LGA Research bulletin

Welcome to the Local Government Association (LGA) Analysis and Research Bulletin.

This comprehensive monthly publication keeps you informed about key issues and developments in research impacting on local government.

Building capacity and capability for improvement in adult social care - England

The King’s Fund report, building capacity and capability for improvement in adult social care, considers how local authorities in England improve the quality of social care and asks questions about what the future should look like.

Monthly statistics for adult social care  -England

These Department of Health and Social Care (DOHSC) experimental statistics for adult social care in England provide information on a range of topics including infection control measures, COVID-19 vaccinations, flu vaccinations and testing for COVID-19 in adult social care settings.  

Public perceptions of health and social care - UK

This report on public perceptions of health and social care from the Health Foundation presents findings from the second survey in their programme of public perceptions research, in partnership with Ipsos, and shares the implications of the findings for national policy.

Findings from the evaluation of the NHS partnership with Virginia Mason Institute

The Health Foundation and NHS Improvement (now NHS England) commissioned Warwick Business School to evaluate the five-year collaboration between NHS Improvement and Virginia Mason Institute, and how five NHS trusts in England attempted to build a culture of continuous improvement. The new analysis sets out key learning from the independent evaluation, with recommendations for national policymakers and local systems leaders.

Childcare and early years survey of parents: 2021 - England

These Department for Education (DfE) findings from the 2021 survey of parents on childcare and early years include information on the use of childcare, reasons for using it, perceptions of childcare and paying for childcare.

Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England, 2020/2021

This NHS Digital Survey report on smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England in 2021, presents information on the percentage of pupils who have ever smoked, tried alcohol or taken drugs and on their regular use.

Key stage two attainment (provisional): England, 2022

These DfE provisional results for the 2022 national curriculum assessments at key stage two include results for pupils in schools in England by school and pupil characteristics.

EIF Early years library

The Early Intervention Foundation (EiF) have launched the early years library. The library is a free, evidence-informed resource of low-burden skills and practices to help early years practitioners support children’s cognitive and social-emotional development across three core domains: language and early literacy skills, early numeracy skills and social-emotional skills.

Comparative analysis of teacher attrition rates in England and Wales

The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) new research report ‘Comparative analysis of teacher attrition rates in England and Wales’ uses newly available teacher census data to make robust teacher attrition rate comparisons between England and Wales.

Purpose of travel, England – 1995 to 2021

This Department for Transport (DfT) purpose of travel data provides information about why people travel in England.

Transport use during the COVID-19 pandemic – Great Britain from 1 March 2020 to 12 September 2022

This DfT data release, provides statistics on transport use in Great Britain by mode in order to monitor the use of the transport system during the pandemic, from 1 March 2020 up to 12 September 2022. 

National travel survey: 2021 - England, 2021

The DfT national travel survey provides information about travel during 2021 by residents in England.

Walking and cycling statistics, England: 2021

These DfT walking and cycling statistics in England for 2021, include the proportion of adults walking or cycling, at a local authority level.

Developing skills for a just transition

This Wales Centre for Public Policy (WCPP) publication developing skills for a just transition, brings together evidence on the ways in which previous industrial transitions were managed, and highlights opportunities to incorporate lesson learnt into policy and regulatory approaches to a transition to net zero in Wales.

England's material footprint- England, 2001 to 2019

These Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) statistics provide information on England’s material footprint, or raw material consumption, associated with final demand in England from 2001 to 2019.

LG Inform updates:

A more efficient approach to managing performance at Richmond and Wandsworth Councils - Case Study

This case study highlights how Richmond and Wandsworth Councils have been able, through the use of the LG Inform Plus Application Programmable Interface (API) to improve the management of their local performance tool.

Read the Richmond and Wandsworth Councils case study.

For more information about the LG Inform Plus API contact: lginformplus@local.gov.uk

Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman - Local government complaint reviews

In 2021/22 there were 15,826 complaints and enquiries received by the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman which produced 1,848 recommendations for service improvement.

Explore data in this report.

Metrics added to LG Inform this month include:

Discretionary Housing Payments 

Department for Work and Pensions data on Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP)  is now available. The area with the highest number of DHP in England for 2021/22 was Liverpool at 10,259. You can also see the percentage of Government allocation for DHPs spent for local areas. 

