The ETF are pleased to invite stakeholders from across government and relevant external agencies to provide feedback on potential updates to the Magenta Book.

This is one of the initial steps in identifying and implementing improvements to the Magenta Book. Please send the form ( Stakeholder engagement on the Magenta Book update form (MS Word Document, 83.8 KB)) to etf@cabinetoffice.gov.uk by 15 May 2025.

Background

The Magenta Book outlines central government guidance on evaluation, and is aligned with the HM Treasury Green Book, which sets out the economic principles that should be applied to both appraisal and evaluation.

The Evaluation Task Force is working with representatives from the Cross Government Evaluation Group, Government Social Research Heads of Profession, and Directors of Analysis to review and update the Magenta Book to reflect relevant advances in social research methods and practices since the last Magenta Book update in 2020.

Aims

The overall aim of the review is to enhance the Magenta Book by identifying and implementing potential improvements in evaluation methods, guidance, and practice. It is an opportunity to enhance the relevance and effectiveness of Government evaluation guidance for government social researchers, and organisations who undertake independent evaluations for government.

Scope

Initial engagement with key government stakeholders have identified four key areas where there is an appetite to add content to the Magenta Book: 

1. Value for money evaluation; 
2. ‘Test and learn’ evaluation approaches and other associated terms such as prototyping;
3. Aligning evaluation and benefits realisation, including the distinctions between the two and how they complement and work together;
4. Research transparency, including analysis replicability, availability of data/code, and use of open repositories.

We would particularly welcome feedback on: 

1. Whether you are supportive of additional content being added to the Magenta Book in the four areas listed above;
2. Whether there are other aspects of the Magenta Book that you believe could be improved or adapted to better serve the needs of Government evaluators; 
3. Whether there are any errors, inaccuracies or other errata in the current version of the Magenta Book that should be corrected or edited for clarity.

The scope of the review is to enhance our evaluation guidance, and we are not looking to revise existing content where this is accurate and reliable. 

How to provide feedback:

You should complete the form ( Stakeholder engagement on the Magenta Book update form (MS Word Document, 83.8 KB)) to provide feedback and send it to etf@cabinetoffice.gov.uk by 15 May 2025. We look forward to your contributions.