Guidance

The Green Book: appraisal and evaluation in central government

HM Treasury guidance on how to appraise and evaluate policies, projects and programmes.

Published 18 April 2013
Last updated 19 November 2020 — see all updates
From:
HM Treasury and Government Finance Function

Documents

The Green Book

PDF, 1000KB, 132 pages

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Business case guidance for projects

PDF, 1.82MB, 134 pages

Business case guidance for programmes

PDF, 1.22MB, 111 pages

Agile digital and IT projects: clarification of business case guidance

HTML

Details

The Green Book is guidance issued by HM Treasury on how to appraise policies, programmes and projects. It also provides guidance on the design and use of monitoring and evaluation before, during and after implementation.

Previous editions of the Green Book

The previous 2003 edition of Green Book guidance is now withdrawn. For purposes of academic study and public information it may be found on the National Archives website.

Published 18 April 2013
Last updated 19 November 2020 + show all updates

  1. Reduced content on page.

  2. Updated with 'Infrastructure Business Case: International Guidance, Infrastructure Business Case: International Guidance Annexes and Infrastructure Business Case: International Case Study'.

  3. Added Business Case Templates documents to the page

  4. Updated with revised version of 'Access to training and accreditation in best practice business cases'.

  5. Replaced 'Public sector business cases using five case model: guidance' with 'Business case guidance for programmes', 'Business case guidance for projects', 'Business case guidance for programmes (International version)' and 'Business case guidance for projects (International version)'.

  6. New version of the Green Book published, as well as accompanying academic paper.

  7. Link to new guidance on Treasury approvals for programmes and projects added.

  8. Updated better business cases guidance published

  9. updated 'Access to training and accreditation in best practice business cases' publication

  10. Public sector business cases using the five case model: templates file (.doc) replaced (with (.odt)

  11. 'Agile digital and IT projects: clarification of business case guidance' published

  12. Updated guidance on public sector business cases using the 'five case model' published

  13. First published.

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