See the latest news from SQW below, or click on the archive link to view news from previous years.
Oct 2011 – Rebalancing the UK economy
Rebalancing the economy is a high priority for the UK government, which has set out aims “to achieve strong, sustainable and balanced growth that is more evenly shared across the country and between industries” going forward – but there appears to be little clarity or consistency in exactly what ‘rebalancing’ means. Added to this, there has not been a clear articulation of the rationale for intervention in the ‘rebalancing’ process, how ‘rebalancing’ might be achieved most effectively, and how the inherent tensions and trade-offs in addressing different elements of the ‘rebalancing’ challenge should be managed.
In light of this, SQW was commissioned by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills to review conceptual, empirical, policy and evaluation literature on ‘rebalancing the economy sectorally and spatially’ from the UK and abroad. The study explored number of challenging questions around the ‘rebalancing’ debate, including:
The nature and scale of the ‘rebalancing’ challenge in the UK, and its causes
The rationale for state intervention in the sectoral and spatial structure of the economy
Types of interventions that have been employed by governments to influence the sectoral and geographical structure of the economy, what works and why. This included the development of a typology of interventions to help classify different types of actions to assist in economic ‘rebalancing’.
What might be done in the UK to create a more (re)balanced economy, the implications for policy (especially skills policy) in supporting this process, and the extent to which this could be achieved practically given the UK’s starting point.
Five international case studies were also produced, exploring rebalancing issues and responses in Finland, Sweden, Germany, Korea, and the Netherlands to identify lessons for the UK. The review was undertaken in partnership with Geoff White Inc., Cambridge Econometrics, the Institute for Employment Research, and the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies. To read the report click here
For more information contact Simon Pringle springle@sqw.co.uk or Rebecca Pates on 0161 475 2112 or rpates@sqw.co.uk.
Oct 2011 – Big Energy Upgrade Programme
SQW has recently been commissioned to evaluate the ERDF funded Big Energy Upgrade Programme across Yorkshire and Humber. The Programme, launched by the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, the Rt Hon Chris Huhne on Thursday 29 September 2011, involves installing energy efficiency measures in homes in some of the most deprived parts of the region and has the overall objectives of reducing fuel poverty, reducing domestic CO2 emissions and creating jobs within the domestic energy efficiency supply chain. The University of Sheffield is a key partner in the Programme, along with Yorkshire Energy Services and local authorities and RSLs, and will be involved in monitoring energy usage and behavior through the life of the three year Programme. SQW will be undertaking the external evaluation in ‘real time’ and will have a key role in enabling feedback and knowledge transfer throughout the Big Energy Upgrade’s partnership to ensure continuous improvement. The Government is keen to understand the impact of the Programme and the effectiveness of its delivery and will use lessons learned to inform the delivery of the Green Deal next year.
For more information contact Richard Hindle at rhindle@sqw.co.uk or Rachel Brisley at rbrisley@sqw.co.uk.
Media coverage of the launch can be accessed from:
http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/local/barnsley/14m_plan_to_save_energy_1_3811432
Aug 2011 – SQW evaluation helps to secure additional funding for national languages initiative in higher education
The Routes into Languages initiative aims to increase take up of modern foreign language courses in higher education in England and to encourage more young people from all backgrounds to study languages at university. The findings from SQW’s final report of its three year evaluation of the Routes programme have helped to secure additional funding for the initiative.
In a media release on 10 August 2011 confirming a further £1.2 million for the programme, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) highlighted some of the evaluation’s key findings, including:
Routes’ success in establishing partnership and collaboration within the higher education sector and between higher education institutions (HEIs) and schools
the development of innovative approaches to engage school pupils in language learning which have also helped to raise pupils’ interest and motivation
the work of the National Networks for Interpreting and Translation in attracting more English as a Mother Tongue applicants to these professions.
Click here to see SQW’s final evaluation report. Further details on the Routes initiative are available here at The Higher Educational Funding Council for England and Routes into Languages.
For further information contact Patricia Ambrose on 020 7307 7140 or pambrose@sqw.co.uk.
Aug 2011 – Maximising employment and skills in the offshore wind energy supply chain
The offshore wind energy sector’s growth in the UK will be constrained if the skills it requires are not available when and where firms in the sector need them. The likely impacts of skill shortages include: delays in the speed at which development and deployment occurs; higher labour costs (as employers have to increase wages in order to attract staff); the introduction of labour from elsewhere in the EU; and higher levels of imports to the UK (and lower levels of exports from the UK) than would otherwise have been the case.
The UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) asked SQW to look into the implications of the offshore wind energy sector’s growth for the UK’s employment and skills system. We reviewed relevant literature and employment forecasts and undertook stakeholder consultations and case studies to explore how firms and education and training providers had responded to developments in the past, in order to inform development of public policy for the future.
