Scottish Government

Executive Summary

Remit

1. The Scottish Government and the Local Authorities Research and Intelligence Association ( LARIA) in Scotland on behalf of LARIA¹ commissioned this study ' to establish the work that government researchers ( i.e. researchers in the Scottish Government and Scottish local government²) need to do to meet present statutory requirements.' The research objectives were to:

• Explore the extent to which research is an explicit or implicit requirement for local authorities and the Scottish Government, in order to meet their statutory responsibilities;
• Understand and describe the full range of demands imposed on government researchers through recent ³ statutory requirements;
• Establish any other legal requirements that dictate the day-to-day work undertaken by government researchers;
• Understand the capacity requirements for government researchers to undertake the work they are constitutionally bound to do; and,
• Determine whether action needs to be taken to build capacity in the field.

Methodology

2. This project was undertaken in two phases:

Phase 1: Background research and producing the Legislative Map:

• Review of associated literature and available data;
• Scoping interviews and information from analysts and researchers; and,
• Review of legislation with possible research implications.

Phase 2: Investigating the role of legislation as a driver of research, identifying other drivers of research and exploring the capacity implications:

• Interviews and focus groups with researchers in three local authorities;
• Focus group with Scottish Government analysts.

Overview of the Legislative Map

3. The desk based research, interviews and focus groups with local government researchers and Scottish Government analysts identified 48 pieces of legislation conferring statutory requirements for research on Central and Local Government in Scotland. The Legislative Map lists:

• Eight instances of statutes conferring a power on local authorities to undertake research and seven on Scottish Ministers;
• Eighty examples of local authorities or Scottish Ministers being given a duty to undertake research or some activity that requires research (mainly in relation to producing plans or strategies, providing information to the Government or consulting);
• Sixteen duties to carry out research specifically related to improving performance; and,
• Over twenty duties on local authorities to provide information for a third-party such as the Accounts Commission, which may require research to be undertaken.

Statutory and Non-Statutory Requirements for Research

4. Some requirements for research to be undertaken by Central Government and Local Government have been set out explicitly in legislation. However, whilst legislation imposes a wide variety of explicit requirements for government research other, more implicit and less tangible, non-statutory requirements have become increasingly important.

5 Recent changes in public policy such as the introduction of Best Value and Community Planning, the Public Service Reform agenda and the Concordat between the Scottish Government and Local Government, which included agreement on the development of Single Outcome Agreements ( SOAs), have introduced a framework for government that is increasingly outcome-focused. The focus is on evidence-based policy making that requires research not only into the need and demand for services and short-term outputs but also on the longer term outcomes of services and policies.

6. Therefore, it is important to have a better understanding of how new demands (statutory and non-statutory), added to existing statutory requirements for research, will have an impact on the day-to-day work of government researchers.

7. The Legislative Map identified 48 Acts of Parliament which explicitly or implicitly place statutory requirements on the Scottish Government and/ or Local Government to undertake research. The duty to undertake research is mostly implicitly rather than explicitly stated in primary legislation, arising from a statutory requirement to undertake an activity that requires research such as gathering and processing data/ statistics; reviewing the evidence base; and, consulting, obtaining and analysing the views or experiences of stakeholders.

8. However, these statutory requirements for research are only one of the drivers of research that is undertaken by the Scottish Government or Local Government. A range of statutory and non-statutory drivers for research, mostly related to improving performance and service delivery and developing policy through strategies and plans, were identified by this study:

• General powers to carry out research;
• Introduction of Best Value and focus on performance management;
• Preparing plans and impact assessments;
• Consultation and stakeholder engagement;
• Evidence-based policy making;
• Introduction of the National Performance Framework and Single Outcome Agreements; and,
• Responding to requests for information from 'third parties' (including Audit Scotland and other inspectorates).

9. The research functions and capacity in the three councils that were used as case studies for this study were significantly different:

• Centralised research capacity with little dedicated or specialist research capacity in services;
• Small corporate research capacity as part of a policy unit with decentralised research function in services; and,
• Combination of central research resource and specialist research staff in services.

