Impact case study database

To ensure impact from findings arising from the underpinning research, Prof Urwin has developed extensive programmes of engagement in partnership with professional bodies such as the BSN and CIPD, communicating evidence in a way that is relevant to practice. This approach is particularly important given the above research findings highlight the potentially contingent nature of success for many D&I interventions.

CIPD’s Evidence into Practice programme

Since 2014 Prof Urwin has worked to promote evidence-based practice in collaboration with Jonny Gifford, Senior Advisor for Organisational Behaviour at The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development ( CIPD) – a professional association for human resource management professionals.

In December 2016, WBS hosted the CIPD Applied Research Conference (ARC), and for the first six months of 2018 Gifford was seconded to WBS as a 0.5 Visiting Fellow (his remaining fraction spent with the CIPD). This collaboration gave rise to the What works in diversity: Evidence into Practice Workshop Programme, delivered between March and July 2019 and led by D&I researchers at WBS in partnership with researchers at the CIPD. This programme of engagement brought together 28 D&I leaders from 20 small, medium and large-sized (including multinational) organisations within various sectors (finance and accounting, health, higher education, retail, government and hospitality) and supported them in developing practice that is informed by robust research evidence [a-i].

These workshops have created impact from the insights produced by the above programme of underpinning research in two ways. Firstly, it enabled D&I leaders to encounter differences in approach and outcome across various sectors, and to thus recognise the potentially contingent nature of D&I impacts. As a participating D&I strategic lead from an NHS Foundation Trust states: ‘it’s really helpful to talk to public sector, private sector, third sector, global organisations as well. We get more creativity and some innovation in our thinking through this kind of network’ which offers a ‘really good range of perspectives’ [a-ii]. Secondly, these forums were used to provide a platform to communicate the above WBS research on ‘what works’ within specific contexts, which enabled actionable changes within their relevant practice. Follow-up contact with the Inclusion Officer at Kent Fire and Rescue over a year after the workshops confirmed that: ‘The series of Evidence into Practice Workshops provided an exciting forum to share my own experience and insights, gain additional understanding from the experience of other practitioners from a range of industries, and update my understanding on the latest evidence on what works in D&I policy and practice. Through these workshops this latest research was debated and considered in the context of everyday D&I work, making the outcome really useful - it has certainly helped me to further improve policy and practice at my own organisation’ [a-iii].

Recognising that practitioner expertise and stakeholder views are crucial for diagnosing issues and identifying potential solutions, a 2019 report produced by the CIPD and Urwin brought together the findings from these workshops with scientific literature and organisational data in order to identify what strategies and practices are most likely to increase workplace diversity and inclusion [a-iv, p.4]. This report – Diversity Management that Works: An Evidence Based Review – has been downloaded 9,716 times and received 22,473 cumulative page views between October 2019 and 31^st December 2020 via the website of CIPD, whose members consist of HR professionals from across a broad range of sectors in the UK. That this is one of the most impactful studies of D&I across the HR profession is confirmed by the fact it has informed the government’s recent guidance to the Civil Service to phase out unconscious bias training on the basis that such ‘training interventions do not seem to be effective at improving diversity outcomes within workplaces’ [a-v, p.1].

This advice was provided by the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT), who were commissioned by the Government Equalities Office to provide a summary of the evidence of the effectiveness of diversity training and so ‘sought out and referenced studies which seek to investigate real world and behavioural outcomes from UBT [unconscious bias training] and diversity training interventions’ [a-v, p.4]. One such study cited by BIT is Diversity Management that Works, whose findings on the ineffectiveness of standalone UBT sessions in combatting unconscious bias are key to their recommendation and recounted by BIT as so: ‘The CIPD noted that, while UBT can increase people’s awareness and knowledge of diversity issues, this evidence is generally based on self-reported measures, which may not be reliable. Further, there is no conclusive evidence that diversity training changes attitudes – with some studies showing that UBT does not change explicit gender stereotypes either. CIPD noted that there is typically no sustained impact on behaviour and emotional prejudice following UBT, which is not enough in itself to create diverse and inclusive organisations’ [a-v, p.2; referencing a-iv, p.24-5].

This BIT guidance is important as it directs the Civil Service to move away from training that evidence increasingly suggests is not effective, whatever the workplace context, and to instead: ‘Invest in initiatives […] that have better evidence of efficacy’ [a-v, p.5]. In a Written Ministerial Statement (15^th December 2020), the UK Government confirmed that: ‘Given the evidence, now captured in the [BIT] report accompanying this statement, an internal review decided in January 2020 that unconscious bias training would be phased out in departments’ in favour of D&I strategies ‘based on clear evidence of what works’ [a-vi]. The Civil Service employs 430,750 full-time equivalent staff (Sept 2020) and the expansive reach of this impact is further indicated by the Government statement, which adds: ‘The government expects other parts of the public sector, including local government, the police, and the NHS, to review their approaches in light of the evidence and the developments in the Civil Service’ [a-vi].

