Competition is an important driver of productivity as it can push businesses to become more efficient, innovative and productive. But local government should think carefully about how to intervene. Check out the latest blog👇 buff.ly/v2UFZ3N

In September the government published the last of eight sector plans in the industrial strategy, covering defence. Our new blog gives suggestions for how places can think through support to local businesses in responding to these plans👇 buff.ly/qR0b8yL

Capital is an important driver of productivity 📈 If businesses want to improve productivity, they might invest in new machinery to speed up production, or new software to tackle more complex and higher value tasks 💰 Read in full 👇 buff.ly/R7oZVrz

In the first blog in our new series we provide an overview of skills and local growth—looking at policy levers available, things to consider, and useful resources. This is a great primer to understanding how skills affect local growth and productivity👇 buff.ly/A99kPQ3

With more flights than ever taking off from the UK, airport expansion is a hot topic ✈️ But what might expansion mean for local growth in the areas around airports? Our new blog discusses some of the issues to consider👇 buff.ly/GSYeoO6

Local Growth Plans are a key part of the government’s growth strategy. Devolution will need to generate jobs, investment and economic activity more than the sum of their parts – multipliers can help assess these wider benefits. Read how in our new blog👇 whatworksgrowth.org/insights/mul...

Enterprise zones 🎙️🎧 Deputy Director of Evidence Victoria Sutherland features on @centreforcities.bsky.social podcast to discuss our recent rapid evidence review on Enterprise Zones. Listen to the podcast👇

🆕 Rapid evidence review: Local multiplier effects of changes in public spending We’ve published a new briefing on the local multiplier effects of changes in public spending. Read in full 👇 whatworksgrowth.org/wp-content/u...

📍The IS-8 might not be right for your place Local economies are not all the same, and economic strategy should never be a cookie cutter approach. Read the blog 👇

✍️ Linking Appraisal and Evaluation: Lessons for Smarter Public Spending In this guest blog Jeffrey Matsu, Chief Economist at CIPFA, highlights the link between appraisal and evaluation. Read now👇

Designing and carrying out impact evaluation can be intimidating for policymakers. Don’t be afraid of asking for help and support at any step of the process. Read our new blog on the ninth step to better evaluation - Ask for help 👇

📌Are we too harsh on enterprise zones? "We’ve been sceptical about the value of these programmes but if central government chooses to use these approaches, it makes sense for local areas to bid." Read our latest blog for more👇 buff.ly/i8rcOYd

📢 Government will move thousands of civil service roles out of London, including opening new offices in Manchester focused on digital innovation, and in Aberdeen focused on energy.

In the 2010s, the UK government announced 48 Enterprise Zones (EZs) offering five-year rebates on business rates, simplified planning regulations, access to superfast broadband, and (in some cases) tax relief on plant and machinery investments. buff.ly/XChupdH

✍️Learning from what works: using the Government’s new evaluation registry Recently, the Evaluation Task Force within the Cabinet Office launched the evaluation registry with info on over 1400 evaluations conducted across UK government. Find out more👇 buff.ly/YtyBd29

📢 Government passed emergency legislation over the weekend to prevent the shutdown of the steelworks. But what can policymakers do when large job losses are unavoidable? Out toolkit look at how local policy makers can best support those out of work👇

Want to know more? Our Innovation Toolkit on supporting university spin-offs summarises the available empirical evidence on two key decisions that can affect the number and performance of university spin-offs 👇 whatworksgrowth.org/resource-lib...

BLOG | Recommendations for the evaluation of local growth policies ✍️ 6️⃣ common lessons from our evaluations that we hope can make the process easier for others👇

📌BLOG | We don’t have enough impact evaluations around local growth policies, but that can change. Our Head of Outreach, @meganstreb.bsky.social, uses our newest publication to remind us that robust evaluation can be done in the UK. See the blog👇 buff.ly/hqNpMha

Rigorous evaluation plays a key role in understanding the effectiveness of local growth policies. We aim to make impact evaluation easier for policymakers by providing advice and support. Our new briefing outlines lessons and recommendations from our evaluations 👇 1/6

Moving public agencies out of London was a major plank of the levelling-up agenda The effects on local economies seem smaller than hoped and it’s important to compare them with those of other tools of regional policy. Read the full blog 👇 loom.ly/hbBF_Xk

📌 Why Industrial Strategy shouldn’t be aiming to make everywhere equally successful In this blog, @paulswinney.bsky.social, sets out why the Industrial Strategy should be focused on the productivity of our biggest cities. Read now 👇 loom.ly/o-GBm_s

BLOG | Do cities and regions gain from public sector relocation? In this guest blog, @maxnathan.bsky.social, @henryoverman.bsky.social, Capucine Riom, and Maria Sanchez-Vidal set out evidence on the impact of BBC relocation to Salford on wider employment in the area. Read more👇 loom.ly/hbBF_Xk

The new National Procurement Policy Statement comes into effect today. It outlines how contracting authorities – including local governments – should use procurement as a policy lever to pursue outcomes on strategic priorities, including local growth. 🔗 loom.ly/Xk1_VMA

✍🏼Thinking through multipliers: small numbers, big value 💻Our latest breakfast briefing webinar looked at the importance of multipliers for understanding the local economy. Read our blog for a link to the recording of this event, and a summary of why multipliers matter 👇 loom.ly/P59BNPM

