CRSP - Staff (Noel Smith)

Noel's work focuses on social exclusion and disadvantage, with particular interests in poverty, income standards and 'adequacy', and in the relationship between disadvantage and accessibility.

Noel trained in social work and social anthropology, receiving his doctorate from Queen’s University, Belfast. He has been at CRSP since 1999, and has a strong background in innovative research and evaluation design, review methodologies and qualitative approaches, including participatory, biographical and longitudinal techniques. Noel is a highly experienced project manager, well grounded in researching sensitive issues with vulnerable groups.

Where Does the Money go? Credit and Debt today
The extent of personal debt in the UK and its impacts are key policy issues. However, there is a lack of an in-depth understanding of the interaction between debt and income – and specifically poverty – over time. A dynamic approach is needed to unpack these complex inter-relationships, examining the interplay between debt and poverty over time. This project started in March 2008 and is funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Process and Impact Evaluation of Accessibility Planning
CRSP, in partnership with Atkins, have been commissioned by the Department for Transport to evaluate the process and impact of Accessibility Planning. This is a process that aims to promote social inclusion by helping people from disadvantaged groups or areas access jobs and essential services. The evaluation will take a holistic view of Accessibility Planning and will involve considering the processes by which Accessibility Planning is implemented but also the impact that Accessibility Planning policy has had on the work of local authorities and wider partners, and on individuals and communities.

Disadvantage and Road User Safety
It is well established that more people are injured on the road in disadvantaged areas than in other areas. For example, in order to meet its target of halving the number of children killed or injured in road accidents, the Government is prioritising a focus on reducing accidents in disadvantaged areas and among children from different social and ethnic groups. What is less clear is why such risks are more pronounced for disadvantaged groups. The Department for Transport has commissioned CRSP, in partnership with Aecom, to undertake a major study to investigate this and so inform strategies to improve road user safety. The research started in March 2008 and will continue into 2010.

The research uses tailored version of the methodology from the original project to meet the challenges associated with rural costs.

Review of the Child Material Deprivation Items in the Family Resources Survey: Qualitative Element (MIS Necessities)
The Department for Work and Pensions commissioned CRSP to investigate what items parents consider are essential necessities for families with children in Britain. Drawing on the methodology used in the MIS study, this qualitative research is designed to help update the government’s measure of deprivation in families with children. It has informed the design of a large-scale survey (the ONS Omnibus Survey) asking members of the public which items they think that every family in Britain should be able to afford if they want them, whose results in turn will be applied in future Family Resources Surveys to measure how many families lack a selection of items that the public considers to be necessities.

A Minimum Income Standard for Northern Ireland
Following the launch of the Minimum Income Standard for Great Britain, this research examines how it compares with a MIS for Northern Ireland. The project involved desk-based research, on-foot price checking and focus groups in Omagh and Belfast. The research found that while some living costs are more and some less, overall the budgets required were similar enough in Northern Ireland and Great Britain to talk about a UK MIS.

A Minimum Income Standard for Britain 2009
For MIS to continue to inform public and political discussion about how much is needed to achieve a minimum acceptable standard of living it must be kept up-to-date. This research updated the original budgets to April 2009 prices.

A Minimum Income Standard for Britain
This project brought together the methodological expertise of CRSP and the Family Budget Unit (FBU) at York University combining CRSP's consensual budget standards methodology with the FBU's normative approach. The research aimed to find out how much people need in order to achieve a minimum acceptable standard of living in Britain today. A summary of the research and its findings can be found at: www.minimumincomestandard.org/downloads/Reports/launch/mis_for_britain_findings.pdfIt brought together over 200 people in 39 focus groups, together with input from experts on heating and nutrition, to devise a minimum income standard for a range of household types.

