Regeneration in a Downturn: What needs to change?
Professor Michael Parkinson CBE, Sir Bob Kerslake, John Carleton, Alison Newton, Nakato Kiwana, Michael Ward, Dr Nicholas Falk, Richard Simmons, Catherine Glossop, Liz Peace CBE, Tom Bloxham MBE. Edited by Paul Hackett.

Price £9.95 (ISBN 1 905370 50 4) Published 2009

This publication builds on the work that the Smith Institute has undertaken in shaping the policy debate on regeneration and renewal. It follows on from the work we have completed on housing, regional policy and economic development, and complements the recent reports by government and others on regeneration in a recession. The essays, by leading players in the field, offer a unique set of perspectives on the effects of the downturn as well as a menu of ideas and recommendations on the future direction of regeneration policy. The world of regeneration has been turned upside down by the credit crunch; we hope that this publication can provide some guidance on what needs to change in order to prepare for the upturn.

Health Futures
Rt Hon Alan Johnson MP, Neil Churchill, Niall Dickson, Jenny Versnel, Michael Macdonnell, Andrew Harrop, Tim Kelsey, Mikis Euripides, Dr Richard More, Dr Maria Duggan, Dr Ruth Hussey, Dominic Harrison, Don Redding, Joan Walsh, Harry Cayton, Martin Dockrell, Professor Scott L Greer, Anna Dixon. Edited by Neil Churchill.

Price £9.95 (ISBN 1 905370 49 0) Published 2009

This monograph follows on from recent work the Smith Institute has undertaken on health and early intervention. Over the past few years, the government has commissioned a series of reports that have helped bring a new focus to the urgent action which is required to help modernise the health service, and to make it more responsive to the needs of the citizen. But the primary focus of these reports has been to improve the existing service within the context of current pressures and expectations. Arguably, these are short-term, incremental measures, when a more radical and far-sighted approach is required. What are the challenges beyond the next 10 years? What more radical and challenging issues should government and other partners be addressing, to facilitate continuous improvement?

Childhood mental health and life chances in post-war Britain: Insights from three national birth cohort studies
By Marcus Richards and Rosemary Abbott

Published 2009

This report, in association with Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health and Unison, finds that children and adolescents with conduct and emotional problems have relatively worse prospects throughout their adult life. It is based on new findings from three national studies of the lives of people born in 1946, 1958 and 1970. It shows that mental health problems in children and teenagers have a significant impact on their chances of success in employment and family life as well as contact with the criminal justice system. People with conduct problems in adolescence were at double the risk of leaving school with no qualifications. They were more likely to be out of work or low paid, to become teenage parents and to be divorced later in life. And those with severe conduct problems were four times more likely than average to have been arrested by the police by the age of 30. Emotional problems also have a major impact. Girls with severe emotional problems were three times more likely to experience mental ill health as adults. But emotional problems slightly reduced the chances of contact with the police and had little effect on chances in employment.
Paul Hackett, director of the Smith Institute, said: "This important study of real lives over time provides further evidence of the need for politicians from all parties to think longer term about the way public policies are shaped to tackle mental ill health in our society. The research shows that there are significant benefits from an 'early interventionist' approach, and that failure to tackle childhood mental health problems has a disproportionate impact on a person adult life chances."

Social Europe and the Single Market –
Where Next?
Rt Hon Caroline Flint MP, Robert Taylor, John Monks, Brendan Barber, David Coats, Roger Liddle, Dr Gero Maass, Cilia Ebert-Libeskind, Eulàlia Rubio Barceló, Zaki Cooper, Professor Peter Taylor-Gooby, Jorma Karpinnen, Donald Storrie, Andy Sawford, Jacques Reland. Edited by Robert Taylor.

Price £9.95 (ISBN 1 905370 48 2) Published 2009

It is 20 years since former EU president Jacque Delors introduced the European Social Charter, which laid the foundations for the EU’s future social and employment policies. Dubbed by Margaret Thatcher at the time “a socialist charter”, it was regarded by trade unionists as a counterweight to the creation of a single market. The arguments surrounding the so-called “social dimension” have remained for most progressives at the centre of the debate about the future of the EU. Today, against the backdrop of a global financial crisis and a Europe-wide recession, the issue of social protection and employment rights is at the top of the political agenda. The authors in this timely publication offer a range of ideas on what the social dimension means for Europe in today’s globalised, but more uncertain world. How successful has EU social policy been, and is a “renewed social agenda” the way ahead? How adaptable is the EU’s social model to the economic and social challenges we now face, and is there a shared vision and an emerging consensus for change? The essays address these and related questions about social Europe from a UK, French, German and EU perspective.