Enhancing Strategies for Increasing Diversity in the Legal Sector

Output [2] fed into the evidence-base that **informed the landmark Race in the workplace: The McGregor-Smith Review (2017). This BEIS-commissioned independent review cites output [2] in order to outline the barriers to diversity in the UK workforce and why these negatively affect businesses: ‘BIS research highlights that a potential source of discrimination might be that employers overestimate the cost of hiring a worker from a different minority group’ [b-i, p.58] and ‘a lack of equality policies can lead to greater staff turnover rates, with an associated loss of talent, as well as potential employment tribunals and associated bad press’ [b-i, p.55]. Baroness McGregor-Smith further draws on the research to highlight the contingency Urwin and colleagues have found in the success of existent D&I initiatives: ‘research by BIS on the Business Case for Equality and Diversity suggests that the case for change will vary for individual businesses, depending on the economic and organisational context within which it is operating’ [b-i, p.55].

One of the key recommendations of the McGregor-Smith review was that businesses should ‘publish their data, as well as their long-term, aspirational diversity targets and report against their progress annually’ as ‘making this information public will motivate organisations to tackle this issue with the determination and sense of urgency it deserves’ [b-i, p.5]. In this respect, Prof Urwin’s collaboration with the Black Solicitors Network (BSN) – the leading UK body representing the interests of existing and aspiring black solicitors – has been at the vanguard of facilitating the sharing of diversity data by employers, while the government has continued to lag on this matter [b-ii]. In 2010/2011, Urwin introduced a ‘Policy Score’, calculated from the responses of firms to a variety of questions covering five areas of diversity policy and practice (gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disabilities, and social mobility). These data have been used to create BSN’s annual Diversity League Table (DLT), for which Urwin provided analysis between 2006 and 2017, as confirmed by Paulette Mastin, Chair of BSN [b-iii]. Each year Urwin has developed diversity measures on the basis of the data and presented them at London-based launch events typically attended by more than 100 lawyers from 50 firms across the legal profession [b-iv]. This greatly improved transparency across the sector and communicated the changes to practice that are needed to improve such measures.

As Mastin states, the DLT is ‘a ground-breaking piece of work that pre-dated all current cross-strand diversity monitoring initiatives and requirements, leading to greater transparency around diversity measures in the legal profession’ [b-v, p.5]. Such transparency, Mastin writes, has been key to creating gains in inclusion within the legal sector as it creates ‘the ability to identify where there are issues and address them. The DLT has been instrumental in this regard in that it provides a comprehensive analysis of the demographics of many leading law firms and Chambers in the UK across core diversity strands […] Through this publication, law firms are encouraged to share best practice and are able to gauge progress in the recruitment, retention and progression of diverse lawyers. Many firms now compile and publish the diversity statistics of their workforce as part of this trend towards greater transparency’ and ‘ the number of women and ethnic minorities entering the legal profession has increased significantly’ [b-vi]. For this reason, The Hon. Dame Linda Dobbs D.B.E., a former High Court Judge, stated in 2017: ‘Since the publication of the first Diversity League Table the profession has seen significant change in the profiles of those who work within it. There has been positive change, for which the DLT can take much credit’ [b-v, p.3].

This impact of the DLT is further testified to by those working within the legal sector. For instance, the Managing Director of the Centre for Synchronous Leadership states: ‘I work as a consultant with many clients across the legal sector and have repeatedly cited this valuable research, and witnessed the change in response from people who were otherwise unreceptive to talking about diversity in their firm. I have also seen the enthusiasm of others familiar with it in raising awareness and getting increased clarity on what interventions will be most meaningful’ [b-vii]. Further, a partner at a firm that has ‘a longstanding commitment to D+I’ points out that: ‘The DLT is a great reminder that even firms who have strong diversity records need to continue to prioritise D+I and that there is no place for complacency’ [b-vii].

Urwin’s analysis of the data collected for the DLT across ten years resulted in outputs [5] and [6], which found that, though significant successes can be identified at entry level, there is still the need to move the diversity dial at higher leadership levels and across the sector as a whole. As Mastin writes, these findings have stimulated a change in BSN’s practice aimed at more directly addressing contingencies in D&I approaches, as highlighted in Urwin’s broader research: ‘A significant emerging theme from this retrospective was that despite the development of a wide body of experience, knowledge and initiatives in the area of diversity and inclusion, there has been little discernible change in terms of gender and ethnic diversity at the middle to senior levels of the profession. This prompted us to look beyond the annual reporting of diversity issues (via the traditional DLT and other surveys) towards identifying and exploring what success in diversity and inclusion looks like, whether there is tangible commitment beyond “box-ticking” policies and practices and what policies and practices actually work’ [b-iii, see also b-viii].

Mastin confirms that the outcome of this change in practice was the creation of a ‘new research study beginning in 2020 with DLT2020 which will profile successful change in diversity and inclusion through a series of law firm case studies focussing on gender and ethnicity’ [b-iii]. These case studies examine such firms’ action plans for achieving their D&I objectives, the challenges they have faced in implementing these plans, the outcomes/successes achieved, and how they plan to further drive change on the basis of these successes. Through this study, BSN will drive the creation of evidence-into-practice strategies for other firms to follow: ‘by focussing on where change is happening within the profession and what it takes to make progress on diversity and inclusion […] those who are seeking to deliver change can at least see how to approach change on equity, diversity and inclusion in order to maximise the chances of making progress’ [b-iii].

