Press Releases
For media inquiries, contact Frank Young on 020 7799 6677 or frank.young@civitas.org.uk
Sign up to receive press releases by e-mail here.
Press Releases from 2014
Police failure to record crime under-estimated by HMIC
8 December 2014
Manipulation of crime figures raises questions for police leadership Evidence of "gaming" justifies independent judge-led inquiry Unreliable crime statistics cannot be used to measure police performance …
Read Full Press Release Download Associated PDF
Police failure to record crime under-estimated by HMIC
8 December 2014
Manipulation of crime figures raises questions for police leadership Evidence of "gaming" justifies independent judge-led inquiry Unreliable crime statistics cannot be used to measure police performance Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) continues to underestimate the under-recording of crime by the police, a new Civitas report warns. It demonstrates how, while flaws in police data-gathering are gradually coming to be acknowledged, the police inspectorate still fails to grasp the full extent…
Read Full Press Release Download Associated PDF
Coalition's industrial strategy is no more than economic tinkering
28 November 2014
Structural weaknesses in the UK economy will not be tackled by Vince Cable's plan Industrial strategy goals are unambitious and will not solve business under-investment or reverse the trade deficit Programme fails to consider the cost of labour, total employment or the exchange rate The coalition's industrial strategy amounts to "little more than economic tinkering" and cannot possibly tackle the structural problems facing the UK economy, a Civitas report warns today. The…
Read Full Press Release Download Associated PDF
Return of UK manufacturing is held back by skills shortages and property prices
31 October 2014
Efforts to entice back production from China and India are offset by conditions in the UK 'Near-shoring' is replacing 'reshoring' as businesses are attracted to low-cost economies in eastern Europe instead Only a tiny proportion of British firms lost since 1990s are likely to return in the next decade High property costs and a shortage of skilled manufacturing workers are likely to prevent the return of most British small businesses from Asia, a…
Read Full Press Release Download Associated PDF
Police spend more time mass vetting the public than monitoring known sex offenders and suspects
17 October 2014
Coalition has failed to scale back criminal records checks as promised, report reveals Costs have continued to rise, to £212m a year, as bureaucracy continues to grow Almost 4m checks last year, including more than 800,000 volunteers, FOI figures show The coalition has failed to deliver on its 2010 promise to scale back the vetting and barring regime. Costs have continued to rise and the bureaucracy has become even more complicated. There has been…
Read Full Press Release Download Associated PDF
EU largesse for UK firms must be matched by the Treasury
5 September 2014
Whitehall must prepare now to support those British sectors that stand to lose from 'Brexit' Civitas study details fears of UK businesses reliant on EU support - and how they can be mitigated The government should commit to ensuring any Brussels subsidies for British companies are matched from Whitehall in the event of the UK leaving the EU, a new report by the cross-party think tank Civitas urges. The proposal is contained in a new…
Read Full Press Release Download Associated PDF
Apprenticeships key to reducing youth unemployment
29 August 2014
Firms should be obliged to take on apprenticeships in proportion to their size, report argues Longer training periods would result in better qualified young people and lower youth unemployment Lessons from German industry show need for longer-term investment in people and products Youth unemployment could be drastically reduced if businesses were obliged to employ a certain number of apprentices in relation to their size, a new Civitas report urges. British firms employ apprenticeships equivalent…
Read Full Press Release Download Associated PDF
EU membership is compromising UK national security
13 August 2014
Military integration of EU is undermining interoperability with Nato and the US European nations' low defence spending and reluctance to deploy bodes ill for Britain UK should seek to obtain a favourable exit deal as part of next EU treaty negotiations Britain's security is being imperilled by its membership of the European Union, a new Civitas publication argues. The reluctance of many European states to deploy military force and their low levels of defence…
Read Full Press Release Download Associated PDF
Economic benefits of large-scale immigration outweighed by strains of population growth
1 August 2014
Rejuvenating the UK's ageing population through immigration will be an endless treadmill requiring never-ending stream of newcomers The potential economic gains from population growth are modest compared with the resulting pressure on infrastructure and the environment Selective immigration policies risk denuding poorer countries of professionals - controls should promote welfare of those nations too Large-scale immigration will ultimately have a negative effect on standards of living as any economic benefits will be outweighed…
Read Full Press Release Download Associated PDF
Ofsted inspectors back trendy teaching over traditional methods - new analysis
18 July 2014
Civitas investigation lays bare Ofsted bias towards unproven child-led teaching style Inspectors given banned list of tell-tale words and phrases... and suggested alternatives to make the same point Cut-and-paste reports: judgements copied verbatim from one inspection to another Ofsted inspectors are continuing to encourage unproven child-led teaching methods and discourage traditional teacher-led lessons, an investigation by Civitas has found. Despite repeated claims by the Chief Inspector of Schools, Sir…
Read Full Press Release Download Associated PDF
The EU has been of no lasting benefit to foreign investment in the UK
27 June 2014
