rates to allow for expansion of the programme of activities, including the inclusion of SFT partners. In addition, while this is currently an in-year commission, we anticipate future work to facilitate capturing the longer-term learning.