4.1. Changing the image of women in construction

As Unite the Union states: ‘The exclusion of women’s history in construction may well have contributed to the shortage of women in manual trades today […] But it also may continue to shape the way women are treated in their jobs – something Unite is working hard to tackle’ [a-i]. The impact of ProBE’s work on uncovering the history of women in construction lies in repositioning their image in a way that is useful for such stakeholders seeking to encourage more females to join the industry.

This is exemplified by Prof Wall’s findings on the building of Waterloo Bridge (output [6]). Wall’s uncovering of photographic evidence of women working on the Waterloo Bridge during the Second World War confirmed what had, until then, only been considered a rumour [a-ii]. As substantiated by the Head of Listing at Historic England, these three photos, along with Wall’s collection of oral testimony (particularly an interview with the contractor’s daughter) and records of compensation claims from contractors, ‘led to a revision of the List Entry for this bridge in 2015 to flag the contribution of female labour in the work to erect the new bridge (this including work to dismantle the old)’ [a-iii]. This Grade II re-listing received media coverage in national news sites [a-iv], and the impact of this relisting is that it has stimulated several initiatives aimed at inspiring women to join the construction industry.

For instance, in 2015 the listing, announced on National Women in Engineering Day - 23rd June, marked the ‘beginning [of] the #BuiltByWomen campaign to properly recognise the women who built England’ [a-v]. The campaign, calling for individuals and groups across England to send in evidence about the role women played in listed buildings, was launched by Heritage Minister Tracey Crouch and backed by the CITB (Construction Industry Training Board), whose Head of Policy highlights the importance of this relisting to the aim of encouraging female participation in construction: ‘We want to see more women in the construction industry, which is why it is so important to highlight the role of women on iconic projects such as Waterloo Bridge’ [a-vi]. The Women in Construction Summit 2019 similarly features the Waterloo Bridge builders as one of the ‘success stories of women thriving in the construction industry’ [a-vii], and the Women in Engineering Society included them in their list of the ‘Top 100 Historical Women in Engineering’, produced to mark the Society’s centenary ‘in an attempt to reclaim our engineering heritage, and use these inspiring stories to encourage future generations, where the percentage of women in engineering is still only 12%’ [a-viii]. These findings also feature on websites for initiatives dedicated to providing women with the means to enter the construction industry, such as Go Construct [a-ix].

In addition, Wall’s research has had a direct impact on changing the image of women in construction through the documentary film and related educational resources, both entirely underpinned by her research. The film has been viewed over 4000 times online, and at various public screenings, some specifically targeting female audiences, e.g. the Visionary Women event at Fabrica, Brighton, and a London event marking 100 years of women’s right to vote. Testimony on the Ladies Bridge website attests to the impact of this dissemination. For instance, a primary school teacher states: ‘My class were absolutely intrigued by the Ladies Bridge film. It sparked off a fantastic discussion about equality and recognition of the work women undertook in World War II. We have asked that the documentary be included as part of the topic next year for a more comprehensive picture of the Home Front’ [a-x].

4.2. Changing practice at Thames Tideway Tunnel (TTT)

ProBE’s established expertise and knowledge on inclusion within construction led to it being commissioned to ‘help Tideway to move forward gender equality and diversity initiatives informed by empirical data’ (output [3]) [b-i]. ProBE’s project, Raising the bar for the representation of women in the construction workforce, involved a literature review on women in construction and equality initiatives on large projects and the undertaking of a survey of employees of the 25km long tunnel project, which is due for completion in 2025 at a cost of £4.2bn. This resulted in a report [b-ii] launched at a June 2015 ProBE symposium on Women in Construction, whose concluding panel discussion included Andy Mitchell (TTT CEO and co-Chair of the Construction Leadership Council) and Siobhan Endean (Unite National Equalities Officer). As Mitchell confirms: ‘ProBE made a number of recommendations that we have adopted over the last five years’ [b-i].

As affirmed by Mitchell, ‘ProBE’s recommendation on work-life flexibility and mentoring as ways of ensuring equity is promoted in hiring practices’ through ‘the introduction of compressed working hours and the use of Mentorloop to match mentors and mentees’ [b-i]. Both interventions enable women to manage their workload around personal factors such as childcare and education [b-iii], and thus ensure recruitment panels do not consider these factors to be concerns when making employment choices.

In response to ‘their [ProBE’s] research clearly highlighting that more was needed to improve the gender balance, Tideway established the first Returner Programme outside of banking’ [b-i]. Launched in April 2015, the programme enables female professionals to return to work after a long career break, an issue particularly affecting women due to carer responsibilities. To ensure the quality of this programme, TTT has invested in coaching provision via external return-to-work specialists Women Returners [b-iv]. All 7 ‘returners’ of the first cohort were offered positions in a variety of areas, from legal to finance to communications to engineering project management [b-v].

