Summary of the impact

This case study centres on a body of work commissioned by Transparency international UK looking at corruption in the UK. Despite the UK scoring highly on international measures, there was a concern that the extent and impact of corruption may be somewhat hidden. Our research showed that there were several areas that are of much higher risk than previously acknowledged, especially through links to organised crime. These findings have been utilised by national law enforcement agencies to inform their continuing anti-corruption and organised crime strategies. The research has also been debated at the highest political levels in the UK.

Underpinning research

Transparency International is the world's leading anti-corruption NGO, and its UK chapter (TIUK) has won numerous national and international awards for its work on good governance and anti-corruption activities. In 2010 TIUK commissioned a suite of research, which involved both quantitative and qualitative studies. The research was subject to a competitive tender and was (in total) worth approximately £35,000. The research comprised three inter-related studies:

(1) a national public opinion survey, (published Dec 2010);

(2) an investigation into corruption risks in key sectors in the UK (e.g. police, prisons, legal services — published July 2011).

(3) An assessment of the UK National Integrity System (published July 2011).

In part, the projects were awarded on Michael Macaulay's previous experience in working on the 2003 National Integrity System, upon which the new study was founded. TIUK has argued that, together, this body of research represents "the most comprehensive research ever undertaken in this area" (http://www.transparency.org.uk/our-work/corruption-in-the-uk). To date the reports have been downloaded over 5000 times (http://www.transparency.org.uk/our-work/publications/81-corruption-in-the-uk--overview-&-policy-recommendations).

The NIS concept was originally created in the late 1990's but in 2010 a new methodology was introduced comprising key respondent interviews, desk based research and quantitative assessment. Previously there was no fixed methodology for the NIS (despite there being nearly one hundred studies having been conducted). The UK study was the first in a 26-wide EU-funded project to assess European integrity and was one of the very first assessments in the world (and the first in the EU) to be published using this new methodology. For full details on the TI European NIS Project please see http://www.transparency.org/enis.

Michael Macaulay was the principal investigator all three projects and is a Visiting Professor within the Law Department at the University of Sunderland. Chris Newman was invited to participate I the National Integrity System study as a legal expert with a particular interest into the sections on corruption legislation and the judiciary. Dr Newman is named in the report as an advisor .

As evidence of the quality of work, each piece of TIUK research was peer reviewed by leading academics in the field of corruption including Alyson Warhurst (Warwick University); Indira Carr (Surrey University); Michael Levy (University of Cardiff) and John Hatchard (Open University). In addition the NIS study was subjected to a validation workshop of over 40 leading academics and practitioners before its results were published.

The suite of research brought us into direct contact with leading practitioners and policy makers from law enforcement agencies (the respective Heads of the Serious Organised Crime Agency and the Serious Fraud Office were both interviewees; as well as the ex-Chief Inspector of HM Prisons); from political organisations and Parliament (including a number of members of eth House of Lords); the CBI's head of governance; and leading Civil Society organisations.

The suite of research, therefore, pioneered new methodologies; directly dealt with leading practitioners; and has been adopted in new studies such as the TI New Zealand NIS study. The research has led to a number of journal articles, book chapters and conference papers in internationally recognised academic forums (please see section 3).

References to the research

Key Publications

Details of the impact

The impact of the underpinning research can be demonstrated in a number of different areas: there is the impact on policy and practice; on the media; and on further academic studies.

First, the research has had a direct impact on Transparency international and TIUK in particular, in terms of both its future strategy and also its future advocacy policy. These are summarised in its policy recommendations document (1) and in its strategy document, summarised below. Following the research, and as a direct result of its findings, TIUK produced a national advocacy strategy, with four priority areas.

Perhaps more importantly, TIUK subsequently developed a "Corruption Scorecard', which also draws directly from our research and indicated a number of red-flag areas that were uncovered during our investigation, including prisons, money laundering and a lack of an overall national strategy (2).

The research remains housed in its own discrete section on the TIUK website
(http://www.transparency.org.uk/our-work/corruption-in-the-uk) and the reports have been downloaded over 5000 times (http://www.transparency.org.uk/our-work/publications/81-corruption-in-the-uk--overview-&-policy-recommendations).

Yet the impact here is not simply on TIUK but on a much broader policy and practice, the NIS study elicited a personal response from the Prime Minister David Cameron (3) and has led to a number of questions being raised in Parliament, particularly around corruption in prisons and the recent restructuring of HM Prison's Corruption Prevention Unit (4). The research has also been cited and used in the Home Office's 2011 strategy on Organised Crime (5). In October 2013 the newly formed National Crime Agency released its inaugural strategy to fight organised crime (CM 8715) and the TIUK was again cited (6).

The research has already made an impact in academic circles and is cited extensively in Nicholl's et al (2011) second edition of Corruption and Misconduct in Public Office (7). The work has also received major media coverage including BBC television, The Guardian, The Telegraph and the Wall Street Journal. In February 2012, for example, it was included as the subject of a commentary in The Guardian (8).

The NIS work has also resulted in a number of other national and international impacts including advising Transparency International New Zealand's work on national and local integrity (9); being employed as an international expert for the Council of Europe in Ankara, developing integrity audit audit tools (10).

In summation the research on integrity systems has had a tangible and demonstrable impact not only on the sponsor organisation, TIUK, but also on national and international policy, and has been used by government departments, law enforcement agencies, and European bodies. That the research is still being directly cited by a newly created agency such as the National Crime Agency, as recently, as October 2013, hopefully establishes that the impact in ongoing and that the Sunderland work is being utilised at the highest policy levels.

Sources to corroborate the impact

1. Our suite of research for TIUK is all available at http://www.transparency.org.uk/our-work/corruption-in-the-uk
2. The PM's letter is available at
   http://www.transparency.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=131-letter-from-the-prime-minister-on-corruption-in-the-uk-report
3. The corruption scorecard can be found at http://www.transparency.org.uk/our-work/publications/744-anti-corruption-scorecard
4. Hansard http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201011/ldhansrd/text/110906-0001.htm#11090651001099 and Hansard
   http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201011/ldhansrd/text/110720w0002.htm
5. Home Office (2011) Local to Global: Reducing the Risk from Organised Crime (London: TSO)
6. http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm87/8715/8715.pdf
7. Nicholls, C. Daniel, T. Bacarese, A. and Hatchard, J (2011), Corruption and Misconduct in Public Office 2^nd edition (Oxford: OUP)
8. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/feb/28/leveson-inquiry-uk-corruption-problem
9. http://www.transparency.org.nz/index.php/news-and-updates/mun
10. Council of Europe Integrity and Ethics Adviser (Identifier 1)