Accessibility Planning Evaluation: scoping work
In a very tangible way, social exclusion is mediated by ‘accessibility’ – that is, by people’s opportunities to access employment, education, healthcare, affordable healthy food, and social and cultural networks. As part of Local Transport Plans, local authorities have planned strategies to improve the opportunities for those most at risk of accessibility-related social exclusion. CRSP, in partnership with Atkins, have been commissioned by the Department for Transport to examine early developments in accessibility planning and develop a methodology for a process and impact evaluation of local authorities’ strategies. This scoping work was in 2008.

Risk Perceptions and Responses and Transitions in the Life-course
This is part of the ESRC-funded research network, Social Contexts and Responses to Risk (SCARR). A major theme in contemporary social theory is that society is becoming increasingly risk-oriented, resulting in inter-generational discontinuities in how people think about and deal with risk in their everyday lives. The first phase of the project involved a national survey of the perceptions and experiences of risk of 1400 respondents. The second phase involves biographical and longitudinal qualitative research, including interviews with parents and their adult children, exploring participants'; decisions about life changes and events and the consequences of those decisions.

Related Publication
Smith, N., Cebulla A., Cox L. and Davis A., (2006) ‘Risk perception and the presentation of self: reflections from fieldwork on risk’, Forum: Qualitative Social Research, Vol.7, No.1, Art.9, www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/1-06/06-1-9-e.htm#g7

Tackling the Transport Barriers to Social Exclusion: the potential of individual transport budgets
The Department for Transport commissioned CRSP to undertake a 'think piece' about the potential of using individualised budgets to ensure that people at risk of social exclusion have access to key services and employment and education opportunities. The idea of Individual Travel Budgets (ITBs) would be to provide financial assistance for transport directly to individuals as an alternative to transport subsidies and concessions. As apparent from the introduction of Direct Payments for disabled people, for example, individualised budgets can offer service-users greater flexibility and control over service provision. The context of the project is the accessibility agenda and the growing recognition of the central role transport has for social inclusion. The project reflects the DfT's efforts to look at the most innovative policy options to ensure accessibility for everyone. The project provides formative thinking about the potential benefits and challenges of providing ITBs, considers the implications of ITBs for other services and provision, and assesses the possible cost-effectiveness of individualised assistance.

A Systematic Review of Poverty Dynamics
This project, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, was a major review of research on the dynamic - or life-course - perspective of poverty. In recent years there has been an expansion in the availability of longitudinal data, leading to a wide range of studies exploring poverty dynamics. A comprehensive review of these studies was urgently required in order to synthesise their findings and therefore better understand the policy implications derived from longitudinal analysis. To do so, the project used an innovative systematic review methodology. This approach involved identifying all potentially relevant literature from a range of sources, and systematically assessing it using predefined criteria in order to pinpoint and synthesise the best available evidence. The research should help to move concerns with poverty persistence up the policy agenda and suggest possible policy solutions.

A Child's-Eye View of Social Difference
This research funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation with support from Save the Children (SCF), aimed to explore different children’s perspectives of their own lives. It compared and contrasted different children’s views and experiences of social difference, inequality, social exclusion and inclusion. Forty children, aged between eight and thirteen, consisting of separate groups of girls and boys, participated in eight small groups. The children came from contrasting backgrounds: twenty lived in a disadvantaged area and had participated in services provided by Save the Children; twenty children attended a fee-paying, independent school.

Evidence Based Review on Mobility – Choices and Barriers for Different Social Groups
CRSP was commissioned by the Department for Transport to conduct an evidence based review of the empirical social research available on mobility choices and barriers for different social groups. The Department for Transport’s overarching aim is to provide transport that works for everyone. Transport is a key gateway to helping people access jobs, education, health services, leisure activities and other provision such as food shopping. Factors such as the availability, physical access, affordability, personal safety concerns, poor travel information and variation in travel aspirations can deter people from using transport to access these facilities and services and can thus reinforce social exclusion.

This review provided important policy information about the mobility of different social groups (such as families, older people, disabled people, different minority ethnic and faith groups) and how transport provision and policy impacts upon their choices. The study commenced in May 2005 and reported in the Spring of 2007.

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