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Purpose: The literature mostly investigates the business cycle transmission of the United Kingdom (UK) and France as a part of a wider group (e.g. European Exchange Rate Mechanism or G7), despite their historical links and regional significance. Thus, herein paper aims to analyse the inter-dependence of these economies and how a shock from one of them affects the other for the data since 1978 to 2019. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, first, preliminary statistics were calculated in order to describe the historical relationship between these countries. The econometric part estimates the vector auto-regression model (VAR) to assess the inter-dependence of the economies. VAR model allows further to inspect the impulse response functions that shows the shock dynamics from one country to another. In order to verify if a shock from one of the economies is important to another, the study uses granger causality test. Findings: The study establishes a strong link between these countries. A business cycle is transmitted significantly between the economies of France and UK, with a single standard deviation shock from France resulting in a long term effect of 0.4% change in gross domestic product (GDP) of UK and 1% vice versa. Additionally changes in GDP of both of the countries significantly Granger-cause change to GDP of the corresponding economy. Originality/value: This is the first empirical study investigating the business cycle transmission between France and UK and providing a quantitative assessment of their inter-dependence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to encourage re-reading and re-evaluation of a series of educational polemics published in the UK in the 1960s and 1970s, the Black Papers. These works proposed, for the most part, avowedly conservative views on education: condemning so-called "progressive" teaching methods and the re-organisation of secondary schools in the UK (especially England) into non-selective comprehensives. It is argued, however, that much said and written about the Black Papers since has concentrated only on selected "high profile" contributors, to the neglect of other contributors, often anonymous, whose comments were sometimes more measured/thoughtful. Design/methodology/approach - The work proceeds first by re-visiting the facts surrounding the writing of the Black Papers and their critical reception. It then analyses the nature of the contributors and describes selected essays not usually referred to when the Black Papers are discussed by historians and others. Findings - The work finds that the Black Papers are often infuriatingly and unhelpful polemical in nature but that much written about them since has concentrated only on selected contributors, ignoring others who were more measured. Originality/value - The work is perhaps the first critical re-reading of the Black Papers in any depth in several decades. It does not simply dismiss them as hysterical rants by ill-informed authors and suggests that they re-pay careful attention, despite their often polemical nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most significant episode in the assetisation of housing (underpinning its financialisation) is often understood to be the economic restructuring that took place during the 1980s – particularly deregulation of the banking sector and credit liberalisation. Research has reported on the housing 'investor subject' that emerged during this time, as an integral part of the transition towards financialised economies. This article provides new evidence about the housing consumer subject, and its place in this transition, by drilling into UK housing policy history and its discourses around the consumer relationship with housing. Using archive data from the Parliamentary and National Archives alongside interviews with key informers, we illustrate three cases of housing policy development in which the consumer demand for, and relationship with, housing is discursively reconditioned. We conclude that the housing investor subject was pursued in housing policy reform and its discourses well before the 1980s and the economic reforms commonly identified as the causes of financialisation. In addition, these discourses are found to have been reconditioned in order to align with broader macroeconomic policy concerns of the time. The article therefore provides a rare view of assetisation from within the state apparatus, revealing how housing policy and its discourses around consumption became functionally integrated within wider macroeconomic goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the United Kingdom reduces its CO2 emissions in order to meet its 2050 net zero greenhouse gas targets, there will be a significant evolution of the UK's energy mix. The reliance on hydrocarbons will decrease while there is predicted to be an increase in low carbon energy sources such as renewables and nuclear. In order to decarbonise and achieve the net zero emissions targets while concurrently producing enough energy to provide for national energy needs, large‐scale, low carbon energy generation projects need to be developed alongside energy storage facilities to provide flexibility within a low carbon energy supply. Robust CCUS programmes will need be developed in order to capture and store unavoidable carbon dioxide emissions. The subsurface geology of the UK provides opportunities for the development of low carbon energy generation, energy storage and CCS, and the Upper Permian Zechstein Supergroup deposited in eastern England and offshore in the Southern North Sea is a potential host for these new developments. In NE England, salt cavern gas storage sites have been developed in thick Zechstein evaporites since the mid 20th centrury. In this paper we present new isopach maps and well correlation