General Reports and Other Publications

Ofsted: History is being taught successfully in schools and most pupils enjoy well-planned lessons that extend their knowledge, challenge their thinking & enhance their understanding, according to an Ofsted report.  However, whole-school curriculum changes have affected the quality of teaching for 11 to 14 year olds.
Press release and related links
 
ipprEngland faces a shortfall of 750,000 homes by 2025 according to a new report from ippr.  New analysis of official government projections show that if the economy bounces back the gap between supply & demand could be equivalent to the entire housing demand of the populations of Birmingham, Liverpool & Newcastle combined.
 
ippr has just launched a Fundamental Review of Housing Policy, which will run for 12 months and cover 4 key themes: housing & the economy, housing supply, housing allocation & use and housing management.
Press release ~ The good, the bad and ugly: Housing demand 2025 ~ ippr Fundamental Review of Housing Policy 
 
ipprInstitute for Public Policy Research analysis shows that while UK exports to BRIC countries have increased rapidly in the last decade, they still lag behind Britain’s share of world trade.  If Britain increased its share of BRIC countries’ imports from their current levels to 3.7% (our global average), it would be equivalent to £27bn of extra UK exports.
Press release ~ ippr: The Future of Globalisation ~ Speech by Lord Mandelson
 
Defra: British businesses can save around £23bn a year by improving the way they use energy & water, and by reducing waste, according to research. The research identifies these huge potential savings to UK businesses from what is known as ‘resource efficiency’ – using materials, energy & water more efficiently in ways that need very little or no investment.

Improving resource efficiency is a key part of the transition to a green economy, providing benefits for businesses and the environment while boosting the UK economy.  It also shows that the savings could be even greater when the potential from longer term investment is included. 
Press release and related links
 
PwC: UK companies are exposing themselves to significant & unnecessary losses due to serious flaws in the way their corporate insurance policies are arranged.  This is according to a new study of commercial risk carried out by the specialist research firm Mactavish, in association with PwC, which reveals serious deficiencies in how corporate insurance is arranged and the role of boards in governing those arrangements. This is leaving companies vulnerable in the event of a large loss and subsequent dispute with their insurer.
 
The report sets out seven protocols (see press release) intended as a blueprint for change that have now been formally endorsed by a range of leading industry players.
Press release ~ Corporate Risk & Insurance: The Case for Placement Reform
 
Newswire – LEUHA: The Government should opt-in to proposals from Brussels about the use of passenger name record (PNR) data, says the Lords EU Sub-Committee on Home Affairs, as thedata is ‘crucial for fighting terrorism’.  Among the member states of the EU, the UK is the only country to have a fully functioning PNR system and the committee report that the case for EU wide legislation is compelling in order to prevent, detect & investigate terrorist offences.
Press release and related links
 
Civitas:  A new Civitas report finds that sudden police cuts could potentially trigger a vicious cycle of crime & disorder.  In An Analysis of Crime and Crime Policy, Birmingham University economist Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay finds "a strong and negative relationship between police detection rates and crime". (p. 4)
 
This means that the more crime police detect, the more crime is prevented.  He warns that potential offenders might notice the thinning out of police officers and become more confident that they can avoid sanctions.
Press release and related links
 
MoDDefence Equipment and Support (DE&S) programme & project managers are performing near the top of a wide field of international blue chip companies and other government organisations in the UK & overseas, according to an independent external assessment.
 
DE&S took part in its third assessment by Human Systems Ltd, an internationally recognised benchmarking organisation dedicated to improving corporate project, programme & portfolio management practices through focused research and, for the second year running, has come out in the top 10 of 56 organisations.
Press release and related links
 
ScotGov: Scotland's place as the leading global location to develop Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology has been ‘confirmed’ by a new report. Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage (SCCS) research highlights the vast storage potential of rocks beneath the Moray Firth, which could store up to a century's worth of carbon from Scotland's power plants.
 
