LARIA

Published: 21 April 2026

It’s our Time!

 

The pandemic has arguably forced a decade of changing work practices and patterns into a single year. I don’t need to rehearse this here, as how people are working remotely, hybrid (whatever that really means) and using digital tools that they never realised existed, is at the forefront of most of our professional and personal conversations.

So, this got me thinking, with my LARIA Honorary President hat on, as to what all of this has meant and will mean in the near future for our brilliant research, intelligence and insight communities across public services.

As I have written about previously to LARIA members, in many ways, the challenging period of the pandemic has provided our professional colleagues with the deserved opportunity to be metaphorically up on stage with the rest of the band rather than being destined forever backstage crew or in the wings. The power and importance of data and evidenced-based policy formulation and decision-making has become understood, particularly at a local level, if not always at a national level. The rapid retrieval of data, its analysis and interpretation and then presentation in clear, digital, infographic formats will be one of the enduring, positive memories of the past 18 months.

The industry, skill and application of the research community have all been amplified during the most acutely challenging of times and the profession has not, in the main, been found wanting or lacking. LARIA should take credit for providing the learning and support networks and platforms for this working at a local level, which has led to rapid evaluation, strong impact and in my view, a more robust, flexible and resilient profession.

The systems for collecting, storing, analysing and presenting data and research are of course more sophisticated than ever. Working remotely and independent of location has created very few, if any major challenges, with respect to access to legacy systems and databases. Just reflect a moment on how the skill to share our screens and present, often with detailed information and insight, has radically improved as we have been navigating through this virtual world.

So, there are many reasons to be cheerful for the heightened profile of what we do and what we have advocated tirelessly for over many years. BUT, this is not all plain sailing. I have always said, including at a couple of keynote presentations I have given at the LARIA conferences over the years, that what we do must be thought of as a contact sport and not a virtual reality. I know it’s a phrase I use too often, it is true ‘tho and what concerns me is dislocation from the places that we want to help shape and the communities we are determined to enhance, through their eyes and not ours.

So whilst our roles can be remote and often very powerfully so, there is no substitute for immersion in our places, connection and re-connection with all our professional and political colleagues who also care deeply about our place, but above all the people that we serve. This simply cannot be done effectively and productively through anything else other than 3D. Screens and the impenetrability of the virtual world take away so much of that humanity and inhibits the creative and visceral connection which makes the real, lasting difference.

The key in my view therefore is to hold on to the positive outcomes arising from such a dreadfully awful pandemic and for us all to commit to re-connection. By doing this, we have more than a fighting chance to promote the value of evidence and insight being locked into our policy and practice on the ground as we re-imagine what more prosperous, fairer, more equal and greener places should look like in the future.

Professor Martin Reeves

Honorary President, LARIA

Chief Executive, Coventry City Council

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LARIA North East Autumn 2019 Networking Event

Organised by LARIA (Local Area Research and Information Association) and free to attend, this is your chance to get together with other local area researchers in the North East and learn about new research techniques.
A more informal session than previously, we will have a presentation on plans for the Census 2021 by Louise Reeve (Assistant Census Liaison Manager for Newcastle City Council), and the rest of the time will be set aside for networking and general discussion.
If you have any queries, contact Louise Reeve, LARIA North East Co-ordinator, and I’ll be happy to answer them: louise.reeve@newcastle.gov.uk.

Book your place here: LARIA North East Networking 1 December 2020

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We first heard from Dr Mandy Cheetham and Samantha Redgate on the topic ‘A new way forward for local authority research; the LACOR project’. They discussed how Newcastle City Council and the FUSE centre had worked together to develop an embedded culture of research in a local authority. For more information please contact Dr Cheetham here: M.Cheetham@tees.ac.uk

Next, Gary Murphy from Newcastle City Council discussed how the Python software and machine learning can help to map the private rented sector in a local authority area. For more information about this please contact Gary here: gary.murphy@newcastle.gov.uk LARIA North East members had mentioned at earlier networking events that they wanted more time to get to know each other, so we had a tea and coffee breaks after each presentation for people to discuss their projects and explore opportunities to work together.

