research report

Can work eradicate child poverty?

This report examines the extent to which work can contribute to the eradication of child poverty, and identifies a number of issues that necessarily arise if work is seen as the best route out of poverty. The government has repeatedly stated that work is the best route out of poverty. This implies that work is not the only route, but is the preferred or main route in tackling child poverty. This report examines the extent to which there is underemployment among parents and a desire to work among parents who are not currently working.

Domestic abuse

What is domestic abuse. Domestic violence can happen in any family and in all kinds of homes. In half of the cases of violence between adults, children get hurt too. Even when children do not see the violence happening, they often hear it. Children are often in the same or next room when the violence is going on. This can be extremely distressing and disturbing for them.

Political debate about economic inequality: An information resource

This study aims to increase understanding of how politicians think and talk about economic inequality, both in private and in public. It compares politicians' attitudes across and between five major political parties: the Conservatives, Labour, the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, and the Scottish National Party. The research is particularly relevant given the recent turbulence with the financial system, the correspondingly high levels of attention upon the City and bonus culture, and the recession.

A missed opportunity?: community sentences and the mental health treatment requirement

The Mental Health Treatment Requirement (MHTR) is one of 12 options (‘requirements’) available to sentencers when constructing a Community Order or a Suspended Sentence Order. The MHTR can be given to an offender with mental health problems who does not require immediate compulsory hospital admission under the Mental Health Act. If they give their consent, the MHTR requires them to receive mental health treatment for a specified period.

Poverty pathways: ethnic minority women's livelihoods

Ethnic minority women are amongst the poorest and most socially excluded people in the UK. Yet very little is known about their lives, or how to lift them out of poverty. The report outlines 7 key policy traps and the steps needed to get things right. It looks at household dynamics, moving beyond paid employment as a panacea for poverty, and how women’s lives change over their lifetimes. It shows how ethnic minority women need to be brought back into the policy picture if their poverty is to ever be addressed.

Education and lifelong learning research findings No47/2009: production of case studies of flexible learning and support packages for young people who require more choices and more chances

The study, commissioned by the Scottish Government, was intended to inform a series of papers on ‘Building the Curriculum’ being prepared as part of the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE).