Study supporting the evaluation of EU agencies : Eurofound, Cedefop, ETF and EU-OSHA : final report

The overall aim of this evaluation is to provide an objective, independent and critical assessment of the four Agencies (Eurofound, Cedefop, EU-OSHA and ETF) in terms of their effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, EU added value and relevance. The evaluation assesses each Agency individually and also carries out a cross-cutting analysis, identifying possible synergies between the Agencies and any potential structural changes that might be needed. It also includes each Agency's role in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, where relevant. The evaluation aims to answer the following four groups of research questions: To what extent were the Agencies' interventions successful and why? How did the Agencies make a difference and to whom? Are the Agencies still relevant? • To what extent have recent audit recommendations been put into practice? To what extent have the conclusions of the Commission's latest evaluation on Agencies been operationalised? The scope of the study includes work of Eurofound, Cedefop, ETF and EU-OSHA and their entire thematic remit, focusing on four broad thematic areas: labour market, labour relations and living and working conditions (Eurofound); health and safety at work (EU-OSHA); vocational education and training (Cedefop); and skills and qualification policies (ETF). The geographical scope of the study covers 27 EU Member States. The evaluation covers the six-year period between 2017-2022. It considers two distinctive sub-periods of 2017-2019 and 2020-2022, in order to take into account the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. This also allows the evaluation to take into account the changes to the Founding Regulations of the three tripartite Agencies that took place in 2019.