Impact case study database

Professor Nick Chater’s expertise, underpinned by his research, led to his appointment to the advisory panel of the Cabinet Office’s Behavioural Insights Team (BiT), a position he has held since 2011 (5.1). The BiT generates and applies behavioural insights to inform policy, improve public services and deliver results for citizens and society, across a range of policy areas. In collaboration with BiT, Chater developed, and currently delivers with colleagues, the twice-yearly ‘Behavioural Science in Practice’ executive education course at Warwick Business School, (WBS) (5.1), which applies behavioural science to real world challenges. With practical application, learning is translated to the workplace of participants.

Prof. Chater is also a member of the Climate Change Committee (CCC), an independent, statutory body established under the Climate Change Act 2008. The CCC advises the UK and devolved governments on emissions targets and reports to Parliament on progress made in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preparing for, and adapting to, the impacts of climate change. Chater is the committee’s behavioural science specialist, helping to guide the Committee’s work to address the challenge of dramatically reducing emissions. A recent example of his contribution is a paper which outlines three behavioural principles related to how people have adapted so rapidly to Covid-19, and how the UK might ‘build back better’ as it emerges from the pandemic (5.2).

Prof. Chater’s influence extends to industry, via his behavioural science spin-out company, Decision Technology, which employs 20 staff. The consultancy has informed the corporate strategy and operations of numerous UK and international brands. Over the assessment period, clients have included EDF Energy, British Gas and Deliveroo (5.3).

The body of research has been communicated to a global public. As well as his long-running radio programme, MOOC and popular book, Prof. Chater is widely cited in the media. In the REF period, Chater was quoted or referenced 516 times, including 154 TV and radio interviews. He has written op-eds in The Financial Times (2019) and The Guardian (2020), and since 2014 has written 9 articles in The Conversation, with 350,314, reads (5.4).

BBC Radio 4 series: The Human Zoo

The Human Zoo relates behavioural science to current affairs and everyday life, and was created by Professor Chater and journalist Michael Blastland, running for eight series on the BBC between 2013 and 2016. Chater was resident scientist throughout, devising and co-presenting each episode. The programme builds directly on Prof. Chater's research, explaining 'high-level' mental processes involved in judgement and decision making, especially as arising through improvisation based on past experience. The programme gave listeners a sense of the complex machinery that underpins our thoughts, experiences, and decisions. For example, the notion that losses loom larger than gains (3.1), leading to ‘loss aversion,’ which shapes individual consumer and corporate investment decisions, and which may magnify the instability of the stock market, was dealt with in episode 2, Series 1 and episode 6, Series 8 of The Human Zoo series.

On air, the show had an estimated 1,500,000 listeners, and it is continuously available on BBC Sounds ( https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b036tbly) (5.5). Prof. Chater also created the online Human Zoo Lab, with experiments, on topics ranging from risk taking, information seeking and visual attention, completed by over 6,000 individuals (5.6). Blastland confirms that " Without his knowledge, credibility, and the astonishing access it gave us to research and other academics, we would have floundered. He featured in every programme and we often drew heavily on his own work - including one episode derived entirely from his thesis 'The Mind is Flat' for a programme recorded at the Cheltenham Science Festival [episode 2, Series 6]. New series on Radio 4 are extraordinarily hard to come by; series that run for several years harder still. We had a prime slot on a national network reaching a large audience for a subject never previously accorded such attention - and owe a huge part of that success to Nick Chater." (5.7)

The show's impact on public understanding about the improvised, unstable, nature of thought, was measured using a survey completed by 829 listeners. 85% stated that the show inspired them to look at related talks, articles and books; 70+% were inspired to take further academic study, such as degree, A-level, online course. in some aspect of the behavioural sciences. 52% stated the show changed their views on how the mind works " completely" or "a lot"; 93% confirmed that the insights from the show have helped them with study, their job, or life in general. Comments included: "it helped with my confidence and changed my life", "it made me change the way I think about things", "it really made me think about my choices", "it completely changed the way I think" (5.8). Massive Open Online Course (MOOC): The Mind is Flat

The Mind is Flat MOOC was launched by WBS in September 2013, on the FutureLearn digital education platform. The course explores Prof. Chater's proposal that the mind is a spontaneous improviser of explanations and choices, not governed by hidden ‘mental depths’. Topics include why we take risks and why we fear them, how people succeed or fail in working with others, and how we can understand biases in our own behaviour. The course has run 8 times since 2013 (the most recent being in 2020), with 97,000 learners enrolled, over 30,000 active learners engaging in course content, and 9,000 contributing to on-line discussion. The course received excellent feedback and is Warwick’s most subscribed MOOC (5.9).

Comments from participants show increased engagement with behavioural science, with fascinating, thought provoking, interesting, enriching, and inspiring often appearing in feedback. One respondent stated that the course was "stimulating, rewarding, challenging and satisfying…" (5.9). "It leaves me wanting to learn more, much more, even the idea of embarking upon a degree course". In a post-course survey, 45% of completers said they would read books or articles on the subject, 75% that they would participate in another online course and 5% of completers indicated they would be taking a degree course to pursue their interest (5.9). Learners frequently confirmed the course had changed their beliefs or understanding of the mind. One participant confirmed that "This course opened my eyes and horizons and influences my future decision making", while others commented that "It has certainly got me thinking about virtually every aspect of my life differently", and that it "Gives me a fresh sense of the world around me… I feel richer for having gone through it". A member of the most recent cohort found that the MOOC provided “ a series of convincing arguments that challenged our understanding of ourselves and those around us as well as the world we thought we knew. I particularly enjoy the link to the experiment at the end of each week which reveals our longstanding biases and how behavioural science and economics approach these issues of human nature. The world has never been the same again after taking this course!” (5.9).

For some, the effect was dramatic: "I was Global Business Development Director at Kantar in 2014, enjoying my role but intellectually unfulfilled... the Mind is Flat MOOC seemed interesting and I signed up. By the end I was hooked ... I wanted to continue learning more and opted for a part time MSc at UCL in Social Cognition. … that has opened up new opportunities at work, with a new role leading development of our global Brand & Shopper offer…All catalyzed by a MOOC!" (5.10). In later iterations, 1/5 of participants enrolled after a positive personal recommendation.