The report builds on previous SCCS research which highlighted Scotland's North Sea storage potential as ‘being of European scale significance’. Energy Minister Jim Mather welcomed the findings and the vote of confidence in Scotland's R&D expertise through the Scottish Funding Council's £2m funding for the SCCS, also announced last week.
Press release and related links
 
IFS: Those with the lowest reported income are not those with the lowest spending or those living in the most severe forms of deprivation.  This is one of the main results from research by Institutes for Fiscal Studies.  These findings have important implications for the measurement of poverty because official government poverty measures in the UK are all based on income.

Other measures of poverty can complement the standard income measure and give a better impression of which groups in society have the lowest living standards as well as whether poverty is rising or falling.
Press release and related links
 
TWF: Following George Osborne’s call for a ‘manufacturing revival’, a report by The Work Foundation argues that if the Coalition is to safeguard the future of UK manufacturing, it must go beyond the traditional view that manufacturing is just about ‘making things’.
 
The emergence of manu-services – combinations of innovative products with value-adding services – now provides a prime opportunity for the UK to become a world leader in manufacturing.  The report shows how the government must act now to unlock the huge growth potential of manu-services by placing it at the heart of its growth agenda.
Press release ~ Report’s full policy recommendations ~ More than making things: A new future for manufacturing in a service economy ~ Knowledge Economy research programme
 
NAO: The Points Based System introduced by the UK Border Agency in 2008 was for the most part designed well and provides an adaptable means of meeting the UK’s work-related immigration policy objectives. However, according to the National Audit Office, the System is not yet delivering its full potential for value for money.
 
Its processes & systems are not efficient and customer service could be improved.  The Agency can also provide little assurance that it is effectively managing the risk of non-compliance with immigration rules by migrants and their sponsors.
Press release ~ NAO: Immigration: the Points Based System - Work Routes ~ Home Office response
 
ippr: A new study by ippr highlights the risk that new commissioning models will not meet the challenge of the growing need for dementia care.  There are currently around 700,000 people in England with dementia – and that number is set to double in the next 30 years.
 
The study of services in London, commissioned by the City of London Corporation’s City Bridge Trust, reveals that the capital is facing a number of serious problems in the future provision of care for dementia patients. The report, Dementia care in London, warns that proposed health reforms could make things worse unless safeguards are introduced as a matter of urgency. In particular, systems need to be put in place to strengthen the links between health and social care to ensure a more integrated service and a seamless care pathway for people with dementia.
Press release and related links
 
Newswire – TC: The Commons Treasury Committee says that tax policy should be measured by reference to principles in new report.  The Government has said it is committed to a new approach to tax policy making, ‘designed to support its ambition for a more predictable, stable and simple system’.  The report welcomes this commitment, but expresses concern that the Government has not done enough to set out the principles underlying that policy.  In this preliminary report, the Committee has endeavoured to identify these principles and consider how tax policy can best support growth.
Press release and related links
 
Newswire – PAC: The Commons Public Accounts Committee has published a report which, on the basis of evidence from the Department of Health, examines NHS hospital productivity in recent years and delivering improved productivity in future. The Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Chair of the PAC, said:
"Over the last 10 years, the productivity of NHS hospitals has been in almost continuous decline….. the amount spent on the NHS increased from £60bn to £102bn a year.  The quality of the health service has improved as a result of this increase in spending.  But the taxpayer has been getting less for each pound spent”.
Press release and related links
 
Civitas'Rebalancing the economy' and 'promoting growth' have been flagship phrases for the new Government.  On Budget Day its strategy for growth will be announced, but a report by independent think tank Civitas shows that current plans do not go far enough.  In Economic Growth - Could the Government do more?, David Green & David Merlin-Jones argue that some of the Government's own policies are major obstacles to recovery.

