Stakeholder Engagement: Magenta Book Update

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

Notification that the deadline for submitting feedback has passed.

The deadline has passed and we are not accepting further responses.

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 [email protected] by 15 May 2025.

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.

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.

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