Advancing Opportunity:
The future of good work
Rt Hon James Purnell MP, David Coats, Professor Duncan Gallie CBE FBA, Professor Cary Cooper CBE, Professor Philip Dewe, Ian Brinkley, John Philpott, James Reed, Brendan Barber, Professor JR Shackleton. Edited by David Coats.

Price £9.95 (ISBN 1 905370 47 4) Published 2009

This monograph, the last in a series under the theme of “Advancing Opportunity”, explores the future of “good work”. There has been a lack of attention given to the quality of work, despite the fact that for most people work is where they spend most of their time, and for many others it is where they derive a fair proportion of their status, their dignity, their self-esteem, their identity and their sense of personal progress. The phrase “good work” is intended to offer a broad rubric to consider how the quality of working life can be improved and performance and productivity enhanced. This collection of essays sets out how good work chimes with the most pressing issues affecting our economy and our society – including the rise of the knowledge economy, globalisation and outsourcing, the difficulties of getting people off welfare and into work, and skills – and outlines how a new politics of “good work” can be constructed.

Feeding Britain
Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP, Dr John Bridge, Dame Suzi Leather, Stephen Rossides, Jonathan Cowens, Martin Beckenham, Helen Priestley, Ken Boyns, Richard Lowe, Mick Sloyan, Peter Bradnock, John Rutherford, Wilfrid Legg, Martin Haworth, Andrew Jarvis. Edited by Dr John Bridge and Nick Johnson.

Price £9.95 (ISBN 1 905370 46 6) Published 2009

This timely publication examines the often overlooked issue of food production and security in Britain. At the global level, population growth, economic growth in key emerging countries, changing dietary patterns, finite land availability, climate change, challenges to the availability of key resources, the energy challenge, and a slowdown in the rate of growth of food productivity all point towards the need for new thinking. We tend to think of these issues in an international context, but in a globalised world they will inevitably affect the UK.

Charitable Legacies in an Environment of Change
Professor Cathy Pharoah and Professor Jenny Harrow

Published 2009

The UK has had a tremendous record of charitable giving, inspired largely by the work of Victorian philanthropists. The introduction of the welfare state reduced the relative level of giving, and our tax system has often been blamed for not incentivising giving enough. Government measures taken in the decade preceding the recession went some way to turning this around, but the impact of the downturn is likely to reverse these gains. It is against this background that this report has been written, taking forward the debate on modern philanthropy which the Smith Institute has pursued in different ways over the past two years. With charitable legacies worth almost £2 billion, they are of immense importance to both the third sector and the beneficiaries of charitable work. However, the impact of the downturn is likely to have considerable negative repercussions for legacy giving. With house and share prices falling, and with many donations made as a percentage of a legator’s estate, the outcome is likely to be that charities receive a smaller absolute, if not proportional, amount. The seriousness of the recession is as yet unknown, but the authors outline possible ways that the sector can weather the gathering economic storm and prepare for sunnier times.

Social Enterprise for Public Service: How does the third sector deliver?
Kevin Brennan MP, Jonathan Bland, Tom Titherington, Ray Mills, Professor Fergus Lyon, Roger Spear, Alastair Wilson, Michael O’Higgins, Professor Paul Palmer, Stephen Bubb, Ralph Michell, Juliette Ash, Alison Hopkins. Edited by Paul Hunter.

Price £9.95 (ISBN 1 905370 44 X) Published 2009

This timely publication follows recent work that the Smith Institute has undertaken on charities, philanthropy and social enterprises. Social enterprises are growing in significance, employing 650,000 people and contributing £8.4 billion per year to the UK economy. Much of the sector’s income now comes from the state to deliver public services. For many, social enterprises have the ability to offer a different approach and ethos, between the profit-driven private sector and the one-size-fits-all public sector. However, the sector is still small and faces capacity and capability constraints. With both main political parties committed to growing the third sector, this collection of essays highlights the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

The Future of the North East
Rt Hon Nick Brown MP, Professor John Tomaney, Dr Andy Pike, Alan Clarke, Dr Jenny Naish, Neil Murphy, Lord Michael Bates, Kevin Rowan, Kevin Parkes, Councillor John Shipley OBE, Dr Stuart Dawley, and Ian Jones. Edited by John Tomaney.