Popular book: The Mind is Flat

Prof. Chater's Penguin book, The Mind is Flat, published in March 2018, building on the MOOC, saw wide acclaim. The book was well-reviewed in the popular press including in The Spectator, THES, The Guardian and New Scientist, and Chater wrote supporting articles in The Observer, and Wall Street Journal (5.11), stimulating debate in the comments sections of the respective websites. The US Edition of the book won the 2019 Association of American Publishers PROSE Award, which recognise the very best in professional and scholarly publishing, for Best Book in Clinical Psychology. In The Human Zoo survey, 20% of listeners had also read The Mind is Flat and, of those, 47% agreed that it completely changed their view of the mind (5.8). The book was also published in Spanish, French, Italian and Mandarin, with a Japanese translation underway, thus reaching a wide non-English speaking audience.

Also over the assessment period, Prof. Chater wrote and presented an episode of BBC Radio 4's Analysis (5.12); talked at Cheltenham Science Festival, Also Festival, the British Science Festival and York Festival of Ideas (5.13), and at the acclaimed Talks at Google (viewed 6,000+ times) (5.4). He was a panellist on Radio 4's Any Questions? (April, 2020) on behavioural responses to Covid-19. As that crisis unfolded, he wrote articles informing the public about social distancing, psychological bias and political decisions, and a green future (5.14).

The Birmingham city region accounts for over GBP120,000,000,000 of GDP (compared with GBP170,000,000,000 in Scotland)), and about three quarters of the total West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) region. The creation of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), and subsequently the Mayoral West Midlands Combined Authority in 2016 (tasked with improving economic performance of the area), presented challenges for both governance and strategy development, with very little existing infrastructure.

“Six years ago the Greater Birmingham region was the economic laggard by any measure. The Greater Birmingham region is now an economic hotspot in the UK. The…key to the transformation of the GB economy has been the depth and breadth of our regional economic strategy … Prof Driffield [‘s research] was key to this strategy and through this we were able to engage with Treasury and build a more constructive relationship with central government.” (Steve Hollis, then Chair, GBSLEP) (5.1)

Professor Driffield was a finalist in the ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize 2017 in the Outstanding Impact in Business and Enterprise category. His research has resulted in the following impacts in the West Midlands:

Influencing regional strategies to catalyse inward investment and growthProf. Driffield’s body of research directly informed the regional inward investment strategy (later termed ‘The Greater Birmingham Project’), influencing both the Strategic Economic Plan (SEP) and successful GBP1,000,000,000 bid for local growth funds. His research has informed both the formation and delivery of regional economic strategies, enabling the region to win record levels of inward investment in the 5 years since its introduction. This has been achieved through Driffield’s close collaboration with the Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP), where he serves as academic lead and is a member of the Economic Strategy Board (2012-), and through his appointment as Deputy Chair of the Mayor's Productivity and Skills Commission (PSC) and membership of the executive for the SEP (2017-).

The SEP (5.2) was underpinned by Prof. Driffield’s analysis (5.3), aiming to target sectors such as advanced manufacturing, business, professional and financial services (BPFS) and tech and digital media by establishing the value proposition of the region to those sectors (5.4). The analysis and expert insight (5.3;5.4), provided a deep understanding of the magnitude of the likely benefits of targeting these sectors specifically, in terms of employment, productivity and exports. Early evidence demonstrated that a sectoral approach to regional inward investment strategy was effective at driving growth, which almost doubled by 2017 with GBP3,500,000,000 growth in gross fixed capital formations since the launch of regional strategies in 2015 (5.5). Steve Hollis, then Chair of the GBSLEP, further affirms that Prof. Driffield’s research, “guided our GBSLEP Board [in] implementing policy interventions that have resulted in a marked increase in the GB region's attractiveness for inward investors …[and that] Professor Driffield has been instrumental in helping to shape the Greater Birmingham Project” (5.1).

Wouter Schuitemaker, then Executive Director of West Midlands Growth Company (WMGC) with dual responsibilities of Investment Director (inward investment) and Commercial Director, further corroborates that: “Y our analysis [5.3] both confirms our approach and reassured the LEP board that our approach would bear fruit, giving them the confidence to get behind the strategy. The inward investment elements of both the Greater Birmingham Project and the Strategic Economic Plan bear witness to your analysis’ (5.6).

Additionally, Prof. Driffield's positioning paper on GBSLEP's inward investment strategy post-Brexit (3.2) formed part of Birmingham's successful bid for local growth funds (5.7). The model developed by his research (3.1) that demonstrated the benefits of developing and communicating the region’s value proposition was locally applied by the WMGC to inform their business case for future funding from the WMCA Investment Committee and contributed to Birmingham's Economic Review in 2018 (5.4). The WMCA business case was instrumental in securing a further GBP2,500,000 per annum between 2018-2020. Neil Rami, Chief Executive at WMGC, stated: “Your points regarding the role of WMGC in both developing and communication the regions value proposition were well made, with reference to the evidence base, building on your research. Having someone with your experience and insight assisting us on this has been invaluable” (5.7).

Supporting devolution and regional economic developmentDriffield's research (3.1-6), translated through his role as lead academic advisor to the WMCA’s SEP, formed part of the rationale for Greater Birmingham and West Midlands gaining devolution from Whitehall over economic policy. Driffield's research on local sector performance and the region's capacity for internationalisation, in terms of both exports and inward investment (5.3), supported the West Midlands successful bid for devolution. Following devolution and the emergence of the WMCA, Driffield was invited as the academic lead on the WMCA 'Productivity and Skills Commission' (PSC). Subsequently, Prof. Driffield’s body of research (3.1-6) has shaped the Commissions actions and recommendations including a skills strategy aligned to the region’s inward investment strategy, based around a value chain approach. This is evidenced by various contributions, including the call for evidence published by the WMCA that links strategies for economic growth to productivity and skills frameworks (5.8).

