The Central Analysis Division is working with the Strategy Division on a programme of work on prevention in Scotland.
The project aims to build the evidence base to support the Scottish Government as it looks to enhance approaches around prevention. In this context, prevention is focussed on how public interventions can tackle the underlying drivers of negative outcomes to prevent them from happening, or to reduce their severity. In doing so, it can play a significant role in reducing future pressures on public services.
This internship will support the prevention project by undertaking a defined strand of work focussing on what drives preventable negative outcomes and demand for public services. The intern will have scope to shape how they tackle the key research questions, and this could reflect a policy area of particular interest to the intern (e.g. health, housing, education, etc). For example, the project could focus on drivers of cardiovascular disease and impacts on the health system, or the drivers of poor mental health and outcomes in the education or justice system.
For the chosen policy area, we expect the project to focus on reviewing the evidence and engaging with policy areas across government to understand what is driving outcomes, how interventions target these outcomes, and how effective they are. The work the intern will be doing will include searching for relevant literature, analysing secondary data sources, speaking to policy leads within government and writing up the findings into a short report and presentation. These outputs will help policy makers make sense of the complex array of factors that drive preventable outcomes and help them understand the policy implications. The intern will be heavily involved as part of the wider project team in disseminating and presenting the findings from this work and ensuring it has impact by connecting into the wider prevention programme.
The post holder will have opportunities to learn about the wider work of the Central Analysis Division, and of the Strategy Division, gaining first hand insights into the development of strategic analysis within Government.