Price £9.95 (ISBN 1 905370 45 8) Published 2009

This monograph, the second in a series on the future of the English regions, takes forward our work on regional policy by looking at regionalism from the viewpoint of the region itself, rather than from a national policy perspective. By so doing we hope to promote greater awareness of the complexities of, distinct opportunities for, and challenges facing each region, not least among key stakeholders, opinion formers and decision makers inside and outside the region. Our intention is to raise the level of debate about the future of the North East, and to highlight what policy changes – locally, regionally, subregionally and nationally – are needed to make a real and lasting difference.

Is Free Trade Fair Trade? New perspectives on the world trading system
Professor Jagdish Bhagwati, Professor L Alan Winters, Professor Frank Trentmann, Professor Martin Daunton, Dr Amrita Narlikar, Professor Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann, Harriet Lamb, Ed Mayo. Edited by Professor Frank Trentmann.

Price £9.95 (ISBN 1 905370 43 1) Published 2009

The global financial crisis and slowdown in economic growth has far-reaching consequences for the world’s trading system and globalisation. After a quarter of a century of strong growth and market liberalisation, world trade volumes are forecast to decline this year. This sudden contraction presents an enormous challenge to trade ministers and the World Trade Organization, which is struggling to revive the aborted Doha round of multilateral trade talks. As this publication makes clear, the threat of protectionism and tariff wars will have serious social and economic effects, especially in developing countries where free and fair trade is often a critical feature of combating poverty and maintaining political stability. It is against this background that the distinguished authors of this publication present their views on what we have learned from the history of trade liberalisation and address what could be done today to ensure that trade policy remains a force for prosperity and social justice. As the WTO director general, Pascal Lamy, commented recently, “for national policy makers in the industrialised world, disregard for rising public concern about some aspects of globalisation would threaten to undermine the legitimacy of governments and imperil social support, as would neglect of the gains from trade. The answer to this tension lies in a balance between open markets and complementary domestic policies, along with international initiatives that manage the risks arising from globalisation.” Britain and the EU have their part to play in achieving that balance, and we hope that this monograph will help inform their policy thinking.

The Future of the West Midlands
Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP, Ian Austin MP, Rosie Paskins, Olwen Dutton, Mick Laverty, Mike Whitby, David Cragg, Chris Clifford, Richard Parker, Richard Clark OBE, Professor Ted Cantle, Jerry Blackett. Edited by Paul Hackett..

Price £9.95 (ISBN 1 905370 42 3) Published 2009

In recent years the Smith Institute has taken an active interest in regional governance and regional policy. We have published several monographs on regional issues and hosted various seminars and events. Our focus has primarily been on the arguments for and against empowering the regions and city regions, with a particular angle on the effects of devolution on economic performance and public service delivery. This monograph, the first in a series on the future of the English regions, takes forward our work on regional policy by looking at regionalism from the viewpoint of the region itself, rather than from a national policy perspective. By so doing we hope to promote greater awareness of the complexities and distinct opportunities and challenges facing each region, not least among key stakeholders, opinion formers and decision makers inside and outside the region. Our intention is to raise the level of debate about the future of the West Midlands, and to highlight what policy changes – locally, regionally, subregionally and nationally – are needed to make a real and lasting difference. As the government prepares to implement further reforms to regional structures and arrangements across England, this debate takes on added significance. The West Midlands has been transformed over the past 10 years, and, as this publication clearly demonstrates, there is enormous potential for continued growth. However, the region still contains some of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the country and is lagging behind in vital areas such as education and skills. The current economic climate and the pressures of globalisation leave no room for error. As the authors of this monograph suggest, the region has to keep the momentum of reform going and work even closer together. There are no quick fixes, and many of the suggested “home-grown” solutions to the region’s deep-rooted problems demand greater local and regional autonomy. Moreover, there is a call for determined leadership and a common endeavour to drive up standards so that the West Midlands can compete with the best in the world.

