This report explores the greater role that local authorities can and should play in stimulating investment and economic growth in their areas, and sets out recommendations for models of capital investment which could deliver much-needed returns for the North and other regions.

Incorporating both published performance data and interviews with people working at all levels of the UK's foreign investment system, this new report asks how the current system could improve outcomes for businesses and local areas in the north of England.

On Monday 10 June, IPPR launched the report that marked the culmination of over a year of work by the Commission on the Future of Higher Education. Shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna welcomed the report, saying it would 'provide a roadmap' for the future of this vital national asset.

IPPR's commission on the future of higher education has now launched its report A critical path: Securing the future of higher education in England. Here Rick Muir talks about some of the main points and recommendations in the report.

IPPR went to Manchester as part of our Condition of Britain project (13 May 2013), along with head of Labour's policy review Jon Cruddas MP. After meeting staff and parents at a SureStart Centre in Benchill we visited a community centre in Wythenshawe, where Jon Cruddas spoke about families and children.

Jon Cruddas, head of Labour's policy review, joined IPPR in a listening event with St Mungo's and Revolving Doors service-users as part of our Condition of Britain project (London, 25 April 2013). Listen to some of the participants relating their experiences and ideas for change.

IPPR spoke to Steve Smith, vice chancellor of Exeter University and former president of Universities UK, to find out what he thought of the arguments put forward by Michael Barber in An avalanche is coming: Higher education and the revolution ahead, and what he thinks the future of higher education will look like.