Evidence briefings

The Creative Credits scheme initially boosted SME innovation and sales growth, but beyond the first six months these impacts were no longer statistically significant. This would not have been uncovered with normal evaluation methods - hence, randomised controlled trials should be used more widely in the evaluation of business support policies.

An analysis of economic policies over the last 80 years shows that the results of government interventions have been mixed. Increasing competition and lowering trade barriers lead to higher levels of productivity, while policies aimed at 'picking winners' tend to deliver poor results and are vulnerable to political whim.

The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme markedly improved NHS treatment of mental illness. But in some areas the programme has not been followed up with the necessary expansion - with local commissioners even cutting mental health provision, despite receiving funding for IAPT roll-out.

Mental illness has huge cost implications for society and the NHS in terms of lost work days and healthcare. There is a need for more interventions and policies that promote social relationships and psychological wellbeing.

Civil society organisations are increasingly important providers of public services. Voluntary trust-based partnerships seem to be far more effective than mandated partnerships and imposed competition.

An analysis of charities in two locations shows a clear imbalance between the area of affluence and the area of deprivation. Charities in the affluent area are more numerous and handle a broad range of social, community and cultural needs, while charities in the deprived area are fewer and deal with urgent needs related to deprivation.

Since graduates compete with non-graduates for many jobs, a university education has become increasingly risky in financial terms as a strategy for acquiring a higher-paid job. Rather than simply increase university intakes, policies should apply a more diversified approach focusing on what is best for different people.

The widespread use of web-based technology in education offers new opportunities for teachers and students. The Ensemble research project explored the role of ‘semantic web’ technologies to support undergraduate and postgraduate teaching - through new ways of storing, combining and presenting data.

Ofcom has introduced regulations banning the advertising of foods which are high in fat, salt and sugar during children’s TV programming. However, the ban did not lead to any reduction in the proportion of ads for unhealthy food seen by children.

Being physically active and having a healthy diet are important for children’s health and combating obesity. Although most schools have policies on physical activity or active travel, it's not clear whether this alone is enough to achieve higher activity levels.