Publications Archive

Richard Howard, Head of Environment and Energy, warns that the previous Government’s plan to install electric heat pumps in 4 out of 5 homes is a colossal waste of money, and sets out an alternative strategy to decarbonise heating.

Expensive inner-London police stations should be converted into housing to increased the number of officers living in the city, and improve the Met’s contact with the communities it serves.

This new report examines how people aged under 25 interact with the welfare system, arguing that the higher risk of young people disengaging from the welfare system and their different attitudes to work means that the Government should intensify employment support for people aged 25 and under.

David Goodhart, head of Demography, Immigration & Integration, explores how Brexit is an opportunity to reboot policy thinking on immigration and integration.

Delivering Differently argues that as many as one third (25,000) of London-based civil servants should be relocated to city regions and local authorities to boost productivity and innovation in public services.

Policy Exchange’s Judicial Power Project new paper by Richard Ekins commenting on ‘Brexit and Judicial Power’ coincides with a panel event on the same theme, chaired by Lord Judge, former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales.

Making Sense of British Foreign Policy After Brexit argues that the UK should use Brexit as an opportunity to adopt a more proactive global foreign policy, enhance its defence profile, and re-imagine relations with key allies.

Leading barrister Sean Aughey (11KBW) and former Army officer Tom Tugendhat MP critically dissect the legal reasoning of the Joint Committee on Human Rights’ report into drone warfare.

David Goodhart, head of Policy Exchange’s Demography, Immigration, and Integration Unit, looks at varying levels of integration based on location in England and Wales.

Up in the Air: Part 2 sets out a comprehensive package of measures to clean up air pollution in London, in particular focusing on the two main sources of pollution – road transport and gas combustion.

Today Glyn Gaskarth, Head of Crime & Justice at Policy Exchange, suggests locating police officers in recently closed London underground ticket offices.

The Importance of Teachers is a collection of 11 essays from expert commentators and participants in education which set out practical things which government, schools and heads might do to tackle the teacher supply crunch currently affecting schools in England.

Efficient Energy Policy states home-buyers would be encouraged to buy more energy efficient properties if Stamp Duty was directly linked to the energy performance of a home. The report argues that promoting home energy efficiency could not only reduce energy bills, but is also one of the cheapest ways to cut carbon emissions.

The Homes London Needs: Part 3 makes a number of recommendations to improve London’s housing crisis to the next Mayor of London. These include: rewriting the London Housing Strategy and the London Plan, and building on brownfield sites and post-war estates.

The Homes London Needs: Part 2 explores changing the way some commercial land is used, looking especially at underused (surplus) private industrial land, public land and other brownfield land.

The Homes London Needs: Part 1 suggests 50,000 new homes need to be built every year in order to accommodate London’s growing population and address the current housing shortage. Recommendations include shifting the balance of land use in our capital from commercial (industrial) use to residential.

Britain Imbalanced lists a series of ideas to promote physical activity and prevent the rise of obesity. Double Olympic gold medalist James Cracknell proposes that schools should provide parents with advice linked to encouraging more sleep, physical exercise and eating nutritious meals. He also says Public Health England needs to do more to explore the issue of underweight children as evidence suggests people are more likely to die when clinically underweight than overweight.

Time to Care sets out how the presumed introduction of 30 hours a week free childcare for working parents of 3 and 4 year olds offers a potentially transformative possibility of evolving childcare and early years education into a mature public services market like 5-16 schooling or the NHS. The report sets out the benefits of such an approach and makes further recommendations for the Department for Education to take forward in this area.

Smart Devolution proposes that mayors should be required to set up data offices to create smarter, more productive cities. Learning the lessons from New York, the report examines how most cities could access and utilise the vast quantities of data available, to help improve public services, safety and economic growth.

Judging the Public Interest examines the Supreme Court’s quashing of the Attorney General’s decision to block disclosure of the Prince of Wales’ correspondence with ministers. The report argues that, in doing so, the judiciary confused the rule of law with the rule of courts and overstepped its constitutional limits. It recommends that Parliament act swiftly to overturn this wayward judgment, reaffirming the rule of law and Parliamentary authority.

Nearly 25% of all school children in London and 44% of the Capital’s workforce are exposed to levels of air pollution that exceed legal and healthy limits. Up in the Air analyses data from over 100 air quality monitoring sites across London. It shows the most polluted parts of the capital currently have levels of Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) nearly four times the legal limit, with 12.5% of London’s total area exceeding the legal limit for NO2, and that deprived areas are more likely to be affected.

Together, a decade of loose public spending, fiscal stimulus and the aftermath of the financial crisis left Britain with the highest deficit in its post war history at 10.2% of GDP. Even half a decade later, that deficit is only half closed, and remains high internationally. Budgeting for Balance looks at the experience of fiscal consolidation so far, and how to approach the remainder of the task.

Whitehall Rules! shows how the Government could save £1 billion over the next four years by cutting the amount it currently spends on contractors by just 25%. In 2014/15, Government departments spent £1.01 billion on external contractors, up from £610 million in 2011/12.

DECC could save hundreds of millions of pounds and promote more competition and innovation among energy companies by sweeping away swathes of energy quangos at the Spending Review. Currently more than 30 bodies, many with overlapping functions and with an annual cost of £600m a year, govern energy policy, regulations and rules.

Higher, Further, Faster, More calls for BIS to redirect up to £532m of the Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE) grant to improve the quality of Further Education. Whilst acknowledging the importance of our Higher Education sector, the report points out that universities are sitting on reserves of £12.3bn at a time when 1 in 4 FE colleges could effectively go bankrupt within a year.

Ahead of a speech by American education academic E. D. Hirsch, Policy Exchange has drawn together a collection from a diverse range of education policy experts discussing the impact that Hirsch’s thinking has had on the curriculum.

The crime rate is not low. Crime can be reduced further and this will benefit everyone but especially the most vulnerable. More police patrolling London’s streets will deliver less crime.

Onshore wind is the most cost effective and scaleable low carbon technology in the UK and should be allowed to continue, albeit with subsidies phased out, if the government wants to decarbonise at least cost to the consumer.

Secondary schools should cover the costs of some or all their students who fail to get a C in GCSE English or maths and end up transferring from the school to a Further Education (FE) College to take their resits.

On the Move shows how making it easier for people – especially those on low incomes – to commute just a little bit further each day can put them in touch of thousands of extra potential jobs. Proposals from the report for doing so include tax benefits for ride-sharing schemes, introducing part-time rail tickets and devolution rail franchising and commercial bus subsidy.