International Women’s Day: Mind the Gap

In celebration of International Women’s Day, Alice Pugh looks at how employers can help women overcome the obstacles they face in the workplace. This blog is part of an International Women’s Day series. Research shows that women start their careers with as much ambition as men on average (Abouzahr et.al,2017), and in an international survey … Continue reading “International Women’s Day: Mind the Gap”

Levelling Up So Far: Has Funding Gone to Areas Most in Need?

Alice Pugh summarises where Levelling Up funding has been spent so far, across both rounds of funding. In total across both rounds of the Levelling Up fund, £3.9bn has funded 216 projects. The aim is to understand whether funding was spent in the areas most in need of levelling up. Regional Analysis Across both funding … Continue reading “Levelling Up So Far: Has Funding Gone to Areas Most in Need?”

West Midlands Economic Impact Monitor – 17 February 2023

Recent international news has been dominated by a huge Turkey-Syria earthquake and by mounting tension between the USA and China regarding the shooting down of a balloon and unidentified flying objects in US airspace. In the UK the Bank of England raised interest rates once again in early February. Inflation is decreasing slightly but remains … Continue reading “West Midlands Economic Impact Monitor – 17 February 2023”

Levelling Up: An Analysis of the Distribution of Funding in Round One

Alice Pugh provides a breakdown of the first round of Levelling Up funding. Which regions were the big winners, and who lost out in the first round? View a blog summarising round two funding. View more of our work on Levelling Up In Levelling Up (LUP) round one, 105 projects were funded, at a total … Continue reading “Levelling Up: An Analysis of the Distribution of Funding in Round One”

Levelling Up: An Analysis of the Distribution of Funding in Round Two

Alice Pugh provides a breakdown of the latest round of Levelling Up funding. Which regions were the big winners, and who lost out this time around? View our analysis of Round One funding. View more of our work on Levelling Up In the second round of levelling up funding, 111 projects were awarded funding, with … Continue reading “Levelling Up: An Analysis of the Distribution of Funding in Round Two”

WMREDI City Index Tool: Core Cities Comparison

The City Index Tool is a data dashboard which allows users to compare and rank 61 English cities using a varierty of metrics and categories. Alice Pugh demonstrates its use by comparing the 8 English members of the Core City UK alliance. View the City Index, part of the WMREDI Data Lab. What is the … Continue reading “WMREDI City Index Tool: Core Cities Comparison”

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Alice Pugh looks at the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on the Christmas season. Whether you view Christmas as a religious or commercial holiday, for most households in the UK it should be a beautiful time of the year filled with joy. However, this year the cost-of-living crisis is the grinch which is stealing Christmas … Continue reading “The Nightmare Before Christmas”

Insights into Birmingham City Council’s Spending Power, Revenue Funding and Spending between 2010-11 and 2019-2020

A new report by Alice Pugh, Dr Abigail Taylor, and WMREDI intern Charlotte Tomlinson examines changes in Birmingham City Council’s income and expenditure over the decade between 2010/11 and 2019/20. In this blog, Alice and Abigail summarise the aims of the report, the methodological approach adopted and they key findings. They also discuss key messages … Continue reading “Insights into Birmingham City Council’s Spending Power, Revenue Funding and Spending between 2010-11 and 2019-2020”

Energy Price Cap Reduction

Alice Pugh looks at the potential impact of the removal of the energy price cap for households in the West Midlands. The removal of the energy price cap from April 2023 will have a massive impact on energy bills for households within the WMCA area. The West Midlands region has the largest number of fuel-poor … Continue reading “Energy Price Cap Reduction”