OPM

OPM’s recent research for a UK Drugs Policy Commission (UKDPC) report on the impact of drugs on minority groups is timely as the coalition Government develops its new health and drug strategies. Professor Lord Kamlesh Patel OBE hosted the report launch today at the House of Lords. The report, The Impact of Drugs on Different Minority Groups: A Review of the UK Literature, argues that services need a better understanding of drug use within minority groups to reduce drug problems.

What's it like managing a personal budget for your social care? This paper provides reflections from a three-year study being undertaken by OPM in partnership with the Essex Coalition of Disabled People in order to understand what it is like to manage a personal budget from the perspective of service users and their relatives.

The London Borough of Lewisham has prioritised worklessness for several years. Through their Total Place pilot and additional ethnographic research, the borough recently examined the support their unemployed residents receive from local and national welfare-to-work services.

Joe Bonnell, Associate Fellow at OPM, spoke about 'preventing Violent extremism in Schools' at the conference 'Promoting cohesion and safeguarding against extremism in schools, colleges and universities' on 21 May.This presentation describes OPM research into teaching methods that help build resilience to violent extremism. It gives a brief overview of project and background and shares some emerging findings.

When it comes to meeting expectations for quality improvement and productivity gains, NHS leaders need timely and robust evidence to make informed choices and to justify difficult decisions. OPM’s team of social researchers, analysts and evaluators offers research capacity to gather the evidence you need, to find out ‘what works’ and ‘how things work’, and to mine your own data for insights. This flyer describes our approach.

A report short article by Annie Hedges which discusses exploring research led by young people conducted by OPM last year. Following the research, a report, Creative Influence: Research led by young people, was lauched at a national conference in London. The conference brought together over 80 professionals working in the public and voluntary sector to promote the role of young people in research.

Public Service Futures is sponsored by OPM (Office for Public Management – an independent public interest company) to bring together visionary thinkers with decision-makers across public sectors to decide how best to prepare for the future. With the 2010 general election looming, the five articles in this Spring briefing look at the future of government and the challenges that our leaders could be facing in the next decade – regardless of their political hue. This is not about the machinery of government and parliamentary processes, but considers government in its broadest sense. Five contributors – Abdullah Saif, Carolyn Downs, Helen Bailey, John Atkinson and Matthew Taylor – discuss a range of questions, including: Will government be small or big? Will the relationship between government and the people evolve? Will we see a genuine shift in power between the centre and localities? And what has to change for the state to really start enabling citizens rather than simply providing services?