In response to ProBE’s ‘recommendation regarding direct recruitment practice’, Mitchell states ‘TTT has collaborated with not-for-profit organisation Women into Construction’ [b-i] which provides advice and guidance, training, work placements and jobs, to women interested in entering the construction industry [b-vi]. In 2019 this partnership ‘ facilitated 41 work placements for women and 30 direct jobs on the project. This year 11 women were offered a work placement and nine were directly employed’ [b-vii, p.48].

Further, Mitchell confirms that ‘ProBE’s recommendation of the value [of] employee networks led to Tideway relaunching and broadening its diversity working group in 2018’ [b-i]. In their annual report, TTT describe this as one of the ‘practical steps to achieve our broader diversity and employment goals’; Encompass was launched with ‘a number of working groups which focus on gender, disability, LGBT+ and BAME employees […] to support diversity and inclusion activities and programmes across the Project’ [b-viii, p.117].

Writing in 2020, Mitchell highlights that, as a result of the ‘ProBe […] recommendations that we have adopted’, TTT was named ‘o ne of The Times Top 50 Employers for Women in 2018’ and has since ‘maintain[ed] our exceptionally strong Engagement survey scores across all aspects of diversity, inclusivity and work life balance. 90% of staff agreed “Tideway shows care and concern for its employees”’ [b-i]. Through this engagement with TTT, ProBE has directly supported greater participation of women in construction.

4.3. Shaping policy and practice to increase gender diversity in construction

The Assistant General Secretary (AGS) of Unite the Union (now also President of the Trade Union Congress) describes how ‘Professor Clarke’s work provides insight, academic robustness and perspective which both informs and influences our strategic policy decisions and approach in connection with key issues affecting our members and the construction sector’ [c-i]. The AGS specifies how ‘the practical impact and outcomes of our engagement with Professor Clarke’ in the area of women in construction is demonstrated by Clarke’s work in ‘ helping [to] shape EDF’s equality and diversity policies and approach’ via the ‘Unite-EDF “Women Building Britain” initiative in the nuclear construction sector [which] has benefitted from her research, attendance at meetings and input’ [c-i]. The Head of Construction Workforce Capability at EDF Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C (nuclear new build projects) states that: ‘Linda's input provides the evidence base for discussion on future direction through research and best practice reports and this, in turn, has aided the development of our equality and diversity strategic and tactical approaches, policies and processes including commercial approaches’ [c-ii]. The Head provides the ‘notable example’ of Clarke providing research on a lack of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) for women during the COVID pandemic, which ‘is helping the case for embedding our strategy into procurement’ [c-ii]. Clarke’s intervention thus ‘helped [Unite-EDF] address the challenges/barriers encountered by female apprentices and women already working in the construction sector’ [c-i].

The AGS has also ‘worked with Professor Clarke to raise issues pertinent to women working in construction’ at the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW), which has 76 affiliated unions in 34 countries and represents a total of 2 million members [c-i]. Collaborative work between EFBWW and ProBE on women in construction has been propagated through the European Institute of Construction Labour Research (www.clr\-news.org\), of which Clarke is a board member, and which has a 500+ strong network of construction unions and researchers across Europe that subscribe to its regular CLR News [c-iii]. The Women’s Head of EFBWW confirms that ‘Clarke has been a key person in policy making for women workers in the building field’ and that the research activities of ProBE have ‘had a real and tangible impact on the world of work’, with her work having ‘ been absorbed by the trade unions in many countries and they are still followed and implemented in the negotiations’ [c-iii]. In particular, she specifies how: ‘The conclusions of much research or European projects of ProBE, published and disseminated across many countries, have changed the agenda for gender diversity and equality and have become guidelines to be applied in the collective negotiation and in the social dialogue, at both European and national level’ [c-iii]. Both the Women’s Head of EFBWW and the AGS of Unite stress the importance of Clarke’s focus on ‘investigat[ing] the real consequences of the transformations in work for the real life of workers and especially women workers’ [c-iii], such that ‘[w]hat makes the impact of Professor Clarke’s work stand out, is her engagement (on a very human level) with individual construction workers, trade unionists and the people who form the basis of much of her research’ [c-i]. In this respect ProBE’s research is supporting the transformation of the sector by providing a much needed social and equality dimension to what is too often simplistically conceived in terms of a technological ‘fix’.

Clarke is also part of the Architecture and Planning Group of Community Plan for Holloway (CPFH), an independent community-led organisation funded by the National Lottery Trust for London and The Tudor Trust. CPFH is proposing that women play an important role in designing and building the social housing scheme and Women’s Building on the former women’s prison site and is coordinating the different interests involved [c-iv]. The CPFH Chair states that Clarke’s ‘development of a proposal to ensure that women are at the centre of the construction of the site has been invaluable in the Community Plan being able to make the case for each phase of the redevelopment respecting the legacy of the site’ [c-v]. Further, Clarke authored a paper outlining how Islington Council’s Section 106 requirements and climate emergency targets can be fulfilled on the former Holloway Prison site so as to respond to the historical legacy of the site with respect to women [c-vi]. This briefing recommended the requirement for women to be 50% of trainees and 30% of those employed on this very large project. As the Chair of CPFH writes, through this work Clarke has ‘delivered expert analysis to ensure that the proposals supported by the Community Plan are grounded in evidence-based research and intellectual rigour and as a result the Community Plan proposal has been taken [up] by the developers and the Council who have a major stake in the site redevelopment’ [c-v].

