Public affairs and policy impact

Professor Sarah Bate

People with prosopagnosia, a cognitive condition more commonly known as face blindness, struggle to recognise familiar faces. The condition affects both children and adults and can have a severe impact on their educational and occupational progression, as well as their everyday life. 

It’s estimated around 1 in 50 people have the condition, but awareness was low, meaning those with prosopagnosia struggled to get the diagnosis and support they needed. 

The work of Professor Sarah Bate and her team at Bournemouth University has helped to raise the public profile of prosopagnosia and led to formal recognition of the disorder by the NHS.

Following a roundtable discussion in the House of Commons where the BU team presented their research findings, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) formally recognised prosopagnosia as a health condition. 

Subsequently, the first ever page on prosopagnosia was launched on the NHS Choices website, under the A-Z of conditions.

Professor Bate reviewed the content for the page, and it links directly to the resources produced by the BU team, including a symptom checklist and evidence-based coping strategies.

Since the page was launched in 2014, more than 20,000 people across the world have used the resources.

Prior to NHS listing, prosopagnosia could not be listed in UK medical records – there was simply no box to check. Professional users – including clinical staff, educational and occupational psychologists and psychiatrists - have highlighted the role NHS recognition and BU resources have played in enhancing their ability to diagnose and support people with prosopagnosia.  

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Financial Crime and Scamming at the launch of a guide on fraud and scams

According to National Trading Standards, scams cost the UK economy £5–10 billion per year, while Age UK’s figures show that an older person becomes a victim of fraud every 40 seconds.

The National Centre for Post-Qualifying Social Work (NCPQSW) at BU has been working with several national bodies – including Royal Mail, Age UK and National Trading Standards – to develop a range of learning resources to raise awareness of financial scams and protect vulnerable people.

These have included a scam awareness toolkit and game-based learning tools for older people and health and social care professionals.

The work of the team has also led to new guidance for frontline banking staff – helping them to better understand the needs of vulnerable customers, especially those in cognitive decline, and prevent people falling victim to future scams.

The team have presented their work in the House of Commons, launching BU’s Guide to Financial Scamming, published with the Chartered Trading Standards Institute and National Trading Standards, which was distributed to all MPs. They have also worked closely with Conor Burns MP to help set up the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Financial Crime and Scamming.

The NCPQSW’s research and materials are now being used nationwide by charities, local authorities, the NHS, financial institutions and government to protect vulnerable people from being scammed. It’s estimated that this has helped to save consumers from over £22 million of scams. 

Researchers at BU have challenged negative perceptions around digital reading, providing insights into how and why people read on digital platforms. This has helped to support the removal of VAT on digital publications.

The Reading on Screen project, led by Professor Bronwen Thomas, supported readers from a diverse range of backgrounds, aged between 18 and 87, to capture their experiences of reading in the digital age. It demonstrated how engagement with digital reading, far from being confined to younger generations, is in fact also delivering extensive benefits for the older population.

While magazines, books and newspapers are VAT exempt, VAT on digital downloads made reading digitally less affordable. Professor Thomas worked closely with the ‘Axe the Reading Tax’ campaign, led by the Publishers Association with the Book Trust and the National Literacy, to develop a new campaign strategy highlighting how the tax affects the most vulnerable. A participant from the Reading on Screen project, whose eyesight and mobility difficulties mean she can now only read digitally, became the face of the campaign.

The Chancellor announced that VAT on digital publications would be removed from December 2020, although it was ultimately removed earlier, on 1 May 2020.

BU researchers have developed economic modelling techniques that more accurately predict the outcome of events, policies or other major economic decisions. This type of modelling has allowed government and other organisations to effectively plan for the impacts arising from their decisions.

These techniques have been used to inform crucial national government policy decisions relating to tourism in the UK, including cutting tourism VAT and plans for tourism post-Brexit.

An economic model developed by Professor Adam Blake has been used by the Department for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS) to demonstrate the impact of Brexit on relevant sectors and help guide their response. This enabled DCMS to target appropriate measures and support to sectors that were more adversely affected by Brexit.

Professor Blake’s modelling around the impact of cutting VAT for tourism has also been instrumental in the UK government viewing this type of tax reduction as a serious policy option that has now been implemented.

A temporary VAT reduction for hospitality, accommodation and visitor attractions was introduced by the Government in July 2020, with Professor Blake predicting that this would give a boost to the sector of over £4 billion in reduced costs.