At this point in the pandemic, the benefits system is playing a very different role than we anticipated. Because of support like the furlough scheme, the unemployment rate has remained much lower than had been forecast when Covid-19 first hit the UK. But the number of people getting Universal Credit (UC) has increased sharply since the onset of the crisis.
Blog posted by: Kirandeep Singh Kalra - Continual Service Improvement (CSI) Lead, 17 December 2021.
On 8 December we hosted our fifth annual Digital Ethics Summit. It was a significant occasion for us; this is the fifth time we have had the privilege of convening some of the greatest minds devoted to thinking about ethical and responsible innovation in this ever-more digital world.
On 16 December, the UK has signed its first post-Brexit free trade agreement with Australia. The main elements of the deal were agreed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in June, and the final deal was signed in a virtual ceremony by International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan. The final deal will now be laid in Parliament for a period of scrutiny.
The Joint Committee on the Draft Online Safety Bill has published its Report of the Session 2021 - 22, outlining a long list of recommendations for how the draft Bill could be improved.
Britain's past and current Plan B' responses to Covid-19 marks the emergence of a new phase in the growth of the regulatory state' - a new report published by Civitas suggests - in which, crucial decision-making is outsourced to leading quangos.
Julian Jessop, Economics Fellow at free market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs, commented on the inflation figures published yesterday by the ONS
New briefing sets out how the Infrastructure Levy should be reformed to better capture the value of land in different areas and deliver more affordable housing and benefit to local communities
Ofcom has published its proposed plan for work for the financial year 2022-23 and has opened a consultation seeking responses on its key priorities.
Blog posted by: Kevin Jones, Senior Advisor, Beyond20, 14 December 2021.
Dstl (Defence Science and Technology Laboratory) is pioneering the use of autonomous mobile robotics within the scientific research laboratory.
Professor Len Shackleton, labour market expert at free market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs, commented on the labour market data published yesterday by the ONS
On Tuesday 14 December, the UK Parliament's Joint Committee on the draft Online Safety Bill published its report after several months of scrutiny of the Government's draft legislation.
The UK Government has published its new National Cyber Strategy which sets out how the UK will solidify its position as a global cyber power.
The Adam Smith Institute's Head of Research, Matthew Lesh, has responded to the Joint Committee on the Draft Online Safety Bill's report
The NHS seeks to monitor and control diversity and equality through a programme known as the Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) - it is based on a series of statistical indicators pertaining to outcomes between white and non-white minority groups. However, as the Director of the Statistics and Policy Research Programme at Civitas, Richard Norrie, argues, closer inspection of those indicators reveals they do not withstand methodological scrutiny'.
techUK has published a new discussion paper exploring the challenges facing UK high streets and how technology and digitisation can help.
Help the environment, farmers and consumers by adopting GMOs as well as gene editing, says think-tank
We are approaching the end of the year 2021 with great news for the European tech sector. According to the latest Atomico report on the State of European Tech 2021, Europe is solidly positioned as a global tech player in 2021, with a record $100 billion in capital invested, 98 new unicorns, and the greatest start-up pipeline in history, now on par with the US.
The UK's National Living Wage (NLW) has increased wages not only for those who would otherwise have earned less than that, but also a wider group.
Christopher Snowdon, Head of Lifestyle Economics at free market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs, commented on New Zealand's plans to ban the sale of tobacco to its next generation
In a series of eight reports as part of the Build the Future We Need campaign, techUK examined how we can harness digital innovation to build a better future in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On 8th December, in the House of Commons, the Government took a welcome step forward in the fight against modern day slavery.
Julian Jessop, Economics Fellow at free market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs, commented on the GDP data published today by the ONS
Russell Gunson, Director of IPPR Scotland responded to the Draft Scotland Budget