1. Aiding the Just Transition in Canada

The ACW project involves 56 researchers and 25 partner organisations in 7 countries encompassing North America and Europe, with its partner organisations – unions, green organisations, training providers, etc. – reaching millions worldwide via their multilingual online networks [a-i]. The partnership strategy is to produce research from an international perspective that actively aids workplaces to adapt to climate change responses. For this work, ACW won the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Impact Award in the area of Partnership, presented to the Director and Associate Directors (including Clarke) by the Canadian Governor General at Government House in Ottawa on October 3rd 2018 [a-ii]. Lee Loftus, the Chair of SkillPlan and an active member of Canada’s Building Trade Unions ( CBTU) – receiving a Distinction Award for his work with them in 2019, specifies three specific strands of “work initiated or undertaken because of the research collaboratively with Clarke et al” [a-iii] that demonstrate the impact of this partnership approach:

Changes to training practice and provision: Loftus states that the 1^st and 4^th year BC Insulators apprenticeship programme provided by CBTU is “reinforced” by ProBE’s research, which “produced climate awareness and acknowledgment of standards and needs relative to the awareness built” [a-iii]. First piloted in British Columbia (BC), this programme is “now integrated into Red Seal programs throughout Canada and North America for Mechanical Insulation”, having been implemented by the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers ( IAHFIAW) [a-iii]. Red Seal programs cover 56 trades and set common standards to assess the skills of tradespeople across Canada, providing endorsements or certificates of qualifications where their requirements to practice are met.

Facilitating engagement between CBTU and governmental policymakers: Loftus states that the ProBE “work elevated the need for conversation on Climate Literacy in workplaces and trade unions” and “facilitated important conversation with Canadian policymakers” regarding the “development of ‘Climate Literacy’ for each of the 55 Red Seal Construction curriculum in Canada” [a-iii]. This is important for overcoming attitudinal barriers to the transition to a green economy.

Changing the agenda of CBTU with regard to climate change: Loftus states that, where previously climate change initiatives had been “seen by unions as an employment threat”, “Clarke et al have highlighted the vital role of social aspects (vocational education & training (VET), skills employment and working conditions, social relations on site, etc.) in ‘transforming construction’ by foregrounding VET and qualifications as critical elements in just transition” [a-iii]. This ProBE “research led the [CBTU] to undertake research on expected energy use, new energy source and related employment outlook” [a-iii]. Jobs for Tomorrow [a-iv], a “landmark study” commissioned by CBTU and BC Building Trades and undertaken by Columbia Institute, specifies “that meeting Canada’s climate goals by 2050 could generate 3.3 million construction jobs” and sets out particular initiatives that would aid this just transition: moving to an electrical supply grid, a long-term plan for urban transit infrastructure, and enabling smart communities with net zero building retrofits and new “green” construction [a-iii]. These findings have been key in directing CBTU’s strategies for pursuing the just transition.

2. Furthering the Just Transition in the UK

In the UK, Clarke and ProBE have directly engaged with a range of organisations in order to further the just transition of British workforces. Four examples are:

The Greener Jobs Alliance ( GJA ) is a partnership body inclusive of trade unions, campaigning groups, student organisations, and a policy think tank. Clarke was invited to be a member of the steering group that determines the agenda and strategy of this partnership body and, in this capacity, she has been able to provide a research-based foundation for the GJA’s priorities and actions. For instance, for the recently agreed priority to “[s]upport Green New Deal (GND) bargaining by working with unions to provide resources to incorporate in local regional and national bargaining”, Clarke provided “[a]dvice from ProBE [which] has been fed into the final draft” and “production of resources related to green skills” co-created with the TUC (Trade Unions Congress) and launched in May 2020 [b-i]. GJA confirm: “we have produced a number of online modules where the expertise of ProBE has been a vital source of information”, adding that “the latest on-line module on Just Transition had 283 participants” [b-i]. In total, 3,700 participants undertook online courses within the training programme between May 2019 and May 2020 [b-ii] [b-iii].

Unite the Union is the largest trade union in the UK with 1.4 million members. The President of the Trade Union Congress and Assistant General Secretary of Unite highlights the VET4LEC project as “of particular importance in recent years” and that “ our own research/publications on women in construction, apprenticeships and ‘green skills’ have been influenced by her work” [b-iv]. The Assistant General Secretary further states that “various seminars and workshops hosted by Professor Clarke/University of Westminster, have acted as CPD opportunities and helped develop the understanding of Unite activists, Tutors and Full-Time Officials. This is particularly the case with regard to Inclusive VET and low energy construction, labour and climate transition” [b-iv].

