December 2019 highlights
Week 51: 16-20 December 2019
"Last week’s seismic election not only changed the political landscape, it has broken the parliamentary deadlock of the last three years and allowed the country to go forward. Millions of people, many of them who have never voted Conservative before, put their faith in this Government and voted overwhelmingly for us to move this country on and deliver change. We have no time to waste, and we begin immediately with the most radical Queen’s Speech in a generation to deliver on the priorities of the British people."
Visualisation: General Election 2019 Constituency Results
On this map, each constituency is represented by a single square. Constituencies are grouped into traditional county areas and other labelled sub-national groups. These areas don't have any electoral significance, but may help identify results in different parts of the UK. This map has been produced by the House of Commons Library. Read more of our election analysis.
"A key issue for the UK’s economy is how we meet the challenge of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the future of work. Central to this challenge is the question of skills, an essential driver of productivity and growth.
Education and skills are the number one priority for employers that are struggling to find the right people with the right skills and who are increasingly concerned that they will not be able to fill positions in the future."
Read in full here.
Skills-for-the-4IR-Report-Final.pdfHouse of Commons library:
Insight - NHS reform: Integrated Care Systems
"The NHS Long Term Plan recognised that the NHS in England needs to provide more co-ordinated and personalised care. To promote health and wellbeing, and break down barriers between health and social care, the NHS will also need to work closely with local government.
Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) are the latest in a series of initiatives to develop integrated care in England. There are also proposals for new health legislation to support collaboration between health services and limit competition. The running of the NHS is devolved and there are different approaches across the UK to integrating services and joint working between health and social care."
Briefing paper - T Levels: Reforms to Technical Education
This House of Commons Library Briefing Paper provides an overview of proposals to reform the system of technical education in England through the introduction of new T Level qualifications.
Briefing paper - Adult further education funding in England since 2010
This House of Commons Library Briefing Paper provides a summary of how funding for adult further education (including apprenticeships) in England has changed since 2010.
by Naik, Y., Baker, P., Ismail, S.A. et al. Going upstream – an umbrella review of the macroeconomic determinants of health and health inequalities. BMC Public Health 19, 1678 (2019) doi:10.1186/s12889-019-7895-6
"The social determinants of health have been widely recognised yet there remains a lack of clarity regarding what constitute the macro-economic determinants of health and what can be done to address them. An umbrella review of systematic reviews was conducted to identify the evidence for the health and health inequalities impact of population level macroeconomic factors, strategies, policies and interventions."
ONS data releases:
Annual estimates of economic activity by UK country, region and local area using gross domestic product (GDP). Estimates are available in current market prices and in chained volume measures and include a full industry breakdown of balanced regional gross value added (GVA(B)).
Regional, local authority and Parliamentary constituency breakdowns of changes in UK employment, unemployment, economic inactivity and other related statistics.
DfE data release: Widening Participation in HE, England 2017/18 cohort
WP2019-MainText.pdfThink pieces:
What does the general election mean for UK cities and towns? by Tom Bridges
"The outcome of the general election has big implications for policy affecting the UK’s towns and cities. There has been much comment about the success of the Conservatives in winning seats that were previously part of Labour’s red wall in the towns of the Midlands and North, and it is clear this is shifting the focus for UK urban policy."
Read in full here.
The government needs to deliver on its promises on research by Tim Bradshaw
The conclusive General Election results indicate we can now look forward to a welcome period of political stability. This opportunity must not be wasted.
Read in full here.
BLOGS:
Commercialisation: addressing the UK industry-university gap by Chloe Billing
"The Industrial Strategy Green Paper (2017) highlighted that whilst the UK ranks first in many key global measures of research quality; in terms of intellectual property income generated against research resources and the number of successful spin-off companies the UK performs far behind US institutions."
Statistics on R&D expenditure in UK businesses by Zakaria Ismail,
"Investment in R&D is a topic that has been at the forefront of public policy in the last few years, whether it’s the 2017 Industrial Strategy target to increase investment in R&D to 2.4% of GDP, or the pledges from the country’s major political parties in the run-up to December’s general election (including R&D tax credits and increasing innovation investment)."
Small business priorities for a new parliament by Lee Hopley
"Newly-elected MPs heading to Westminster, inboxes no doubt groaning with congratulatory messages and policy briefings, have a busy few weeks (and months) ahead. Moving forward with the first stage of getting Brexit done – the EU Withdrawal Bill – will consume much of parliament’s time at the beginning of 2020. But then what?"
"With the year slowly but surely coming to an end, we’ve rounded up our website’s most read success stories of 2019, a fantastic showcase of the diverse ways universities and industry are working together to solve the country's challenges.
Success stories are case studies of university-business collaboration that demonstrate best practice from our members and partners. From degree apprenticeships to work based courses, new hires and science parks, here are the top 10 success stories that have peaked your interest the most this year; and we hope they’ll inspire you to keep on collaborating in 2020."
Lobsters and libraries: why engagement with place matters by Matthew Guest
"Higher education providers of all shapes and sizes can play the pivotal role in brokering relationships and supporting activities between government, industry, charity and place.
Serving communities is important. Deep listening, understanding and commitment is crucial if we are to address the severe inequalities found within almost every village, town and city in the UK. Where does higher education feature in this?"
Breaking the student-graduate stereotype by Professor Roger Lewis
"In spite of the profound changes in the university student body over recent decades, something of a ‘stereotype’ persists: the 18-year-old choosing a course and university by consulting prospectuses, friends and family, then leaving home to study and live in a hall of residence. After getting a degree the graduate moves again to some other part of the country, to begin a ‘career’."
Every year Nesta predicts the trends, social movements and technological breakthroughs that we think will shape the world in the coming year, and our predictions for 2020 aim to tease out some of the shifts that could lie ahead. Read more here.
