Spotlight answers on the same day they ask the questions. And they often struggle to see why they should invest some of the resources that they can put towards solving a problem in building an evidence base. This inherent incompatibility, however, does not mean that evidencebased policy making is impossible. But it does mean that it needs forethought, planning and commitment. You have to invest today to build the infrastructure and research capabilities that you will need to answer tomorrows questions. Putting it into practice This culture clash is also evident in the relationship between data and analytics teams or academics more used to evaluation, and communications teams and political strategists who feel publishing information makes the government hostage to fortune. It is far better to own the evidence and its inconsistencies and uncertainties yourself, says Brown. It is also important to remember that often there are values implicit in an evidence-based response. Take tax breaks for marriage, for example some would argue marriage helps with social cohesion, but these days views on the policy often come down to agreeing with the principle or not. Some people in certain fields would like to see a situation where the politics were taken out of some things a bit more, Brown says. I am not sure that is a feasible approach or the right answer. The crucial step we want is to know where evidence has played a role and where it hasnt. It is much better to ask: which parts of this are testable and what are the good questions, such as is there a good evidence base we could use?. If not, what are the questions that need to be explored how should they be framed to get us closer to a clear picture? Thats the conversation we need to aspire to. Recently, government research has become more open, with the Treasury Green Book the guide to policymaking in government now including transparency of the evidence behind 16 Impact ISSUE 39 2022_pp14-17_Spotlight.indd 16 23/09/2022 14:55