Civitas (think tank)

According to ConservativeHome, Civitas "started as the Health & Welfare Unit of the Institute of Economic Affairs, but divorced from it in order to grow and because libertarian elements within the IEA disapproved on the focus on non-narrowly economic issues."[2]

In 2009, their income was £975,311 and staff size was 19.[2]

Civitas, originally based at 77 Great Peter Street,[2] is now based at 55 Tufton Street, in the same premises as Business for Britain and where Vote Leave was originally registered. According to newspaper reports from 2016, Civitas accounts showed that it paid rent of around £3,250 a month for its offices.[3]

Civitas set up the Centre for Social Cohesion 2007. Civitas research was drawn on heavily by Vote Leave in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum.[3]

The think tank describes itself as "classical liberal" and "non-partisan". The Times and The Daily Telegraph have described it as a "right-of-centre think-tank",[4][5] while The Irish News describes it as right-wing.[6]

The Times has described Civitas as an ally of former Education Secretary Michael Gove.[4] It is opposed to green regulations, to legislation designed to reduce climate change, and to greater reliance on renewable energy.[7][8][9]

Civitas provides teaching materials and guest speakers for schools, in particular on family structure and on the EU.

The EU project publishes a series of free factsheets on the European Union, designed for use by A-level students.[10] Civitas also arranges speakers for talks and debates in schools on the subject of the EU.

Civitas runs supplementary schools on Saturday mornings and after school hours. The schools teach English and maths to children from disadvantaged backgrounds, emphasising traditional approaches such as phonics. There are now twenty supplementary schools in King's Cross, Hammersmith, Camberwell, Keighley, Birmingham, Great Yarmouth and Bradford providing classes for over 600 children per week.

Civitas is adapting the American Core Knowledge curriculum for the UK. It is a year-by-year outline of the specific and shared content and skills to be taught in Years 1 to 6. The first Core Knowledge book, What Your Year 1 Child Needs to Know, aroused controversy over its message to minorities when released in 2011.[11] The books for Year 1 and Year 2 were published in 2012.[12]

Civitas has been rated as 'highly opaque' in its funding by Transparify[13] and has been a given a E grade for funding transparency by Who Funds You?.[14] Its funders include the pro-free market Nigel Vinson Charitable Trust.[15]

In 2004, a Civitas report was criticised by Faisal Islam for its deceptive methodology on the costs of immigration.[16]

A 2005 report by Civitas finding Britain's police forces to be among the least effective in the developed world "provoked outrage... among chief constables and criminologists."[17] It was also criticised by the UK's policing think tank the Police Foundation and the UK Home Office.[18]

A 2013 report by Civitas, written by the director of the pro-fossil fuel Renewable Energy Foundation, argued that a shift to renewables would mean “more people would be working for lower wages in the energy sector, energy costs would rise, the economy would stagnate, and there would be a significant decline in the standard of living”. The Government dismissed his report as “a manifesto for locking the British economy into excessive reliance on imported gas”.[8]

• List of UK think tanks

• CIVITAS – Official website
• Who Funds You? Civitas
• London Boxing Academy
• New Model School Company
• Civitas Schools
• Core Knowledge UK
• Top Twelve UK Think Tanks