Work and Skills

  • We need to talk about nightlife   

    The creative sector represents a huge employer in the UK. It contributes billions to the economy, employs thousands, and is a key export of our economy. Yet the sector faces enormous challenges in UK cities. The cost of rent, poor connectivity, and licencing problems resulting from city centre residential developments are just some of the issues cultural operators face.

    How can health care organisations maximise their resources to improve population health? 

    The Five Year Forward View and evolution towards integrated care systems have placed greater expectations on the NHS to work across a geographical area and maximise its resources to improve the health of a local population. And while this focus on place-based systems of care has spurred developments in the way services are designed and delivered to help prevent ill health and promote wellbeing, limited attention has been given to how the NHS can influence the economic conditions that help create health in the first place.

    The impact the NHS has on people’s health extends well beyond its role as a provider of treatment and care. As large employers, purchasers, and capital asset holders, health care organisations are well positioned to use their spending power and resources to address the adverse social, economic and environmental factors that widen inequalities and contribute to poor health.

  • What should a modern industrial strategy look like?

    Does the modern industrial strategy published this week offer the radical departure our economy requires? While the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (Cles) welcomes the first industrial strategy to be published in more than a generation, we are concerned it will do little to fundamentally alter the fortunes of the people and places that have been ravaged by each wave of industrial restructuring since the late 1970s.

  • RESEARCH

    Skills policy that works for all

    23rd June 2016
    This paper builds on The Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) knowledge and experience of working in different areas of the...
  • Solving the skills mismatch

    We are facing a huge challenge to keep pace with skills requirements of rapidly developing industry and technology. The UK Commission for Employment and Skills reported that just over one fifth of job vacancies were considered heard to fill due to skills shortages.

  • RESEARCH

    CLES Manifesto for local economies

    17th March 2015
    This CLES Manifesto is underpinned by our values and principles and is based on the experience of our work in local economies over...
  • RESEARCH

    Developing Resilient Town Centres

    12th February 2015
    What makes a resilient town centre? This paper, aimed at people working to support their high street, town or city centre, provide...
  • FINDINGS

    Working with community researchers

    11th April 2014
    Community researchers are individuals who are members of a community and who are given training to conduct research in their own c...
  • CLES 10

    Better quality jobs

    31st January 2014
    The Government’s welfare reform seeks to make work pay by moving more people into paid employment. Whilst important, this much c...