No evidence the Single Market has boosted FDI for its members, including Britain Higher rates of foreign investment growth in many non-EU economies since 1993 Boost from entry to the Common Market lasted no more than a decade The UK has attracted no more foreign direct investment (FDI) as a member of the European Single Market than it would have done outside the EU, a new study by the cross-party think tank Civitas…
Read Full Press Release Download Associated PDF
Safeguarding Britain's £4bn nuclear industry
30 May 2014
UK nuclear expertise is under threat as new plant projects go to foreign companies A programme of government support is needed to reinvigorate the British supply chain New class of small modular reactors offers cheaper, quicker alternative Britain risks losing its £4 billion-a-year nuclear industry unless the government does more to ensure domestic firms will benefit from projects to rebuild the UK's generating capacity over the coming years, a new paper published…
Read Full Press Release Download Associated PDF
Trade advantages of the EU are "imaginary"
5 May 2014
The Single Market has failed to benefit UK trade, new analysis shows British exports to EU members have grown slower than those of many non-EU countries UK trade with European nations outside the EU has increased dramatically Britain's membership of the European Union is shown to have had no positive impact on trade with other members in a detailed analysis of UK exports published today by the cross-party think tank Civitas. A…
Read Full Press Release Download Associated PDF
Stop blaming poverty for educational failure
28 April 2014
Time for an end to the culture of low expectations in state schools Return to direct instruction, strict discipline and knowledge-based learning Teachers must stop blaming poverty and social inequality for the educational failure of their pupils, a new Civitas study warns today. Robert Peal, who has himself taught in a tough inner-city comprehensive as part of the Teach First programme, criticises the culture of excuses that has taken hold in schools and…
BBC impartiality review was compromised by personal connections and riddled with basic errors
25 April 2014
'Incestuous' links between author, researchers, the BBC and the EU Findings skewed by sampling errors and random data collection The credibility of an "impartiality review" giving the BBC's EU coverage a clean bill of health is seriously undermined today by a study exposing flaws in its research methods and questioning its independence. Last year's Prebble report was seized on by the BBC Trust as evidence that the corporation's programmes take in an…
Read Full Press Release Download Associated PDF
The moral imperative on MPs to assert UK sovereignty and reverse EU laws
14 April 2014
Amend 1972 Act to declare primacy of British courts, says Civitas director David Green Parliament could unpick EU laws one by one, challenging Brussels to "do its worst" Centralising tendency of the EU must be reversed, irrespective of the economic case MPs have a moral duty to declare the Supreme Court the highest authority in the UK, unpick unwanted EU laws one by one and challenge Brussels to "do its worst", the head of the…
The "progressive" teaching ideologues who are failing poorer children, by Toby Young
31 March 2014
Free school founder and journalist takes on The Blob in new Civitas pamphlet Trendy teaching methods have entrenched inequality and left Britain trailing Every child should have right to be taught "the best that's been thought and said" The education establishment is accused of entrenching poverty and protecting privilege in a new Civitas pamphlet by journalist and free school founder Toby Young. In a withering attack on "The Blob", he blames the largely left…
Read Full Press Release Download Associated PDF
Tumbling UK investment is preventing long-term growth
25 March 2014
Entrepreneur and economist John Mills sets out radical new manifesto for long-term prosperity Investment must rise by more than half for Britain to compete in world economy Renaissance in manufacturing needed to reverse spiralling trade and budget deficits Investment will need to rise dramatically in the coming years if Britain is to achieve long-term sustainable economic growth, the entrepreneur and economist John Mills says in a new Civitas pamphlet. The proportion of national…
Read Full Press Release Download Associated PDF
Brownfield regeneration needs greater government support
13 March 2014
Enough post-industrial waste land in England to build 2.5 million homes Tax relief on clean-up costs is virtually impossible to obtain Shortage of long-term insurance indemnities also discourages investors The government should meet the cost of clearing up brownfield land to kickstart the redevelopment of tens of thousands of acres of derelict land in our towns and cities, argues a new paper published by the cross-party think tank Civitas. Peter…
Read Full Press Release Download Associated PDF
Restrictions needed on overseas investment in UK housing market
3 February 2014
Non-resident purchases should only be permitted if they increase the number of homes Global capital should not be allowed to price younger people and families out of the market Overseas investment in London homes must be curbed to help reduce rampant house price inflation and ease the housing shortage, a new Civitas report says. The UK property market is being used as an investment vehicle by the global super-rich while hundreds of thousands…
Read Full Press Release Download Associated PDF
Schoolboy errors in UCL immigration report
2 January 2014
"Schoolboy errors" in UCL report claiming fiscal benefit to immigration Calculations discredited by fellow UCL professor of statistics Questions over prominence given by BBC to flawed report on immigration A study claiming to show that EEA immigrants have made a net contribution to the UK's public finances is fatally flawed, an in-depth statistical analysis published by Civitas shows. The findings of Christian Dustmann and Tommaso Frattini of University College London's Centre for…