A joint report for PSC and WMGC (5.3), informed by Driffield’s body of research (3.1-6), recommended that inward investment should target efforts on job creation, recognising the distinction between technology and more labour-intensive activities, and that this could be achieved through the development of ‘sector networks’ in order to prepare firms for investment and strengthen the relationship between firms and inward investors. This report informed the regional approach, resulting in greater flows of investment, more opportunities for employment and job creation (5.9, p22-25). Dr Andy Palmer, then Chair of the PSC (and former CEO of Aston Martin Lagonda), acknowledged that Driffield’s “body of work [3.1-6] has formed the evidence base for the Regional Skills Plan and the development of the emerging West Midlands local industrial strategy” (5.10). Specifically, the work of the Commission led to the Regional Skills agreement, with GBP69,000,000 of funding from central government outlined in the local industrial strategy (5.11). This work continues as the PSC has evolved into the WMCA Productivity and Skills Board, with Driffield appointed for a 3-year term.

Influencing regional and national foreign direct investment policy post-Brexit

Prof. Driffield’s work with UK Trade & Investment (now the Department for International Trade) and business investment agencies identified foreign firms with a high probability of expanding internationally. Driffield’s research (based on early drafts of 3.1-2, available via https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2775954)) was used during FDI debate in House of Commons on 12 Sept 2017 by Bill Esterson MP (Sefton Central and Shadow Trade Minister) who stated that: “The fall in the value of sterling has of course made it cheaper to invest here, but as Nigel Driffield and his colleagues point out, the benefits of a favourable exchange rate are set against the uncertainties of changes in our access to the EU. Their research also shows that investors like to return profits to their home countries, so a low-cost investment may be of less interest than might appear at first glance” (5.12). Together, this work helped the UK to attract 6 new firms, employing almost 10,000 people; this included HSBC relocating its headquarters to Birmingham, bringing over 1,000 jobs (5.5; 5.13). Driffield is a member of the West Midlands Brexit Commission, leading on the understanding of the economy, and the prospects for future investment. By 2018 Greater Birmingham was designated as having the best strategy for attracting FDI of all large cites in Europe, according to fDi Magazine's European Cities and Regions of the Future ranking 2018 - one of the industry's most prominent benchmark of FDI competitiveness (5.14). In 2020, the West Midlands retained its position as the UK’s leading region outside London and the South East for attracting FDI, according to the Department for International Trade that demonstrated that the region accounts for 8% of the UK’s total new FDI projects (5.15).

Building upon prior research (3.1; 3.2; 3.4), and further supported by ESRC Covid-19 response funding that involves working with investment promotion agencies and DIT on their investment strategy (grant 1), Prof. Driffield’s research is being used to inform plans for economic recovery following the Covid-19 pandemic. Driffield has been appointed by the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee (BEIS) as a Specialist Adviser to its Post Pandemic Growth Inquiry. He is also on the advisory group advising the DIT on its inward investment strategy and, at a regional level, is central to the development of Coventry and Warwickshire LEP’s post-Covid-19 response strategy (5.16).

In 2019, there were a record 33 million people in employment in the UK (ONS 2019). However, with rising non-standard employment and the emerging gig economy, there are public policy concerns about declining job quality, with estimates of between one-sixth and one-quarter of UK workers (or 5,500,000-8,250,000 workers) in poor quality jobs. Poor job quality negatively impacts on individual workers’ wellbeing and organisational performance, including productivity (3.7). Through their research, Professor Warhurst and the IER team have been instrumental in changing understanding of job quality measurement, doing so first through the Taylor Review and CIPD, then the Measuring Job Quality Working Group. This work has directly shaped government and practitioner responses to the problem.

The Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices

In 2016, the UK Government commissioned The Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices (henceforth the Taylor Review). Its subsequent report Good Work, published in mid-2017, recommended that an explicit commitment be made by the UK Government to promote and support ‘good work’ for all (as it called good job quality) as a national priority and that “ the Government should identify a set of metrics against which it will measure success in improving work, reporting annually on the quality of work on offer in the UK” ( 5.2, p.103). Drawing on the Taylor Review, the aim of the UK’s Industrial Strategy published at the end of 2017 is to boost productivity by backing businesses to create good jobs. In 2018, the task of improving the UK job quality was added to the responsibility of the UK Government’s Minister for Business.

Prof. Warhurst and the IER team’s research was fundamental to the delivery of this policy development and continues to make a critical contribution to a significant overhaul of government employment policy, one that recognises the importance of job quality, not just job quantity. The 2015 Scottish Parliament Inquiry into Work, Wages and Well-being had drawn on Prof. Warhurst’s expertise as well as research for Oxfam involving Dr Wright ( Decent Work for Scotland’s Low-Paid Workers). After being invited to give evidence to the Inquiry, the subsequent 2016 report, Taking the High Road - Work, Wages and Wellbeing in the Scottish Labour Market, stated: “ Many of our recommendations focus on, as Professor Warhurst describes, paving the high road and blocking the low-road” (5.1, p.1 ). In 2016, Prof. Warhurst was then invited to give personal evidence to the Taylor Review. The evidence presented was based on research from QuInnE (2.1).

The subsequent recommendation of the 2017 Taylor Review report was that the UK Government adopt a new measure of job quality for the UK, stating that "… the Review has settled upon the 'QuInnE' model of job quality, developed by the Institute of Employment Research and others as part of a pan-European research programme", and dedicated a section in the subsequent Taylor Report to the QuInnE indicators of quality work (5.2, p.12-15 ). As the review Chair Matthew Taylor confirms, “ you and your team’s research was influential in shaping our thoughts on this issue. … As a result, your research on measuring job quality was of great help to the work of the Review and will be of great benefit to the work of the UK Government in proving better jobs in the future” (5.3).

In the Industrial Strategy White Paper published later in 2017, the UK Government stated that " we accept Matthew Taylor's recommendation that the government should identify a set of measures against which to assess job quality and success” (5.4, p.118 ). The Industrial Strategy cites “ good jobs” as a key component of one of its five foundations of productivity (5.4, p.10 ). In addition, in the 2018 UK Government’s formal response to the Taylor Review, Good Work: A response to the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices, it confirmed that a measure would be developed, stating that *“we will use these measures to report annually on the quality of work in the UK economy, and to hold ourselves to account.*” It also stated, " we set out the five principles that we believe underpin the quality of work … We have identified these principles in discussion with experts including the CIPD” (5.5, p.13 ). These principles were based on parallel research conducted by IER for CIPD that developed the QuInnE framework and was shared by the CIPD with the UK Government.