Available Geographies: London borough – Metropolitan District – Unitary – District 

Individual insolvencies 

LG Inform now includes Insolvency Service numbers and rates of insolvencies by gender and age. For 2021 there were 56,377 individual insolvencies for females in England, compared to 46,694 individual insolvencies for males. The age band with the highest number of individual insolvencies (bankruptcies, debt relief orders and individual voluntary arrangements) was aged 25-34 at 30,608 adults in England.

Available Geographies: Country – Region – County – London borough – Metropolitan District – Unitary – District 

Statutory homelessness 

Annual homelessness data has now published by Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities DLUHC). For 2021/22 the number of households assessed and owed a duty in England was 278,110 up by 7,550 from 2020/21. A new metric for number of households assessed that were referred by Children's Early Help Services/Children's centres has been included. This accounted for 410 households for England in 2021/22. See the Understanding Homelessness report for your area. 

Available Geographies: Country – Region – County – London borough – Metropolitan District – Unitary – District 

Private sector rents 

The ONS Private Rental Market statistics has been expanded in LG Inform to include average Private sector rents for studio, one, two, three, four plus bedrooms and non self-contained rooms with shared facilities. For 2021/22 Average monthly private sector rents in England were £926, up from £864 a year earlier. The cheapest region is the North East where average private rents were £577. 

Available Geographies: Country – Region – County – London borough – Metropolitan District – Unitary – District 

A minimum income standard for the UK in 2022

This Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) annual reports on a minimum income standard for the UK in 2022.

Labour in horticulture survey 2022 for England

These experimental Defra statistics from the 2022 quarterly labour in horticulture survey in England provide information from farms with horticulture about how many person days their farm business needed from seasonal labour, and how many they actually used, in each month. 

How tight is the UK labour market?

A labour market is “tight” if vacant jobs are plentiful and available workers are scarce. This Office for National Statistics (ONS) UK labour market article considers broader measures of labour market availability and indicators of mismatch between unemployment and vacancies across industries.

Economic labour market status of individuals aged 50 and over, trends over time: April to June 2022, UK

These Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) experimental labour market status of individuals aged over 50 statistics provide the trends over time in the economic labour market status of individuals aged 50 and over in the UK between April and June 2022.

People aged 65 years and over in employment, UK: January to March 2022 and April to June 2022

This ONS article details the type of employment undertaken by those aged 65 years and over, and highlights the changes between January to March 2022 and April to June 2022 in the UK.

Economic activity and social change in the UK, real-time indicators: 8 September 2022

This ONS early experimental data and analysis on economic activity and social change in the UK provides indicators which are created using rapid response surveys, novel data sources and experimental methods.

Business insights and impact on the UK economy: 8 September 2022

These ONS statistics on business insights and impact on the UK economy provide details of challenges facing the economy and other events on UK businesses. These are based on responses from the voluntary fortnightly business survey (BICS).

Public sector employment, UK: June 2022

These ONS quarterly estimates provide information on public sector employment in the UK in June 2022 on a headcount and full-time equivalent basis by sector, industry and region.

UK labour market: June to August 2022

These ONS statistics provide estimates of employment, unemployment, inactivity, average weekly earnings, vacancies and other labour market related statistics for the UK between June and September 2022. This release also includes latest estimates of workforce jobs and public sector employment.

Fuel poverty statistics – England, 2020

This Defra document on fuel poverty statistics in England provides information on households in fuel poverty in rural and urban areas in England in 2020.

UK trade: July 2022

These ONS UK trade statistics provide information on the total value of UK exports and imports of goods and services by current price, chained volume measures and implied deflators in July 2022.

Live tables on homelessness

See here for the latest data tables on homelessness provided by DLUHC.

Civil justice statistics quarterly: April to June 2022 – England and Wales

These Ministry of Justice (MoJ) civil justice statistics provide details of the volume of civil and judicial review cases dealt with by the courts in England and Wales between April and June 2022 and the overall timeliness of these cases.

LG Inform and LG Inform Plus webinar programme to December 2022 now available

The LG Inform and LG Inform Plus programme of free webinars for the December 2022 period is available.

To book a place and discover more about the data, report writing and the various modules on offer visit the online training page for more details and how to book.

If you would like something more tailored to your needs, contact lginformplus@local.gov.uk

Local policy innovation partnerships

The Local Policy Innovation Partnerships (LPIP) programme, will fund a minimum of three LPIP and Strategic Coordination Hub making up to £20M available over four years. This is one of the ways that UK Research Innovation (UKRI) will help find place-based solutions to the social, economic and environmental challenges that matter to local people and communities.

