Evaluation of the Fastershire programme

Case study: Research

Client: Fastershire
Date: 2017
Work: Impact evaluation

Fastershire is a £35M programme to deliver superfast broadband in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire.

In June 2017 Data Orchard was commissioned to do an audit and evaluation of Fastershire’s business engagement activities. This focused on four specific elements: analysis of businesses that have and have not engaged with the programme; consistency and compatibility of existing methods of data capture; summary of data captured and how it reflects the impact of high-speed broadband access and exploitation; recommendations on additional data that could be generated to understand impact.

Methods included: theory of change and data mapping workshops with staff managing and delivering Fastershire’s three programmes (Faster Business, Faster Farmers, and Faster Women); analysis and evaluation of ten different datasets; merging, cleaning, and coding four datasets; and external sourcing county level and national business data for comparative analysis. We delivered a profile of businesses that engaged with the programme compared to the wider sector; reviewed existing data collection methods; summarised data and provided recommendations on improving evidence on impact.