Abstract

A key feature of the previous UK Labour government was the large increase in government-sponsored research as part of its wider commitment to evidence-based policy-making. Therefore, this article takes one area of government-sponsored research in order to examine the relationship between research evidence, policy ideas and programme evaluation. The case study chosen for this article are employment barriers for lone parents. In this article the research on employment barriers for lone parents commissioned by the previous government will be reviewed before the reasons for the main shortcomings in our understanding of the employment barriers for lone parents are identified. The latter will form the basis for the lessons to improve the quality and potential usefulness of research for policy-making in the short and medium term.