Reform's research and commentary is regularly featured in the media. You can find press coverage of Reform's work here.
We are always happy to comment on policy issues relevant to our work. If you would like a quote, an interview, or a background briefing, please email press@reform.uk.
Emilie Sundorph, Researcher at Reform, wrote an article for the Times Higher Education titled 'Widening participation: LSE bucks trend as ‘elite’ universities struggle'. This is following the publication of a Reform report earlier this week which assesses university spending on widening participation. The article argues that despite universities putting more money into improving access, the top universities are still struggling to diversify their intakes.
"While universities benefit from autonomy, and should continue to do so, they also have a responsibility to show fee-paying students, and the taxpayers subsidising loans, that funding is being spent to the best effect. Holding institutions to account for making real contributions to social mobility may be a better place to focus than how much their top executives are worth".
You can read the full article here.
On the 5th September, The Guardian newspaper wrote an exclusive article about Reform's recent report Joining the elite: how top universities can enhance social mobility. The article comments on the 'incredibly slow' progress that England's top universities have made in widening access to students from disadvantaged backgrounds, despite having schemes in place that are designed to widen access to their undergraduate courses. The article highlights key findings from the Reform report which has found that whilst English universities overall have increased access for disadvantaged students, this progress is skewed towards lower- and middle-tier universities.
Read the full article here
Louis Coiffait, Head of Education at Reform appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live to discuss whether councils would be able to plan enough school places for the predicted 19% increase in secondary pupils. He argued that although councils and schools had managed the 'population bulge' going through primary well, it would only be possible in secondary if they and (the greater proportion of) academies worked closely together in partnership. You can listen to his interview from 2.07.37.
Alexander Hitchcock, Senior Researcher at Reform, wrote an article for The Yorkshire Post titled Digital technology is smarter policing. He argues that that police in Yorkshire need to embrace technology to combat rising cybercrime.
The full article can be found here
Dr Kate Laycock, Researcher at Reform, wrote an article for City A.M. titled 'The NHS is bad value for money: Automation, not bureaucracy, will put its broken house in order'. Kate discusses the enormous scope that automation and technology can play in improving productivity and efficiency in the NHS, for example by reducing the administrative burden on back office and front line staff. "The debate on the future of the NHS is too often dominated by calls for extra resources. Instead, the way to keep the service sustainable is to improve productivity. This rests on the workforce and wider public embracing technology. Getting the house in order is not a matter of filling in the cracks with old solutions, rather the house must be modernised to ensure that it is ready for challenges ahead."
Read the full article here
Jim Boyd, Deputy Director at Reform, appeared on Sky News to discuss rising social care costs and how to meet growing demand. Jim highlights recent research by Reform that proposes replacing the current ‘pay-as-you-go’ (PAYG) approach to financing later-life care with a prefunded arrangement.
Emilie Sundorph, Researcher at Reform, wrote an article for Prospect following the publication of Reform's report, Bobbies on the net: a police workforce for the digital age. Digital crime is on the rise and many officers are "terrified" by this, feeling they lack the knowledge and skills to tackle it. Police forces must do more to foster these skills. Some examples include a digital skills academy, making greater use of secondments and tapping into the expertise of other digital specialists.
"Learning from these approaches to deliver a workforce fit to fight cybercrime should be the priority for the police. Achieving this will not be simple, but it is essential to protect people online."
Read the full article here.
Emilie Sundorph, Researcher at Reform, has written an article for Policing Insight, following the launch of Reform's report, Bobbies on the net: a police workforce for the digital age. With digital crime accounting for nearly half of all crime, police officers and staff need the right skills to tackle it. A revolution in police working patterns is required to meet this new world of crime. Hierarchy must be disrupted, a culture of learning established and new inventive practices, pioneered in the private sector, adopted.
"But as criminals move online, police must respond. This is the only way to police this digital world."
Read the full article here.
Alexander Hitchcock, Senior Researcher, wrote an article in The Telegraph following the publication of Reform's report Bobbies on the net: a police workforce for the digital age. Forty-seven per cent of crime involves a digital element. People are 20 times more likely to be a victim of fraud than robbery, costing businesses £144 billion a year. Police forces need to radically upgrade their crime-fighting capabilities to keep citizens safe including gaining specialist cyber skills, secondments and creating a digital academy.
"Digital technology has changed the face of criminal behaviour. The working patterns of police forces need to follow suit."
Read the full article here.
Reform published it's latest report Bobbies on the net: a police workforce for the digital age on 23 August 2017. It was covered in The Telegraph, Financial Times, Public Finance, The Sun, The Scotsman, Prospect, The Telegraph, Policing Insight, Computer Weekly, Information Age, New Statesman, Tech World, Info Security, IT pro, UK Authority, Police Oracle, Kable and Public Technology.
Emilie Sundorph, Researcher at Reform, was quoted in an article by Verdict titled 'Fewer police stations are a problem but distrust between the public and the police is worse'. The article discusses new research by the Mail on Sunday, which found that over 400 police stations across the country have been closed in the last ten years.
The article also references research from a 2012 Reform report which found that around 2 people per hour visit police stations over the hours that they are open, based on Freedom of information requests on police stations in London. Emilie highlights that this shows an inefficiency of resources and is partially attributable to the changing methods of communication of the younger generation.
"People live so much of their lives online now. It’s very important the police keep up to date. And that’s not only about solving crimes that are committed online. Efficiency and being a good police service becomes about what kind of police service you are online".
Read the full article here
Danail Vasilev, Researcher at Reform, wrote an article for Independent Age on the potential of housing assets being used to fund social care. If changes aren't made to social care funding now, costs will continue to rise and will fall hardest on the younger generation. The government needs radical ideas to find a solution. Danail Vasilev argued one option can be using older people's housing wealth as a medium-term option before moving into a pre-funded solution for working-age adults, which would be built up over this period. "
Reforming the social care sector requires hard decisions, but postponing them will only leave everybody worse-off."
Read the full article here.
On Friday 14 July 2017, UKAuthority held a conference titled 'Rise of the Bots: Can AI help transform public services'. The conference looked at how aritifical intelligence (AI), machine learning, robotic process automation and bots can be used to help transform the business of public sector service delivery. Alexander Hitchcock, Senior Researcher at Reform, delivered a presentation on 'iGovern: AI in public services'. You can find the video below:
On Thursday 20 July, Reform were delighted to host a speech by the Rt Hon Jo Johnson MP, Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation, on delivering value for money for students in higher education. Media coverage of the event included the Daily Mail, Politics Home, FE News, The Times (£), BBC News, and TES.
On Tuesday 18 June, Reform published a report titled Gainful gigging: employment services for the platform economy. The report explores how the Government can help people make the most of the gig economy. Media coverage included Public Finance, Workplace Health, The Times (£), City A.M., The Times (£), CIPD and Chronicle Live.