10. However the interviews and focus groups with researchers in the three councils displayed a high level of convergence in relation to the key findings. Researchers in the three councils identified similar drivers behind the demand for research, in particular:

• the importance of Best Value and providing information for external and internal performance management both at a corporate level and in frontline services;
• the growth in 'research' required to prepare plans, strategies and impact assessments (again both at a corporate level and in services such as education, social services, planning and transport); and,
• the increasing importance ascribed to evidence-based policy making, including the development and monitoring of the new Single Outcome Agreements.

Research Capacity

11. This research provides a summary of researchers' and analysts' perceptions of the increased demand for research and its implications on research capacity. It then identifies areas where additional support may be required in order to ease the burden and increase the effectiveness of research services.

12. Researchers in all three councils suggested that the demand for research has increased in recent years and that they feel under greater pressure because their authorities' research capacities have not increased in line with the increased demands. Similar comments were made in the three councils with regards to the implications of the SOA and the requirement for support, advice and data sharing from national organisations to support the production of local outcome indicators.

13. Not all Scottish Government analysts reported that they felt that demand for research has increased to such an extent that it has had a negative impact on their capacity. However, several observed that there has been increased demands and pressure for research related largely to the growth of evidence-based policy making and that recent changes in organisational structures have also had an impact. Some analysts reported that increased demand and growing expectations mean that they cannot take forward all the work they would want to.

14 Five key areas were identified by the study where additional support or action would ease the burden and increase the effectiveness of research services:

• Strategic consideration of policy decisions impacting upon research;
• Supporting the development of the evidence base for Single Outcome Agreements;
• Identifying and addressing research skills gaps;
• Increasing cooperation and coordination to reduce duplication of effort and increase effective use of resources at local authority, Community Planning Partnership and national level; and,
• Streamlining data collection and sharing.

15 SOAs were examined in some detail given their significance to Local Government and Scottish Government researchers. Corporate research staff in particular commented on the increased workload resulting from SOAs and the need to identify existing baseline data and to establish monitoring frameworks that can provide robust evidence of outcomes. Researchers identified a range of areas in which support is required in order to provide the evidence base required to provide the outcome-focussed evidence base for the development of SOAs including:

• Improving availability of data;
• Sharing and improving use of existing data between sectors; and,
• Providing evidence of what works.

16. Contributors to the study identified a skills gap and the need to provide training and guidance to non-specialist staff who may be undertaking or making use of research as a key issue to be addressed.

17. Increasing cooperation on research issues within and between councils and Community Planning partners, as well as at the national level would help to:

• reduce duplication of effort;
• address gaps in skills and knowledge;
• provide access to, and aid in the sharing of, information between partners; and,
• increase capacity for research.

18. The study found examples of cooperation on research issues between local authorities (usually within the same former Regional Council area) and between local authorities and their Community Planning partners. However, there is scope for more cooperation on research issues within local authorities, between local authorities and between local authorities and their Community Planning partners, as well as at the national level. The development of SOAs at a Community Planning level will require greater cooperation between all stakeholders.

19. Increasing importance is attached to evidence-based and outcome-focused policy making which relies on robust information on the inputs, outputs and outcomes of policies and services. One of the most effective ways in which research capacity in government could be increased would be through streamlining the collection and sharing of data. The work being undertaken at a national level to support the development of SOAs acknowledges the need to develop robust indicators drawn from national sources or shared local sources.

20. Researchers and analysts were not able to identify any substantive area of research or data gathering that they are currently statutorily required to undertake that is not necessary for some reason or other. No evidence was presented to the study of statutory requirements that are not fulfilled.

Conclusions

21. Demand for research has increased as a result of the ever growing number of statutory requirements for research, in particular in relation to preparing plans, strategies and assessments, and the development of the National Performance Framework and the associated SOAs between local authorities and the Scottish Government. The qualitative evidence from the interviews and focus groups conducted with local government researchers and Scottish Government analysts suggests that action does need to be taken to build research capacity in the field in response to the developing policy environment that increasingly demands robust outcome-focused evidence on which to base policies.

22. The report identifies 12 possible actions that could be taken by the Scottish Government, Local Government and other stakeholders to build research capacity that could reduce burdens on government researchers under three themes:

• Further research and monitoring of the implications of new requirements into the nature and extent of capacity building required;
• Strategic planning of research programmes and resources; and,
• Cooperation in capacity building and data sharing.