Healthy (opportunities for) Children
Available as online download only. Published 2009

View
Full Report

Seminar 1: Healthy Starts, Healthy Futures - Tuesday 29th April 2008
Main speaker: Catherine Law (Professor of Public Health and Epidemiology, UCL Institute of Child Health)
This seminar explored the ways in which health interventions at an early stage in a child's life can have significant long-lasting benefit for their future health and welfare

Seminar 2: Healthy Health Care - Tuesday 20th May 2008
Main speaker: Dr Patricia Hamilton (President, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health)
This seminar explored how public services and society in general can promote the health of all children, removing current inequities, in particular, the central role of the public sector in supporting children's health and well-being, and the need for a joined-up and long-term programme of support, enabling children to thrive and grow into healthy adults.

Seminar 3: Healthy Environments - Tuesday 24th June 2008
Main speaker: Ian Roberts (Professor of Epidemiology and Public Heath, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine)
This seminar explored the ways in which environmental policies, and our attitudes to climate change and sustainable development, have implications for children’s health and well-being.

To save publications locally, click and in the browser window select FILE > SAVE...

Getting in Early: Primary schools and early intervention
Rt. Hon. Iain Duncan Smith MP, Graham Allen MP, David Laws MP, Jean Gross, John Bercow MP, Virginia Beardshaw, Anita Kerwin-Nye, Jean Gross, Professor Katherine Weare, Professor Frances Gardner, Dr Lee Elliot Major, Charlotte Leslie, Chris Skidmore. Edited by Jean Gross.

Price £9.95 (ISBN 1 905370 41 5) Published 2008

This timely monograph follows the recent report by the Smith Institute and The Centre for Social Justice, Early Intervention: Good Parents, Great Kids, Better Citizens (September 2008). It offers further evidence of how early intervention, followed through from pre-school years to primary school years, can break the intergenerational cycle of under achievement and multiple deprivation. As with the first report, this collaboration offers a cross-party perspective and reaches across a range of professions and disciplines.

Can Homeworking Save the Planet? How homes can become workspace in a low carbon economy
Tim Dwelly, Professor Colin Mason, Professor Sara Carter, Dr Stephen Tagg, Caroline Waters, Kate Barker, Andy Lake, David Cowans, Richard Simmons, Susheel Rao, Stephen Glaister, Professor Peter James, Gideon Amos, Fiona Mannion, Dennis Pamlin. Edited by Tim Dwelly and Andy Lake.

Published 2008

This publication follows work that the Smith Institute has undertaken over recent years on the environment and the world of work. It also complements the debates we have held on well-being, new lifestyles, and promoting enterprise. Indeed, the subject of homeworking cuts across a range of policy agendas and is as relevant to the business community as it is to trade unions and the environmentalists. As the authors demonstrate, working from home not only reduces the environmental costs of commuting but also the energy expended in building and fuelling office space. The potential contribution to reducing carbon emissions in this way is significant, and has arguably been overlooked for too long. Over 40% of all UK businesses are now homebased, according to BERR. Yet we are still planning our use of property as if we were still in the industrial age, designing-in unsustainable working practices for decades to come. A fundamental rethink amongst policy makers is necessary, the authors argue, in order to realise the full benefits of a low carbon economy. The case for homeworking goes beyond the proven environmental benefits. There are also other tangible advantages to both employees and employers from working at home. With commutes becoming ever longer and more unpleasant, homeworking offers the opportunity for a much less stressful working experience and a better work-life balance. Individuals can work more flexibly, while cutting out the need to commute regularly gives people more free time. The authors also provide evidence that for businesses there are real savings to be had from reducing the need for valuable office space, as well as higher levels of workforce satisfaction, improved staff retention and reduced absenteeism. The trend is towards more homeworking and greater flexibility, with new technologies allowing individuals to connect their homes to the global marketplace. These changes are transforming society and present new challenges to the way we live and work. This collection of essays examines these challenges up close, and concludes that there are lasting individual and collective benefits to be had by moving to a more environmentally friendly homeworking economy.