Louise Reeve from Newcastle City Council and Simon Taylor from QSR International talked about how qualitative analysis software, such as Interpris, can be used to speed up analysis of consultation and survey responses. For more information, contact Louise Reeve at: louise.reeve@newcastle.gov.uk   Finally, Louise Reeve, the LARIA North East Regional Organiser, presented on ‘What’s happening with LARIA nationally?’, including the online forum, the recent LARIA Awayday strategic planning meeting, and the upcoming LARIA One Day Conference in November 2019.

Feedback on the event was generally positive and included comments such as:

‘It is really interesting to see how others do things, and ideas I can take back into my workplace for the analysis I carry out, in particular Interpris [qualitative analysis software] and the survey analysis techniques.’

‘It felt informal enough to be able to have good honest discussions.’

Topics suggested for future events were:

‘Health and Wellbeing’

‘Talk through R’

‘Data visualisation, and career progression within the research and analysis field.’

‘Possibly something around data sourcing? We spend a lot of time trying to source data and it may be interesting to find out how others do it to help us to use our time more efficiently and effectively.’

Thanks to everyone who attended for making it such an amazing event. The next one will be in Spring 2020. Watch this space! Louise Reeve Email: louise.reeve@newcastle.gov.uk

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We first heard from Andy Davis from Warwick University on the topic “Better Together: Councils and universities working to improve local areas”. Andy discussed new opportunities for councils and universities to pool their resources for better information, such as the LGA Leading Places programme. For more information please contact Andy here: A.Davis.4@warwick.ac.uk.

Andy Davis presenting.

Next, John Mitchell from Durham County Council discussed how Durham County Council’s new Durham Insight platform provides better information to the council and their partners.  For more information about Durham Insight please contact John Mitchell here: John.Mitchell@durham.gov.uk

LARIA North East members had mentioned at earlier networking events that they wanted more time to get to know each other, so we had a long tea and coffee break for people to discuss their projects and opportunities to work together.

Following the networking time, Richard Potter from Analytics Cambridge Ltd. presented on the LGA’s “Intelligent Council Project”. This aimed to explore what helps and what is needed for a Council to improve its intelligence, and to promote good practice and evidence-based decision-making.

Finally, Louise Reeve, the LARIA North East Regional Organiser presented on “What’s happening with LARIA nationally?”, including the online forum, the results of a recent project about what’s going on in local government research project, and the upcoming LARIA Annual Conference in May 2019. Feedback on the event was generally positive and included comments such as:

“It was useful to network and find out what others were working on. It would be helpful to know in advance who was attending, what their role is and what they’re currently working on.”

Topics that people wanted future events to cover included:

• Brexit
• How people have used research and intelligence to change service delivery or make savings.
• How people have justified their role within their organisation by demonstrating the real impact and value of their work.
• Health analytics.
• Power BI and other systems used to manage data.
• “It would be useful to keep the Intelligent Council initiative on the agenda given that some authorities are supposed to piloting a framework or similar this spring.”

Thanks to everyone who attended for making it such an amazing event. The next one will be in Autumn 2019. Watch this space!

Louise Reeve

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Laria NE October 2018 Event

The third LARIA North East Networking event was well-attended, with 15 attendees and four presenters. Held at Darlington Town Hall (thanks to Zoe Foster and Darlington Borough Council for providing the venue), we enjoyed a mixture of presentations on information management and networking, and the chance to meet other North East researchers.

We first heard from Dr Christopher Parker at Newcastle City Council on the topic “Preventing homelessness in the context of welfare reform: Newcastle upon Tyne’s Homelessness Prevention Trailblazer”. Newcastle is one of only three national early adopters for the Homelessness Prevention Trailblazer, a public service transformation programme focused on preventing homelessness at an earlier stage by working with a wider group of residents at risk to help them before they reach crisis point.

Next, Andrew Billett (Public Health England) gave a talk on “Measuring health inequalities: investigating a rise in early mortality due to heart disease in Teesside”, and how PHE were able to use public health surveillance techniques to reach conclusions, such as learning that the flattening of the trend in the early mortality rate due to chronic heart disease in Middlesbrough since 2010 was caused by an increase in the number of deaths due to chronic ischaemic heart disease.

Following a tea and coffee break, Warren Hatter from With The Grain and Stuart Cuthbertson from Sunderland City Council presented on “Using behavioural insight in local government: lessons from Sunderland”. They discussed how behavioural insights can help public sector organisations reduce demand, improve outcomes and increase resilience, looking at case examples from increasing benefits applications in Sutton, and encouraging the take-up of stop smoking services in pregnancy in Sunderland.

