Brexit: Local and Devolved Government

This week the new report Brexit: Local and Devolved Government has been launched. The report considers not only what happened in the EU referendum itself but also the consequences of Brexit at the sub-national level. The report was launched to coincide with The UK in a Changing Europe’s conference Brexit: local and devolved government, which … Continue reading “Brexit: Local and Devolved Government”

Shaping apprenticeships to employer, economic and individual young people’s needs – does too much reform bring risks?

Apprenticeships have a long history in England. They have their roots in medieval craft guilds. Children went away to live with host families for the purpose of being taught the skills associated with a craft. The 1563 Statute of Artificers marked the first national system of apprenticeship training in England. The Statute required seven years … Continue reading “Shaping apprenticeships to employer, economic and individual young people’s needs – does too much reform bring risks?”

Snow, Snow, Glorious Snow: Funding and Financing Local Infrastructure in the UK

Snow, snow, glorious snow. The UK is currently experiencing the impacts of the ‘beast from the east’ as cold air from Russia and eastern Europe creates the conditions that produce, in many parts of the UK, transport chaos. This type of periodic weather disruption to infrastructure is a reminder of how reliant we are on … Continue reading “Snow, Snow, Glorious Snow: Funding and Financing Local Infrastructure in the UK”

Birmingham Economic Review 2017: Conclusion

The Birmingham Economic Review was produced in October 2017 by City-REDI, the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce and the West Midlands Growth Company. The review highlights the current strengths and weakness of the Birmingham economy, as well as looking at the opportunities and threats that might impact upon it in the future. This is Chapter 12 of The Review, the … Continue reading “Birmingham Economic Review 2017: Conclusion”

Fiscal devolution: An era of opportunity

City-REDI has prepared this brief to inform the debate on fiscal devolution. The UK has traditionally been a fiscally centralised system with most of the local authority income coming from government transfers. The acknowledgment of the importance of place and local leadership in policies such as the industrial strategy, devo deals and the budget, together … Continue reading “Fiscal devolution: An era of opportunity”

Clusters, and the research opportunity of Big Data – finding better ways to assess a specialised economy

Last year, NIESR, SpazioDati and City REDI were commissioned by the then Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to generate new evidence on UK industrial clusters and to test the potentials and limitations of Big Data techniques applied to the study of the topic. Reflecting back on this work its findings are especially relevant when … Continue reading “Clusters, and the research opportunity of Big Data – finding better ways to assess a specialised economy”

An Industrial Strategy Fit for Regional Growth

The UK is facing a number of critical challenges at the present time with Brexit at the top of most agendas. But most fundamental of these challenges are the result of significant regional differences in productivity, economic growth and social well-being across the country. These uneven patterns of inequality and socio-economic opportunity were a key … Continue reading “An Industrial Strategy Fit for Regional Growth”

City-REDI publications series: Professor Raquel Ortega-Argiles – The continental divide? Economic exposure to Brexit in regions and countries on both sides of the Channel

As part of a new blog series, we will be highlighting the excellent research produced by the City-REDI team since 2015, with the aim of creating an online searchable library. You can view this work by searching the blog with the relevant tag, either using the name of the author or the year of the publication. The … Continue reading “City-REDI publications series: Professor Raquel Ortega-Argiles – The continental divide? Economic exposure to Brexit in regions and countries on both sides of the Channel”

An Assessment of Brexit Risks for 54 Industries: Most Services Industries are also Exposed

The UK government this week admitted that it did not undertake sectoral impact assessments regarding the potential impacts of Brexit on individual sectors. Two of the main reasons for not undertaking such analyses is the fact that we do not yet know the outcome of the UK-EU negotiations on their future relationship as well as … Continue reading “An Assessment of Brexit Risks for 54 Industries: Most Services Industries are also Exposed”

From Birmingham with a Smile: Public Art, Streetscapes and the ‘Economic’ Impacts of a Liveable City

Cities should be interesting places to live and work. They should be places for serendipitous encounters with people, buildings and streetscapes – including green infrastructure. The best street environments are spaces for display, entertainment and encounter. Many cities are ugly and yet lovely places and many are too often lonely places; places for the socially … Continue reading “From Birmingham with a Smile: Public Art, Streetscapes and the ‘Economic’ Impacts of a Liveable City”