July 2022 sees the formal establishment of the Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) created by the Health and Care Act 2022. These bodies will integrate health and social care in England, with the aim of providing more joined-up services tailored to local needs. However, questions remain about how ICSs will function at place-level, particularly in terms […]
The role of R&D in the levelling up agenda
Innovation drives productivity, and R&D importantly underpins innovation. Places in the south-east of the UK disproportionately hold the highest rates of public and charitable spending on R&D. In order to mend the geographical imbalances in R&D spending, the way that funding is allocated must be changed. This can be challenging given the patchy nature of […]
The energy strategy: missed opportunities, false solutions, better ways forward
The government’s ‘British Energy Security Strategy’ released on the 7th April 2022 has raised more questions than answers for those in interested in energy policy. While it claims to offer solutions to the dual problems of rising energy prices and threats to natural gas supplies, it adopts an outdated method that runs conversely to net […]
Child of the North: Pregnancy and early years
Evidence makes it clear that exposure to adversity and stress has vast potential to negatively influence the trajectory of a person’s health and wellbeing throughout their life. In this blog, Professor Pamela Qualter and Dr Anna Sanders present the key findings of a Child of the North report, co-authored with colleagues from Newcastle, Bradford, Sheffield, […]
Child of the North: Schools and education
COVID-19 exposed the disadvantage suffered by children and young people in our most deprived areas, disproportionately in the north of England. In this blog, Professor Caroline Bond and Professor Pamela Qualter discuss how these problems, and the accumulating evidence, demand a policy response. This is an adaptation of an article they co-authored for the Child […]
Global Britain: an ambitious template for international trade agreements in an uncertain era
Following Brexit, the UK has reclaimed its competence in trade and investment policy and its role as the sole negotiator of trade and investment agreements. However, to take advantage of a golden opportunity to reshape trade and investment policy in the UK, Dr Jasem Tarawneh and Dr Nicolette Butler recommend that the government adopts an […]
Hiding in plain sight: why are the UK and US keeping the transatlantic trade negotiations under wraps?
In the current climate of political uncertainty, transparency is fundamental to the negotiation of the UK-US free trade agreement. Coupled with the economic ramifications of the pandemic, which has had a profound impact on both countries, transparency will play an integral role in legitimising the outcome of this agreement and its acceptance from a democratic […]
Is the current appeal system acting ‘In the Interests of Justice’? – a review of the report of the Westminster Commission on Miscarriages of Justice
Suzanne Gower, PhD researcher, and former managing director of the legal charity APPEAL shares her thoughts on the long-awaited report of the Westminster Commission on Miscarriages of Justice, “In the Interests of Justice”. Suzanne played a leading role in helping establish the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Miscarriages of Justice (APPGMJ). She then worked to set […]
The Levelling-up Budget?
The Conservative Government’s 2019 general election manifesto included a promise to ‘listen to the people who have felt left behind’. There was also a commitment in the Budget 2020 to drive economic growth sustainably and improve living standards by boosting productivity and levelling up skills across the UK, along with future commitments to increase investment […]
Democracy at risk? Detecting and deterring the flow of disinformation in elections
On 21 July, Ministers published a report that found the UK Government failed to counter Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit referendum, despite a mounting body of evidence of global efforts to use and abuse digital platforms to influence democratic outcomes. As a result, how can we be sure that what we are being told […]