Research councils publish delivery plans as a final product of a government spending review (SR). The delivery plan sets out a council’s priorities for spending funds and outlines the activities it intends to undertake over the SR period. The plan describes how each research council will use its resources to achieve its mission and contribute toward the government’s objectives for the science budget.
The plan is refreshed annually, and a new plan is created at the start of each SR period. The plans are part of a comprehensive performance management system which will enable the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy to demonstrate the contribution that each research council is making towards achieving government targets.
As well as the delivery plan, this system includes a series of performance metrics (the outputs framework) and a set of targets and milestones (the reporting framework). Progress in implementing the delivery plan and achievements against the reporting framework target and milestones are published each year in the annual Economic Impact Report.