City Building Glasgow (** CBG ) is a not-for profit building organisation, operating within a joint 50/50 ownership arrangement between Glasgow City Council and Wheatley Housing Group, with an in-house training centre, a large apprenticeship scheme, and a highly unionised, directly employed, workforce building low energy social housing and retrofitting and maintaining the City’s building stock. The Chair of the Joint Trade Union Council (JTUC), which functions as “the strategic body working progressively with the Executive team within City Building”, states that the “work undertaken by ProBE has dovetailed well into the banner that we carry forward” and “has helped the JTUC carry the beacon forward as a ‘best practice’ model for other unionised bodies to utilise” [b-v]. The adoption of this model has occurred through output [2], which details City Building’s strong social ethos and good employment practices, and the significant role of unions in guiding its business model. CBG’s profile in Scotland was heightened by a January 2018 motion passed in the Scottish Parliament congratulating CBG on being highly commended in the same report [b-vi], while the Secretary of **Leeds Trades Union Council confirms that exposure to the CBG model via Clarke is such that it has fed into their “‘manifesto’ calling for a large-scale retrofit programme in Leeds” [b-vii]. This occurred through Clarke’s presentation at a 2019 conference which “enabled us to grasp the challenges involved in scaling up domestic energy efficiency retrofit to the level, and at the pace needed”, and in which the “Glasgow City Building model was discussed as an example of the kind of integrated approach capable of overcoming these obstacles” [b-vii].

The Public and Commercial Services Union ( PCS ), the largest Civil Service union, represents among its members those undertaking policy, regulation, and monitoring roles in government departments “central to energy transition and wider climate change mitigation measures” [b-viii]. As such, PCS has itself “been central in debates around energy transition and the need to develop a ‘whole economy’ approach to understand impacts of climate change, and measures needed to address these, on all workers” [b-viii]. The National Policy Officer on Climate Change and Green Issues highlights two specific areas in which ProBE’s research and direct engagement with PCS (e.g. participation in roundtable discussions and broader knowledge exchange) has been “very important to test and inform our thinking” [b-viii]. One is the just transition, by which PCS’ “engagement with ProBE has undoubtedly helped us to understand the interlinkages across energy transition and the built environment and to think about transition plans in a more holistic way”, with Prof Clarke helping them to strategise around their “wider policy aim for the creation of a National Climate Service” [b-viii, b-ix]. The other area is that of retrofitting: “Our work with Linda and PRoBE has been invaluable to help us develop our campaigns and policy on this [issue of retrofitting], bringing in aspects around construction and skills/training for example which as a public sector union without members in that sector, were not so immediately clear to us. This connection has undoubtedly helped build our knowledge and confidence in articulating this” [b-viii].

3. Developing Just Transition Policy in Europe

ProBE’s research reports (e.g. output [2]) are available on the ACW website, alongside ProBE’s Green Initiatives Database (output [1]), which collects the initiatives, policies, and practices from US and Europe [c-i]. These resources provide a “best practice” foundation for stakeholders across the globe – policymakers in unions, inter/national committees, and governments – to consult, build upon, and improve their own transition strategies. The **use of this knowledge base has been encouraged by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ), which profiled the ACW in a section on the importance of “Consultation and Social Dialogue” in its October 2016 report – Just Transition of the Workforce, the creation of decent work, and quality jobs – for the twenty-second session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22) [c-ii, p.49]. Its inclusion was to “assist Parties in the process of just transition of their national workforces, and the creation of decent work and quality jobs in relation to the implementation of climate change mitigation policies” [c-ii, p.5]. Further to this, the examples below demonstrate the way in which ProBE’s VET4LEC research is playing a significant role in shaping such policy on the just transition in Europe.

The European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (** EFBWW ), representing 76 construction trade unions in 31 countries and a total of 2 million members, was directly engaged in ProBE’s VET4LEC project. The former General Secretary of the EFBWW confirms that “the research carried out by Professor Clarke and her team has been invaluable to the EFBWW in our policy-formation and in our lobbying towards the European Commission”, with the insight into social partnership models being particularly useful for their “long-term strategy to ensure that workers are fully equipped for the transition to low-energy construction” [c-iii]. A commitment to aiding in a Just Transition is now one of their six key policy positions and the VET4LEC report (output [6]) is hosted on their site [c-iv].

The European Construction Industry Federation (** FIEC ) represents 33 construction employer federations in 29 countries and the industry itself generates 9% of GDP in the European Union (EU) and provides 13 million direct jobs. As a project of the Construction VET Social Dialogue, which has a policymaking role within the EU, the VET4LEC report [6] was disseminated to all FIEC members. Further, **ProBE’s research directly fed into the new policy framework specified in the FIEC report Construction 2050: Building tomorrow’s Europe today (June 2019) [c-v]. As the Director General of FIEC writes, the framework responds to the future skills gap identified in the VET4LEC findings by “point[ing] to the need for construction workers to continuously adapt their abilities and competences to new developments such as energy efficiency, for investment in lifelong learning, and a holistic approach towards EU level policy making in this area” [c-vi]. In February 2020, 40 representatives of the major construction industry associations met in Brussels to take this initiative forward by refining the FIEC proposals “in order to fully realise its goals” [c-vi]. This involved translating the principles of adaptability featured in the Construction 2050 document into practical proposals, e.g. specific work programmes, establishing thematic groups that can identify new challenges as they arise, and jointly created roadmaps to ensure uptake of the initiative and political visibility [c-vii]. As such, ProBE’s VET4LEC research is “ helping to shape a European-wide sectorial initiative that responds to the changeability of the construction ecosystem” [c-vi]. Such an initiative holds great significance given that construction is a fundamental sector of Europe’s economic growth [c-vii].