✍🏼 Effective devolution: why evidence and evaluation are key to success This blog recaps the key points of the first in our latest event series of on how local governments can prepare themselves to make the most of the devolution of local growth policy 👇 loom.ly/VGfcqU8

EVENT | Economic inactivity: Thinking through local responses Join us to hear from @naomiclayton.bsky.social , Director of Policy and Research at @learnworkuk.bsky.social and our Deputy Director, Victoria Sutherland. Book your place for 26th February 👇 loom.ly/S7zoVCk

It’s #NationalApprenticeshipWeek - Here’s what we know about ‘what works’ in apprenticeships: 1️⃣ Apprenticeships decrease unemployment post-programme, have a positive effect on later employment, and are more likely to increase employment than training that isn’t in-firm. 1/6 👇

EVENT | Thinking through multipliers: Learning from BBC relocation Hear from @maxnathan.bsky.social, Professor of Economic Geography at @ucl.ac.uk, on the multipliers arising from the relocation of the BBC to Salford. Join us on Wednesday 👇 loom.ly/VfsGTH4

📅 Effective devolution: lessons learned over ten years With an increased focus on devolved local growth powers, how can we improve the effectiveness of local growth policies? What roles do data, analysis, and evaluation play? Join us on 5th February 👇

The English Devolution White paper sets out a bold set of reforms for local government🏛️ Devolution of new powers will be a cornerstone of this. Read how our evidence on policy challenges in local growth can support meeting these new responsibilities👇 https://buff.ly/4g1PiDj

Great piece by @sarahoconnorft.bsky.social on data centres, the promise of jobs, and the importance of multipliers. We'll be exploring similar ideas in our upcoming event, come along 👇 whatworksgrowth.org/events/think...

📢What Works Growth Director @henryoverman.bsky.social appointed to Industrial Strategy Advisory Council The council will be an independent body which will inform and monitor the development and delivery of the government’s industrial strategy. Read more 👇 loom.ly/1lASzzU

BLOG | Meeting places where they are📍 Head of Outreach, @meganstreb.bsky.social, joined the Board of Directors of the IED last week. In this blog, she reflects on how being a Director of IED fits with her aim of supporting places by meeting them where they are👇 whatworksgrowth.org/insights/mee...

Do you have transport projects that you are considering evaluating? 🚇 Our new proforma helps you assess the feasibility of impact evaluation and identify the best approach 👇 loom.ly/DjZgMgo

📌Increasing the likelihood that policies can be evaluated Most local growth policies are not evaluated. This makes learning ‘what works’ difficult and means public resources may not be spent in the most cost-effective way. Read our latest blog 👇 loom.ly/GyWlTPs

📝Designing local growth policies to facilitate robust programme-level impact evaluation Our latest briefing outlines four features that can help facilitate programme-level impact evaluation of local growth policies. Read in full 👇 loom.ly/QuuwAVU 1/6

📝 Undertaking impact evaluation of devolution 11 English city-regions have already signed devolution deals, and the new government is committed to devolution, with an English Devolution Bill due soon. This raises the question of how to evaluate the impact of devolution❓ 1/5

The Autumn Budget outlined some big increases in public spending to drive growth. Our new blog argues that it is important these are backed up by dedicated resources and support for evaluation to make sure that spending is cost effective. Read now 👇 loom.ly/eNUNPdA

📺Identifying local economic growth priorities with What Works Growth Presented by ONS Local, we ran an event with policymakers to explore how data can help them better understand their local economy and where best to intervene. Watch the recording 👇 loom.ly/AC6yh0o

Join the What Works Growth team! 💼 We are #hiring an occasional Research Assistant to work with the What Works Growth team across a range of projects and tasks, providing research assistance with literature reviews and analytical outputs. Apply now 👇 loom.ly/d6E6Bf0

What might plans for a new industrial strategy mean for local growth? The Government's recently published industrial strategy Green Paper states that growing clusters of businesses in the eight priority sectors, will be the core approach. Read the blog👇 loom.ly/-fOHMsM

Should Rachel Reeves borrow more money to invest in transport? 🚌 Public investment in infrastructure can be an important driver of productivity growth 📈 But the evidence on the impacts of rail investment on employment, business numbers, and business starts is mixed. 1/4 👇

It is with profound sadness that we share the news of the passing of our dear colleague, Danni Mason. Danni's dedication, talent, and friendship touched so many who worked with her. Tribute link: whatworksgrowth.org/news/remembe...

New @whatworksgrowth.bsky.social blog on the difficulties of assessing economic benefits of non-economic interventions (e.g. social infrastructure). My strong advice is usually to focus much more effort on carefully assessing the wider social benefits. whatworksgrowth.org/insights/why...

I think pedestrianizing Oxford St probably a good move. But I'd feel more confident if we had decent impact evaluations of previous schemes - e.g. overall effect; margin: intensive (spend) or extensive (shoppers)? [None, last time @whatworksgrowth.bsky.social looked]. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

📌Getting ready for local growth plans To better understand what local authorities will be building on we reviewed 24 economic strategies from LAs and LEPs focusing on how well they used insights from local evidence. Read our new blog from @meganstreb.bsky.social 👇 loom.ly/y_nEK0A

📌 Impact of local economic growth interventions on minority ethnic and immigrant groups This rapid evidence review looks at whether the studies in our evidence base report different effects for individuals from minority ethnic and immigrant groups. 🧵👇 loom.ly/aLC7xSg