Step 7. Monitoring the policy

• Instantly put in place a system to assess and monitor the (cost) effectiveness of the measure

As described in Part 3, assessment and monitoring of the measure is crucial step to defining the best long-term policy. In particular, it must be assessed whether policy objectives have been reached and what the effects of the measure have been. In that regard, policymakers could directly identify the steps necessary to providing such monitoring and assessment. In particular, the following must be identified:

• Data to be collected and which organisations are responsible for this data collection;
• All earn-back effects so that a clear view on the net cost of the measure can be obtained;

• Take into account all earn-back effects in communication about the measure and its assessment

Public authorities’ should have a clear vision of all the positive earn-back effects and so on so that they have a clear picture of the total cost of the measure (instead of focusing only on its gross cost). Various earn-back effects must be taken into account. Moreover, given that the measure has various broad general effects (employment, and so on), the department/ministry which invests and the department/ministry which receives the benefits may be different. In light of that, it is very important that those benefits are well known and that each department is well aware of them.