All posts by Tony Chapman

Agenda for the spring meeting of the study group

Young People & Society Study Group

The Young People and Society Study Group will hold its second meeting of the academic year on Thursday 17th March 2016 – from 4.00 – 6.00 in St Chad’s College. We have three speakers at the seminar, including:

  • Dr Nadia Siddiqui, School of Education, “Are private schools the only chance for poor children in Pakistan?  Analysis of Annual Statistics of Education Research (ASER), Pakistan.” 
  • Dr Stacey Pope, School of Applied Social Sciences, “Female sports fandom: existing research and future agendas.”
  • Dr Iain Lindsey, School of Applied Social Sciences, ‘Bucking austerity or going with the grain? Investigating developments in school and youth sport policy’

If you are an academic or post-graduate student at Durham University, you are welcome to join the group and take part in all our events.  Please contact tony.chapman@durham.ac.uk to join.

Young people and skills in Tees Valley

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A seminar run by the Institute for Local Governance, Friday 22nd May 2015, Redcar and Cleveland College, Redcar

Producing a strategy to match the skills and needs of employers in Tees Valley with the skills and aspirations of young people is not a straight-forward issue. Much of the locally-owned institutional support for such an initiative has been eroded with the loss of once generously funded organisations such as Connexions Tees Valley, The Tees Valley Learning and Skills Council and Business Link Tees Valley.

The willingness of Tees Valley to tackle skills issues for young people is, arguably, stronger than ever through the work of its Local Enterprise Partnership, Tees Valley Unlimited, local authorities and the promise of the establishment of a Tees Valley Combined Authority to integrate effort across the areas five unitary local authorities.

This seminar aims to explore the complexities surrounding ‘supply’ and ‘demand’ issues operating in and around the Tees Valley region. Speakers have been brought together to open debate on: projected employer labour demand over the next few years; how employers’ skills needs can be met through local schools, colleges and universities; and, how the potential of young people (especially those from less advantaged backgrounds) can be harnessed.

Marshalling the aspirations and developing the employability of young people (aged 15 – 29) who have experienced significant periods of time not in employment, education or training (NEET) is a controversial and challenging area of discussion. Even when money is available to tackle the issue, solutions are often difficult to produce.  Being positive about the prospects of these young people is, nevertheless, vital for the area economically and socially.

This is reflected in the Government’s recent launch of its first calls for Tees Valley projects under the 2014-2020 European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and European Social Fund (ESF). Projects are being sought to maximise SME job creation, but central to the concerns of this seminar is the Youth Employment Initiative for ESF across Tees Valley.

Shorter term initiatives, however valuable, only provide part of the solution – this seminar also aims to debate the roles of private sector, education sector and third sector organisations in tackling more widely skills challenges in Tees Valley over the next few years. The seminar will seek to engage the views and experiences of participants during the course of the event.

Speakers include: Professor Robert MacDonald, Social Futures Institute, Teesside University; Carl Ditchburn, Community Campus ‘87; John Lowther, Chair of Strategic Planning for the Board of Governors, Redcar and Cleveland College; Kate Roe, Principal, Darlington College; and, Sue Hannan, Employment and Skills Manager, Tees Valley Unlimited.  The Seminar will be chaired by Professor Alan Townsend, Durham University

The seminar is free to attend. Please register your attendance via: Janet Atkinson, Institute for Local Governance, Durham University. janet.atkinson@durham.ac.uk. The Institute for Local Governance is a North East Research and Knowledge Exchange Partnership established in 2009 comprising the regions Universities, Local Authorities, Police and Fire and Rescue Services.

Policy&Practice Annual Report 2014-15

News, Research News

We’ve had a busy year in Policy&Practice, completing a number of long running projects such as the Northern Rock Foundation Third Sector Trends study which started in 2008 and the evaluation of O2Think Big which has been running since 2010.

But we’re starting new ones too.  The Policy Research Group have a growing reputation for their work on arts, culture and event evaluation.  New work on Japanese inward investment in North East England is starting to build momentum with the appointment of a PhD student to help us out with that in January 2016 in collaboration with Durham Business School and the Institute for Local Governance.

And some projects are continuing, such as Fred Robinson and Ian Zass-Ogilvie’s work on asset transfer in County Durham;  and the new ESRC funded study on improving relationships between the public sector and third sector run in collaboration with the Institute for Local Governance.

If you’d like to read about our work in the last year, you can download our annual report or you can read it online now by clicking here: Policy&Practice Annual Report 2014-15

Arts & Culture in County Durham

PRG News, PRG Recent Projects

lumiere.jpegGiven the ‘cooler climate’ in public funding, demonstrating the economic impact of the arts, culture and sports is more important than ever. Nationally the arts and culture sector pays its way, recent figures show an annual return of £2.35 billion to the Treasury – and the contribution to local economies is growing faster in the parts of the country worst affected by the recession like the North East. Employment in the sector is strong too, with the growth in jobs and skills feeding into an expanding knowledge and skills based economy – particularly important to young people entering the jobs market.