In the final part of the event, we moved onto networking and the “Three things I’m working on…” forms. These aim to capture information three projects each of us is working on, three issues we think will be important in the future, and three things we are interested in learning more about in future. Everyone took the chance to network and discuss these issues with fellow researchers, and the information on the forms will be used to plan future LARIA North East networking events. Finally, Louise Reeve, the LARIA North East Regional Organiser (me!) presented on “What’s happening with LARIA nationally?” This included feedback from the recent LARIA Awayday to plan the future of the organisation, the option for members to host an ONS Census Economic Forum, and feedback from the recent Public Affairs Committee Annual Conference. There was also some cake!

Thanks to everyone who attended for making it such an amazing event. The next one will be in Spring 2019. Watch this space, and contact me if you have any ideas for what you’d like us to cover: louise.reeve@newcastle.gov.uk.

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Attendees from across the North East at the last LARIA NE networking event in Durham.

The latest LARIA networking event for local area and social researchers in the North East will take place on 1 October 2018, 1-4.30pm Darlington Town Hall. We’ll be finding out more about:

• using behavioural insight in local government from With the Grain and Sunderland City Council
• preventing homelessness from Newcastle City Council’s Homelessness Prevention Trailblazer, and
• measuring health inequalities in Teesside from Public Health England.

Come along and network with local area and social researchers in the North East. There will be cake!

We look forward to seeing you – book here: LARIA North East October 2018 or contact the organiser, Louise Reeve, at: louise.reeve@newcastle.gov.uk or ring: 0191 277 7508.

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Welcome from Gerallt Evans-Hughes

‘What’s new in LG Inform?’ – Juliet Whitworth, Local Government Association
Delegates heard about LG Inform, with an update on the LGA’s data benchmarking service for local authorities and the public. The session covered the developments that are currently underway to the tool, which will help users, both in councils and more widely, to access performance and other information about their areas.  We heard about an update of indicators to the free benchmarking tool underway using LG Inform and saw a short demonstration of the product.  Delegates were asked to indicate if training in LG Inform (perhaps locally in the North West) would be of interest.

LARIA NW Taster presentation Juliet Whitworth

Juliet Whitworth talks about LG Inform

‘Working together to support resilience in disadvantaged neighbourhoods’ – Helen Bromley, Cheshire West and Chester Council and Sarah Mosedale, University of Lancaster
The aim of the presentation was to introduce colleagues to the National Institute of Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care, North West Coast (NIHR CLAHRC NWC). The collaboration brings universities, local authorities, NHS organisations and the public together – working to accelerate the translation of research findings into health service improvements and changes that will reduce health inequalities and improve population health. The presentation outlined the Public Health work stream within the CLAHRC, and commented on the experience of one local authority (Cheshire West and Chester) taking part in this research programme.

LARIA NW Taster presentation Helen Bromley and Sarah Mosedale

Sarah Mosedale

Helen Bromley

‘New ways of modelling’ – Alasdair Robertson, i-three
This session looked at the use of simulation technology to support evidence based approaches to decision making and stakeholder engagement. The focus was on application of local data to support complex decisions in vital questions of public policy. This approach allows for deeper understanding of the complex and sometimes counter intuitive nature of how issues play out in real world systems, but tested in the safety of the lab before risking implementations. It also discussed how well conceived simulation models can bring together stakeholders in the decision making process.

LARIA NW Taster presentation Alasdair Robertson

Alasdair Robertson

‘Using MOOCs’ – Anne Cunningham, Blackburn with Darwen Council
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have come from nowhere in the past four years to have millions of students worldwide, transforming the opportunity to participate in free or almost-free learning. The session introduced some of the leading platforms for MOOC study, and the ever-expanding list of providers and courses on offer. It described the speaker’s own experience of this form of education, and reflected on some of the typical processes, challenges and rewards of Massive Open Online Courses. Finally, it presented a selection of just some of the forthcoming MOOCs which may be of interest to LARIA members.

