17Jul 2023 by Andrew No Comments

Business starts and survival in the Tees Valley, for NEEAL

Economic growth, Research, analysis and evidence
Ortus ER was engaged by the North East Enterprise Agency Ltd (NEEAL), in partnership  with Tees Valley Combined Authority, Darlington Council, Hartlepool Council and Redcar and Cleveland Council, to undertake a study to provide granular intelligence into business start up rates and demography across the Tees Valley. This included benchmarking the Tees Valley against carefully selected comparator locations to understand relative performance, identify points of difference and highlight examples of best practice.  This project calls upon our long track record of delivering insight about the patterns and importance of different ‘dynamics’ within the UK economy; business starts, closures and ‘survivors’ and their relative contribution to our economy.  By implementing a three-stage research process (analysing secondary data, undertaking desk research and consulting with key partners and stakeholders), Ortus provided the client…
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17Jul 2023 by Andrew No Comments

Heritage Stimulus Fund evaluation report published

News
Historic England has recently published a report which evidences the impact of the Heritage Stimulus Fund, a package of investment within the Culture Recovery Fund totalling over £100m to allow heritage properties to continue repair and restoration works during the Covid-19 pandemic. Ortus worked with Morris Hargreaves McIntyre to deliver the evaluation, which demonstrated how important the Fund was in retaining skills in the heritage construction sector and providing heritage organisations with funds to restart or continue important repairs during a period of huge financial uncertainty. Read the summary report here.
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24Mar 2023 by Andy No Comments

Evaluation of the Heritage Stimulus Fund

Evaluation and impact assessment, NDPB
Historic England commissioned Morris Hargreaves McIntyre (MHM) and Ortus to conduct a process and impact evaluation of the Heritage Stimulus Fund. The Fund was part of the £1.57 billion rescue package announced by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to safeguard cultural and heritage organisations across the UK from the economic impact of Covid-19. Historic England distributed over £90m to almost 1,000 heritage contruction repair projects over two rounds of the Fund. The process evaluation, led by MHM, aimed to ascertain whether the Fund successfully addressed the threat of suppressed demand caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, both through the impacts of the funding on the heritage sector and the suppliers that service it, and the way in which the intervention was operationalised, delivering appropriate grants to the…
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09Jul 2020 by Andy No Comments

IRC Gender Strategy and Action Plan review

Equality and diversity, Higher Education, Strategy and policy development
Ortus Economic Research, working in parternship with Dr Eugenie Hunsicker and Dr Gemma Witcomb from Loughborough University, are currently delivering a review of this the Irish Research Council's Gender Strategy and Action Plan. This important initiative, launched in 2013, is due to be refreshed and therefore a review of the current strategy was deemed to be an important and valuable step. The strategy has two key aims: to support gender equality in research careers across all disciplines and to support the integration of the gender dimension in research content. The review considers the impact of the current strategy, the current and likely future barriers and enablers to advancing gender equality and integrating the gender dimension into research, consideration of similar initiatives being delivered by other research funding agencies and the…
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26Feb 2020 by Andy No Comments

Employment and skills issues in the North East

Local Enterprise Partnership, Research, analysis and evidence, Skills and labour markets
Ortus and survey partners Qa Research have been commissioned to deliver an assessment of current and future skills and employment needs in the tourism and offshore wind sectors in the North East, and an assessment of the digital skills and employment needs in the region's health and social care sector. The research has been commissioned by the North East Local Enterprise Partnership on behalf of the North East Skills Advisory Panel, and will involve a survey of employers in each of the three sectors and a series of in-depth interviews, as well as analysis of secondary data. The research will help the Skills Advisory Panel and the LEP to ensure that skills provision reflects employer needs. The North East Local Enterprise Partnership is a public, private and education sector partnership.…
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01Nov 2018 by Andy No Comments

The size and performance of the UK’s Low Carbon industries

Government, Research, analysis and evidence, Sectors
This project was a data-driven analysis of this highly dynamic and emerging sector. The Ortus team, whilst working at TBR, led a multi-disciplinary team that designed and implemented a novel and comprehensive methodology. The study required the development of new definitions for the low carbon economy based on numerous sub-sectors, the capture and analysis of business and economic data for each sub-sector (including GVA), a large survey to capture business operations and financial data which was robust at the level of each sub-sector, economic and data modelling to generate population-level estimates and the production of a published report. The study used economic impact assessment techniques and followed Green and Magenta Book guidelines. The study has been used by UK Government as well as a wide range of stakeholders to evidence…
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