panels which will help to outline optimal locations for the development of additional salt caverns for gas storage. A review of the Zechstein Supergroup indicates that it does not exhibit great potential for the development of CCS, due both to its complex reservoir characteristics and to difficulties with both subsurface imaging and monitoring. However thick Zechstein evaporites could provide an excellent seal for CO2 storage in the underlying Lower Permian Rotliegend Group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the spaces, materiality, and practices of (in)formal education and citizenship bound up in the educational cultures of the Council for the Preservation of Rural England (CPRE) in 1930s England. Founded in 1926, the CPRE aimed to preserve rural amenities through concerted action, by working through their constituent societies as a centre for furnishing or obtaining advice and information, and importantly, by educating public opinion. While much work has examined inter‐war preservationism and the CPRE's focus on planning legislation and design, less attention has been paid to the CPRE's cultures of education for children and young people. Drawing on archival research, this paper considers two educational topics, namely, nature study and school design, and makes three key contributions to the geographies of education. First, that the CPRE mobilised the notion of amenity to provide an experiential and intuitive education in preservationism: amenity was both education and educator. Second, that this education was linked to notions of (future) citizenship, hope, and (future) preservationism, becoming an education that would remain with the child throughout their life. Third, this article explores the CPRE's authority, revealing the ways in which it was often complex and precarious, as well as the ways in which the Council drew on other forms of authoritative identities, spaces, and structures. In so doing, this paper contributes to ongoing academic debates on the complex and fluid boundaries of (in)formal education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper advances a theory of "cohortness" for understanding the experience and articulation of identities. Using a case study focusing on higher education students, we argue that thinking in terms of cohorts enables an alternative way to examine how people perform, feel, and express their subjectivities collectively, especially within institutional spaces. Our analysis is based on an ongoing research‐education project, which ran over five years and involved over 250 undergraduate students at a post‐1992 UK university. The project involved large groups of students engaging in an exercise on "mis/fitting," which encouraged them to articulate (as individuals and groups) which identities it was "easy" to perform/hold/display as students, and which it was not. The project also involved a range of subsequent reflective discussions with each group. Our data provide striking insights into how year groups produce "cohortness" in different ways and across intersecting scales. In this paper, we focus on three key themes, which are underpinned by an often ambivalent articulation of contemporary neoliberal ideals: mixtures of deliberation and chance in the production of in‐class, micro‐spatial, intertextual dialogues; the intersection of norms and commonalities in the naming of some identity groups (such as sporting interests) and hiding of others (such as fandom); and the significance of personality, performative, and/or bodily traits compared with other aspects of identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Upper Permian Zechstein Supergroup has the potential to play an important role in the UK's future energy production and energy transition. However the Supergroup is comparatively poorly understood in the UK, particularly the link between the onshore and offshore geology. In this paper we re‐evaluate available data in order to present a consistent regional interpretation of the Z1 to Z3 Zechstein Supergroup cycles. This review is based on an interpretation and re‐evaluation of 620 offshore wells located in the UK portion of the SW Southern North Sea and 83 onshore wells located in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire (eastern England). The Zechstein Supergroup was interpreted in each well, and the data was used to compile seven SW‐NE oriented correlation panels which show the development of the Supergroup in the study region. Five isopach maps for key formations in the Zechstein Supergroup were created, together with depositional environment maps for each of the main Zechstein carbonate formations. In combination, these regional‐scale maps and diagrams have resulted in a consistent interpretation of the Zechstein Supergroup over an area which extends from the onshore outcrop in the west to the UKCS boundary in the Southern North Sea in the east. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Whole Class Ensemble Tuition (WCET) is a model of teaching and learning music which takes place in many English primary schools. It is a relative newcomer to music pedagogy in the primary school. In the groundbreaking study reported in this paper, two new models of teaching and learning music are proposed. These are (a) Music education starts with the instrument and (b) Music education takes place via the instrument. Conceptualised descriptions of classroom music pedagogies are not commonplace, and so this paper makes a significant contribution to the music education research literature by delineating, describing and labelling two of these with reference to the WCET programme. These distinctions are of international significance and are useful to describe differences between programmes, which constitutes a major contribution to music curricula discussions. The paper concludes that clarity on the purposes of