LARIA NW Taster presentation Anne Cunningham

Anne Cunningham

‘Social Network Analysis in Little Harwood’ – Ken Barnsley, Blackburn with Darwen Council (BwD)
The study looked at the social networks in Little Harwood in Blackburn that create and sustain health and wellbeing. It used a Social Network Analysis approach, training local researchers and co-designing a questionnaire recording tool. This enabled researchers to understand aspects of social neworks in Little Harwood and to begin to map them along with being able to identify nodes in terms of people and places.
Austerity and its public spending cuts do not easily support demands for improved outcomes from services. This is true if we continue to think of public services solely as the social and economic support provided by the state through one to one, transactional relationships with the citizen in order to ‘deliver’ solutions to problems. But if we start to think about ‘services’ not just as things provided by the state, but also as wider social attitudes and support; and if we blur the boundaries between state and civil society so that well-designed public services encourage and support rather than crowd out the efforts of families, friends and communities to support (vulnerable) people, then we move to a more co-productive model in which the latent assets in communities to provide social and economic support are better used.
Social networks, however, do not restrict themselves to purely social or economic domains. More broadly, this work explored the question of how can we better understand, configure and mobilise the total set of assets in networks to achieve outcomes. This led towards trying to understand networks as production systems for social (and economic) value. For BwD, networks are comprised of individuals, groups, places and institutions connected through a variety of dimensions, be they geography, interest, practice, activity, or chance. BwD are interested in what makes networks more socially and economically productive for both the individuals and institutions within them, and for society as a whole. This kind of approach tries to work with how the world is, in all its complexity, rather than how we might idealise or simplify it for the sake of designing policy and practice.

LARIA NW Taster presentation Ken Barnsley

Ken Barnsley

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The video of this talk is now available online. 

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Established in 1974

Like many other local authority related organisations, LARIA evolved from the large-scale local government reorganisation in England and Wales in 1974. Many of the new authorities set up at that time implemented recommendations of the Bains Report which set out various structures and ideas for the management of local councils. Amongst those recommendations was the implementation of Corporate Planning – the fashion of the day in management – and also the suggestion of the setting up of the Research and Intelligence function. In many new authorities, small Corporate Planning Units and R&I Units were set up undertaking much of the work done by present day Policy Units and R&I Units.

Before 1974 there had been R&I Units in the Greater London Council, Cheshire County Council, Kent County Council, Sheffield City Council, and Birmingham City Council, but the Reorganisation saw a vast increase in R&I activity, or activity identified as such.

In May of that year, a group of 23 officers from a variety of authorities attended a seminar for Heads of R&I Sections organised by the Institute of Local Government Studies (INLOGOV) at a hotel in Birmingham. This was in effect the first LARIA Conference. Out of this seminar and a further one, evolved a group of R&I officers calling itself the R&I Steering Group – the title LARIA did not come into being until some four years later. This group began to meet regularly and organised (with considerable help from INLOGOV) seminars and small conferences providing a networking arrangement by looking at R&I issues and in particular the relationship between R&I and Corporate Planning. Over the next few years, conferences were held annually at venues around Great Britain – and this has continued on an annual basis to the present day. Each autumn a seminar (for Heads of R&I units only initially) was held until 1994 to discuss R&I management issues.

The R&I Steering Group met regularly and comprised principally heads of R&I Units in local authorities around Great Britain and was serviced by INLOGOV. The meetings were chaired on a rotating basis between the Group members, until 1978 when a permanent Chair was elected from amongst the Group. A list of the elected Chairs of LARIA is shown at the foot of this article. It was at about this point that it was decided to rename the Steering Group as the Steering Group of LARIA – the Local Authorities Research and Intelligence Association. The Association was still very dependent both in terms of secretarial and financial support.

Into the 1980s

In 1979, it was thought that to widen its networking impact, a newsletter was first produced – R&I News, later to become LariaNews. Apart from a few larger gaps in its first few years of production, this newsletter has been published regularly three times a year.

Other publications have been produced by LARIA over the years including a series of monographs covering topics such as corporate planning, survey techniques and population estimation. LARIA also produced a Research Education and Training Guide and in collaboration with Kirklees Council, a popular publication on Including Disabled People in Communication and Consultation, and Proceedings of various LARIA Annual Conferences.

Occasionally LARIA has commissioned organisations and individuals to undertake investigations of the workings of research in local authorities – INLOGOV in the early days, and more recently the School for Advanced Urban Studies, and then Leeds Metropolitan University. Two publications have also been commissioned on the Statutory Requirements for Research – in 2003 for England and Wales and 2009 for Scotland.