The CIPD and its UK Working Lives Survey

Contribution to significant UK Government employment policy change is undoubtedly a key indicator of the influence of IER’s research. However, the beneficiaries are far broader than Whitehall policymakers. Work forms a substantial aspect of people’s lives. Quality employment benefits workers, organisations and society. The CIPD champions better working lives and good practice in people management to deliver these benefits. IER’s research has had a distinct, demonstrable impact on CIPD understanding of job quality and CIPD practice.

In 2017, Dr Sarkar undertook a secondment to the CIPD to support the translation of the IER's research for the CIPD on measuring job quality (2.2) into a new survey. This survey replaced the CIPD’s existing annual employee engagement survey. The new UK Working Lives Survey was administered in early 2018 by YouGov, with 5,000 worker respondents drawn UK-wide. It is now administered annually with an even larger sample size to help the CIPD track progress in the creation of better jobs across the UK and to help inform the debate and support of the government's intention to raise awareness and understanding of good work across the economy (5.6, p.2 ). As the annual surveys accumulate, it will become a major source of data for practitioners and researchers on the state and trajectory of job quality in the UK.

The CIPD cites the role of IER in the genesis and development of the work, with the survey report confirming that “ we worked closely with academics and researchers, including the Institute for Employment Research at Warwick University, to draw together research on good work and define seven dimensions that affect job quality. […] We hope that the UK Working Lives survey will make an important and sustained contribution to improving job quality" (5.6, p.2 ). In deriving its seven dimensions of job quality, the CIPD report explicitly states that it is based on the earlier research for the CIPD by Professor Warhurst and the IER team (3.5 and 3.6) (5.6, p.5 ). The CIPD wrote to Dr Sarkar to acknowledge the importance of her work creating the Job Quality Index: “We consider this work very impactful for the future policy and research agenda for the CIPD … informing the re-design of the CIPD's national survey of employees” (5.7).

The statement confirms that the survey based on the work is a “ major publication for the CIPD and a constant reference point in the media and for HR practitioners and academics”. The CIPD outlined its anticipation that Dr Sarkar's work will continue to have indirect impact by feeding into its recommendations to the government on UK employment policy and into its own guidance and standards for the HR profession, which reaches over 145,000 members (5.7).

IER’s job quality research has changed both the thinking and data collection of the CIPD to be centred on job quality, and its guidance for its HR professionals membership. It also enabled the CIPD to influence the development of UK Government employment policy both through the submission of evidence to the Taylor Review, which was based on the research undertaken for the CIPD by Prof. Warhurst and colleagues and in the work of the subsequent Measuring Job Quality Working Group.

The Measuring Job Quality Working Group and ONS

The Carnegie UK Trust and the Royal Society for the Arts and Manufacturing (RSA), of which Matthew Taylor is CEO, constituted a working group to develop the recommendation of the Taylor Review to derive a measure of job quality for the UK. The group consisted of senior employer, trade union and civic society representatives and ONS officials liaising with the UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Professor Warhurst joined the group as its sole academic adviser on the basis of IER's research for the CIPD, itself drawn from QuInnE. The subsequent report of the Measuring Job Quality Working Group, Measuring Good Work (published in late 2018), acknowledged the importance of IER’s research: “ we were grateful in our work to be able to draw upon … the timely synthesis and review of job quality academic literature and surveys carried out by the Warwick Institute for Employment Research for the CIPD” (5.8, p.18 ).

The report recommended that the UK Government adopt an adapted version of the CIPD measures developed by Prof. Warhurst and the IER team as national measures. The adaption centred on splitting one of the six job quality dimensions proposed to the CIPD by Prof. Warhurst and team into two separate dimensions to make seven (5.8, p.22-23 ). Measuring Good Work also recommended that the UK Government “ work closely with the ONS’ to embed the measures in the Labour Force Survey (LFS), so that the LFS ‘become[s] the home of national job quality measures, meeting the objectives of the Good Work Plan and the commitments of the Industrial Strategy” (5.8, p.9 ). The expertise of Prof. Warhurst in developing the optimal job quality metrics to prioritise in the national framework was credited by Gail Irvine of the Carnegie UK Trust, who stated: “ your expert input into the Working Group provided reassurance to the other participants from the business and charity sectors and was essential to the group’s work” (5.9).

In 2019, following the Measuring Good Work recommendation, the ONS piloted the measures for the UK’s first exploratory analysis of job quality. Using the available data, the ONS stated that its measures “ were part of the recommended approach by Measuring Good Work: The final report of the Measuring Job Quality Working Group” (5.10, p.48 ). This development and its link to Prof. Warhurst’s work for the Carnegie and the relevant UK Government Minister is also reported on by Gail Irvine: “following the then Business Secretary’s endorsement of the contribution Measuring Good Work has made to the debate about national measurement of good work, we are pleased that the Office for National Statistics has now tested a number of recommended metrics for inclusion in future labour force surveys. […] As Secretariat to the Working Group, […] I would like to thank you again for your contribution to our work and to policy thinking” (5.9).

Based on the research of Prof. Warhurst and colleagues at IER, the Taylor Review recommendation that a UK measure of job quality be developed and, through the subsequent working group recommendation, that the measure be adopted for official use, has been realised and will support the work of the UK Minister now responsible for improving job quality in the UK. The measures will enable a statistical benchmark of job quality (or good work) for the UK and the development of policies to improve job quality. The measures will also enable assessment of the interventions by the Minister. The outcome will be continuous, affecting government policy and thereby influencing millions of workers in poor quality jobs, whilst improving the performance of thousands of firms.

ERC research is used by policymakers at national and local levels, particularly within the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Innovate UK, and also by business support organisations working directly with SMEs, such as the Federation of Small Business (FSB), British Chambers of Commerce, British Business Bank and Growth Hubs. ERC research findings are also regularly covered by the media. Between July 2018 and July 2020, the Centre achieved 262 pieces of media coverage across print, broadcast and online media, reaching an estimated audience of 31,000,000 people (5.1). Emphasis is also placed on effective communication with policymakers using a variety of meetings and events. All research publications are shared online via the Centre's website and social media channels.

