How governments  
   use evidence to make 
   transport policy  
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   AAluisthtaoir 1 r Bal| Audwtihno |r K 2elly Shuttleworth
         About this report
         The Conservative Party’s 2019 manifesto 
         promised an ambitious ‘transport revolution’, but 
         the history of previous governments shows how 
         they have often failed to deliver their transport 
         promises, while carbon emissions from transport 
         have been flat for three decades, leaving it as 
         the largest emitting sector of the UK economy. 
         This report looks at how the UK and comparable 
         countries use evidence in designing transport 
         policy, and offers recommendations for how the 
         UK can make better policy in future.
            @instituteforgov 
         www.instituteforgovernent.org.uk
         February 2021
                  Contents
                  Summary                                                                              5
                  Recommendations                                                                     10
                  Introduction                                                                        12
                  1    Types of transport policy decisions made in the UK                             15
                  2    The institutions that commission and use evidence                              17
                  3    The analysis of evidence                                                       33
                  4    The people who create and apply evidence                                       56
                  5 Conclusions                                                                       68
                  Annex A 71
                  References 73
                  About the authors 80
                                                                                                        3
                List of figures, tables and boxes 
                Figure 1  
                Road safety in comparator countries                                         13
                Figure 2  
                The UK’s research bodies, executive agencies and public bodies              18
                Figure 3  
                The Netherlands’ research bodies, executive agencies and public bodies      24
                Figure 4  
                Sweden’s research bodies, executive agencies and public bodies              25
                Figure 5  
                New Zealand’s research bodies, executive agencies and public bodies         26
                Figure 6  
                Germany’s research bodies, executive agencies and public bodies             27
                Figure 7  
                Greenhouse gas emissions from transport of comparator countries  
                (in tonnes of CO2 equivalent per capita)                                    48
                Figure 8  
                Passenger car ownership in comparator countries                             49
                Figure 9  
                Percentage of civil servants leaving the DfT by grade 2018                  57
                Table 1  
                Transport infrastructure investment processes in comparator countries       45
                Box 1  
                A303 under Stonehenge                                                       41
                4                                                  EVIDENCE IN TRANSPORT POLICY