In 1986 the LARIA secretarial and financial support role passed to IPF Ltd, the commercial arm of CIPFA. The relationship between LARIA and IPF Ltd came to an end in 1990 when LARIA then decided to “go it alone”.

Into the 1990s

Over the following two years, preparations were made to put LARIA on a more formal footing and in 1992, LARIA became a Specially Authorised Society under the Friendly Societies Act 1974, its formal membership being the individuals on the Steering Group.

LARIA has always tried to cover the needs of all those in the UK, but in 1993, LARIA in Scotland (LiS) was formed under the umbrella of LARIA – this aimed to cater for the specific needs of those practising R&I in Scotland where the local government structure is slightly different to that in England and Wales. Its inaugural conference was held in December 1993, and frequent events and other activity continued. There was a period of inactivity between 2003 and 2008, but the LiS Steering Group is now operating fully and actively.

As LARIA developed over the years, it relied heavily on the voluntary efforts of members of the Steering Group, and with its increasing activity it became clear that reliance on voluntary effort alone could not be sustained. LARIA therefore appointed an Administrator in 1994 to undertake much of the administrative tasks previously undertaken by the officers of the Association and event organisers.

Income from events run by LARIA provided a surplus that enabled it to circulate widely a free newsletter (read by some 4,000 people), but again it was becoming increasingly difficult to organise such events (about five day seminars per year and an Annual Conference) by voluntary means. An Events Organiser was therefore appointed in 1997.

In 1997 LARIA launched its first website and this has run successfully since, a revamp being undertaken in 2009 bringing it closer to the websites for CLIP, IDeA and the LGA.

Into the new century

LARIA felt it needed to make sure that it was keeping track of the needs of those working in R&I activities, so in 1999, the Steering Group held an Awayday to consider how LARIA should face the challenges ahead. One of the most significant things discussed at the Awayday was the formal statement aims and purpose of the organisation. The purpose of LARIA was described as:

“To promote the role and practice of research within the field of local government and provide a supportive network for those conducting or commissioning research”

In achieving this LARIA stated that its five key aims were:

• to promote research in the field of local government
• to support those conducting or commissioning research
• to share ‘information’
• to enable networking
• to influence key agencies/opinion formers

The other major development from the Awayday was to introduce a membership structure. Until then, there had been no formal membership (other than the Steering Group members being considered as the members for the purposes of the Friendly Society status) – there had just been a list of newsletter recipients. After considerable debate a membership structure was put in place on 1 January 2001, with three forms of membership – full, corporate and associate. A result of this was that from then onwards, all full members were given the opportunity to elect officers of the Association and to elect members of the new LARIA Council (replacing the former self-elected Steering Group).

The Awayday had been so successful that similar events were held in 2002 and 2006, the latter in particular generating interest in revamping the website.

In 2002, LARIA was approached by ALGIS, the Affiliation of Local Government Information Specialists, which having been formed 11 years previously under the umbrella of the Institute of Information Scentists, found that that arrangement was unable to continue. Votes were taken from both ALGIS members and LARIA full members as to whether ALGIS should affiliate itself to LARIA. A resounding agreement gave rise to ALGIS in LARIA becoming an autonomous group affiliated to LARIA. Having operated as an autonomous group for 6 years ALGIS eventually merged fully into LARIA in 2008 becoming one of LARIA’s Activity Groups, alongside LARIA in Scotland, The Strategy and Policy Group, the Events Group, the Website Group, the Newsletter Group and the Member Development Group.

Also in 2002, the LARIA Excellence in Research Award was founded and a trophy, and CACI sponsored data has been awarded to the winning local authority. The winning authority has presented its project to the Annual Conference.

In 2003 a further paid member of staff was added in the form of a Promotions Co-ordinator to tie in with the fifth of LARIA’s key aims listed above. LARIA has developed a range of exhibition promotional material which has been shown at the Local Authority Chief Executives Annual Conferences, the Association of Regional Observatories Conferences, and numerous other workshops, seminars and events in recent years.

And in 2007, in recognising the growing importance of local partnership working beyond local councils, LARIA agreed a new strapline, “supporting local researchers in the public sector”, reflecting the changing, evolving and diverse arrangements for research & intelligence in local areas.

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