Civil servants ‘struggle to find knowledge for local policies’

Report shows dearth of scientific evidence available to bureaucrats in Dutch municipalities

Municipal officials in the Netherlands are concerned that not enough knowledge is available to properly shape and amend local policies, according to a survey by the Rathenau Institute, a think tank that facilitates public debate on science.

In the survey, which covered 107 Dutch local authorities, civil servants criticised the decentralisation of their tasks, which, they said, made it harder to access scientific information. More than 90 per cent of respondents said there was an “information challenge” within local government, while a third said they did not have enough insight into the effectiveness of policies.