Most of the ERC’s research is co-produced with stakeholders who are involved throughout the research lifecycle, from project design through to completion and dissemination. The ERC team are in regular contact with policymakers and have become regarded as respected advisors and experts, and a source of stable, trusted insight. This has been especially valued in recent years within the context of a constantly shifting business policy landscape and many changes within government (5.2). As the former Head of Policy at the FSB, Sonali Parekh, noted when interviewed as a part of a stakeholder evaluation, "In my view the ERC are clearly the authoritative repository on a wide plethora of small business issues – with invaluable institutional memory" (5.3). This trusted expert role has been important in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, with ERC staff working closely to support policymakers during the crisis. The team have provided highly responsive advice and expertise to help develop strategies for business support during this challenging period, producing a range of research outputs ( http://www.enterpriseresearch.ac.uk/covid-19-resource-directory).

Looking more broadly over the last 7 years, research undertaken by the ERC team has transformed both the quantity and quality of data available on SMEs. Notably, Professor Roper's advice stimulated new investment by the UK Government in a major national survey of SMEs (the LSBS) in 2015, which was subsequently given official statistics status. As a result of Prof. Roper’s insights, the survey methodology was changed to take a longitudinal approach, with businesses re-surveyed in subsequent years. This allowed, for the first time, a detailed analysis to be undertaken of factors that affect SME performance through time, thus vastly improving the quality of the data available to policymakers. This data helped to inform the development of new business support services such as the Growth Hubs in England, local public-private partnerships led by the 38 Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs). As BEIS Principal Research Officer Ian Drummond summarised: "...the ERC played a pivotal role in providing the technical input that underpinned the development of the [LSBS]... It would be difficult to overstate the impact that the development of the LSBS has had on policymaking throughout government. It has provided rigorous evidence on the factors that shape SME performance and growth that previously simply did not exist and in doing so has provided for more considered and better evidenced policymaking" (5.4). The ERC's international 'Micro-business Britain' survey has filled vital evidence gaps, with data used to directly inform policy. The findings have had a particular impact on SME policy development in Ireland, by drawing attention to variations in small business ambition that exist across the country. Prof. Roper, along with co-author Jane Bourke of University College Cork, provided written and oral submissions on the evidence to the Public Consultation Committee on Small and Medium Sized Businesses in Ireland. The Committee's report, published in May 2019, draws on the survey findings to outline a national strategy supporting the growth and sustainability of Irish SMEs (5.5). The report findings were widely reported in the Irish media (5.6).

ERC research insights have also widened the focus of SME policy in the UK. Historically, UK policy related to the performance and growth of SMEs tended to have a narrow focus, with emphasis placed on improving access to finance and reducing regulatory burdens. By highlighting the importance of a range of other factors to SME performance, ERC research has given policymakers a more nuanced understanding that identifies new areas for policy intervention.

For example, Prof. Roper's research has raised awareness of the important role of innovation in SME performance. As BEIS Head of Innovation Policy and Finance Analysis Kyle Magee noted, this research has helped policymakers within government " to see innovation as something that happens within businesses - not just something that happens in labs or at universities" **(**interview with Kyle Magee reported in 5.2). It has also informed the UK Government's Industrial Strategy in which innovation was identified as 1 of 5 underpinning foundational themes. Roper’s research has also influenced decisions about the allocation of innovation funding taken by Innovate UK (the UK’s innovation agency). As the previous Deputy Chief Executive of Innovate UK Kevin Baughan commented, *"Enterprise research of the quality being undertaken by the ERC under Stephen Roper's leadership is critical to our understanding of what is actually driving innovation. The ERC's work… has given us a lot of confidence that our investment of public money is achieving its goal" (5.7)**.

One key finding to come from the research has been that leading-edge firms attract a disproportionate share of innovation funding. This has prompted discussion within both Innovate UK and BEIS about 'inclusive innovation', which involves better targeting of innovation policy measures to actively reduce inequalities and at the same time stimulate advances in productivity. These discussions about the targeting of funding have risen in priority recently in the light of the Covid-19 crisis, and since March 2020 Prof. Roper has provided regular advice on innovation policy options. He has provided advice to BEIS specifically on the ability of UK universities to support future R&D and innovation post-crisis and has influenced the content of Innovate UK’s new 5-year Innovation Strategy. This has involved working directly with the Innovate UK Executive Team, building on pre-existing strong stakeholder relationships. Prof. Roper’s insights have helped Innovate UK formulate appropriate evidence-based responses to the crisis. This has included advising on the future investment in several areas (including Catapult Centres - the UK’s network of innovation centres) and shaping the submission to the Government’s Autumn 2020 Spending Review. As Geeta Nathan, Head of Economics and Insights at Innovate UK, stated in December 2020: “ The input of [Roper], and evidence gathered from ERC, not only informed how we consider our intervention e.g. how we support high growth companies, but also how IUK supports innovative businesses strategically with direct impact on the emerging strategy for the UK’s innovative businesses” (5.8).

The ERC’s research has also led to new government investment in a series of initiatives designed to improve firm productivity. As Stuart Roddam, Business and Local Growth Analyst at BEIS, has stated: "ERC research has added to our understanding of management skills/practices, SME resilience, firm growth patterns and evaluation methodology which has directly influenced the design of the 'Business Basics Programme', the 'Business Productivity Review', our work through 'Be The Business' and the development of the BEIS 'Business Support Evaluation Framework'" (5.9). Specifically, Prof. Roper's ground-breaking work on digital adoption in SMEs influenced the design of the 'Business Basics' programme. This GBP9,200,00 million, 4-year programme was launched in 2018 as a part of the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy, and involves testing innovative ways of encouraging SMEs to adopt digital technologies. Prof. Roper’s work on digital adoption has also informed the activities of ‘ Be the Business’, an industry-led initiative backed by government launched to help businesses across the UK benchmark and improve their productivity. The organisation has developed a programme to help SMEs take advantage of the productivity benefits associated with adopting technologies, with ERC insights used in the programme design. The ‘Be the Business’ team is now working with government and other partners on a strategy for mass technology diffusion and adoption in the context of recovery from the Covid-19 crisis, again drawing on ERC research insights and advice.

