The Fraser of Allander Institute Podcast

Participants
Hannah Randolph - Fellow, Fraser of Allander Institute
Josh Hampson - Assistant, Fraser of Allander Institute
Glen Bramley - Professor of Urban Studies, Heriot-Watt University
Eli Harji - Policy Lead, Scottish Federation of Housing Associations
Time stamps:
(00:20) How economists think about the housing market
(08:40) How Britain's housing market and policy have changed
(20:50) Housing affordability
(28:20) The role of local government
(35:00) Effective policy and international examples
(42:00) Scotland's affordable housing targets
(48:00) The role of housing associations
(52:40) Challenges in providing sufficient social housing
(1:02:00) How Scotland's affordable housing is financed
(1:04:30) Demand for social housing and differences across the UK
(1:10:40) More on the construction sector

Participants:
Ben Cooper - Fellow, Fraser of Allander Institute
Chirsty McFadyen - Fellow, Fraser of Allander Institute
Hannah Randolph - Fellow, Fraser of Allander Institute
Abigail Davis - Co-Director, Centre for Research in Social Policy, Loughborough University
Juliet Stone - Associate Director & Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Research in Social Policy, Loughborough University
Russell Gunson - Head of Programmes and Practice, Robertson Trust
Time stamps:
(00:15) Introductions
(01:26) How economists think about the cost of living
(07:57) The Minimum Income Standard (MIS)
(12:58) Building the MIS from interview data
(18:09) The MIS and disability
(24:54) How MIS relates to inflation measures
(30:49) What policy can do to reduce the cost of living
(38:23) More on policy; targeted vs universal approaches
(40:57) The Minimum Income Guarantee
(48:34) Cost of living vs income as drivers of poverty

Participants:
Ben Cooper - Fellow, Fraser of Allander Institute
Chirsty McFadyen - Fellow, Fraser of Allander Institute
Hannah Randolph - Fellow, Fraser of Allander Institute
Time stamps:
(0:10) Host intros
(0:30) Drivers of low income
(2:30) Topics in the series
(3:40) What we're most looking forward to

Participants 

Dr Hannah Randolph (Economist, FAI)

Prof Mairi Spowage (Director, FAI)

Jack Evans (Senior Policy Advisor, JRF)

Time stamps

(0:22) Who wants to work across Scotland 

(3:24) Child poverty and supporting parents into work 

(8:09) Why focus on "people who want to work"?

(13:29) How we talk about labour market status

(19:26) Surveys and other sources of labour market information 

(26:55) What's next?

00:00:08 – 00:00:35

Introduction to podcast, guests, and research topic (community supervision & re-offending).

00:00:35 – 00:01:24

Overview of pressures on the criminal justice system: court backlogs and causes.

00:01:24 – 00:02:20

Prison overcrowding explained and current capacity issues.

00:02:20 – 00:03:14

Early release schemes and their limited long-term impact on prison population.

00:03:14 – 00:04:00

Future outlook and policy pressure (Institute for Government concerns).

00:03:36 – 00:04:27

New sentencing bill: shift toward community supervision and reduced prison time.

00:04:27 – 00:05:22

Lack of evidence on effectiveness of community supervision and motivation for study.

00:05:22 – 00:06:28

Data challenges and introduction to MoJ “Data First” initiative and linked datasets.

00:06:28 – 00:07:02

Scale and capability of the linked offender dataset.

00:07:02 – 00:08:25

Why older data is used and need for causal evidence (bias in simple comparisons).

00:08:25 – 00:10:20

Explanation of natural experiments vs randomized experiments.

00:10:20 – 00:11:13

Introduction to the 2015 Offender Rehabilitation Act (ORA).

00:11:13 – 00:13:02

Natural experiment setup: cutoff date creates comparable supervised vs unsupervised groups.

00:13:02 – 00:14:21

Method: comparing re-offending outcomes across groups using linked data.

00:14:21 – 00:15:46

What community supervision involves (probation, restrictions, rehabilitation focus).

00:16:02 – 00:17:09

Main findings: supervision reduces re-offending (short-term impact).

00:17:09 – 00:17:30

Long-term effects: persistent reduction in re-offending even after supervision ends.

00:17:30 – 00:18:44

Who benefits most: stronger effects for first-time prisoners.

00:18:44 – 00:19:27

Why effects fade over time and importance of supervision duration.

00:19:27 – 00:21:00

Effects for repeat/prolific offenders and role of recall to prison (incapacitation effect).

00:21:00 – 00:22:18

Behavioural mechanisms and role of recall threat.

00:22:18 – 00:23:34

Context: high baseline re-offending rates; supervision helps but isn’t a silver bullet.

00:23:34 – 00:25:37

Policy implications: supervision vs prison and impact on overcrowding.

00:25:37 – 00:26:05

Long-term benefits via preventing repeat offending among first-timers.

00:26:05 – 00:27:37

Where to find research outputs (ADR UK, blog, dashboard).