Publications
May
2009
Thursday 14th May, 2009
Knowledge is power: securing transparency in Britain's liberalised energy market
By Ben Caldecott & Robert McIlveen
To help alleviate the crisis of confidence in Britain’s liberalised energy market, Knowledge is power sets out a number of options to improve transparency for consumers and the market. As we enter an age of increasingly expensive energy, better consumer information is essential if we are to secure public support to meet the challenges of security of supply and decarbonisation. Whilst better market transparency for energy companies, especially new entrants, will help maintain competition and allow the lowest prices possible to be delivered to consumers.
If you would like a hard copy of this research note for £4 + £1p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Monday 11th May, 2009
Less Crime, Lower Costs
By Max Chambers, Ben Ullmann & Professor Irvin Waller
Edited by Gavin Lockhart.
The estimated cost of crime to the UK is around £78 billion a year. This equates to £3,000 per household every year – an extra 20p on the basic rate of income tax. There is also untold pain, suffering and damage caused to an estimated 10 million victims of crime and their families each year.
The Government’s most recent attempt to set out a strategy for tackling crime – the youth crime action plan – announced unsustained ad hoc funding, did little to clarify responsibility for cutting crime and increased pressures on departmental budgets. The lack of knowledge as to what to do next persists – there is little understanding of how to extend successful pilot trials, how to deliver the right interventions to the right people, or how to encourage and train local practitioners to use evidence-based interventions to prevent crime. A number of structural, financial and political barriers remain and Less Crime, Lower Costs addresses these systemic shortcomings through an anaylsis of prevention programmes that have proved effective and cost-effective in other countries.
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Apr
2009
Thursday 30th April, 2009
Rising Marks, Falling Standards
By Tom Richmond & Sam Freedman.
One of the most enduring debates in education concerns ‘standards’ in primary and secondary schools. Literacy, numeracy and science form the backbone of the school curriculum with the intention of equipping pupils with these core skills by the time they leave school. The purpose of this report is to investigate the extent to which literacy, numeracy and science have improved since 1997 with a particular focus on SATs at age 7, 11 and 14.
Through a detailed analysis of national school performance data, a number of serious concerns are raised with regard to the current state of pupils’ core skills. In addition, the curriculum from the ages of 14 to 16 - which includes GCSEs, Diplomas and Apprenticeships - is assessed in terms of its rigour, complexity and credibility. We also put forward our recommendations for the future direction of primary and secondary education, including a new model for SATs, more freedom for schools in how they teach core skills and creating a better set of academic and vocational options for pupils at age 14.
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Friday 24th April, 2009
Sink or Swim? Facing up to failing universities
By Anna Fazackerley & Julian Chant.
The government must confront the ‘no-fail’ culture in higher education and accept the possibility that a university could go under. Private providers could be allowed to step in to take over all or part of a failing institution.
Sink or swim? analyses the history of troubled mergers in British universities and takes a closer look at the accountability framework keeping universities in check. It considers the case for failure in the overcrowded London market and outlines some of the major financial threats for universities on the horizon.
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p or a research note for £4 + £1p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Tuesday 21st April, 2009
Families in Britain: the impact of changing family structures
By Dr Sarah Jenkins, Isabella Pereira & Natalie Evans.
In Britain today, both the public and politicians agree that families matter. Four out of five people say that ‘my family are more important to me than my friends’, and families currently ride high on the policy agendas of both the Labour and the Conservative Parties. One thing that unites everyone in Britain is the need for parents to take more responsibility for their children: 64% of us strongly agree this matters.
Yet ‘the family’, both in public opinion and as a policy area, is a source of persistent contradictions and trade-offs. Privately, families must balance the competing interests of parents, children and other dependants within the household such as elderly relatives.
The traditional single male breadwinner family is declining and the growth of single-parent families and other new kinds of family present many new challenges for government policy on welfare, work-life balance and in many other areas.
Families in Britain aims to be a starting point for a debate on policy, charting the changing nature of the family, and what that means for parents, children and our wider society.
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p or a research note for £4 + £1p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Monday 20th April, 2009
The Balanced Incentive Scheme
By Peter Brown & Helen Thomas.
Executive compensation has stormed onto the political stage and into the consciousness of voters.
Taxpayer anger is growing at the payment of bonuses to bailed-out bankers, and there is confusion over bonuses paid for the previous year’s poor performance.
The Balanced Incentive Scheme proposes reforms to the current remuneration system.
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p or a research note for £4 + £1p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Wednesday 8th April, 2009
Beyond Inflation Targeting
Edited by Helen Thomas
This report brings together five essays from leading economists on their visions for reformed inflation targetting. The authors encompass a wide range of views: from simple amendments to the current framework, to the complete abolition of Central Banks.
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Mar
2009
Monday 23rd March, 2009
A Guide to School Choice Reforms
By Daisy Meyland-Smith & Natalie Evans.
This publication sets out a blueprint for creating real school choice in the UK. It also looks at the lessons from the introduction of school choice reforms in Sweden and the USA. A Guide to School Choice Reforms concludes that successful reform will mean combining elements from each system and building on the academies programme. The publication also finds strong evidence that allowing independent providers into the state education system and giving schools greater freedoms dramatically raises educational standards.
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p or a research note for £4 + £1p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Monday 9th March, 2009
Litterbugs: how to deal with the problem of littering
By Professor Alan Lewis, Polly Turton & Thomas Sweetman.
Edited by Ben Caldecott.
Forward by Bill Bryson.
Litterbugs highlights the blight of littering in the UK, identifies a lack of systematic logic in enforcement policy and proposes new means on cracking down of those responsible.
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p or a research note for £4 + £1p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Sunday 8th March, 2009
Choosing our friends wisely: Criteria for engagement with Muslim groups
By Shiraz Maher & Martyn Frampton.
Choosing our friends wisely: Criteria for engagement with Muslim groups is an authoritative analysis of Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE), the £90 million centrepiece of the government’s effort to stop the radicalisation of young Muslims.
The authors set out how the sound principles and good intentions of PVE have been compromised by muddled thinking as to the appropriate criteria for selecting Muslim groups as partners and by lax implementation at local level.
