• About one fifth of respondents had ‘research’ in their job title, but only 8% worked on research fulltime.
• There was widespread agreement that Adult Social Care (ASC) departments encouraged the use of
  research evidence to inform policy.
• Predictive modelling was identified as the area of greatest need for skills development.
• Over a third (36%) of respondents indicated their local authority commissioned ‘external’ research.
• Two-fifths (39%) of respondents confirmed the existence of Research Governance arrangement and one third (33%) indicated that there was a local Research Governance lead.
• There was a local authority preference for on-line learning and much less support for secondment or
  study for academic qualifications in relation to developing research skills.
• Respondents were members of a wide range of organisations, most commonly SSRG and LARIA, but
  few reported being able to attend events, despite valuing them as a means of accessing evidence.
• Participants felt that while research had become more important, austerity policies had particularly
  affected the capacity to undertake this work.
• The survey suggests the need for a national review of local authority research, to identify core functions and workforce requirements.

The full report can be found here as well as a detailed article in the Guardian.

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