Edinburgh Napier University

  The role of the Scottish Executive’s policy on social inclusion – now the social justice policy – is to reduce the degree of disadvantage experienced by certain sections of Scotland’s population. In order to monitor the success of this policy, suitable ways of evaluating its components need to be identified. This paper examines some of the issues surrounding the evaluation process. Key factors to be taken into account in devising a means of evaluation are identified. These include the importance of measuring both the tangible and intangible outcomes of social inclusion policy, and also the importance of using both quantitative and qualitative data to measure the full effects of such policies. The paper also examines the extent to which the Scottish Executive’s current policy is evaluated according to these principles, and the implications that this may have for future policy in this area