Visions for Social Housing: International perspectives
Peter Dixon, Julie Cowans, David Orr, Michael Lennon, Bruce Katz, Margery Austin Turner, Dr Blair Badcock, Sharon Chisholm, Dr Michelle Norris, Dr Tony Fahey, Vincent Gruis, Julie Cowans, Professor Duncan Maclennan CBE. Edited by Julie Cowans.

Price £9.95 (ISBN 1 905370 40 7) Published 2008

The future of social, or non-market, housing is high up the public policy agenda in every Western country. Governments are having to grapple not only with the impact of the global credit crisis in terms of falling house prices and unwanted sub-prime stock, but also with the consequences for investment in social housing and estate regeneration. Moreover, an economic downturn will add to public housing waiting lists, increase housing welfare costs, and narrow housing choice. The state’s intervention in housing markets had for more than a century defined social progress and improved the health and well-being of millions of low-income families. Public housing, in all its forms, was at the heart of the post-war welfare revolution and was instrumental in providing for social mobility. In today’s property-owning societies this is no longer the case. Indeed, as this publication demonstrates, social housing has all too often become part of the multiple-deprivation problem. Rather than providing a hand-up, public housing (especially in mono-tenure estates) has all too often condemned families to the poverty trap and entrenched intergenerational housing inequalities. This report goes straight to the heart of the matter, looks at how the world has changed and asks: what, in today’s more affluent society, is social housing for? What can we learn from each other, and what reforms really make a difference in terms of better outcomes for tenants? The authors, drawing on evidence and analysis from their own countries, provide some considered and practical answers. Most of the recommendations are relevant to all Western countries, and collectively they present an agenda for reform that extends well beyond housing policy. Visions for Social Housing: International Perspectives offers a unique and timely insight into how nations are facing up to their housing challenges, and explores what the lessons might be for the UK.

Early Intervention: Good Parents, Great Kids, Better Citizens
Graham Allen MP and Rt. Hon. Iain Duncan Smith MP

(ISBN 978 0 9556999 4 8) Published 2008

A joint report with the Centre for Social Justice on Early Intervention policies was launched by senior Labour and Conservative politicians. They paint an apocalyptic vision of worsening violent crime and social disorder unless radical steps are taken early in the lives of young children to halt the slide to delinquency. In the report former Government Minister Graham Allen and former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith highlight the importance of new Early Intervention programmes targeted at boosting the life chances of deprived children aged 0 to 3 and call for cross-party consensus on intervening early.

Smith Institute Newsletter

Advancing Opportunity: Routes in and out of criminal justice
Rob Allen, Robert Rhodes QC, Charles Foster, Harriet Bailey, George Hosking, Penelope Gibbs, Sukhvinder Kaur Stubbs, Dan McCurry, Enver Solomon, Clive Martin, Professor Martin Stephenson, Julian Corner, Ed Straw. Edited by Rob Allen.

Price £9.95 (ISBN 1 905370 39 3) Published 2008

Numbers in prison in England and Wales grew from 40,000 to 64,600 in the 20 years to 2000, and are projected to reach perhaps 93,000 by 2010. Figures from 2005 showed that 91% of youngsters who have been through community punishment programmes reoffend. The collateral damage of imprisonment is considerable – a third of prisoners lose their home while in prison, two-thirds lose their job, over a fifth face increased financial problems and more than two-fifths lose contact with their family. This is damaging not only to individual offenders but also to society as whole, which pays the price – in a variety of ways – for not reducing reoffending. If we are serious about reintegrating people into our communities and enabling them to become productive and participative citizens, we have to find more effective ways of rehabilitating offenders. Responding to these problems is not solely or even mainly a matter for the police or the criminal justice system. The impact of home and school environments is key to understanding criminal behaviour among children and young people – as too is the quality of housing and of community and youth services provision. Most offenders have experienced a lifetime of social problems: prisoners are 13 times as likely to have been in care as a child, compared with the general population, and 13 times as likely to be unemployed; and more than 70% of prisoners suffer from at least two mental disorders. An effective approach to criminal justice must also deal with the growing correlation between drugs and crime in the UK. Problem drug users are responsible for around 60% of all crime, 80% of domestic burglaries and 54% of robberies. The essays in this volume look at different examples of interventions that have sought to reduce reoffending and to increase the rehabilitation of offenders. They start from the premise that we cannot expect to develop appropriate interventions to support people in exiting the criminal justice system unless we have a better understanding of the “journey” that has taken them into it, and of the interactions and (lack of) support they have experienced from a range of public services. We need to understand what is influencing people’s behaviour patterns and use that learning to develop proactive solutions to help bring them out of the criminal justice system. These essays examine the factors influencing offending, and offer up alternatives – sometimes radical and innovative alternatives – to reduce the chances of reoffending.