Avoiding Cuts to the Adult Skills Budget in the 2015 Spending Review

The previous survey-based research in this area underpinned the headline statement of the Review of Vocational Education: The Wolf Report (2011): “Among 16 to 19 year olds, the Review estimates that at least 350,000 [per year] get little to no benefit from the post-16 education system” [a-i, p.7]. This set the tone for policy debate, with Further Education (FE) seen to be failing disadvantaged young people due to the poor value delivered by its provision of technical qualifications. This made the sector a target for budget cuts, with the Chancellor having told government departments to expect reductions of between 25 and 40 per cent in the November 2015 Spending Review [a-ii]. Given the broader context of austerity, professional organisations such as the Association of Colleges expected the Spending Review to make a 25% cut to the Adult Skills Budget that supports FE learning [a-iii].

However, Prof Urwin’s direct engagement with BIS/DWP (including commissioned research resulting in outputs [1] to [4]) and a range of other key stakeholders, as well as his advocacy in policy discussions with HM Treasury, overturned this perception among policymakers. This led to the retention of the full Adult Skills budget in the 2015 Spending Review. The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement on 25th November 2015 stated that: “We will not, as many predicted, cut core adult skills funding for FE colleges – we will instead protect it in cash terms”, adding: “We will maintain the current national base rate of funding for our 16 to 19-year-old students for the whole Parliament” [a-iv]. In cash terms this was the retention of an Adult Skills budget of £1.5 billion, avoiding anticipated cuts of £375m [a-v, p.18]. This key impact was achieved through Urwin’s undertaking of innovative research and his translation of its findings for key stakeholders, as described below.

Publication of outputs [1], [2] and [4] had already occurred prior to the 2015 Spending Review and began to impact significantly on attitudes to FE and the understanding of its role in social mobility across academic, policy, and practice communities through direct engagement that included: Urwin and Cerqua’s presentation of their research in June 2015 to a large audience of academics and policymakers at InstEAD (Sheffield Univeristy), which featured lively debate with audience members Prof Dearden and Baroness Wolf [b-i]; a July presentation to The 157 Group (now Collab Group) , a UK network of 35 colleges and college groups of FE [b-ii], and an October presentation to the Federation of Awarding Bodies, the British trade association for the qualification and assessment industry [b-iii].

Further policy pressure was created by a September 2015 Times Educational Supplement (TES) article that detailed the findings of these outputs, challenged the previous evidence flagged in the Wolf Report, and included a comment from Baroness Wolf herself recognising Urwin’s research findings as important to reversing the poor perception of FE: “If we are now finally getting some concrete proof that shows low-level qualifications do bring some benefits, then that’s a good thing, and not before time” [b-iv]. This was followed on 13^th November by a further TES article [b-v] detailing the evidence provided by output [4].

In regard to government itself, Frank Bowley, Head of Further Education Data and Analysis at DfE, confirms “Urwin worked closely with the FE Skills team to ensure that this overturning of previous estimates provided a robust evidence base, [which] stimulated the FE Skills Team’s policy position” [c-i]. Bowley adds that: “In a series of briefings and meetings with HM Treasury, Urwin explained why these new findings were a significant improvement on previous estimates and that a cutting of support to FE was not consistent with a policy goal of improving social mobility” [c-i].

Output [3] was not formally published until Dec 2015, so drafts were shared internally with relevant government policymakers and Prof Urwin began delivering a series of cross-departmental seminars from April 2015 detailing both the published (outputs [1] [2]) and emerging [3] research evidence [c-ii to c-v]. From August 2015 to October 2015, Urwin and Cerqua engaged in detailed discussions with HM Treasury to present and defend these findings; showing clearly that these new favourable estimates were much more robust than previous survey-based estimates and making the argument that, as this evidence showed FE is an important ladder of opportunity for disadvantaged young people, government policy priorities on social mobility would be contravened if cuts were made to its budget [c-vi & c-vii].

Of the ongoing impact achieved through Urwin’s interventions, Bowley states: “ Avoiding these expected cuts had significant social and economic impacts. It ensured that disadvantaged young people and the unemployed could maintain access to valuable vocational learning within FE at level 2 and below. These are levels of learning that we expect of the average school leaver at KS4 [Key Stage 4] and removal of support for these courses would have removed an important ‘second chance’ for many disadvantaged people. This work continues to have significance in terms of changing the context and policy discourse around FE in government, with a greater recognition of its value to all learners, and especially disadvantaged young people” [b-vi].

Changing Policy Attitudes to FE and the Understanding of its Role in Social Mobility

Prof Urwin’s research and engagement activities in the run-up to the 2015 Spending Review, and subsequent to this, have helped change the nature of policy debate on FE, resulting in the ongoing impact of repositioning FE as a key component of social mobility within UK policy circles.