The LPIPs programme will strengthen and diversify partnerships across research, policy, community, the third sector and enterprise. This will increase access to the research and data needed to address local challenges and build the skills and capability needed to design effective policy solutions.  LPIPs will focus on identifying, understanding and testing local policy that addresses the issues that matter most to local leaders and their communities.   

A Strategic Coordination Hub will play a leadership role convening across the research and policy ecosystem to connect LPIPs to the research, expertise and evidence needed to inform effective responses to local priorities.  

More information on developing local policy innovation partnerships

More information on strategic coordination hub for local policy innovation partnerships

Independent Age is a charity supporting people in later life. They are currently conducting research into the delivery of adult social care information and advice given by local authorities.

They have developed a short survey for Social Work professionals in order inform their work.:

Doctoral Local Authority Fellowship applications - England

The Doctoral Local Authority Fellowship (DLAF) scheme funds individuals based within local authorities and supporting services to undertake a PhD by research whilst concurrently developing professional skill sets within their existing setting. The closing date for the current round of applications is  1.00pm on 15 November 2022

Social Research Association (SRA) training courses

The SRA are currently offering a range of online training courses using Zoom. 

SRA - Social Research Practice journal

The latest issue of the SRA's free e-journal is now available.

Government Actuary Department (GAD) eNewsletter

The latest issue of the GAD eNewsletter is now available.

Project Oracle children and youth evidence hub

Project Oracle is a children and youth evidence hub. The latest newsletter provides a round-up of Project Oracle news, and headlines from across the sector. You can sign up to receive the regular Project Oracle newsletter.

The Rees Centre newsletter

The Rees Centre newsletter is published every two months giving an update on their fostering related research activities and events along with a book review and a section on young voices.

Changing Populations newsletter

The latest newsletter from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Centre for Population Change is now available.

Child Welfare Inequalities Project (CWIP) news

The CWIP at Coventry University studies the links between deprivation and children’s chances of being unable to live safely within their birth families and also aims to establish child welfare inequalities as a core concept in policy making, practice and research. Information about current CWIP projects is available on the website.

Centre for Evaluation newsletter

The Centre for Evaluation develops interventions, systems and strategies to improve public health using rigorous evaluation methods. Visit the website to sign up for the Centre for Evaluation newsletter.

What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth newsletter

This regular newsletter from the What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth provides the latest resources and evidence. Visit the website to sign up for What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth newsletter.

The Centre for Youth Impact newsletter

The Centre for Youth Impact is a community of organisations that work together to progress thinking and practice around impact measurement in youth work and services for young people. The latest Centre for Youth Impact newsletter is now available.

The Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) Newsletter

The CSA newsletter brings together the most up-to-date research into an accessible overview for frontline professionals and commissioners. Visit the website to sign up for the CSA newsletter.

National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) Direct

This regular NFER newsletter provides research, industry insights and free resources and events. Sign up for the NFER newsletter.

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) Centre for Evaluation

The Centre for Evaluation aims to improve the design and conduct of evaluations of complex public health interventions through the development, application and dissemination of rigorous methods, and facilitate the use of robust evidence to inform policy and practice decisions. The Centre produce a termly newsletter.

Wales Centre for Public Policy (WCPP) newsletter

WCPP works to address key economic and societal challenges through the use of evidence and produce a regular newsletter

Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) news alert

EEF news alerts provide information about teaching and learning toolkits, project evaluation reports, grant funding rounds and news and events.

NESTA

NESTA is an innovation foundation which aims to tackle society’s big challenges. They produce a regular newsletter.

Early Intervention Foundation (EiF) newsletter

This regular newsletter from the EiF brings together research, evidence and implementation guidance to champion effective early intervention for children and young people.

Research and Economic Analysis for the Long Term (REAL) Centre

The Health Foundation’s REAL Centre was set up to support long-term decision making in health and social care. Visit the website to sign up for regular REAL Centre updates.

Policy Bristol Newsletter

The Policy Bristol Newsletter provides regular policy updates and the latest policy research and events news.

Centre for Population Change (CPC) newsletter

The CPC newsletter outlines activities and news from the Centre.

ActEarly monthly bulletin

The AntennAE monthly e-bulletin provides the latest news and developments from Act Early.