teaching and learning is fundamental to effective musical pedagogy and that this is a matter that education systems worldwide should be considering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Only scattered pieces remain of the project of a travelogue on England that Mark Twain planned in the wake of The Innocents Abroad (1869), the bestseller that had established him as a renowned traveler-writer. The baffling renouncement may be found in the author's selfconfessed unwillingness to water down his usual caustic humor in the context of the hearty welcome he received as soon as his first trip to the United Kingdom. Attentive readers, though, may find such explanation frustrating, given Twain's sometimes ruthless treatment of other countries he also held in great esteem, as was the case with India in Following the Equator (1897). In order to analyze the question of Twain's puzzling treatment of the United Kingdom in the context of his travel writing, this paper starts by providing a mostly factual presentation of his stays in the United Kingdom before concentrating on the textual aspect, highlighting the particular importance of London in the author's assertion of himself among the greatest literary masters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health organisations in England. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative mixed-methods approach was applied, including a review of the academic literature, a review of the non-academic literature and a brief semi-structured survey. Respondents of the semi-structured survey included seven healthcare leaders from four different NHS Mental Health Trusts in England. This review applied thematic analysis to the data findings. Findings: Mental health organisations in England have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis of the identified resources found four overarching areas for learning: organisational structures, approaches to practice (working and delivering care), leadership and staff support. Organisational structures refer to structural, systemic and procedural changes that have taken place. Approaches to practice relate to shifts in organisational work and delivery of care. Leadership identifies styles used to manage change and disruption. Staff support refers to measures and interventions applied to meet changing staff needs and well-being. Practical implications: Mental health organisations can reduce the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic through continuous improvements in future crisis planning, innovations in clinical practice and a sustained focus on staff well-being. Originality/value: A multi-dimensional exploration into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health organisations was conducted. The review also provides insights into the experience of healthcare leadership in managing change during the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the factors central to the practices and realities of historical educational support for destitute and neglected children in the Manchester Certified Industrial Schools (MCIS) to determine how the schools acted to support the lives of children who were removed from parental guardianship. In nineteenth-century England, the most vulnerable children, destitute and often neglected (specifically, those considered to have improper guardianship), posed a serious challenge to public order in urban society. This study employs primary records to trace the experiences of four children during and after MCIS enrolment. Prior to the current study, none of these records had been used in research. The analysis of records demonstrates that MCIS officers supported and followed up students even after they were discharged to help them survive without their parents and become conventional members of society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Set against a background of failing housing markets and years of austerity, with spending cuts to many of the public services traditionally involved in housing, the UK Government's ambition to deliver 300,000 new homes a year was always going to be a challenge. At the same time however, a programme of devolution to city regional bodies across England has provided the opportunity to test new approaches to support housing growth, with the potential for innovation and more tailored interventions designed around the needs of a specific place. This paper uses experience in the Sheffield City Region to illustrate the challenges and opportunities for housing growth in one part of the country as well as the interventions being developed to address these. The paper sets out some of the geographic and economic factors shaping the housing sector in the city region, and the role that housing growth has come to play in the wider economic ambitions for the area. It then describes some of the plans and programmes being developed to encourage the development of new homes and the success of a pilot Housing Fund could have in overcoming problems where national programmes have failed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although housing crises are rooted in both demand-side pressures and supply-side blockages, perceived regulatory impediments to building new homes are the softest target for policy reform. Critics argue that the English planning system's case-by-case consideration of development applications hands excessive power to existing homeowners, who regularly veto those applications, thereby generating uncertainty for the development sector, impeding supply, and amplifying wealth inequalities. Drawing on interviews with planning and development actors, this paper explores the potential of rules-based zoning, in which consultation is restricted to plan-making and compliant applications proceed 'automatically', to address the supply sub-component of the housing crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how integration across policy sectors was achieved under the spatial planning agenda in England, focusing on the case of delivering growth in a subregion in the east of England. The findings highlight the importance of both ‘hands-on’ and ‘hands-off’ meta-governance – in other words, high-level steering by central government – in enhancing sectoral integration. This has significant implications for the ongoing debate on planning in England, where the language of spatial planning is no longer in fashion, but where the need for effective integration continues to exist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Applying tenets of legal origin theory, this paper traces the origins of banking financial accountability resting behind paragraphs 78 to 82 of the First Schedule of the Companies Act 1862 (UK), where the timely disclosure of a balance sheet and statement of income and expenditure to stakeholders are scrutinised. Comparative legal analysis of 503 banking enactments of the US, Canada and England during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries reveals that expectations of formal accounts raised by the Companies Act 1862 (UK) were informed by the Colombia Banking Act 1817 (CO) in the US, the Canadian Mauritius Regulations 1830 and the Joint Stock Banks Act 1844 (UK). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between flexibility in spatial governance partnerships and their legitimacy. While partnerships have become increasingly prevalent, questions have been raised about their accountability or ‘input’ legitimacy. However, recent research highlights how multiple norms of legitimacy exist and how flexible delivery of aspired outcomes may confer ‘output’ legitimacy to governance processes. This paper explores these issues through examining the delivery of a major urban extension at the edge of Cambridge City, in the East of England. It makes the case that a particular dimension of flexibility, namely flexibility in resource deployment, has been crucial to delivering outcomes underpinned by the shared vision of sustainable communities. This suggests that future research on partnerships could benefit from a more refined analysis of the different ways in which flexibility is exercised and how these may enhance or detract from the legitimacy of partnership arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the components of a high-quality prison healthcare system and the impact, ten-years on, of the transfer of accountability in England, from a justice ministry to a health ministry. Design/methodology/approach A rapid the evidence review was undertaken, which included a review of 82 papers and qualitative interviews with key informants. The concepts and themes identified were summarised and analysed through a framework analysis, designed to improve population outcomes and address health inequalities. The use of a rapid evidence assessment, rather than a systematic review methodology, the use of abstracts (rather than full-text articles) to extract the data, and limiting the search strategy to articles published in the English language only might mean that some relevant research papers and themes were not identified. The need for the evidence to be produced within a limited time frame and with limited resources determined these pragmatic approaches. Findings The review found that English prison healthcare has undergone "transformation" during this period, leading to increased quality of care through organisational engagement, professionalisation of the healthcare workforce, transparency, use of evidence-based guidance and responsiveness of services. The review also highlighted that there is still room for improvement, for example, relating to the prison regime and the lack of focus on early/preventive interventions, as well as specific challenges from limited resources. Research limitations/implications Time and resource constraints meant a rapid evidence review of papers in the English language was undertaken, rather than a systematic review. This might mean relevant papers have been missed. The review also only covered small number of countries, which may limit the transferability of findings. The lack of qualitative data necessitated the use of quantitative data gathered from key informants. However, this enabled a good understanding of current practice. Practical implications The review findings support the World Health Organisation position on the value of integrated prison and public health systems in improving quality of healthcare. It also recommends future policy needs to take account of the "whole prison approach" recognising that healthcare in prisons cannot operate in isolation from the prison regime or the community. Originality/value This is unique research which has great value in supporting prison reform in England. It will also be of interest internationally due to the paucity of data in the published peer-reviewed literature on the impact of commissioning models on healthcare or health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the recent reorganisation of sub-national planning in England. The abrupt termination in 2010 of regional spatial strategies (RSSs) left England as the only major country in north-western Europe without effective sub-national governance structures (outside London) for spatial planning. Drawing on in-depth interviews with public-sector planners and other research material, this paper analyses the impacts of the demise of regional planning for ‘larger-than-local’ policy coordination in England. The paper seeks to question whether localism can succeed where regionalism is perceived to have failed in dealing effectively with the strategic spatial dilemmas integral to planning. It concludes by assessing whether the evolving decentralised forms of sub-national governance (combined authorities and local enterprise partnerships (LEPs)) emerging through the government’s ‘devolution revolution’ can develop to fill the current strategic planning void and resurrect some form of spatial planning throughout England. