Presentation by Ronnie Downes, OECD Secretariat, at the 11th annual meeting of the OECD Senior Budget Officials Performance and Results network, OECD, 26-27 November 2015

1. Evaluating OECD Performance
on Performance & Evaluation:
Successes, Challenges and Lessons
Ronnie Downes
Deputy Head, Budgeting and Public Expenditures
OECD
11th Annual Network on Performance & Results
Paris, 26-27 November 2015

2. Performance Budgeting – Simple in Theory…
€ ₩ $
   

3. …Difficult in Practice
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Pay cut for head of programme/organisation
Programme transferred to other…
Negative consequences for leaders' evaluations
Programme eliminated
More staff assigned to programme/organisation
New leadership brought in
Budget freezes
Budget increases
More training provided to staff assigned
Budget decreases
More intense monitoring in the future
Poor performance made public
No consequences
2007 2011
What happens when performance objectives are not met?

4. Objectives for today
• Recap main findings of 2011 Survey
• Identify key themes and topics for 2016 Survey
– Breakout sessions before lunch
– Reports and discussion after lunch
• Set our expectations and timelines for 2016 work

5. The institutional and procedural context for
Performance Budgeting is developing
• Link to KNIs?
• Standardised PB?
• Structures?
• PB Agreements?

6. • Transparency
• Accountability
– Government (achieving strategic goals?)
– Organisational (delivering our targets?)
– Managerial (delivering my targets?)
• Austerity
– Inform difficult government decisions, cuts
• Efficiency
– Allocative (where resources have best effect)
– Operational (value-for-money, “more with less”)
• Culture-shift (focus on results and delivery)
Performance information is used for
a variety of purposes

7. Information on outcomes and impacts
is not (yet?) widely used
• Inputs?
• Outputs?
• Outcomes?
• Ratings?
• Efficiency?
• Horizontal themes?

8. Some challenges remain is using Performance
Information; other challenges are being addressed
Accurate timely data
Relevance for budget
Info overload
Performance culture
Too bureaucratic
Lack of PB guidance

9. Evaluation and Spending Review
• Lots of evaluation guidance – not so much compliance
• Many different institutional models of evaluation
• Evaluation results used only sporadically in budgeting
– but better impact when used in Spending Review
• Half of OECD countries using Spending Review
• Usually feeds in to budget process
• “Efficiencies”, “adjustments” rather than “elimination”

10. Breakout A – Performance Information & Budgeting
• Is it necessary or desirable that Performance Objectives to
anchored in Outcome Goals / Benchmarks / KNIs?
• What is the right level of ambition for Performance
Budgeting – to improve efficiency, enhance accountability, or
achieve goals?
• Is it worthwhile to think in terms of standardising
Performance Budgeting frameworks in OECD countries and
regions? Why? / why not?
• Based on the answers: What new information do we need?
And: What needs to change?

11. Breakout B – Use of Performance Information
& Open Data
• How to ensure Consistency, Coherence, Continuity in performance
information for its various purposes?
• What institutional approaches best support the quality and usefulness of
performance information?
• How useful is performance information, at present, for policy decisions on
resource allocation and re-prioritisation? Is this information actually used
for assessing effectiveness and impact of programmes?
• Is performance information used by citizens, parliaments, civil society?
What are the implications of open data / digital government for
performance budgeting?
• Based on the answers: What new information do we need?
And: What needs to change?

12. Breakout C – Evaluation & Spending Review
• What are the models of evaluation currently in place? Are there
established reference frameworks, institutional supports?
• Should there be common frameworks and approaches for
evaluating spending, regulation, and other tools of government
action?
• How can the evaluations be made relevant for performance
budgeting?
• What is the balance between ongoing evaluation and periodic
spending reviews? Do they serve different purposes?
• Based on the answers: What new information do we need?
And: What needs to change?

13. Practical information
Breakout A – main room (cc12) – Mr Karl-Erik Tender
Breakout B – room cc16 – Mr Ivor Beazley
Breakout C – room cc18 – Mme Véronique
Fouque
Time for discussion: after coffee: 11:45-13:00
Report and discussion: after lunch: 14:30 – 15:30

14. Towards “Guiding Principles of
Performance Budgeting”?
a) use ready-made performance data from policy cycle
b) clear programme logic linking inputs, outputs, outcomes
c) seamless link to government-wide strategy and goals
d) avoid information overload – the “vital few” indicators
e) Include national and international benchmarks
f) organisational, managerial accountability for results
– Establish routines of behaviour within organisations
g) audited and auditable performance targets
h) citizen- and CSO-accessible data