This report from UK think tank IPPR assesses our current course and proposes five priority areas for a decade of renewal. The North’s communities are ambitious for a better future, but face systemic and pronounced inequalities. Gaps in power, wealth, opportunity, and health result in shorter, sicker, less fulfilling lives. Regional inequality is a major...

This report from UK think tank the Centre for Social Justice outlines a bleak future without urgent action to support Scotland’s vital charity sector. In September 2023, the CSJ office in Scotland embarked on a mission to understand the challenges faced by grassroots charities. Through polling 1,000 people in Scotland and engaging with 80 charity...

This report from UK think tank the Centre for Social Justice proposes several key policies to facilitate carers’ participation in the labour market. In 2021-22 alone, nearly 400,000 carers had to leave their jobs to care for older or disabled family members. Despite this, there’s a strong desire among carers to engage in paid employment,...

This report from UK think tank the Institute of Development Studies looks at urban residents’ experiences of poverty and the support they received since the Covid-19 pandemic. The Covid-19 pandemic led to a large increase in poverty in Bangladesh, especially in urban areas. Rising food prices and high inflation rates further compounded already high levels...

This report from UK think tank IPPR looks at how we need to raise our ambition on cardiovascular disease. Progress on cardiovascular disease was a significant driver of better health and prosperity in the latter half of the 20th century, however progress has recently stalled – with indications it may be in reverse. Stalling progress...

This report from UK think tank the King's Fund sets out the wholesale shift in focus needed to bolster primary and community care. The health and care system in England must shift its focus away from hospital care to primary and community services if it is to be effective and sustainable. Despite successive governments repeating...

This report from UK think tank the Social Market Foundation looks at the economics of public health intervention. This Social Market Foundation briefing is the third of three papers exploring tobacco, alcohol, obesity and gambling policy. It argues that the contribution of such activities to the economy should not be used as a justification to...

This report from UK think tank IPPR looks at England's path from laggard to leader in walking, wheeling, and cycling. There is overwhelming evidence that investment in active travel infrastructure brings significant benefits. These include large returns on investment, addressing emissions from road transport, reducing regional inequalities, and improving health. Despite this, investment has remained...

This report from UK think tank New Local looks at making public money work better for communities. Severe challenges face public services in England. Austerity has created a ‘doom-loop’ whereby the short-term urgency to respond to crises prevents the development of long term solutions to underlying problems. Top-down efficiency initiatives no longer produce real savings,...

This report from UK think tank Pro Bono Economics shows the economic benefits of LENS treatment for people with anxiety. Anxiety disorders affect large parts of the population and their impact can be debilitating. Most people experience some symptoms of anxiety in response to stress or danger; however, anxiety becomes a problem when it is...

This report from UK think tank the Social Market Foundation looks at three steps to success for the NHS. The crisis in the NHS, with unacceptable waiting lists and ever increasing emergency admissions, shows the current model is failing to meet modern healthcare needs. This Social Market Foundation briefing proposes a new model to increase...

This report from UK think tank the Education Policy Institute reviews the existing evidence on the evolution of the Free School Meals (FSM) measure. This report reviews and discusses the existing evidence on the evolution of the Free School Meals (FSM) measure, over the past two decades, and on its uses, including in Pupil Premium...

This report from UK think tank IPPR identifies examples of transformative place-level interventions in the UK which are already making a difference. The UK is getting poorer and sicker, and this trend is not equal across the country. Poorer and sicker areas are getting poorer and sicker the most quickly. To help develop a path...

This report from UK think tank Bright Blue looks at delivering cleaner air in a socially just way. This report focuses on the impact of and policies for two sectors that are especially responsible for air pollution in deprived areas: transport and domestic burning, which are the biggest contributors to NOx and PM2.5 air pollutants....

This report from UK think tank Chatham House looks at policy options for improved laboratory safety and security. This paper discusses a new mapping of all reports of laboratory accidents worldwide, published between 2000 and 2021, which finds that documentation and reporting of accidents are generally poor. Many countries have no reporting requirements at all,...