The AQuA Book

The AQuA Book is Government guidance about how to produce robust, fit for purpose analysis. It's for all analysts, analytical managers and commissioners.

The AQuA Book is the work of many authors from across the Government Analysis Function. The original version of the book was compiled by the Quality Assurance Working Group set up after Sir Nicholas Macpherson’s review of modelling in government.

This revised edition of the book was produced by a task and finish group drawn from across the Government Analysis Function. We would like to thank everybody who has given of their time and expertise to produce the revised edition and give a special mention to the task and finish group who gave their time and expertise to the book:

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The Analytical Quality Assurance (AQuA) Book provides guidance on producing good quality analysis for government to support well informed decision-making that creates better outcomes and improve the lives of citizens.

The AQuA Book has made a significant contribution to the cultural change in assurance practices in government by clearly setting out the core framework for assuring all forms of analytical evidence.

The last version of the AQuA Book was published in 2015, following Sir Nicholas Macpherson’s Review of quality assurance of government models. Since then assurance has become part of the fabric of good practice for developing evidence to support policy development, implementation and operational excellence.