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The price regulation conducted by economic regulators is a high-stakes process, with significant and lasting impacts on current and future service quality and the overall performance of the regulated sector. This report tracks the efforts of the economic regulator of the Scottish water sector to make the results of its price-setting process work better for the customers of today and tomorrow, addressing issues such as customer engagement, sustainable asset management and climate change. Based on the results of a multi-year peer review, it analyses the process and outputs of the price setting process. It also sets out recommendations to help parties strengthen the resilience and stability of the regulatory framework while not losing sight of strategic vision and objectives.

Cultural and creative sectors are a significant driver of local development through job creation and income generation, spurring innovation across the economy. Beyond their economic impacts, they also have significant social impacts, from supporting health and well-being to promoting social inclusion and local social capital. Glasgow City Region in Scotland, United Kingdom has a long history of transformative cultural policy. Cultural and creative sectors are now one of the region’s strengths. This paper provides an overview of cultural and creative sectors in the Glasgow City Region, highlighting trends in employment, business dynamics, entrepreneurship and financing as well as cultural participation. It offers analysis and recommendations to support the region in continuing to build on its local cultural and creative ecosystem.

The paper is the first in a series of two papers mapping young people’s environmental sustainability competence in EU and OECD countries that were prepared as background for the forthcoming OECD Skills Outlook 2023 publication. The papers are the results of a collaboration between the OECD Centre for Skills and the European Commission - Joint Research Centre (Unit B4) on students’ environmental sustainability competence. The second paper is titled: ‘The environmental sustainability competence toolbox: From leaving a better planet to our children to leaving better children for our planet’.

The paper is the second in a series of two papers mapping young people’s environmental sustainability competence in EU and OECD countries that were prepared as background for the forthcoming OECD Skills Outlook 2023 publication. The papers are the results of a collaboration between the OECD Centre for Skills and the European Commission - Joint Research Centre (Unit B4) on students’ environmental sustainability competence. The first paper is titled ‘Young people’s environmental sustainability competence: Emotional, cognitive, behavioural and attitudinal dimensions in EU and OECD countries.

There is a discernible and growing gap between the qualifications that a university degree certifies and the actual generic, 21st-century skills with which students graduate from higher education. By generic skills, it is meant literacy and critical thinking skills encompassing problem solving, analytic reasoning and communications competency. As automation takes over non- and lower-cognitive tasks in today’s workplace, these generic skills are especially valued but a tertiary degree is a poor indicator of skills level. In the United States, the Council for Aid for Education developed an assessment of generic skills called the CLA+ and carried out testing in six countries between 2016 and 2021. This book provides the data and analysis of this 'CLA+ International Initiative'.

Over the past decade, the United Kingdom has reduced several environmental pressures while growing its economy. Ahead of its presidency of the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties, it has led the way by raising its national ambition. However, air pollution, deteriorating natural assets and missed biodiversity targets are all concerns. Further efforts are needed to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, prepare for climate change, reverse biodiversity loss and ensure a more resource-efficient circular economy. Strengthening co‑ordination between the United Kingdom and devolved governments, as well as enhancing coherence between sectoral and environmental policies will be key. This is the third Environmental Performance Review of the United Kingdom. It evaluates progress towards green growth, with a special chapter focusing on waste, materials management and the circular economy.

OECD countries deliver publicly-funded employment services through different institutional arrangements. While in most OECD countries the majority of such services are delivered by public employment services, in two in five OECD and EU countries (or regions) they are partly or fully contracted out to external providers, including for-profit and not-for-profit entities. Contracting out employment services to outside providers offers many potential benefits: an increased flexibility to scale capacity in line with changes in unemployment, the possibility of offering services more cost-effectively, the option to better tailor services through the use of specialised service providers and the possibility to offer jobseekers choice of providers. However, achieving these benefits will depend on the actual design and monitoring of the contracting arrangements that are put in place. Focusing on the job brokerage, counselling and case-management employment services typically provided by public agencies, this paper reviews the experiences of OECD countries that have contracted out employment services through outcome-based payment schemes. It highlights the need to carefully consider questions related to the design and implementation of this form of contracting: fostering competition amongst potential providers, setting appropriate minimum service requirements and prices for different client groups, and ensuring the accountability of providers through monitoring and evaluations. These issues are discussed based on country examples, which are also detailed in factsheets contained in the online annex of the paper.