The UK Government’s Business Productivity Review also drew directly on the ERC's research on management and leadership. The policy announcements coming from the Review included a GBP31,000,000 to boost firm level leadership and management through a business-led package of initiatives aimed at driving up firm-level productivity. This included the creation of a Small Business Leadership Programme providing management training to SMEs, with an ambition to train 10,000 people per year by 2025 as well as promoting local networks to focus on business improvement, and a new mentoring programme. This programme has subsequently been re-orientated to give business leaders the confidence and leadership skills they need to ensure business recovery from the impacts of Covid-19. The recognition of the ERC's input into these policy initiatives was acknowledged on the publication of the Review in 2018 by the (then) BEIS Deputy Director for Industrial Strategy, Rannia Leontaridi, thanking the Centre for its involvement and advice (5.10).

As well as influencing national business policy, ERC research has also had an impact at local level. The Centre’s research on the links between workforce mental health and productivity has been used to shape the development of interventions delivered by the mental health charity Mind to help reduce mental health-related sickness absence amongst employers in the Midlands Engine region. The ERC's research on business resilience, which highlighted the need for better crisis planning amongst SMEs resulted in the development of a practical toolkit designed to be used by SMEs to benchmark their resilience and to help develop crisis plans. The toolkit has been developed in partnership with a specialist SME support organisation (Oxford Innovation) who are using it as part of their work to support SME recovery and growth following the Covid-19 crisis. The toolkit has been integrated into a purpose-built diagnostic and recovery planning tool for SMEs and is now being delivered to businesses across three Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) areas (5.11).

Disability Rights UK describe Professor Hoque and colleagues as "key influencers", whose research (3.1-6) has resulted in "far greater policy focus within government on disabled people, and greater awareness across government, Parliamentarians, and senior civil servants of the scale of the disadvantage disabled people suffer, the limitations of existing government policy, and the potential policy levers needed to address this disadvantage" (5.1).

Expanding on this, Lisa Cameron MP, Chair of the APPG for Disability, believes that Prof. Hoque and colleague’s research “has had a profound impact on the political agenda” and has helped "shift the narrative within government circles and with key government officials away from viewing disabled people as passive benefit recipients towards viewing them as an important resource within the economy" (5.2). Cameron raised Prof. Hoque and colleagues’ Ahead of the Arc report (3.1) in Prime Minister's Questions in January 2017, asking if the Prime Minister (PM) would ensure that ministers engage with the report and its recommendations. The PM responded that the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions would consider the recommendations (5.3).

Since then, Prof. Hoque and colleagues have held over 80 meetings across Westminster and Whitehall with politicians to seek the implementation of the recommendations in 'Ahead of the Arc' (3.1) and their wider research (3.2-6). This includes meetings with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the Minister for Disabled People, senior civil servants such as the Head of Policy for Work and Pensions, and Chief Executive of Infrastructure and Major Projects, and key government officials including the PM’s Special Advisor for Disability. This has resulted in the following benefits:

Inclusion of apprenticeship targets for disabled people in the Industrial Strategy White Paper 2017

In their Ahead of the Arc report (3.1), Prof. Hoque and colleagues' evidence the under-representation of disabled people in apprenticeships. These findings were brought to the attention of the BEIS Senior Policy Advisor (Industrial Strategy Team), resulting in the introduction of apprenticeship targets for disabled people in the Industrial Strategy White Paper 2017 with the aim of increasing the proportion of apprenticeships going to disabled people by 20% by 2020. Commenting on the influence of the report (3.1), the BEIS Senior Policy Advisor said that they had been aware that “ disabled people in apprenticeships tripled over the course of 10 years from 12,960 in 2002/03 to 42,850 in 2012/13” but before the report they “did not have the story on proportionate comparisons with non-disabled people" (5.4)* .

The House of Commons recognised "the invaluable contribution" of the research in “ensuring the inclusion of disabled people's employment in the Industrial Strategy" (5.5) and Disability Rights UK stated their doubt that the white paper “would have included a commitment to increase the proportion of apprenticeships started by disabled people in the absence of our [Prof. Hoque and colleagues' research] representations to the BEIS Industrial Strategy team" (5.6).

Revised disability employment targets for government and the Conservative Party 2017 and 2019 manifestos

Prof. Hoque and colleagues' research, showing that it would take until 2065 to halve the disability employment gap (3.1), has substantially influenced the government's national disability targets. In late 2016, the Minister for Disabled People distanced the government from its 2015 manifesto commitment to halve the gap by 2020, and in 2017 the government changed its manifesto commitment to a target of getting 1,000,000 more disabled people into employment by 2027.

In meetings with senior civil servants, Prof. Hoque argued successfully that the 1,000,000 target is a weaker target that will be met simply due to increases in the number of people in employment and rising disability prevalence. Lisa Cameron MP highlights Prof. Hoque’s success in securing "acceptance of the weaknesses of the government's current commitment on disability employment" (5.2).

The 2019 Conservative manifesto acknowledged Prof. Hoque and colleagues’ concerns by reinstating a commitment to reduce the disability employment gap, rather than increasing the number of disabled people in employment. A House of Commons motion in 2019 commended Prof. Hoque and colleagues’ "critical reflection on, and evaluation of, government disability employment commitments" (5.5).

Review and reform of Disability Confident

Disability Confident is the government's flagship scheme to encourage employers to recruit and retain more disabled people. Disability Rights UK explain that Prof. Hoque and colleagues' research (3.1; 3.3-4) established "the view across government that Disability Confident is not fit for purpose and requires revision" (5.1). In November 2019, the government announced reforms that require Disability Confident level 3 employers to employ at least 1 disabled individual, and report on their disability employment using the government's framework for Voluntary Reporting on Disability, Mental Health and Wellbeing, echoing recommendations made by the research (3.1; 3.3-4). Lord Shinkwin, Vice Chair of the APPG and Chair of the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) Disability Commission, confirmed that "I have no doubt that the research conducted on Disability Confident (3.1; 3.3-4) was instrumental in encouraging the government to introduce the reforms to the scheme that it announced in November 2019" (5.7). The House of Commons also recognised Prof. Hoque’s "invaluable contribution… evaluating the impact and required reform of Disability Confident" (5.5), and the government acknowledged their research (3.3-4) represents "useful contribution to the debate about the future policy development of Disability Confident" (5.8).

