Reports

This report from UK think tank the Social Market Foundation looks at perspectives from the real estate sector. This report examines the role of “social value” in real estate decision-making. A decade ago, the Social Value Act was passed. Now, the private sector is catching up, developing metrics and making decisions based on maximising social...

This report from UK think tank the Sutton Trust looks at careers guidance in secondary schools. High-quality careers guidance is vital to ensuring young people can access jobs that suit their talents and aspirations. This advice is particularly important for students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, as they are less likely to have access to a...

This report from UK think tank the Centre for London looks at ensuring a successful and harmonious mix of housing and economic activity in central London. Remixing Central London examines what is needed to ensure a successful and harmonious mix of housing and economic activity are supported in central London – against the backdrop of...

This report from UK think tank the Henry Jackson Society looks at further steps the UK could take without risking open conflict with the Russian state. A four-point plan to establish safe zones in Ukraine, secure the prosecution of Russian war criminals, and have the G7 declare Russia a terrorist state, is both possible and...

This report from UK think tank the IEA looks at principles that public authorities must follow when granting subsidies. The Subsidy Control Bill (‘the Bill’) could make it easier for public authorities to provide economically damaging subsidies – by moving away from the European Union’s state aid process and reducing transparency requirements. The Bill outlines...

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government looks at lessons for public bodies from the pandemic response in health. Leadership in a crisis like the pandemic must come from bodies across the public sector, not just from the centre of government. This requires ministers doing more to understand how arm’s-length bodies (ALBs)...

This report from UK think tank the Centre for Policy Studies looks at how to support UK exports in a post-Brexit world. SMEs make up 99.9% of UK businesses, employing 16.3 million people. They are at the heart of the UK economy. Yet historically, they have been far more reluctant to export than their international...

This report from UK think tank Chatham House looks at balancing reason, logic, cognition and intuition at strategic and operational levels. Complex systems modelling is already implemented in critical policy areas such as climate change and health. It could also play an important role in the nuclear weapons sphere – by opening alternative pathways that...

This report from UK think tank HEPI looks at how higher education institutions might approach illicit drug use within their student populations. In this HEPI Debate Paper, Arda Ozcubukcu and Professor Graham Towl explore how higher education institutions might approach illicit drug use within their student populations, suggesting that a zero-tolerance approach may cause more...

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government looks at a new statutory role to clarify the civil service's purpose. The civil service urgently needs a new statutory role to clarify its purpose, reinforce its standing, enhance its accountability, and to strengthen the partnership between ministers and civil servants upon which government depends....

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government looks at the causes of persistent failures and how government could change to make policy better. Successive governments have struggled to tackle many of the biggest policy problems the country faces. This report examines the causes of persistent failures and sets out recommendations as to...

This report from UK think tank IPPR looks at a crossroads in England's health and social care systems and outcomes. England has a number of new health and care leaders, who stand at a defining crossroads. The pandemic has rapidly accelerated an existing trend of decline in access and outcomes. This is creating the conditions...

This latest report from UK think tank the Institute of Development Studies looks at the conceptualisation of ‘inclusive trade’. This Working Paper contributes to the conceptualisation of ‘inclusive trade’. The review adopts a deliberative approach while considering the direct and indirect distributive dimensions of trade. It draws attention to issues across four central aspects of...

This report from UK think tank Resolution Foundation looks at the impacts of the net zero transition on households and consumption. The 2020s are set to bring a step change in climate policy, with efforts to decarbonise the UK economy beginning to impact on household consumption to a greater extent than before. Different households will...

This report from UK think tank Civitas looks at evidence and ideas on how we might think about a multiracial country. In this major new study of multi-ethnic Britain, Richard Norrie, makes the case that ethnic minority individuals fare better here than in the familial countries of origin, with a confident minority middle-class. Comparing the...

This report from UK think tank Onward looks at the next election and how the battleground will be in the North of England. In 2019, the fall of Labour’s “Red Wall” in the North and the Midlands exposed a seismic realignment of the British electorate and gave the Conservatives a historic election victory. Yet, just...

This report from UK think tank Bright Blue is a collection of essays on policies and priorities across the dimensions of climate security, migration and innovation. Climate change has no respect for national borders and as such can only be mitigated through international cooperation, demonstrating the importance of COP26 and climate diplomacy more broadly. Despite...

This report from UK think tank the Work Foundation looks at the implications of an 'always on' culture for businesses, teams and individuals. This guide to digital boundaries and disconnection at work, produced jointly by the Work Foundation and Prospect, explores the implications of an 'always on' culture for businesses, teams and individuals, and lays...

This report from UK think tank the Sutton Trust looks at socio-economic diversity in the engineering sector: access, pay and progression. Engineering is a large and diverse sector which is vital for the UK economy. It represents a considerable proportion of the UK workforce, with 18% of the UK working population based in engineering and...

This report from UK think tank the Institute of Development Studies looks at action for empowerment and accountability in challenging contexts. How and under what conditions does citizen-led social and political action contribute to empowerment and accountability? What are the strategies used, and with what outcomes, especially in settings which are democratically weak, politically fragile...

This report from UK think tank the Social Market Foundation looks at improving access to pensions advice and guidance. In our latest report, A Guiding Hand, the SMF finds that Brits are woefully unprepared to be able to achieve their desired retirement standard of living. The lack of high-quality support is set to create an...

This report from UK think tank UK in a Changing Europe looks at public opinion in the UK on the UK's constitutional future. Drawing on the expertise of over 40 of the UK’s top experts on public opinion, British Politics after Brexit provides a comprehensive overview of public opinion in the UK. The landscape of British...

This report from UK think tank Green Alliance looks at why it is not economic to extract more oil and gas from the North Sea. The spike in the global gas price since 2021 has seen UK households struggle to afford their energy bills. Some think a solution to this energy crisis is to increase...

This report from UK think tank CLES looks at the role of procurement in local economic development. This analysis was conducted by the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) for Manchester City Council as part of an ongoing partnership. The 14-year collaboration between CLES and Manchester City Council has helped to reshape the national debate...

This report from UK think tank Civitas looks at three strategic export industries and how freeports can help. In the third of a three-part series on UK trade, Phil Radford looks at why manufacturing in strategic industries has either moved offshore or stayed offshore. Prospects for a Global Britain: Three Strategic Export Industries for the...