As national experts in the European Social Policy Network (ESPN), Regioplan has published a short overview on COVID-19 financial measures in the Netherlands. The report was published on the website of the European Commission.

In 2020, the Dutch government introduced several radical financial measures mainly for employers and the self-employed. These measures were taken in order to prevent the COVID-19 restrictions from causing a further economic downturn. The Dutch unemployment rate turned out to be lower than expected in earlier predictions, also compared to other European countries.

A recent draft law aims to reduce the gap between the position of employees with permanent contracts and the flexible workforce. However, according to the Council of State (the most important advisory organisation to the state), this gap will continue to exist under the new law, which does not offer enough protection to people with a weak position on the labour market.

More information?
For more information, contact Bob.

Van alle EU-lidstaten die hun accijnzen op bier verhoogden in 2017, verhoogde Litouwen de accijnzen het meest (+ 112% in vergelijking met 2016), terwijl de accijnsverhogingen op bier in Estland en Letland ook aanzienlijk waren dat jaar (respectievelijk + 87% en + 7%). Carlsberg vroeg ons om onderzoek te doen naar de effecten van hoge accijnzen op bier in de Baltische staten Estland, Letland en Litouwen.

Ons onderzoek laat zien dat hoge accijnzen een belangrijke rol spelen bij grensoverschrijdende bieraankopen door Baltische mensen. We schatten dat inwoners van Litouwen, Estland en Letland respectievelijk 255 miljoen euro aan biervolume buiten de nationale grenzen uitgeven. Dit resulteert in een direct verlies van door bier gegenereerde btw- en accijnsinkomsten van respectievelijk ongeveer 40, 25 en 11 miljoen euro voor de Litouwse, Estlandse en Letlandse nationale overheden. Bovendien schatten we dat Baltische mensen meer dan 1 miljard euro uitgeven aan andere producten dan bier wanneer ze naar het buitenland reizen om bier te kopen, wat resulteert in substantiële extra verliezen aan btw-inkomsten.

Bier inkopen over de grens leidt ook tot banenverlies in de detailhandel. Deze daling van de werkgelegenheid in de detailhandel is het meest merkbaar in Litouwen (geschat verlies van 960 banen in de detailhandel).

Meer informatie?
We voerden dit onderzoek uit samen met EY.

U kunt contact opnemen met Coen.

During the period 2014-2017, Regioplan acted as a Rapporteur for the OECD within the framework of the SOPEMI reports. Every year, Regioplan published a report explaining the situation in the area of migration and integration for the Dutch context. These reports also contain extensive information about the government policy pursued with regard to these themes. The attached link contains the last report from 2017, which covers the year 2016.

As national experts in the European Social Policy Network (ESPN), Regioplan has published a short report on the rise of ‘bread funds’. This report was published on the website of the European Commission.

The self-employed in the Netherlands are not covered by traditional social security schemes, and the majority of them are not insured for the risk of sickness. A ‘bread fund’ is a voluntary collective of 20 to 50 selfemployed who support each other financially in case of sickness for up to two years.  A bread fund functions similarly to an insurance, but is owned by its participants rather than an insurance company.

On the recommendation of the chairman of the Robbery Task Force (Taskforce Overvallen), Mr Aboutaleb, and at the order of the Dutch Minister of Security and Justice, the pilot Administrative Information Hold-ups and Robberies (BIOS pilot) started on 1 April 2014. During this pilot, the mayors of thirteen municipalities receive information on the return of former prisoners convicted of hold-ups or robberies. Commissioned by the Research and Documentation Centre (WODC) of the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice, Regioplan evaluated the BIOS pilot in the second half of 2015. The results of the study are used to assess whether to continue, adapt or discontinue the information flow.

The full text of the study is only available in Dutch. However, the summary is also available in English (see below).

In the spring of 2016, we, together with Bureau Dijkstra, conducted research with the aim of providing WODC with substantiated advice on how the issue of gender can be better addressed in the next prevalence study into domestic violence. The aim of this advice is to enable more precise measuring and interpreting of gender differences and similarities in victimhood and perpetratorhood and the context and impact of violence in the next prevalence study.

In formulating the advice, both national and international experts have been consulted. Subsequently, the 2010 study was assessed by means of an assessment framework based on literature research, and secondary analyses on the data of this 2010 prevalence study were conducted.

Small additions to the phase 1 questionnaire in the victim and perpetrator study will contribute to more possibilities of reaching a gender sensitive picture in the analysis. A more radical modification of the questionnaire, however, will make it possible to achieve a better and more gender sensitive measurement of domestic violence; for example by using measurement instruments that include questions about the impact of forms of violence. In-depth studies may also contribute to this.

More information?
You can contact our colleague Katrien.

The full text of the study is only available in Dutch. However, the summary is also available in English (see below).

The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and the Ministry of Economic Affairs asked Regioplan to conduct a study that provides insight into how the range of international education in the Netherlands (and a number of surrounding countries) relates to the demand and into possible bottlenecks within international education. Insight into these bottlenecks is needed to determine whether there are issues that must be dealt with and if so, in what way, to strengthen the position of international education in our country, and make the Netherlands even more attractive as a domicile for (incoming and outgoing) expatriates with children of school age.

The full text of the study is only available in Dutch. However, the summary is also available in English (see below).

On July 1st our colleague Maikel Groenewoud gave a presentation about privacy in the big data era at the Social Sciences and the Internet Conference 2016 in Eindhoven. In this digital era, this information age, more and more data is being collected, combined, stored and automatically generated which brings new privacy challenges. There are various privacy challenges such as the re-use of data for purposes other than for which it was originally collected and the use of data by so-called third parties. In the research literature about privacy in relation to ‘big data’, several solutions are proposed including randomization and privacy by design. In his presentation he illustrates how the anonymity of people’s data can potentially be guaranteed when using the randomized response method.

Guardianship is the authority exercised over a minor by someone else than the minor’s parents. In most cases guardianship is the result of a termination of parental authority measure. In such cases guardianship is transferred to a certified institution. Since 2012, the guardianship method is used within the institutions. Commissioned by the Research and Documentation Centre (WODC) of the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice, Regioplan carried out the evaluation of the guardianship method. The aim was to investigate (1) the extent to which people work according to the guardianship method, (2) the extent to which the intended results are achieved and (3) the experiences of the various parties involved in the guardianship method. To conclude (4), it has been investigated how the development of the number of children under guardianship and the number of guardianship transfers should be interpreted.

The full text of the study is only available in Dutch. However, the summary is also available in English (see below).