Why should you use it

·         You will have ready access to summarised information on relevant Regional and National Policy documents, for use by non-specialists. The information covers all the individual objectives of the Sustainable Development Framework for the East of England.

·         You will have a range of questions to help you decide whether you are achieving the individual Sustainable Development Frameworks objectives. Each question has a number of pointers to help you answer it. These pointers are in the form of supplementary questions, each with its own relevant information.

·         Your answers to questions are colour coded to produce an easy to use summary that readily identifies the benefits and potential disadvantages of your initiative. The justifications you give to the individual answers provide you with an auditable trail that demonstrates why your initiative meets its objectives. The summary and justifications combined also allows you to easily show why you choose one solution in preference to another.

·         Your appraisal of an initiative will cover all the East of England’s Sustainable Development Frameworks objectives, even those areas where you are not a specialist. The comprehensive assessment will show which areas need further work to enhance benefit or reduce unintended effects. Appraisals of different initiatives can be combined to identify whether a further initiative is necessary to accomplish overall aims.

·         The information you use and the questions you answer will be continually updated to reflect changes in policy and feedback from users.