Revision of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012

The government has consulted on reforming the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012, to require all public sector commissioning to factor in economic, social and environmental wellbeing when allocating GBP284,000,000,000 of public contracts. Prof. Hoque and colleagues presented their research (3.1; 3.3-4) on disability employment reporting and the ineffectiveness of Disability Confident to the Cabinet Office, including the Chief Commercial Officer.

Following this, the proposal to use Disability Confident as the main disability employment measure was dropped, with the reforms (announced in September 2020) instead making direct reference to closing the disability employment gap (5.9). Commenting on this, Lisa Cameron MP stated “ It’s great to see the direct reference to closing the disability employment gap in the revisions to the Social Value Act that were announced by the Cabinet Office a little while ago. It is notable that disability is the only equality strand that gets a direct mention. I think there would have been little chance of this happening were it not for the efforts that you and colleagues made in lobbying the Cabinet Office on this matter” (5.10). The House of Commons recognises the "invaluable contribution" of Prof. Hoque research "on the potential for public sector procurement to improve disabled people's employment outcomes" (5.5).

The Voluntary Reporting Framework for Employers and pressure for mandatory reporting

The government's framework for Voluntary Reporting on Disability, Mental Health and Wellbeing 2018 encourages employers to report the proportion of disabled people in their workforce and the disability employment practices adopted to support them. Drawing on research concerning the importance of accurate employer reporting of disability employment (3.1), Prof. Hoque and colleagues have successfully persuaded the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) that the framework requires revision and have convinced the DWP to reconvene the Voluntary Reporting Framework Working Group to "look at the case for alignment with the definition of disability in the Equality Act 2010" (5.8). Prof. Hoque has been invited to join the group and to nominate others to join.

Prof. Hoque and colleagues have built a consensus for their recommendation, based on research (3.1), to introduce mandatory disability employment reporting. This would encourage employers to adopt the disability equality practices their research shows helps improve outcomes for disabled people (3.2). They assisted Lord Shinkwin in writing his Workforce Information Bill [HL Bill 82], which would require employers to report their workforce disability prevalence and disability pay gap (5.7). Through his research on unions and disability (3.5), Prof. Hoque brokered support from the TUC's disability policy lead for the Bill. Lord Shinkwin corroborated that Prof. Hoque "facilitated dialogue between myself and the Trades Union Congress's disability policy lead…this seeks to incorporate the valuable role of unions in supporting disabled people in the workplace, identified in the research conducted by disability@work” (5.7).

Prof. Hoque conceived and organised an APPG for Disability event in February 2020 on mandatory reporting at which Parliamentarians (including Sir Iain Duncan Smith) and the Cabinet Office, DWP, Government Equalities Office, Business Disability Forum, CIPD, ONS and TUC were present. The event demonstrated for the first time the widespread support for mandatory reporting. Lord Shinkwin confirmed that this provided "the APPG and myself a solid platform from which to press our case with Ministers. This is an important and substantial step forward, and if we finally see the extension of mandatory pay gap reporting, this meeting will have been a landmark moment…I would like to thank Professor Hoque for the central role he played” (5.11) .

Impact on the government's response to Covid-19

Prof. Hoque and colleagues' research on the effects of the economic cycle on disabled people (3.6) has significantly influenced the APPG for Disability's proposals on protecting disabled people in the Covid-19 recession. Prof. Hoque and colleagues’ disability@work briefing paper based on research (3.6) was endorsed by the APPG and forwarded to the Minister for Disabled People, who has since met with Prof. Hoque and Lisa Cameron MP to discuss the research recommendations and has offered a follow-up meeting with Hoque to discuss the proposals in depth. Prof. Hoque and colleagues have also presented the research (3.6) and policy proposals to the Cabinet Office's Disability Unit, the TUC, and the PM’s Special Advisor for Disability. The research briefing was cited in a BBC news article about the open letter the APPG sent to the PM, signed by over 100 Parliamentarians, calling for a disability-inclusive Covid-19 response (5.12). The WBS-funded researcher in Lisa Cameron's office helped (with Prof. Hoque’s input) to write this letter and collected the signatures from Parliamentarians. In the PM’s response, he signalled his desire for the forthcoming National Strategy for Disabled People to be “ ambitious and transformative” (5.13). This is the first time he has made this important commitment publicly. In addition, the WBS-funded researcher played a central role in organising a Westminster Hall Debate on 15 October 2020 on disabled people and Covid-19, led by Lisa Cameron MP. Prof. Hoque and colleagues’ research (3.6) was cited in her opening address (5.14). The embedded post has been extended (Hoque, GBP15,000, ESRC IAA, 2020-2021) to continue supporting the APPG’s work in encouraging a disability inclusive government response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Alongside the impact already achieved and benefits derived, Prof. Hoque will continue to drive further policy change, both through his close collaboration with the APPG for Disability, and also through his role as a Commissioner on the Centre for Social Justice's Disability Commission, chaired by Lord Shinkwin, which will seek to exercise significant influence on the forthcoming National Strategy for Disabled People.

The pilot NIHR CLAHRC West Midlands (WM, then termed ‘Birmingham and Black Country’) was based on a clinical-academic tradition which focused on the production of high-quality academic publications, assuming frontline managers and clinicians would adopt guidance and evidence published in academic journals intuitively. This had limited impact upon frontline practice and clinical outcomes. Contrasting with this, during the 2014 - 2019 CLAHRC WM, Prof. Currie and the WBS research team worked alongside hospital practitioners and clinical academics to ensure evidence-based innovation was embedded in frontline practice more effectively, using approaches to implementation derived from their organisation science focused research (e.g. 3.1-2). Director of the CLAHRC WM, Richard Lilford, confirms that the research centre adopted the implementation model developed by Prof. Currie, stating, “ As a cross-cutting theme, the implementation model of coproduction and knowledge brokerage was embedded within our clinical themes/health care settings. This has been an extremely effective implementation model to deliver service change and improvements in both managerial and clinical outcomes; for example, in maternity services (BSOTS triage intervention with Birmingham Women’s Hospital)) and musculoskeletal disease (StartBack intervention for lower back pain across Staffordshire)” (5.1).