Civitas Director, David Green, said: … Compared with our rivals, company and personal taxes are too high and we have too many time-wasting regulations.  Above all, some climate-change policies are pushing energy costs so high that our most important industries could be forced to relocate overseas.'
Press release and related links
 
OFT: Government commissioners & procurers of public services could do more to leverage competition as a means of achieving long-term value for money, an OFT study has found. 'Commissioning and Competition in the Public Sector' argues that having an open, transparent & competitive tender process is not enough on its own to ensure that public services markets are open & contestable, both over the short-term and long-term.  
 
Achieving effective competition in public services must also involve: reducing barriers to entry & exit, encouraging a diverse supplier base and ensuring suppliers have the right incentives to make efficiency savings, raise quality and innovate.
Press release and related links
 
NIESR: The National Institute of Economic and Social Research has published research (prepared with support from the Office of National Statistics) on generational accounts for the United Kingdom.  The purpose of the commission was to aid public understanding of current issues on fiscal sustainability.  Generational accounts show the expected net contribution - positive or negative - that people are expected to make to the Exchequer, taking a realistic view of the implications of current policies.
Press release and related links
 
NHSConfed: The NHS has serious concerns about new government proposals for buying drugs, the NHS Confederation has warned. Responding to the Government’s consultation on value-based drugs pricing, the NHS Confederation stresses that its members support the government’s objective to link the price of medicines with the value they provide.  But it warns that the proposals could increase the NHS drugs bill without improving the effectiveness of treatments patients receive. 
Press release ~ DH consultation on value-based drugs pricing
 
NAO: The buy-back by taxpayer-owned banks - Northern Rock (Asset Management) and Bradford & Bingley - of £2.4bn of their subordinated debt over the course of 2010 saved the taxpayer an estimated £1.5bn at present value, according to the National Audit Office. Subordinated debt is debt that ranks after other loans in terms of pay-out in the event of liquidation. These buy-backs have taken place against the background of the Treasury's approach of ensuring the banks are able to wind down in an orderly way, perhaps over 15 years.
Press release and related links
 
Newswire – PAC: The Commons Public Accounts Committee has published a report which, on the basis of evidence from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), examines its management of enforcement resources; the potential to increase the tax collected through civil investigations; and how it plans to meet future commitments.  Some £15bn of tax a year is lost through evasion, fraud and criminal attack.  
Press release and related links
 
IfG: Adopting a public bad, mutual okay, private good approach in government is a dangerous path said Andrew Adonis at the Public Sector Expo Conference last week. 
Press release
 
ippr: The Chancellor should use next week’s Budget to revise his plans for cutting the structural fiscal deficit, according to a ‘Plan B’ published by ippr, which proposes a new ‘deficit reduction averaging’ approach. The ‘deficit reduction averaging’ approach would require the Chancellor to set a target to eliminate the deficit (cyclically-adjusted public sector net borrowing) by a fixed year and then to plan to achieve this target in equal measures during each year of the deficit-reduction programme.  ippr’s ‘Plan B’ would give the Chancellor a formula for flexibility and would still eliminate the deficit by 2017/18.
Press release
 
Newswire – CCLGC: The abolition of regional spatial planning strategies leaves a vacuum at the heart of the English planning system which could have profound social, economic & environmental consequences set to last for many years, says the all party Commons Communities & Local Government Committee.
Press release
 
NIESR: Ray Barrell, who directs NIESR's macroeconomic modelling & forecasting work, discusses NIESR's view of the key macroeconomic & fiscal choices facing the Chancellor at the Budget, both for the short & longer term.
Press release
 
PX: Making it easier to turn currently vacant or under used offices and shops into housing could create tens of thousands of new homes and provide a powerful boost to the economy, according to new research published by leading think tank, Policy Exchange.
Press release
 
Newswire – HAC: In a new report the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee has cautioned the Government against introducing measures which could damage the UK’s thriving educational export sector.
Press release
Spotlight on women at Serco – Anita’s story