In 2015, Durham County Council commissioned PRG to develop an evaluation framework to measure the impact of the arts, cultural and sports events the Council supports. The overall aim is to establish an evaluation framework with flexible methodologies and KPIs which can be applied across all types of events and appropriate for use by different delivery organisations – large and small, public, private and third sector.

A single, standardised framework will allow meaningful comparisons, the aggregation of impacts and identification of savings; it will also produce a reliable evidence base for decision-making and strategy. And the more we understand what the sector does for us, in terms of the economy, education, health and wellbeing, and communities, the more we will be able to provide the evidence to give government and the taxpayer the confidence to invest.

During 2015 the events and festivals PRG has evaluated for County Durham have been very varied, including: Bishop Auckland Food Festival, the International Brass Festival, Durham Book Festival, culminating most recently with Lumiere Durham.

Each time we have revised and refined a range of evaluation tools, tailoring them to specific events and trying out innovative methods and approaches. For Lumiere, PRG also worked with Durham businesses to capture economic impact and help the businesses make the most of the festival’s opportunities. We also helped recruit and train more than 20 Durham University students to carry out on-street evaluation of Lumiere, helping them acquire valuable employment experience and become more involved in the life of the city.

Community Development Projects: 40 years on

Current and Recent Research Projects, Research News

Esrc_logoOver the past two years, Professor Fred Robinson has been working with colleagues on a major national research project called ‘Imagine’. This practice-based project is concerned with using research to help imagine and develop communities. It is about the ‘social, historical, cultural and democratic context of civic engagement’. Imagine is supported by the Economic and Social Research Council under the Connected Communities programme.

The whole Imagine project comprises four parts, one of which focuses on the historical context of civic engagement. This part involves revisiting the sites of three Community Development Projects (CDPs) which were implemented during the 1970s. Two of these were in Tyneside (Benwell and North Shields) and one in the West Midlands (Hillfields, Coventry). In each of these places, researchers from local universities (Durham and Warwick Universities) and community organisations are exploring the imagining, planning and impact of the CDP and are tracking subsequent regeneration programmes in those areas.

Fred’s role has been to look at the history of regeneration in Benwell and North Shields. He has been developing accounts of the implementation and impact of regeneration policies, drawing on both documentary material and interviews. He says:

“As you look at these policies over a period of 40 years, you can feel a sense of frustration that lessons often aren’t learnt and problems aren’t solved. But there has actually been some real progress in terms of health and housing, for instance, and a better understanding of the need for active community engagement in the regeneration process”.

 

Northern Rock Foundation: history and achievements

Current and Recent Research Projects, Research News

nrf-logo-lgeIn July 2015, the Northern Rock Foundation published a history of its work and the impacts it has had during 17 years of grant making. Researched and written by Professor Fred Robinson, this independent assessment, whilst sympathetic to the mission of the Foundation, takes an objective view of its history and achievements.

Funded by Northern Rock bank, the Foundation spent over £225 million on community projects and initiatives in the North East and Cumbria. Its work has ranged over many different areas of social need including support for older people, homeless young people, refugees and asylum seekers and those with mental health problems. It sought to tackle issues like financial inclusion, penal reform and domestic abuse but also invested in the development of the arts and cultural infrastructure of the region.

Key achievements identified in the report include:

  • Focusing attention on disadvantaged people and communities, including difficult and unpopular causes, like child sexual exploitation.
  • Using research to influence national and regional policy in areas such as dementia and domestic and sexual violence.
  • Helping the voluntary and community sector to develop their skills and capacity and fostering collaboration and enterprise.

Important lessons from the history and work of the Foundation are:

  • A regionally based foundation can know its area in a way that a nationally based foundation, based elsewhere, almost certainly cannot.
  • There is a value in concentrating some grant making on particular organisations that will develop and grow through long term support.
  • Expert and dedicated Trustees and staff help to ensure good and effective grant-making
  • Reliance on one corporate benefactor has both strengths and weaknesses.

The financial crisis that hit the Northern Rock bank had a profound impact on the Foundation, which is now expected to close down in 2016. Professor Robinson said:

“The Foundation made an important contribution to the well-being of the North East and Cumbria. It helped to enrich the lives of many people. For some organisations its funding has been beneficial, but not crucial; for others it may have been transformative, a really important input that helped them to survive or grow or become what they are today. It was very much an organisation rooted in the region which was prepared to fund unpopular things at times, but things which made a real difference”.

The full report can be downloaded here.

Impact of the Changing Funding Environment on the Voluntary and Community Sector

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Professor Tony Chapman

Tony Chapman led a study, funded by Government Office North East to support the work of the Voluntary and Community Sector Task Force in 2006.

The study involved a survey of third sector organisations across North East England and informed the work of the task force which was attempting to assess the potential impact of a predicted loss of up to £50m in resources following the European Union regional development and social funding.

A final report was published in 2006. Subsequently an academic article developed the analysis and was published in Policy Studies.

