Institute for Public Policy Research

Edited by Gerry Hassan, leading Scottish commentator, and Russell Gunson, Director of IPPR Scotland, Scotland, the UK and Brexit: A guide to the future is a collection of essays aimed to provide readers with a comprehensive guide to Brexit and the consequences that flow from Brexit for Scotland, while also examining UK and international implications. Contributions include a wide range of leading political specialists, journalists and academics. This book analyses the terrain, the major issues and possible developments, the context in which this takes place and how some of the major actors including the Scottish and UK governments, and the EU itself, may act.

The UK economy is set to undergo significant change in the coming years. The impact of rapidly advancing technology, an ageing population and exiting the EU will leave our economy looking very different by 2030. Having an effectively functioning adult skills system will be crucial if we are to manage the impact of these trends, to shape them and to turn them to our advantage. However, there is serious cause for concern that our adult skills system is not fit for purpose today, let alone fit to face the challenges ahead. In this report, we set out an approach to adult skills that would better meet the needs of learners, employers and the economy in the future.

The construction industry is of vital strategic importance to the UK. A healthy construction industry will be essential if we are to build the homes, commercial property and infrastructure that our economy and our country needs. Yet the construction industry faces a grave threat from Brexit. We have identified three significant challenges facing the construction industry: Productivity growth in construction has been stagnant, Construction faces severe and growing skills shortages, Construction has become increasingly reliant on EU migration.

Digital skills are vital for individuals and national economies to prosper in a rapidly-changing world, benefiting from the opportunities of digital and remaining resilient to potential risks. More than 90 per cent of jobs in some categories now demand digital skills. Yet in 2016, just 56 per cent of Europeans had adequate digital skills for the world they live in, and 37 per cent of the workforce lacked adequate digital skills. In this project we examined the development and approach of Grow with Google, a project which operates through national programmes matched closely to the contexts and needs of individual countries, in six case study countries (Sweden, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Nigeria) in order to identify key themes and learning to support ongoing good practice in growing a digital skills ecosystem.

The industrial structure of European economies and the types of occupation that they support are changing. This change takes many forms in different national contexts, but there are some common themes. There has been an increase in service-sector employment, both in low-skilled customer service work and in high-skilled ‘knowledge’ occupations, and a corresponding drop in manufacturing employment. This has contributed to a ‘polarisation’ of the workforce in many countries, with more high-skill and low-skill jobs but fewer requiring mid-level skills. At the same time, young people are finding it increasingly hard to get a foothold in the labour market, and the proportion of the workforce employed on full-time, permanent contracts has shrunk.

Some of the changes are cyclical, the result of recession followed by a stuttering recovery. The rise in temporary work, for example, might be expected to recede when European economies are again growing strongly enough to bring unemployment down towards its pre-recession level. Other changes, however, are the result of major structural forces operating in the global economy: the rapid pace of technological innovation, globalisation and demographic change. These forces are likely to continue to cause dislocation and disruption in European labour markets for the foreseeable future. As a result, there will be a fundamental shift in the types of jobs that are available for workers and in the skills demanded by employers across Europe. Understanding the likely changes in the European labour market over the next decade is essential if policymakers and firms are to set Europe onto a path towards permanently lower unemployment through the creation of many more well-paid jobs.

London is not on pace to meet its current emissions target, a 60 per cent reduction by 2025. We call on the next mayor of London to pick up the pace – and provide a plan for how they could pursue an ambitious new target, for London to be a zero-carbon city by 2050.

This presentation-style report sets out nine 'Essentials' and 12 'Desirables' for the next mayor to deliver, if the 2050 emissions target is to be achieved. As well as providing benefits in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, many of these policies and investments will benefit Londoners by promoting economic growth, creating jobs, improving health and life expectancy, saving residents and businesses money and energy, and making London a nicer city to live in.

At the same time, London has a great opportunity to take a global leadership role in city-led climate change action, sharing with and learning from major towns and cities across the UK and internationally.

As the renewal of its royal charter approaches, this essay collection offers a diverse array of views on how the BBC can be reformed and renewed as a democratic, public institution that enriches the modern media landscape and rises to new challenges.

A popular national institution that shapes and sustains core elements of our public culture, the BBC enriches the UK, and gives us influence and prestige around the world. But there are also more utilitarian justifications for it: with the licence fee costing 40p a day, the BBC is great value for money, and is the bedrock of our economically dynamic creative sectors.

That is not to say, however, that the BBC can stand still while all around it changes, or that it does not need to be reformed in order to address its inefficiencies and inadequacies, as well as its vulnerabilities.

As the broadcaster approaches the renewal of its royal charter in 2016, this collection of essays addresses the modernisation as well as conservation of the BBC. Discussing issues of competition, governance, transparency, plurality, regulation, decentralisation and, of course, the future of the licence fee, the authors examine the BBC and the wider context in which it operates from a rich variety of viewpoints. As it approaches its centenary, we offer ideas for how the Beeb can be reformed and renewed as a democratic, public institution that serves the UK of the 21st century just as well as it did that of the 20th.

Based on original polling across five European countries, this report explores employers' views on a range of issues related to long-term unemployment – their attitudes towards the unemployed, especially on skills and employability, and the effectiveness of their contact with public employment services.

An Avalanche is Coming argues that the next 50 years could see a golden age for higher education, but only if all the players in the system, from students to governments, seize the initiative and act ambitiously. If not, an avalanche of change will sweep the system away.

Deep, radical and urgent transformation is required in higher education. The biggest risk is that as a result of complacency, caution or anxiety the pace of change is too slow and the nature of change is too incremental. The models of higher education that marched triumphantly across the globe in the second half of the 20th century are broken.

This report challenges every player in the system to act boldly.