Reports

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...

This report from UK think tank HEPI looks at what measures are in place to protect UK research from foreign interference. This report reviews what measures are in place to protect UK research from foreign interference, including the new National Security and Investment Act (2021) that came into force on 4 January 2022. It argues...

This report from UK think tank the Social Market Foundation looks at expanding the role of banks and building societies in supporting financial resilience. The pandemic has exacerbated existing financial inequalities in the UK and weakened financial resilience, especially among the most vulnerable people. This briefing explores the role of the retail banking sector in...

This report from UK think tank Chatham House looks at proposed reforms to leadership, governance and coordination in the UN Rome-based agencies. Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger (SDG2) remains out of reach. SDG2 progress has slowed over the last few years, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to exacerbate the problem....

This report from UK think tank the Henry Jackson Society is an in-depth study of the Iranian regime’s foreign policy impact in the Arabian Gulf region. This project involved undertaking an in-depth and exhaustive study of the Iranian regime’s foreign policy impacts upon British and American national security interests in the Arabian Gulf region. Specifically,...

This report from UK think tank the Adam Smith Institute looks at property rights on the moon. This Adam Smith Institute’s latest paper, by Rebecca Lowe, consultant and former director of the FREER think tank, argues that creating a clear system of property rights in space could turbocharge scientific discovery and give all of humanity...