Latest Publications

A “new deal for 5G” is needed to tackle the causes of the 5G infrastructure investment gap, and catapult the UK to the global frontier for 5G connectivity. This report sets out the complex challenges driving the investment gap in 5G and presents a package of complementary measures which, if implemented together, can deliver the high-quality 5G network the UK needs in order to reap extensive economic and social benefits.

SMEs will have a key role in closing the UK’s investment gap with other economies. However, to ensure that SMEs can make such a contribution a more strategic policy approach towards SME investment is needed – one that goes beyond the focus on corporation tax rate and more generous capital allowances.

This briefing assesses the economic, social and environmental gains that enhancing the UK’s mobile network infrastructure and ubiquitous 5G mobile connectivity could deliver for the UK, and provides a brief overview of the key challenges holding back the UK from reaping those rewards.

Increasing the number of small businesses that export can be a key lever to grow the UK's economic pie. However, the UK’s recent record on small business exporting is not encouraging. This report explores three key ways to boost small business exports - wider adoption of trade tech, boosting the number of female-led businesses that export and the access to emerging markets - and how to address the barriers to progress on each front.

This report explores the costs of restrictive software licensing practices on the public and private sector. It reviews existing literature on the cloud, draws upon interviews with IT professionals who oversee usage of cloud services in their daily roles, and quantifies the potential economic harm resulting from these practices.

This is the third of three papers exploring tobacco, alcohol, obesity and gambling policy. It argues that the contribution of such activities to the economy should not be used as a justification to avoid action to discourage them, whereas the costs they generate through ill health are more significant – though they should not be overstated.

Childcare costs in the UK are contributing to poverty and gender inequality. As part of our cross-party Commission on Childcare, we're publishing new analysis on the extent of the childcare crisis - the impact of being dragged out of the labour market to look after children has a long-term, scarring effect on wages. We'll be engaging with stakeholders and developing policy solutions in Autumn.

This report calls attention to the scale of in-work poverty in the UK and London today, what drives it, and the impact it has. It is a part of a wider project – created in partnership with Trust for London - to develop a new benchmark that helps businesses tackle in-work poverty.

The report analyses the specific barriers facing BAME businesses and entrepreneurs from reaching their full potential, by offering policy direction to government agencies on multiple levels, as well as prompting financial providers to alter their behaviour account for community and entrepreneur-specific needs.