Advancing Opportunity: Health and healthy living
Christopher Exeter, Harry Cayton, Michael Blomfield, Andrew Ramwell, David Walker, Shaun Matisonn, Neil McInroy, Thea Stein, Jane Riley, Sue Proctor. Edited by Christopher Exeter.

Price £9.95 (ISBN 1 905370 38 5) Published 2008

The health of the nation is closely bound up with the country's economic and social wellbeing. A lack of access to good physical or mental health can have a significant impact on an individual's ability to participate actively in society - as both a citizen and as an economically-active individual. For the state, therefore, the cost is not only in the healthcare being provided, but in the opportunity cost of not having a healthy workforce. Government, at all levels, has a responsibility to invest in and support the nation's health. With an ageing population and our current lifestyle trends, healthcare will become prohibitively costly unless we are able to make our health services even more responsive and efficient, and – as addressed in this monograph – unless we can get the public, employers and other partners in the public and private sectors to take greater responsibility for the encouragement and support of healthy living. All the essays in this monograph address themselves to that critical challenge: the need to increase public engagement in personal health issues, influencing lifestyle trends and ultimately demand for health services. Encouraging greater health-awareness could bring significant economic dividends, but there will be heavy economic costs to Britain if people fail to engage with this health agenda. Achieving this is no small task, and will involve partnership and engagement across a number of different sectors and departments. The health service cannot, by itself, achieve the changes necessary to make us a healthier society. Government-backed public health promotion is a critical element but, as David Walker’s essay sets out, we need a “new politics of healthy living”. The challenge for government is to avoid the expansion of a nanny state and instead to stimulate new approaches from a range of other partners and sectors. The essays in this monograph consider the potential roles of different partners – the insurance industry, planners, developers, regional development agencies and others. The essays highlight the complexity of the task of improving public health, and set out a range of ideas that might help in developing new ways of working, in which government needs to be more of a partner and orchestrator.

Perspectives on Aspiration and Ambition
Hannah Brian, John Godber, Julie Kenny CBE DL, Ruth Redfern, Shaun Weatherhead, Selga Speakman-Brown. Edited by Hannah Brian.

Price £9.95 (ISBN 1 905370 38 5) Published 2008

One of the key barriers to young people fulfilling their potential is a lack of ambition and aspiration. Despite improvements in school results over the last decade, much more must be done to encourage the most disadvantaged. As one of the following essays highlights, children’s perception of their chances in the labour market affects their level of attainment at school. While children of professional parents have the importance of education instilled in them, too often the opposite is true of those from manual or non-skilled backgrounds. Apart from the benefits to the individual, improving the aspirations of the disadvantaged is crucial in meeting the challenges that Britain faces in a global age. This challenge also exists at a local level, where the economic performance of certain areas is often held back by a lack of skills. What comes through clearly in these essays is the need for parents, schools and communities to inspire the young to realise their aspirations. The challenge is how to achieve this. Although the essays are from a Yorkshire & Humber perspective, the solutions ring true for every region. Throughout the essays there is an emphasis on role models and mentors as a way of nurturing belief so that young people can unlock their latent talent. In order to encourage aspiration and ambition in the young, we have to communicate their possibilities and empower them to achieve. If we can do this, then more young people can realise their potential and society as a whole can benefit from the economic results that this will bring.

The Future of the Private Rented Sector
Peter Bill, Catherine Glossop, Ricky Taylor, Adam Sampson, Caroline Davey, Ian Potter, Mark Long, Mark Allan, Liz Peace, Lord Richard Best OBE. Edited by Peter Bill, Paul Hackett and Catherine Glossop.

Price £9.95 (ISBN 1 905370 36 9) Published 2008

The government’s house-building targets are being driven by two clear policy ambitions: to increase owner-occupation and provide a larger quantity of affordable housing. The role the private rented sector can play, however, has been largely overlooked. This situation is now starting to change, and the policy spotlight is more firmly on what the private rented sector can offer over the medium to long term. The sector has developed rapidly in recent years, but a lack of professionalism and poor standards of management in some segments of the market have prevented it from reaching its full potential. The government has pledged to improve the sector for both landlords and tenants, and is seeking views on how this might be achieved against the backdrop of the credit crunch and an increasingly fragile market. Independent reviews of the private rented sector (and the management and conditions of people living in houses in multiple occupation) are under way, with the final reports due this autumn. This monograph of essays, authored by key experts in the field, is intended to inform the government-initiated review and policy-making process. The focus is on addressing the major challenges facing both small and large landlords, and on what can be done to bring new, affordable private rented properties onto the market. The authors examine the important underlying market trends and take a critical look at the way the sector is funded, including the prospects for emerging subsectors (such as buy-to-let and student housing). Planning, licensing and regulatory issues are considered, and there are some complex issues here to be addressed – not least balancing the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants. Whatever their views on what needs to be done, all authors share a commitment to expanding the private rented sector and raising quality standards across the country. With the Homes & Communities Agency now in set-up mode, and the appointment of Caroline Flint as the new Housing Minister, it is timely to influence this emerging agenda. Recommendations range from the development of investment vehicles to fiscal incentives and tighter regulation. All parties have a role to play – Whitehall, cities, developers and investors. First and foremost, however, a future vision and strategy for the sector must be created. Unless all parties agree on the direction of travel, a stronger private rented sector will be hard to achieve.

Citizenship, Cohesion and Solidarity
Nick Johnson, Professor Ted Cantle, Professor Ed Fieldhouse, Sukhvinder Kaur-Stubbs, Professor John Clarke, Dilwar Hussain, Hetan Shah, Raja Miah, Erin Hoekstra, Meena Bharadwa. Edited by Nick Johnson.

Price £9.95 (ISBN 1 905370 35 0) Published 2008

The challenge of how we build sustainable and cohesive communities at both local and national level is one of the key debates of public policy. We live in a time of rapid change generated by globalisation, demography and technology. Britain, despite its status as one of the world’s richest economies and most diverse societies, is still a place of inequality, exclusion and isolation. Segregation between communities seems to be growing in some parts of the country. Extremism, both political and religious, is on the rise as people become more disillusioned and disconnected. The recent Commission on Integration and Cohesion report, Our Shared Future, argued the need to focus on developing policy solutions that enable people to live together rather than side by side, that promote greater shared identity, that support new migrants in adapting to life in Britain, that define what it means to be a citizen, and that instil a greater sense of civic responsibility and social solidarity into all those in our society. We need to make Britain, in the words of the Chief Rabbi’s new book, “the home we build together”. Building on this recent work, the essays in this monograph seek to articulate more fully where the policy debate has taken us and to identify the implications for delivery at a local level. The authors come from a variety of backgrounds and we aim to bring a combination of the academic, practitioner and policy-maker perspective to these issues. Most importantly, the essays aim to take the issue forward. The time for abstract discussions is over; it is now time to deliver on cohesion.

Fair Tax: Towards a modern tax system
Chris Wales, Robert Chote, Philip Broadley, John Whiting, Professor Francis Chittenden, Hilary Foster, Dr Irwin Stelzer, Professor Paul Ekins, Dr Jonathan Leape, Professor Judith Freedman. Edited by Chris Wales.

