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Dave Simmonds

Emeritus Fellow

Dave Simmonds OBE was the chief executive of the Centre for Economic & Social Inclusion up until its merger to form Learning and Work Institute. Dave was the co-founder of Inclusion in 1996 and built it to be a respected voice in UK ‘welfare to work’ research and policy. Dave has also worked as a special adviser to the House of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee, and the OECD. Dave has advised the Scottish and Welsh governments, as well as the Northern Ireland Executive and the Republic of Ireland on their work on unemployment. Dave was awarded an OBE in the honours list for summer 2005 and is an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Employability Professionals. Prior to Inclusion he was interim director for England at the National Lottery Charities Board, now Big Lottery, and held various posts at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, where he was responsible for economic policy and voluntary sector involvement in labour market programmes.

29 June 2026

What enables the effective design, delivery and evaluation of local work and health programmes?

This report presents findings from an evidence review on what enables the effective design, delivery and evaluation of local health and work programmes.

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29 June 2026

Scoping report: Labour Market Evidence Programme

This scoping report as part of the Labour Market Evidence programme provides a summary of the work undertaken by IES and L&W between October 2025 and March 2026 including user consultation. It summarises the evidence needs of local policy makers and sets out how these needs can be addressed.

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23 June 2026

VocTech Challenge: Skills for an Economy in Transition

The VocTech Challenge aims to accelerate the adoption and deployment of technology to help every adult in the UK get the skills they need to participate and benefit from our transitioning.

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18 June 2026

Labour Market Briefing: June 2026

Our analysis of the ONS labour market statistics, released on the morning of 18 June 2026.

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18 June 2026

Labour market stats response, June 2026

L&W’s chief executive Stephen Evans responds to the latest labour market data from ONS.

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17 June 2026

Evaluation of Central London Forward’s Youth Guarantee Trailblazer 

Learning and Work Institute has evaluated the first year of delivery of Full Potential, the Youth Guarantee Trailblazer delivered by Central London Forward.

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9 June 2026

Innovative, “hyper-local” approach to employment support completes two years

An innovative employment support pilot spanning Medway to Merseyside has shown promise reaching social housing residents who are out of work but do not typically access mainstream support.

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9 June 2026

Final report: Evaluation of the JobsPlus Pilot

This evaluation of JobsPlus builds on the interim findings published in September 2025 to provide evidence on whether the model can be adapted to the UK context and effectively implemented to improve employment outcomes.  

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29 May 2026

Multiply adult numeracy randomised controlled trials

Alongside Ipsos and other partners, L&W has conducted Randomised Control Trials to evaluate the effectiveness of existing and new interventions to improving adult numeracy.

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