ARVAC Bulletin 99

The Value of Community Research

Policy making that is supported by high quality research is key to the successful delivery of Home Office aims and objectives. To this end, we have made firm commitments in recent years to the use of science and research by departments.

We need to be able to rely on social science and social scientists to help us determine what works and why, and what types of policy initiatives are likely to be most effective. I believe that policy research should do three things: firstly, to provide a coherent picture of how society works; secondly, to evaluate policy initiatives and systematically review existing evidence; and finally, to contribute to the policy debate by thinking the unthinkable (‘blue skies research’).

This commitment to evidence-based policy has required a shift in the level of public investment. We have reversed the historic decline in civil R&D expenditure that took place throughout the 1980s and 1990s. We have also taken steps to ensure that departments have the capability to manage properly the research they conduct or commission. A key milestone here was the 2002 Cross-Cutting Review of Science and Research which has enabled and encouraged departments to become increasingly sophisticated in their management of science and research, and their use of expert knowledge.
Community research for the Home Office is delivered through the Research, Development and Statistics Unit of the Communities Group (RDS-CG). RDS-CG puts together a business plan describing proposed research activity for the coming business year. As part of that process, RDS-CG maintain close links with RDS colleagues in other policy delivery areas of the Home Office, research colleagues in other government departments and agencies, researchers in voluntary sector organisations, and the academic community.

Supporting policy-makers through research RDS-CG provides research and analysis to support delivery of Home Office and Communities Group strategic objectives:

Communities are at the heart of the Government’s agenda: The involvement of local people and voluntary, community and faith organisations is vital to bringing about real and sustainable change across a wide range of important issues. These include tackling social exclusion, improving race equality and community cohesion, increasing volunteering and citizen engagement and support the voluntary and community sector to deliver more high quality public services;

Home Office Strategic Objective 5: Citizens, communities and the voluntary sector are fully engaged in tackling social problems, and that there is more equality of opportunity and respect for people of all races and religions;

Public Service Agreement 6: Increase voluntary and community engagement, especially amongst those at risk of social exclusion;
· Public Service Agreement 7: Reduce race inequalities and build community cohesion.

The research managed by RDS-CG supports the work of the Communities Group in four ways:
1. It provides long-term strategic research designed to identify key patterns and likely future trends that inform the work of the group;
2. It evaluates the impact of specific policies and strategies designed to support the delivery of outcomes against targets;
3. It provides research support for strategic policy initiatives (for example, the Community Cohesion and Race Equality Strategy);
4. It provides analytical advice and support for ad-hoc requests for information across the Group.

Community research plays two vital roles in delivering the business of the Communities Group. First, research provides us with vital performance management data that enables us to monitor regularly the effectiveness of our policies and programmes. Second, research provides us with a capacity to identify and predict future trends that supports the development of new policy.

Current community research
The RDS-CG business planning process starts with discussions over the Communities Group strategic research needs for the coming year at director level. As Minister with responsibility, I am consulted at key stages. Whilst the advantages of business planning in this way are self-evident, it is also important to maintain the capacity to change priorities as the result of external changes or new and urgent challenges.

Current research plans focus on developing our understanding on several key questions:
· What drives volunteering behaviour, community cohesion, extremism and perceptions of racial and religious prejudice?
· How can we improve the collection and dissemination of effective performance management data?
· What works in promoting civil renewal; how might we best disseminate evidence of good practice across government and to local agencies?

A very important element of the work delivered by RDS-CG comprises our three large surveys. The surveys provide both performance management data and help us with longer-term work to identify what drives the key outcomes being delivered by the Communities Group.

The Home Office Citizenship Survey (HOCS) provides performance monitoring data and enables us to break down our main performance measures by socio-demographic variables that enable policy initiatives to be targeted more effectively. The HOCS also provides us with the facility to conduct detailed analyses of behaviours such as volunteering, or perceptions of racial inequality. The Citizenship Survey Local Areas Boost was designed to increase understanding of factors contributing to community cohesion and comprises approximately 500 face-to-face interviews in each of 20 case study areas. Interviewing in only two or three wards in each of the 20 local areas helps us understand the dynamics of local policy delivery.
Finally, the State of the Sector Panel monitors activity among over 3,000 voluntary sector organisations. It was designed to provide robust information indicative of the whole voluntary sector (including, unusually, organisations not registered with the Charity Commission and housing associations).

Conclusion
I hope this short article has served to demonstrate how community research makes a vital contribution to the work of the Communities Group. Research enables us to monitor the effectiveness of our policies, to identify and disseminate examples of good practice, and to develop new and innovative approaches to working more effectively with the voluntary and community sector. I look forward to developing and strengthening our research capacity by working more closely and collaboratively with research colleagues in community groups and organisations.

Paul Goggins MP is parliamentary under Secretary of State with responsibility for the voluntary and community sector, community cohesion, faith and race equality.

The Home Office Citizenship Survey is located on the UK Data Archive, www.data-archive.ac.uk