Researching the Impact of Major Skills Issues in the Tees Valley

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Professor Tony Chapman

This was a wide-ranging study, funded by the European Social Fund for the Learning and Skills Council to explore changing skills needs across Tees Valley.

The results demonstrated that Tees Valley faces significant challenges over the next 10 years and made specific proposals for developments at a sub-regional and industrial sector strategic levels.

A final report was published in 2006. Subsequently, the theoretical implications of the work were published in Urban Studies: http://usj.sagepub.com/content/48/5/1037.refs.

Japanese Inward Investment Journeys to North East England: is North East England ready to make a new journey too?

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A seminar jointly organised by the Institute for Local Governance and Council for Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR) will take place at Teikyo University, Durham, Friday 10th July, 2015, 9.30 – 1.00.

clairiflgteikyo

Details of the seminar can be found here.

In 2013, construction of a major new manufacturing plant began in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, giving an immediate initial boost to the local labour market. The new train manufacturing plant will be handed over to Hitachi in September, and in the months that follow 700 new jobs will come to the area.

Hitachi’s arrival represents just one amongst many welcome journeys that Japanese companies have made to North East England, including Nissan, Nifco, Komatsu and NSK Bearings, amongst many others. These companies, alongside the supply chains they have built with UK companies, play a major role in providing an economic boost to the region.

Undoubtedly, the North East wants Japanese companies to stay here and would welcome more if they choose to come our way. But what, precisely, do we have on offer to encourage this to happen? Has the North East gone the extra mile fully to welcome such investment? But perhaps most importantly of all, what are we learning from the companies that have come to the region and how well is the region responding to the massive economic contribution they make in business terms?

This seminar looks at the contribution Japanese business has made to the enterprise culture in North East England. But the debate should not be an historical one. What we need to ask is what can be done to build stronger links with existing and new companies? The conference also aims to think about ways to increase levels of enterprising activity in the region in the localities where major new Japanese firms are operating and identify reasons why such opportunities might be grasped, missed or stifled.

This conference provides an opportunity to tackle such questions in a constructive way from many different standpoints in order to inform policy makers and industrialists in the region about the contribution of Japanese inward investment to the local economy. The conference will be opened by Professor Ray Hudson, Vice Chancellor of Durham University and will be closed by Professor Masao Imaseki, Principal of Teikyo University, Durham.

To lead the debate, a number of speakers have agreed to present their ideas and talk about their experiences.

  • Phil Wilson, Member of Parliament for Sedgefield, County Durham
  • David Coppock & Tasleem Baqir, North East Region, UKTI
  • Simon Goon, Managing Director, Business Durham
  • Kazuya Shima, Director, Japan Local Government Centre (CLAIR London)
  • Andrew Stevens, Chief Researcher, Japan Local Government Centre (CLAIR London)
  • Professor Tony Chapman, St Chad’s College, Durham University

The seminar will also provide an opportunity to network with industrialists in key Japanese firms in the region, including the new Hitachi plant in Newton Aycliffe.

The seminar is free to attend. Please register your attendance via: Janet Atkinson, Institute for Local Governance, Durham University janet.atkinson@durham.ac.uk. Please note that we have limited places for this seminar so allocation will be made on a first-come first-served basis.

The Institute for Local Governance is a North East Research and Knowledge Exchange Partnership established in 2009 comprising the regions Universities, Local Authorities, Police and Fire and Rescue Services. Further information about the content of the event can be obtained by contacting:-

 

Assets or liabilities: the transfer of assets to community organisations in County Durham

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fredrobinsonAssets or Liabilities DCC paper (FINAL 15 May 2015)Local councils, especially in the North East, are having a tough time. Funding from central government has been cut—and there are more cuts to come—and demand for services keeps rising. As a result, they have had to find ways to keep services going by being creative and doing things differently.

Over the past three years we’ve been working closely with Durham County Council on theAssets or Liabilities DCC paper (FINAL 15 May 2015ir asset transfer programme. The council has many community buildings, such as community centres, that it has been struggling to maintain. The council felt that the only way to ensure that they have a long term future is to encourage local groups to take on full responsibility for repairs and maintenance as well as management. These groups are able to access funding that the council can’t—and they are best placed to respond to local needs. But it is asking a lot of them.

Our job has been to work with council officers and other agencies to strengthen these local groups, help them think through what asset transfer would mean, and find ways of generating more income. Actually, our role has been to serve as go-betweens, building trust between these organisations and the council.

It’s been fascinating and it’s worked well. We’ve done a report on the whole experience—that’s available here. We came to the conclusion that asset transfer has really been about relationships, not just buildings. Building confidence and capacity takes a lot of time and careful negotiation. But we got there and we are hopeful that these centres will now have a long term future as a key local resource.

Durham County Council is now developing this approach further. Local communities are being asked to take on the running of other services in order to keep them going. We are working with the council on that, and will be evaluating the process and the results over the next two years. A Briefing paper on the process can be found here: Assets or Liabilities DCC paper (FINAL 15 May 2015)