Reports

This report from UK think tank the David Hume Institute explores the results of their quarterly survey data collected just after the Scottish Parliament election. The findings of the first Understanding Scotland Economy Tracker since the Scottish Parliament Election bring into focus the scale of the challenge facing the new MSPs. Despite growing confidence in...

This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation launches their research programme on the future of the private rented sector. Welcome to our latest Housing Outlook, launching a Resolution Foundation research programme on the future of the private rented sector (PRS). The PRS has more than doubled in size since the turn of the...

This report from UK think tanks the Sutton Trust and the Social Market Foundation discusses school-based nurseries and the disadvantage gap. The School-based Nursery (or SBN) programme is a major government policy aiming to deliver on two early years priorities: to expand access to childcare for working families and to increase the proportion of children...

This report from UK think tank Centre for Cities explores the geography of deprivation in urban Britain. Two-thirds of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the UK are in cities, even though cities and non-urban areas each account for roughly half of all neighbourhoods. Affluent neighbourhoods, by contrast, are split evenly between urban and non-urban areas.

This report from UK think tank British Future explores findings from the British Future immigration attitudes tracker. ‘After the fall: Why hasn’t falling immigration changes public attitudes?’ is the 2026 report from the British Future Immigration Attitudes Tracker, which has followed public attitudes to immigration for over a decade since 2015. The new research reveals...

This report from UK think tank the Centre for European Reform argues that China’s export-driven growth model poses a challenge to Germany’s manufacturing economy. Germany’s industrial model is under mounting pressure from a second China shock – and Berlin can no longer afford to wait for the problem to correct itself. A new study by...

This report from UK think tank Green Alliance sets out how the government can ensure young people are ready for the jobs of the 2030s. The UK’s green economy is set to grow rapidly, but young people aren’t being prepared for the careers it will create. Youth unemployment is at a ten year high and...

This report from UK think tank Power to Change argues that the civic high street is the right organising principle for the shift toward mixed-use, community-centred high streets.  The 'new high street playbook' shares lessons from the Community-Led High Street Innovators programme, and why they matter now. Connecting real world practice to the current policy window, this report reflects a...

This report from UK think tank Nesta provides an evidence-based assessment of the technical and clinical digital infrastructure underpinning the UK’s health data assets. The new Health Data Research Service (HDRS) can create the technical infrastructure, operational capacity and governance processes to join these capabilities into a coherent national system. As a once-in-a-generation opportunity to...

This report from UK think tank the Policy Institute outlines the first findings from a major new tracker of attitudes to AI and work. Seven in 10 of the UK public are worried about the economic impacts of AI, six in 10 think it will eliminate more jobs than it creates, half think its impact...

This report from UK think tank Re:State makes the case for forcing government staff to take the risk from obsolete IT seriously by creating a new Digital Modernisation Taskforce. The State is inseparable from the digital technology it uses. It is impossible to imagine a government without the software which underpins the everyday interactions with...

This report from UK think tank the ECFR monitors Iran's nuclear programme. This regularly updated Iran nuclear monitor is developed in consultation with nuclear security experts, drawing on open-source intelligence, IAEA statements and satellite imagery analysis. Indicators track distinct, observable activities or declarations of intent—for example, diplomacy, enrichment or official nuclear policy—that collectively allow readers...

This report from UK think tank City-REDI explores how secondment can systematically build capability, share knowledge and address resource constraints across levels of government. This policy briefing, from the Local Policy Innovation Partnership Hub, explores how England’s devolution reforms could work more effectively by using staff secondments as a core part of the delivery system....

This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation sets out how the Government can reset Britain’s economic policy. This briefing note sets out how the Government can reset Britain’s economic policy following disastrous local election results, arguing that an honest assessment of where the country stands is the indispensable starting point for repairing its...

This report from UK think tank the Sutton Trust explores the relationship between social mobility and happiness. Is social mobility just about jobs and income? Does being upwardly mobile make you happy? Does socio-economic background determine who gets to live good, healthy and happy lives? This report examines the connection between happiness, wellbeing, life satisfaction,...

This report from UK think tank the Policy Institute examines public perceptions and healthcare priorities. AI is creating a significant shift in how people access healthcare, yet public attitudes to the technology remain deeply divided, according to a major new study by King's Health Partners, Responsible AI UK and the Policy Institute at King's College...

This report from UK think tank Centre for Cities shows that rising National Living Wage rates are having very different effects across UK cities and towns. A single national wage floor, combined with varying economic performance across UK cities, means that the impact of the minimum wage is felt very differently in different places. A...

This report from UK think tank Nesta provides a comprehensive analysis of public spending on early years support in Wales. Early years spending in Wales spans both devolved and reserved policy, and hence comes from a combination of UK government and Welsh Government or Welsh local authority budgets. Healthcare, funded childcare, and children’s services and...

This report from UK think tank IPPR calls for a new system of rent stabilisation to cap excessive increases, linked to whichever is lower: inflation or wage growth. 45 per cent of all private renters in the UK have unaffordable rents. It's time for the government to act to limit rent increases. In the UK...

This report from UK think tank the Policy Institute brings together essays from leading higher education figures across Europe. Despite taking very different approaches to financing, higher education sectors across major European economies are experiencing the same underlying pressure. Universities have grown enormously since the 1950s, but public funding has not kept pace. The tools...

This report from UK think tank IPPR explores how a well-designed intervention that caps energy prices can limit inflation and insure against the worst outcomes. The Iran war energy shock will impose significant costs on the UK economy, even if the government does not offer a universal support package. As it drives up inflation, we...

This report from UK think tank Re:State summarises the current Code and then provides a full, new draft Code to replace the existing one. Criticisms of the Civil Service are a seemingly permanent feature of our politics, with government after government promising to drive ahead with reforms to tackle a Whitehall machine that is too...

This report from UK think tank Nesta explores the different options for paying for heat pumps. One of the largest barriers to widespread heat pump adoption is the high upfront cost. Households often pay more for a heat pump than for a replacement boiler, even after the £7,500 grant from the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS)....

This report from UK think tank the Fabian Society examines the built economy skills crisis. The construction and built environment sector – which brings together the design, construction, management and maintenance of homes, buildings and infrastructure – is crucial to the UK economy. It provides millions of jobs, and plays a critical role as an...

This report from UK think tank Nesta provides a comprehensive analysis of public spending on early years support in Scotland. Early years spending in Scotland spans both devolved and reserved policy, and hence comes from a combination of UK government and Scottish Government or Scottish local authority budgets. Healthcare, early education and childcare, and children’s services...