Government Social Research
Marsham Street
The Home Office Statement of Purpose is:
The Department's aims are:
1: To reduce crime and the fear of crime, tackle youth crime and violent, sexual and drug-related crime, anti-social behaviour and disorder, increasing safety in the home and public spaces.
2: To reduce organised and international crime, including trafficking in drugs, people and weapons, and to combat terrorism and other threats to national security, in co-operation with EU partners and the wider international community.
3: To ensure the effective delivery of justice, avoiding unnecessary delay, through efficient investigation, detection, prosecution and court procedures. To minimise the threat to and intimidation of witnesses and to engage with and support victims.
4: To deliver effective custodial and community sentences to reduce re-offending and protect the public, through the prison and probation services, in partnership with the Youth Justice Board.
5: To reduce the availability and abuse of dangerous drugs, building a coherent, co-ordinated drugs strategy, covering education and prevention, supply and misuse. To focus on effective intelligence and detection, preventative measures at local level, community regeneration and - with other relevant departments and agencies - the provision of necessary treatment and rehabilitation services. To reduce the incidence of drugs in prisons and provide appropriate follow-up and remedial services.
6: To regulate entry to and settlement in the United Kingdom effectively in the interests of sustainable growth and social inclusion. To provide an efficient and effective work permit system to meet economic and skills requirements, and fair, fast and effective programmes for dealing with visitors, citizenship and long term immigration applications and those seeking refuge and asylum. To facilitate travel by UK citizens.
7: To support strong and active communities in which people of all races and backgrounds are valued and participate on equal terms by developing social policy to build a fair, prosperous and cohesive society in which everyone has a stake. To work with other departments and local government agencies and community groups to regenerate neighbourhoods, to support families; to develop the potential of every individual; to build the confidence and capacity of the whole community to be part of the solution; and to promote good race and community relations, combating prejudice and xenophobia. To promote equal opportunities both within the Home Office and more widely and to ensure that active citizenship contributes to the enhancement of democracy and the development of civil society.
The Research Development and Statistics Directorate (RDS) is made up of embedded teams of skilled specialist staff such as statisticians, researchers, economists, communication professionals and scientists. Overall RDS has approximately 400 staff based at 7 different sites in Central London, Croydon and Hampshire, with small research teams based in the regional Government Offices. Through research, either carried out internally or commissioned externally, RDS provides information that helps Ministers and policy makers take evidence-based decisions, and also helps the police, probation service, the courts and immigration officials to do their jobs as effectively as possible. RDS therefore exists to improve policy making, decision taking and practice in support of the Home Office purpose and aims, to provide the public and Parliament with information necessary for informed debate and to publish information for future use.
The Home Office strategic plan establishes a central mechanism for science planning, strategy, quality assurance and horizon scanning; strengthening cross-departmental science links to ensure high standards and appropriate cross-departmental working on delivery issues. RDS has been restructured to create flexible high quality social research and analysis teams fully integrated into and line managed by delivery areas but with the Chief Scientist responsible for quality assurance, professional development and training, driving up skills levels and maintaining a group-wide strategic focus for Research and Development.
RDS is currently divided into five embedded programmes of research that are linked to the Home Office aims and these programmes are assisted by two support units.
The Corporate Management Unit carries out work to support the other RDS Units in the management of their functions and therefore supports all seven Home Office Aims. The work includes planning the RDS work programme, administration of the RDS budget and staffing issues, the support and development of computer resources, and the collection of data.
Social researchers are employed by the Home Office to provide an evidence base for Government policy. Research may be implemented in response to a particular problem; as a means of finding out more about a particular issue or in order to evaluate a Government initiative. Social researchers may conduct this research themselves internally or it may be commissioned out to an external organisation, such as a university, a charity or a market research company. External research will be managed by a researcher who is responsible for ensuring that the project is completed within the agreed timeframe and to the required standard. Researchers may also be involved in a number of different projects that require different skills and levels of experience. For example, researchers may be required to provide data or information to organisations outside the Home Office, draft responses to Parliamentary Questions or to write literature reviews.
The Home Office has an extensive research programme that is driven, to a large extent, by policy requirements.
The RDS website contains a full list of publications which are available from the RDS Communications Development Unit.
The European Commission launched the European Migration Network (EMN) through the establishment of contact points from Member States in December 2002. EU Heads of State at the Thessaloniki European Council meeting in June 2003 endorsed the network and Ministers, in response to the Select Committee promised 'active' participation in the network.
The purpose of the EMN is to act as a source of comparison about migration and asylum processes in place across Europe . It is hoped that objective, up to date, reliable and comparable information will contribute to more informed planning, policies and action in this field. All European Member States have been invited to join and at present thirteen members have nominated contact points (Victoria Richardson is the UK contact point). The participating Member States are Austria , Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
The EMN will gather information that is already in existence in Member States and will research specific projects as agreed by the contact points.
Work completed or on going:
Forthcoming Research Project:
Forthcoming Small Scale Study:
If you are working in the field of migration and/or asylum and would like to be added to the contact database, would like more information about the EMN or to receive the newsletter, contact Victoria Richardson on 020 8760 8352.