Our work found a number of occupations and skills were causing concern including planners, environmental impact specialists, electrical and high voltage electrical engineers, cable jointers, wind turbine technicians, project managers, and specialist offshore engineering skills. Consultees also raised concerns over the availability of ‘skills in the offshore context’, such as health and safety and survival skills. The period 2013 to 2015 is highlighted as a potential employment ‘pinch point’ because the sector is likely to be gearing up for a new round of offshore wind farm development at a time when other sectors that require similar skills are expected to expand.
The report highlights a number of positive steps that the offshore wind energy sector and its training providers have taken and are taking to gear up for growth, but notes some of the difficulties they face in co-ordinating activity given both competition for skills from other sectors and rivalry between firms in the sector. It notes that the armed forces are one of the few parts of the public sector that is likely to make a good transition to the sector, but that there were few other opportunities linked to re-balancing employment from public to private sectors.
The study also looked at the geography of likely job creation. It found a spread of potential locations linked to different stages of the supply chain. These included the east coast of Scotland, the Glasgow-Edinburgh belt, the North of England (notably around Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester, Hull and Humber, Cumbria and parts of the North East), the Midlands (especially around Birmingham) and the South West and South Wales (in particular around Bristol). Other areas of potential were also identified, for example in East Anglia and the South of England, associated with wind farms such as the London Array.
The report also notes the importance of wider issues, such as industry regulation and energy pricing, for long-term workforce planning. This leads to the conclusion that national and local policy makers need to take steps to coordinate different policy areas (in particular energy generation, employment and skills, economic development, inward investment and planning) so that the offshore wind energy sector and local areas can maximise the employment and skills potential of the offshore wind energy sector.
To read the report click here.
For more information contact Scott Dickinson sdickinson@sqw.co.uk or Jonathan Cook on 020 7307 7140 or jcook@sqw.co.uk
Jul 2011 – Cambridge Phenomenon: changing perspectives - SQW Viewpoint
During 2010/11 we completed work on economic prospects for the Cambridge area which included as a main focus issues and opportunities concerning the development of the high tech cluster. Our work builds on SQW’s first major publication, ‘The Cambridge Phenomenon: the growth of high technology industry in a university town’ (1985), followed by our comprehensive revisit of the Phenomenon in 2000. We therefore have a 30 year perspective on the evolution of the Cambridge Phenomenon and some insights into its future prospects. Despite the unique characteristics of Cambridge, many of these insights have relevance to other high tech clusters.
You can access Cambridge Phenomenon Viewpoint 12 here. ‘The Cambridge Phenomenon: the growth of high technology industry in a university town’ (SQW 1985) and ‘The Cambridge Phenomenon revisited’ (SQW 2000) are available here.
For more information contact Chris Green on 01223 209400 or cgreen@sqwgroup.com.
Jul 2011 – Enterprise Zones: delivering the Plan for Growth?
Enterprise Zones are one of the key initiatives in the Coalition Government’s Plan for Growth (March 2011), providing support for investment and job creation and the opportunity, through the local retention of the increment in business rates achieved in the zones, to generate a significant long-term income stream to address the economic priorities identified by Local Enterprise Partnerships. This Viewpoint reviews the “second wave” Enterprise Zone applications submitted to the Department for Communities and Local Government by 30 June 2011. It provides a high-level and aggregate analysis and overview of the unfolding venture, and identifies issues which will need to be addressed by the Government in deciding which ten second wave EZ applications to approve, and the implications for Local Enterprise Partnerships and local authorities as they take successful applications forward.
You can read the Viewpoint here and coverage by Planning magazine (15 July 2011) here.
For more information contact Christine Doel on 01223 209400 or cmdoel@sqw.co.uk.
Jul 2011 – Scott Dickinson presented at CLES Summit 2011 on ‘economic development on a shoestring’
Scott Dickinson, Associate Director at SQW, is currently working on ideas for ‘economic development on a shoestring’, which he shared and debated as part of the Centre for Local Economic Strategies Summit ‘Making Places Better’ in Manchester on 12 July. Further information about Summit 2011 can be found here and the presentation can be found here.
For more information contact Scott Dickinson at sdickinson@sqw.co.uk.
Jul 2011 – Unrivalled insight into London 2012 spending
That’s the Evening Standard’s verdict on the SQW report ‘A golden opportunity: London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics Games expenditure and economic impact’ for Visa UK. The Evening Standard’s coverage can be found here, the Telegraph’s can be found here and coverage on Sky News can be found here. The full report is available here.
For more information contact Steve Lucas on 0161 475 2108 or slucas@sqw.co.uk.
