The London School of Economics has the best reputation of any UK university among Whitehall officials, a new study has revealed.
A survey of 1,120 government officials carried out by CSW's sister organisation Dods Research found that the LSE came out on top both in terms of how often its research was used in day-to-day policy work, as well as in overall awareness of its output among civil servants.
Almost a quarter of the officials asked said they either occasionally (18.69%) or frequently (5.36%) used research produced by the LSE, with Cambridge and Oxford placed second and third respectively.
Meanwhile, Cambridge narrowly beat the LSE and Oxford to first place when officials rated the quality of universities' research output.
Civil servants were asked to give Russell Group institutions a research quality rating out of five, with Cambridge scoring an average of 3.71, LSE scoring 3.69, and Oxford scoring 3.68.
The research also shed some light on the impact of departmental cost-cutting measures on civil servants' ability to access research.
Nearly 5% of those asked said they did not have access to academic sources, with a number of officials citing funding pressures as the reason for the access restrictions.
One Grade 7 official from the Department for International Development said the "economy drive" in their department meant they had to use the free Google Scholar service to find relevant papers.
A Department for Transport civil servant, also at Grade 7, said they had to use a personal subscription to the British Medical Journal to access the required research because the DfT "does not have access to journals".
The Dods report said some officials had expressed "a desire to use more research in their work, but did not have the ability to access it due to funding cuts".
The authors add: "Universities are keen to see their research used in policy formation, and civil servants are desperate for empirical information to help inform decisions.
"The two groups must work closer together and find new communication channels in order to benefit British policymaking."
For more details on the result findings contact Keith Donington