Jan 2012 – The Urban-Rural Digital Divide...Wider and Wider?
The UK’s policy objectives for superfast broadband speeds and coverage are too modest. If they’re achieved, the gap between urban and rural bandwidths will continue to increase, rather than decrease, as…
Jan 2012 – The Impact of Home Working on Planning for Employment
Planning is not keeping pace with the rate of change in people’s experience of home, work and leisure, where boundaries are increasingly blurred. The significant increase in home working over the last ten or more years is being largely ignored in…
Aug 2011 – Local Planning for Renewable Energy
In July 2011 the Department of Energy and Climate Change published the UK Renewable Energy Roadmap, outlining how the 2020 targets can be reached. The Roadmap focuses on…
Jul 2011 – Cambridge Phenomenon: Changing Perspectives
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…
Jul 2011 – Enterprise Zones
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…
May 2011 – Regional Growth Fund: Round 2 - To bid or not to bid?
In May 2011 the Government invited bids into Round 2 of the Regional Growth Fund. In November 2010 SQW hosted a series of regional workshops for organisations considering bidding into Round 1 (see below). Round 1 was very oversubscribed and for public/private partnerships across England, there is now a genuine question as to whether it is worth investing time, energy and resource in the bidding process. Based on a dialogue with a variety of stakeholders, we have tried to nail down some of the critical issues partnerships should consider when making this decision. Our advice may be found here…
Sep 2010 – Review of Outline Proposals for Local Enterprise Partnerships
SQW conducted a structured review of 50 available LEP outline proposals submitted to BIS/CLG on 6 September 2010. Our analysis…
Aug 2010 – The Big Society
SQW has been working on community empowerment and neighbourhoods for a number of years. This Viewpoint applies some…
Mar 2010 – Economic Development and Regeneration in Austerity
The current economic situation certainly presents challenges for the delivery of local public services, but does it also present opportunities for economic development and regeneration? In this Viewpoint we…
Jan 2010 – Local Economic Assessments
New legislation points to the need for local authorities to keep abreast of local economic changes and ensure that interventions to support employment and businesses are relevant, timely and based on what works. This Viewpoint identifies key opportunities and challenges…
Nov 2009 – Quality, Risk and Regulation: Collaborative Provision and Employer Engagement in Higher Education
As Government interest in the contribution UK universities make in delivering higher-level skills and employability strengthens (see Higher Ambitions: the future of universities in a knowledge economy – BIS, November 2009), this Viewpoint reflects upon the experiences of the higher education sector in…
Oct 2009 – Employment Recovery - Local Solutions for a National Challenge
For more than a decade the policy response of central and local government to what has been termed “worklessness” has focused on tackling the large number of people on ‘inactive benefits’ and creating employment opportunities for all. Now the context has changed, and the immediate focus has…
Jul 2009 – Business Support - Should it be Simpler, Cheaper…or Just Better?
Government has set in motion a Business Support Simplification Programme to reduce the plethora of publicly-funded business support schemes from a staggering 3,000 in 2005 to just 30 by 2010. Publicly-funded business support in the UK has grown to be a big business, but…
Dec 2008 – Making the Most of Evaluation
Evaluations should inform policy decisions by providing evidence on the outcomes of previous interventions and their value for money. But often evaluation reports just sit on shelves…
Aug 2008 – Migrant Workers - Economic Issues and Opportunities
This Viewpoint looks at the scale of recent in-migration and its economic contours, rather than the implications of migration for public services and the housing market. It highlights a number of issues that…
Oct 2007 – Carbon Reduction - Obligation and Opportunity
Government has set out a clear framework for tackling climate change which establishes a carbon reduction pathway to 2050. Can this obligation be converted into…