Jul 2011 – Formula 1 British Grand Prix economic impact assessment
Chris Green discussed the economic impact of Formula 1 at Silverstone during an interview on ITV Anglia on 8 July. His comments drew on SQW’s 2009 economic impact assessment of the British Grand Prix commissioned by Northamptonshire Enterprises Limited, which developed scenarios and recommendations addressing the potential move of Formula 1 British Grand Prix away from Silverstone. The report is available here.
For more information contact Chris Green on 01223 209400 or cgreen@sqwgroup.com.
Jul 2011 – Enterprise Zones, Local Enterprise Partnerships and economic development
Christine Doel will present a paper on Enterprise Zones, Local Enterprise Partnerships and economic development at the ‘Local Enterprise Partnerships: Unlocking Funding Streams and Making Successful Bids conference in London on 11 July.
For more information contact Christine Doel on 01223 209400 or cdoel@sqw.co.uk.
Jul 2011 – Everything you need to know about Personal Budgets for Disabled Children and their families
Graham Thom and Meera Prabhakar presented to a group of local authorities at the ‘Everything you need to know about Personal Budgets for disabled children and their families’, hosted by Taking Control. Their two papers covered: learning the lessons of the Individual Budget pilots (drawing on our on-going evaluation work for the Department for Education); and how to establish a personalised approach (including joining together assessment, personal budgets and a Single Plan). The latter workshop drew on SQW’s Common Delivery Model and co-delivered with Gerry Kelly of In Control who talked through the complementary Seven Steps model. Copies of the presentations are available here.
For more information contact Graham Thom on 0131 225 4007 or gthom@sqw.co.uk.
Jul 2011 – Department for Education publishes SQW evaluation of the Home Access programme
The final evaluation report of the largest public investment in digital inclusion for children in England is now available. The Home Access to technology programme aimed “to ensure that all pupils aged 5 to 19 in state maintained education in England have the opportunity to have access to computers and internet connectivity for education … at home.” SQW led a consortium including Ipsos MORI and the London Knowledge Lab to deliver beneficiary surveys, case studies, stakeholder consultations, and analysis of monitoring and secondary data over the programme lifetime. The final report assesses the impact of the programme on beneficiaries and provides evidence of the extent to which it achieved its intended outcomes. You can read the report here.
For more information contact David Mack-Smith on 0131 225 4007 or dmacksmith@sqw.co.uk.
Jun 2011 – Evaluation of strategic funding to develop graduate employability in Scotland
Patricia Ambrose and Sheila Sim gave a keynote presentation at the inaugural conference of the Scottish Higher Education Employability Forum. They presented headline, summative findings from SQW’s four-year evaluation of the Scottish Funding Council’s strategic funding programme to develop graduate employability. The evaluation has found a good range of evidence that Scottish higher education institutions are effectively embedding employability within their courses, strategies and operational processes. The inclusive nature of the programme has also generated a sense of sector-level progress and momentum. The presentation can be found here. Further details of the conference and other speakers’ presentations are available here.
For more information contact Patricia Ambrose on 020 73077140 or pambrose@sqw.co.uk.
Jun 2011 – Car parks and castles: giving communities the keys
SQW’s two-year evaluation of the Asset Transfer Unit (ATU) has just been published. The Unit, funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) and based within the national charity Locality, provides specialist advice and support to government, local authorities and communities on how best to transfer properties into community control. SQW’s research included a major national survey of local authorities and concluded that the Unit has done impressive work in promoting asset transfer. Our recommendations to CLG encourage continued support for the Unit, a broadening of its remit and formation of a ‘barrier busting’ group within Whitehall to support this agenda. You can read the ATU press release here and our evaluation report here.
For more information contact Tim Thorlby on 020 3077140 or tthorbly@sqw.co.uk.
May 2011 – Social investment and community assets
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) has published a briefing paper by SQW that provides a comprehensive review of financial and business models available to support community asset ownership. The paper looks at new trends in social investment as well as more conventional approaches, and identifies opportunities for policy makers to improve the flow of finance to community assets. You can read the paper here and on the JRF website here.
For more information contact Tim Thorlby on 020 7307 7140 or tthorlby@sqw.co.uk.
May 2011 – Social networks key to economic growth
Planners need to understand the interrelationship between spatial and economic processes and propose appropriate responses, according to SQW research on social networks within business communities in Cambridge, covered by Regeneration and Renewal on 16 May. Read the SQW comment piece here, and on the Regeneration and Renewal website here. The SQW report, Cambridge Cluster at 50 – The Cambridge economy retrospect and prospect, can be found here.
For more information contact Christine Doel on 01223 209400 or cmdoel@sqw.co.uk.