HOST Policy Research: Our Services
Strategy Studies
HOST’s combination of practically-orientated analysis with extensive knowledge and experience of policy and programme development in the public sector means we are well placed to conduct research or consulting studies with a strategic emphasis. Recent HOST projects in this area have included, for example:
- Carrying out benchmarking studies or environmental scanning to review the current strategy(s) against changing market or policy circumstances.
- Conducting systematic reviews of individual programmes or publicly funded initiatives to assess the fit of current strategy, and/or to test strategy assumptions.
- Conducting cross-programme and comparative reviews for non-departmental agencies to look at the implications for wider strategy formation.
- Providing in-agency or institutional consultancy to inform strategy setting, and/or to draft strategy statements and implementation plans.
- Carrying out systematic consultations with stakeholder groupings to inform strategy formation or development.
Strategy studies often use these in combination, for example, the HOST strategy review for DIUS/DfES of employer investments in publicly funded education and training included both a systematic review and stakeholder consultations. Other HOST strategy studies have recently included reviewing LSIS sector engagement in their national improvement strategy for learning and skills providers, and developing the first National Work-Based Learning Research Strategy (for LLUK and DIUS).