Price £9.95 (ISBN 1 905370 34 2) Published 2008

The issue of fairness in the tax system is complex, with many competing voices and interests. For Adam Smith, the central tenant of a fair tax system was that the “subjects … contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state”. This rings true today; those who enjoy wealth do so to some extent only because of what the state offers, be it through providing security and infrastructure, or so that there is a healthy and skilled workforce. Yet the level at which taxation is levied, and the selection of those who are levied, is always going to be a political decision, and hotly contested. In a global age where capital is highly mobile, Britain has to ensure that it attracts inward investment and that its tax system does not act as a disincentive to risk taking and hard work. Balanced against this is the attractiveness of Britain because of the amount of revenue raised and invested in human capital and infrastructure. Alongside this, the complexity of taxation can often mean the system is judged as unfair – hindering efficiency and creating burdensome administrative costs, especially for smaller businesses. But without complexity, there is a danger that a simplified tax structure will be too crude and unfair to many citizens. Beyond the purely economic arguments, taxation also has a social function, defining the kind of community we live in. From One Nation conservatism to the social democratic left, taxation is seen as a way of redistributing wealth to create a fairer, more cohesive society. Thus, a fair tax regime is about both the revenue raised and how this is shared through expenditure. Increasingly, tax is also seen as a way of redressing market failures such as the impact of economic growth on the environment, while arguments about devolution are intimately linked with the tax-raising powers of local and central government. This collection of essays opens up the debate about the strengths and weaknesses of the present British tax system. The authors cover a wide range of issues and seek to solve some of the inherent complexities and tensions that all tax regimes face. Set against the new landscape of globalisation and climate change, the contributors offer their thoughts on how Britain can have a fairer, more modern tax system.

The Public Value Of Social Housing: A longitudinal analysis of the relationship between housing and life chances
Leon Feinstein, Ruth Lupton, Cathie Hammond, Tamjid Mujtaba, Emma Salter and Annik Sorhaindo. With Rebecca Tunstall, Marcus Richards, Diana Kuh, Jon Johnson. With foreword by Steve Douglas, and Introduction by Jim Bennett.

Price £9.95 (ISBN 1 905370 33 4) Published 2008

In recent years we have taken an active interest in the role of social housing in a progressive society. We have published several monographs on developments in the sector and facilitated debates on what the future might hold. It has been striking that while these have been successful events, the discussions have all too often been frustrated by a lack of detailed evidence. This study changes that, and provides for the first time a unique longitudinal analysis of the relationship between housing and people’s life chances. At the seminar we held in October 2007 to discuss the study’s findings, it was generally agreed that the work was not only authoritative and extremely timely but also significant in that it provided a unique insight into the complexities and interconnections of social housing’s relationship to how we live and where we live. By reviewing datasets of UK birth cohorts over half a century, the study casts new light on the links between social housing provision, tenants’ lives and social policy. In particular it highlights the intergenerational aspects which shape the relationships between housing, place, family, community and public policy. The study is of course open to interpretation and makes no claims about providing easy answers to the problems facing the social housing sector. However, the research does show how approaches and attitudes to social housing have changed and how this has affected people’s life chances in terms of health, employment, education, social mobility and welfare dependency. It raises important issues concerning the value of social housing and what might need to be considered in order to tackle deep-rooted problems of multiple disadvantage, poverty and worklessness. In tracking the relationship between housing and people’s circumstances and other life outcomes, the study shows that the link between social housing and deprivation is not inevitable. Social housing was until the mid 1960s the tenure of choice for the many. However, the data shows how socioeconomic and cultural factors have reshaped the housing market and demonstrates how social housing policy has been disconnected from our efforts elsewhere to improve people’s life chances. The depressing conclusion is that social housing has become an indicator of risk for adult life chances, above and beyond what might be expected. The situation can be reversed, but this will demand greater recognition that the way social housing has been provided has not supported the very people it was meant to help.

Moving Up a Gear: New challenges for housing associations
Denise Chevin, Andy Love MP, Peter Marsh, David Orr, David Cowans, Richard Clark OBE, Tony Shoults, Tom Titherington, Professor Martin Cave, Richard Parker, Stephen Trusler, Richard Simmons, Dominic Church. Edited by Denise Chevin.

Price £9.95 (ISBN 1 905370 32 6) Published 2008

Engaging Business in the Community –
Not a quick fix
Geoffrey Bush, David Grayson and Amanda Jordan, Jane Nelson. Edited by Dr Amy Lunt.

Price £9.95 (ISBN 1 905370 30 X) Published 2008

Advancing Opportunity: Older people and
social care
Ivan Lewis MP, Neil Churchill, Melanie Henwood, David Brindle, Alison Macadam, Gordon Lishman, Anne McDonald, Stephen Haddrill, Professor Jill Manthorpe, Professor Richard Berthoud, Professor Ruth Hancock, Stephen Burke, Professor Caroline Glendinning, Lord Bruce-Lockhart, Sir Derek Wanless. Edited by Neil Churchill.

Price £9.95 (ISBN 1 905370 31 8) Published 2008