Senior Manager for CLARHC WM from University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Paul Bird, further attests to the impact of this approach, stating, “ There is no doubt that the team from Warwick Business School provided lessons from their research that caused a major restructuring of the CLAHRC in the West Midlands towards a model of translational health research that encompassed knowledge brokering in our system to draw down and use evidence for service improvement…We see the results in a step change in services ranging from maternity triage, to lower back pain interventions, to early intervention in youth mental health, right across healthcare providers in the West Midlands, with significant patient benefit" (5.2).

Benefits arising from the 2014 - 2019 CLAHRC WM included:

The scale up of an evidence-based intervention in maternity units: Women are traditionally seen in the order in which they arrive at a maternity unit, if experiencing problems prior to, or after, birth. This differs to an accident and emergency unit where patients are triaged by clinical priority. Prof. Currie’s research team supported implementation of a maternity triage system (BSOTS) by providing lessons focused upon clinical engagement, midwifery leadership and strategies to adapt the intervention for different maternity units (3.1-5). Lead Clinician Sara Kenyon testified that: “Work from the qualitative research elements helped the BSOTS team develop new knowledge about how the BSOTS tool had been implemented in different maternity units, in preparation for national and international roll out” (5.3). Following the WBS implementation support, the evidence-based triage system has been introduced in 14 maternity units, with another 27 in progress with “54% of women seen within 15 minutes (compared to 39% before). This means the service is safer" (5.4).

The scale up of an evidence-based intervention in musculoskeletal services: Research (3.4), coproduced with primary care clinicians, exemplifies the effective application of the knowledge brokerage implementation model proposed by earlier research (3.2) to support the scale up of a new non-surgical service model called ‘STarT Back’ – Stratified care for low back pain. Krysia Dziedzic, Director of the Impact Accelerator Unit, Keele University, confirmed that “ this new model results in greater health benefits, achieved at a lower average health-care cost, with an average saving to health services of GBP34.39 per patient and societal savings of GBP675 per patient”, and that “your research on the implementation and scale up of primary care innovations informed efforts by our Impact Accelerator Unit (GPs, physiotherapists and patient representatives) to spread STarT Back for patient benefit” (5.5).

Scaling up the use of a Dimensions of Health and Wellbeing Tool, designed to help young people self-manage their mental health condition and access services developed by Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust (CWPT): CWPT provide mental health and learning disability services for more than 1,000,000 people of all ages. Despite the increasing prevalence of mental health conditions presenting in young people, services have not kept pace and youth mental health has been under-resourced, hence dubbed the ‘Cinderella’ of healthcare provision. This necessitates much more emphasis upon young people and their carers self-managing their condition. Drawing upon their insights about the need for distributed leadership to scale up innovation (3.5) and the knowledge brokering capabilities of middle managers to embed innovation in practice (3.8), the research team from WBS worked alongside frontline clinicians and managers to put the Dimensions of Health and Wellbeing Tool in place to support patient self-management. Dr. Sharon Binyon, Medical Director, and Dominic Cox, Director of Strategy and Development, at CWPT, describe how WBS research alerted them to, and suggested solutions for, diffusing the innovation, stating that “This has ensured smooth roll out of the tool with maximum patient benefit; i.e. those young people that need access to services are able to identify and get the care they need quickly, and so outcomes for them are much improved" (5.6).

Supporting Leadership and Digital Innovation at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire’s (UHCW): As part of CLAHRC WM research, the WBS research team worked closely with the management at board, middle and frontline levels within UHCW, an NHS Trust that manages 2 major hospitals in Coventry and Rugby, serving a population of over 1,000,000 people. UHCW CEO, Andrew Hardy, confirmed the research (3.5-6) had supported the hospital’s Executive Board saying it “ was very useful for the board to understand the strategic context in which we work and the part that we play in it as leaders and our interaction with them. We now have a common way of trying to lead in the organisation, a common language, and actually understanding what we are about, and that feeds directly into patient care’’ (5.7).

CEO Hardy added that the research (3.6-8) had also “ brought attention to the role of the middle manager - what the tensions are, the pressures in house and how you deal with that and the effects it can have as well” (5.7). This insight led UHCW to commission a leadership development programme, which embeds lessons from research to support a newly-constituted clinical directorate leadership team to enhance their capability to develop supportive HR practices for their departments (3.7). The Hospital also changed its existing distributed leadership development programme delivered to frontline staff, to drive evidence-based service innovation, based on WBS research insights (3.5). CEO Hardy recognised the contributions made by the WBS team to improving leadership across the organisation more broadly, linking this to a recently awarded, improved rating of 'Good' from the Care Quality Commission (5.7).

Additionally, CEO Hardy confirmed (5.7) that the research (3.5), conducted alongside Consultant Clinical Oncologist, Penny Kechagioglou, informed UHCW’s digital healthcare innovation strategy, enabling digital technology to be embedded in the oncology care pathway across different organisations and professions, with improvements to services and clinical outcomes.

The implementation model and innovation approaches have been applied internationally, improving health service delivery in India and Australia: In India, WBS researchers worked with the Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF), a non-governmental, not-for-profit organisation providing psychiatric care and rehabilitation services across the whole of Tamil Nadu State. The body of WBS research (3.1-8) supported SCARF with the implementation and scale up of an early intervention services for young people with psychosis (5.8). SCARF Director, Dr. Thara Rangaswamy, said insights from research outcomes had been “ eye-opening”, writing that: “Through incorporating lessons learnt from your implementation science research, we have improved our services, reaching 10-15% more people than we have done before to reduce prospects of serious mental health among this group’’ (5.9).

In Australia, WBS research (3.1-4) has supported Monash Partners Academic Health Science Centre (MP AHSC) and other AHSCs across Australia to improve implementation and scale up of evidence-based healthcare innovation. Director MPAHSC, Prof. Helena Teede, confirmed that the research insights had been “invaluable”. She added that reciprocal exchange of ideas had “informed and accelerated our impact in implementation and healthcare improvement” and the research had made a “national impact on the thinking and evolution of AHSCs [the Australian equivalent to CLAHRCs] across Australia” (5.10).