Week 50: 9-13 December 2019
The Russell Group, which represents 24 leading UK universities published a joint statement on Monday 9th December on environmental sustainability, setting out its commitment to tackling climate change through research, teaching and more sustainable practices. Read more here.
High_Pay_Centre_briefing_pdf.pdfThe number of years people are expected to spend in different health states among local authority areas in the UK.
Interim Report: Growing MedTech Translation 2019
Grow-MedTech-Mid-Term-Report-website-version.pdfTowns are now in the policy spotlight.The reasons for this are all too clear: Brexit; the productivity puzzle; economic inequality; the decline of traditional high streets; and, a concern about what this means for local and national culture and identity.
Our+Towns+-+A+practical+guide+to+policy+for+towns_Metro+Dynamics_December2019.pdf"The future of America’s economy lies in its high-tech innovation sector, but it is now clear that same sector is widening the nation’s regional divides—a fact that became starkly apparent with the 2016 presidential election. "
Exec-Summary-Growth-Centers_PDF_BrookingsMetro-BassCenter-ITIF-Copy.pdfAuthors: by Penny Mealy and Diane Coyle
SSRN-id3491153.pdfCITY Lab think piece: Why We Should Stop Conflating Cities With Innovation and Creativity by Richard Shearmur, Director of the School of Urban Planning, McGill University
"The language we use to discuss innovation and creativity has such a pro-urban bias that we’ve forgotten these qualities flourish outside of cities, too."
"Nobody doubts that we are entering a turbulent and damaging decade. The deep social divisions which have grown in the last decade seem likely to fester and wreak even more havoc and the volatility expected of both the economy and the climate are going to bring massive risks to us all. As we argued in Civil Society Futures a year ago, we need a renewed and re-energised civil society to step into its historic role : to help heal our dented democracy by enabling participation and deliberation, to stitch together our torn social fabric, and to enable us to respond to the devastation and challenge of the climate emergency." Read in full here.
Week 49: 2-6 December 2019
The competition – open to universities, charities and sector bodies – will determine which institution will be granted £75,000 seed funding to host the new Civic University Network. The UPP Foundation is the registered charity founded by University Partnerships Programme (UPP), the UK’s leading provider of on-campus residential and academic accommodation infrastructure. Please find the call for proposals and the press release below:
UPP Foundation Briefing note - Civic University Network Competition[4].pdfUPP Foundation Press Release - Civic University Network Competition[8].pdf"Our intention throughout the process has been to submit the Local Industrial Strategy to government in late December, with the final version to be published in spring 2020.
Due to the political uncertainty around the general election and ongoing situation with Brexit, we have taken the decision to submit the Local Industrial Strategy to government in spring 2020. We believe this would be the right time to have a constructive conversation with a new government about how we can work with them to unlock and realise the City Region’s potential."
Access the full report here.
Read the related article 'The road 2.4 per cent lies beyond the university' in WonkHE by David Willets.
the-road-to-2.4-per-cent.pdfReport: An English Atlas of Inequality
The English Atlas of Inequality, developed by Professor Alasdair Rae and Dr Elvis Nyanzu from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning, maps 149 commuting zones - known as Travel To Work Areas (TTWAs) - across England, showing levels of inequality within the areas. Read in full here.
atlas_of_inequality_18_nov_2019_FINAL.pdfTwenty tools that are proven to help innovation flourish inside government, based on our work over more than a decade.
20_Tools_Innovating_Government.pdf"At a time of great upheaval, uncertainty and division, instead of looking inward this year’s State of the North looks outward – to the country and across the developed world to show how the North fits into a bigger picture. We investigate how divided but interdependent we are as a country, comparing the UK to countries overseas."
See publication and summary here.
sotn-2019-summary.pdfsotn-2019.pdfIn this report, the CBI is calling on the next government to take three actions:
- Set out a roadmap for raising UK R&D activity within its first year of office
- Jumpstart innovation activity across the UK with a network of new ‘Catapult Quarters’
- Establish robust methods for measuring impact and success
Read in full here.
12547_raising-regional-rd_online.pdfKey findings from this year's report
- Employers are looking to education for a skilled workforce as this remains key to a rapidly changing world
- Improving technical and further education is essential for developing the UK's skills base
- Higher education institutions play an important role in providing the higher level skills needed by employers.
We're calling for
- Education to fully prepare young people for the modern world through a broad and balanced curriculum
- Employers to play their part in careers advice
- Strong routes to a successful career including academic, career-focused and occupational options
- Transparency on the Apprenticeship Levy overspend and a full public consultation on its future
- Employers, education and government to work together to support learners with opportunities to undertake Higher Technical Education, alongside traditional degrees.
Read in full here.
12546_tess_2019.pdfResearch England: Independent Advice of Mike Rees on University-Investor Links
On 29th July 2019, NCUB played host to a launch event for a review of university-investor links, commissioned by Research England from Mike Rees, former deputy group CEO of Standard Chartered, start-up commercialisation expert and angel investor. In this blog, he lays out some of his high-level findings and sets them in their national policy context. See related reports below:
Advice_on_university_investor_links_Mike_Rees.pdfDeveloping_University_Spinouts_in_the_UK_Tomas_Coates_Ulrichsen_v2.pdfA partnership of North East universities that is already delivering a step-change in the translation of world-class research into sustainable commercial enterprises is to launch a new seed investment fund for spin-out companies, through a novel partnership with venture capitalist, Northstar Ventures.
Read more here.
"On The growing threat of abrupt and irreversible climate changes must compel political and economic action on emissions." Read in full in Nature.
Authors: Timothy M. Lenton, Johan Rockström, Owen Gaffney, Stefan Rahmstorf, Katherine Richardson, Will Steffen & Hans Joachim Schellnhuber