Research brief An industrial strategy is a statement of intent. It defines a place’s priorities to improve living standards. And it outlines how they will be achieved. In an era of globalised industry and movement of labour, industrial strategies are vital: without them there is no coherent plan or framework to attract (and retain) people […]
Research brief When Localis began thinking about this project it did so with the lofty ambition of wanting to do to Further Education (FE) what the Open University did to Higher Education (HE) in 1969. Whilst the radical intent remains, the dual threat of a squeezed labour market and rising labour costs means we need […]
Research brief Higher education institutions have a strategically important role to play in our economy. They are the centres of research excellence, the intellectual factories which turn out the UK’s most valuable export (its high skilled people) and they are anchored in a place, often with decades if not centuries of history. But their role […]
Localis, supported by the County Council’s Network, is currently undertaking a major new research project into local labour market influencing. Brief It is impossible to maintain a vibrant labour market without an effective skills system. That we repeatedly attempt to do so suggests this point needs making. Politicians, caught between GCSE league tables and a […]
The number of homes bought by people aged twenty-five to forty-four with a mortgage has dropped by over 1.6 million in just over a decade. Over the same period the number of homes owned outright by people aged over sixty-five increased by over 1.4 million. What we are witnessing is the accelerated decline of the […]
Neo-localism isn’t a neologism. It has been in use for some time in human geography circles. A quick google search tells you it was coined by Wes Flack and refers to the idea of promoting and preserving community identities and cultures. Wanting to place it into a UK political context, we have what you might […]
Our new report, co-authored with the University of Birmingham, argues that, as part of its efforts to close the disability employment gap, the government should now commit to a sector deal for disability as part of its emerging industrial strategy. Despite a number of government-backed incentives for employers, still too few are aware of the benefits of […]
To some health and social care integration offers the ‘holy grail’ of financial sustainability. To others it is a way of moving the locus of care away from the acute sector and towards the community. A minority even suggest it is an attempt by one service to take over the other. Amongst the many rationales […]
The current mental health system is failing children and young people. Whilst in almost all areas of health and care reform the dominant trend is to encourage people to be more independent and resilient, in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), something has gone badly wrong. This report argues for reform of the mental […]
This short report is a response to the government white paper Fixing our broken housing market. Its starting point is that the white paper is a welcome strategy document which codifies significant and positive shifts in rhetoric. However what the white paper delivers in rhetoric it lacks in specific policy prescriptions. It identifies the parts of the system […]