Further to Bowley’s testimony above, Lord Willetts, former Minister for Universities and Science (2010-2014) and current President of the Resolution Foundation’s Advisory Council and Intergenerational Centre, writes: “Previous evidence suggested little or no earnings return to qualifications gained at this level. That earlier literature had a big influence on how we saw things in the Coalition, appearing to show little value for level 2 NVQs for example. However Professor Urwin and his colleagues tried to allow for the prior disadvantage of many students doing these courses. This led to more favourable findings and has transformed understanding of the vocational qualifications delivered by FE. It is leading to a reshaping of the agenda for FE and showing its important role in providing opportunities for many disadvantaged young people and boosting social mobility” [d-i].

This change in perception of FE within government policymaking is evident in The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission’s December 2015 State of the Nation 2015: Social Mobility and Child Poverty in Great Britain report, which cites output [2] to highlight “that those in possession of Level 2 qualifications are much less likely to be out of work” and the need for “ensuring that funding for Level 1 and Level 2 course provision can be protected” [d-ii, p.163], and, more recently, by the May 2019 Augar review ( Post-18 review of education and funding: independent panel report), which similarly drew on Urwin’s research to make this case [d-iii]. The Augar review draws on output [2] to “show that full Level 2 qualifications yield some of the highest increases in earnings” [d-iii, p.124] and also increase such learners’ “chance of being in employment by 2 percentage points (based on 3-5 year averages after achievement), compared to those that do not achieve the qualification” [d-iii, p.53]. On the basis of the positive estimates produced by Urwin and colleagues, and in response to the decline in post-18s undertaking such qualifications (from 400,000 in 2012/13 to just over 50,000 in 2017/18), Augar “make[s] proposals to reverse these trends and create a clear educational route for adults wishing to study and train at Levels 2 and 3” [d-iii, p.49]. Such proposals include the reformation of the currently complex FE funding rules and the removal of tuition fees, at a cost of £500m [d-iii, p.54, 123, 204].

The government’s December 2020 announcement of an investment of £375 million into the Lifetime Skills Guarantee (LSG) continues to evidence the marked policy shift towards significantly resourcing FE learning [d-iv]. The Prime Minister’s LSG announcement explicitly responds to how the “Augar review highlighted the complexity of the funding system” – i.e. as a barrier to achieving the gains evidenced by Urwin, as above – by “mov[ing] to a system where every student will have a flexible lifelong loan entitlement to four years of post-18 education” [d-iv]. Urwin further fed into the attainment of this impact via the DfE. The DfE’s September 2020 written evidence for the Education Select Committee Inquiry into Adult Skills and Lifelong Learning prominently cites Urwin’s work (outputs [2] and [3]) to evidence that “adult skills and lifelong learning also has significant positive labour market impacts for its learners” [d-v]. The positive returns found in this work and presented to parliament are thus an important reason for the continuing emphasis on lower-level vocational qualifications by policymakers.

Developing Government Data Practice

As part of the 2011-12 contracts that produced some of the first positive estimates of value added from FE learning ([1] and [2]), BIS commissioned the team led by Prof Urwin to begin creation of a production standard version of the ILR-WPLS Database. This enabled BIS – and now DfE – to embed a variety of analytical and reporting functions within an updatable database for use in policymaking.

This work was an essential proof of concept in the process of developing the analysis of administrative data across government and has had the longer-term institutional impact of changing government practice in regard to its use of databases. Used from 2013 to 2016, Anthony Harris, Lead Data Scientist at the DfE confirms: “Prior to this [intervention by Urwin’s team], use of ILR-WPLS admin data for this purpose was in its infancy, and whilst there had been some analysis, different approaches had been adopted to data manipulation and this was the first time that” such a database “could easily integrate regular updates of HMRC-DWP data” [e-i]. This was enabled through the building of this integrated relational Database in the MS SQL Server, such that it linked data sourced from HMRC, DWP, BIS and HESA – including P14 earnings data, benefits records, P45 employment data and further learning in Higher Education undertaken by FE learners. Harris describes how this change in practice “optimised the use of limited staff resource; and began the development of processes for sharing that would allow secondary analysis by government departments, academics and others” [e-i]. In regard to FE, the Database helped elucidate “the new more favourable estimated returns to FE learning [which] have been used extensively to underpin CBA [cost-benefit analysis] estimates across DfE (and publications such as the FE Skills Index)” [e-i].

Having developed governmental data practice, Harris confirms that the ILR-WPLS Database “was an important precursor for Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO), which was launched in 2016 and is now widely used in policy making across the whole of DfE” [e-i]. The LEO now provides regularly updated CBA figures, which are calculated using the original “work of Urwin and colleagues [who] developed a new approach to estimation” [e-i]. This work continues to form a crucial part of the DfE evidence base, and findings using LEO and these calculations are regularly cited in inquiries and committees – for instance, in the DfE’s aforementioned submission to the December 2020 Adult Skills and Lifelong Learning inquiry, which featured as its centre-piece an FE “returns table” produced using both [d-v].