Ippr never claimed that ippr North was ‘the first think-tank to operate outside London’ (Tanked Up, Progress, March/April 2004). We said ippr was the first London based think-tank to open a regional office – enabling us to make the link between national, regional and local policy.
The North of England currently faces enormous challenges. The UK has significant regional economic disparities and the north is poorer than the south, with widespread problems of deprivation and social exclusion. Many feel public sector organisations are too centralised, insufficiently co-ordinated and inadequately attuned to local conditions.
There is also a desire to develop further the political institutional framework and a desire to reinvigorate civil society in a broader sense, by involving the public in decision-making processes and in policy development. It is against this backdrop that ippr has opened an office in Newcastle upon Tyne: ippr north. This regional office is the first of its kind amongst UK think-tanks. For more see www.ippr.org/north