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper revisits the liberal studies movement, a significant feature of the English further education (FE) sector from the 1950s until the beginning of the 1980s. Its central argument is that liberal and general studies (LS/GS) and similar provision offered a vehicle where, at least in some circumstances, certain politically-motivated FE teachers were able to engage in forms of mutual, dialogic teaching and learning which can be conceptualised as critical pedagogy—or at least as close to critical pedagogy as can be achieved within the formal education system in a nation such as England. The paper draws on interviews with former FE lecturers who taught various forms of liberal studies to vocational students in FE colleges across England during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Whilst it is recognised that LS/GS was always contested terrain, data presented in this paper provide evidence to suggest that the spirit of critical pedagogy existed amongst a certain strand within the liberal studies movement, at least for a time—even if not all learners wished to be emancipated by their studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Non-medical prescribing was introduced into the United Kingdom (UK) to improve patient care, through extending healthcare professionals’ roles. More recent government health service policy focuses on the increased demand and the need for efficiency. This systematic policy review aimed to describe any changes in government policy position and the role that non-medical prescribing plays in healthcare provision. Method: The systematic policy review included policy and consultation documents that describe independent non-medical prescribing. A pre-defined protocol was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42015019786). Professional body websites, other relevant websites and the following databases were searched to identify relevant documents: HMIC, Lexis Nexis, UK Government Web Archive, UKOP, UK Parliamentary Papers and Web of Science. Documents published between 2006 and February 2018 were included. Results and discussion: Following exclusions, 45 documents were selected for review; 23 relating to policy or strategy and 22 to consultations. Of the former, 13/23 were published 2006–2010 and the remainder since 2013. Two main themes were identified: chronological aspects and healthcare provision. In the former, a publication gap for policy documents resulted from a change in government and associated major healthcare service reorganisation. In the later, the role of non-medical prescribing was found to have evolved to support efficient service delivery, and cost reduction. For many professions, prescribing appears embedded into practice; however, the pharmacy profession continues to produce policy documents, suggesting that prescribing is not yet perceived as normal practice. Conclusion: Prescribing appears to be more easily adopted into practice where it can form part of the overall care of the patient. Where new roles are required to be established, then prescribing takes longer to be universally adopted. While this review concerns policy and practice in the UK, the aspect of role adoption has wider potential implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archivists in England formed themselves into a self-conscious profession over about three decades following World War I. Domestic threats to archives during World War II, especially the indiscriminate pulping of paper, provided an important motivation for this development. Furthermore, this wartime peril was straddled by a century-long period of decline among the landed aristocracy that likewise endangered important cultural objects. The legitimacy and legality of these dangers demanded that English archivists employ subtle yet assertive means to defend archives. Consequently, they created advocacy organizations and networks, educational programmes, county records repositories, and professional attitudes and ideas that collectively formed an archival profession in England by the mid-1950s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to analyse the nature of societal regulatory control systems developing an analytical framework drawing from Jurgen Habermas' notion of "steering" and an understanding of "performance management systems". It seeks to provide a conceptual language of "relational" and "transactional" approaches to regulation both generally and in relation to higher education (HE). The paper aims to illustrate that different types of regulation are related to the different contexts in which they are developed. Design/methodology/approach - The paper undertakes an in-depth analysis of regulatory frameworks and financing at a general level and in the specific context of HE in England in order to analyse the nature of the processes of steering both empirically and conceptually. The paper ends with some evaluatory reflections on the conceptual framework and in relation to the regulatory processes of HE in the England following this change. Findings - The paper argues that the societal regulatory requirements, of a "relational" or "transactional" form use financing as central tools of "steering", both generally and in HE. In HE two dominant institutional steering media are identified: regional Funding Councils, (in England, the Higher Education Funding Council of England (HEFCE)) and the Research Councils (RC). Regulation of funding flows from the two bodies is described using the conceptual framework developed. HEFCE's regulations are more "relational" in nature relative to the RCs more "transactional" systems. Located in two different Government departments until June 2007, these two funding organisations were then brought together to form the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS); they are now (since June 2009) part of the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (DBIS). Originality/value - The paper provides a conceptual framework by which to understand regulation more generally and demonstrates the significance of this framework by providing new insights into the changing societal regulatory context of HE in England. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The three main programmes of the Geneva-registered International Baccalaureate (IB) have grown substantially worldwide over the past decade, although the programmes have found a natural ‘home’ in the United States. This paper charts the growth of the IB in the United Kingdom (UK) revealing that involvement there, mainly in England and mainly with the original pre-university Diploma Programme (IBDP), peaked at about 230 schools in 2010, but since then the IBDP has begun suddenly to decline. Yet, in no other country has there been a fall in IBDP provision. This paper offers some key explanations for this phenomenon, where a lack of funding and continued lack of university recognition in the face of Advanced Level (A-Level) reform and numerous ‘baccalaureate’ developments has led to many state-funded schools in particular dropping the IBDP. Thirdly, this paper discusses a number of implications, both for the IB itself and education in the UK in general. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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Vocational qualifications in England are undergoing another round of reform. This paper starts by reviewing the alleged weaknesses of English vocational qualifications, but argues that these do not necessarily establish a case for radical reform. The issue is not so much whether the system needs to be changed as the nature of the change that is needed. The paper argues for a more deliberative and incremental approach and proposes five principles upon which this should be based. These are the following: that the process of change is as important as the content of change; that institutions matter; that the purposes of reform need to be clear, consistent and realistic; that reforms should help to create a more unified qualifications system; and that the interests of the UK’s other home countries should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper discusses the strengths of using ethnographic research methods in cross-national comparative research. It focuses particularly on the potential of applying such methods to the study of migrants and minority ethnic youth in education, where large-scale quantitative studies or single-sited ethnographies are currently dominant. By linking findings and methodological reflections from a research study into the schooling experiences and life projects of migrants and minority ethnic youth in England and Spain, the paper shows how cross-national comparative ethnographies enable researchers to (1) contextualise and compare topics identified by research participants in the course of the fieldwork, (2) analyse topics, which only appear in one research setting and (3) explore and challenge how concepts and categories are employed by research participants in different settings. This, it is argued, makes such research methods particularly well placed to identify issues, which young people themselves find important to their schooling, and explore how these interlink with local practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates the challenges of tackling multiple uncertainties in strategic plan implementation. Through a case study of a planned urban extension in the east of England, the paper examines the approaches that were adopted to tackle different types of uncertainties, including value uncertainties, organisational uncertainties and external uncertainties. The findings suggest that strategic, sub-regional plans are particularly vulnerable to external uncertainties, and that it is difficult to address external uncertainties through contingency plans, given the impact of political changes on the legitimacy of value assumptions underpinning each plan period. Nevertheless, the findings indicate the importance of mature, multi-actor partnership arrangements for development plan-making and implementation, which can facilitate the mitigation of organisational uncertainties following implementation failure. This implies that effective plan implementation is less about the circumvention of undesirable uncertainties, and more about the capacity to deal with the ongoing, recurring emergence of multiple uncertainties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2008, health policy in England has been focusing increasingly on improving quality in healthcare services. To ensure quality improvements in community nursing, providers are required to meet several quality targets, including an incentive scheme known as Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN). This paper reports on a study of how financial incentives are used in district nursing, an area of care which is particularly difficult to measure and monitor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a critical perspective on England's housing crisis, characterised here as a concentration of wealth in residential property which is driving up prices and reducing access to the homes that people need. Housing has become a wealth machine and government has arguably lost sight of its social function. It is important that planning draws a functional distinction between housing as an asset and housing as a social good. The paper ends by considering how a decoupling of housing's 'home' and 'asset' functions might be achieved through land-use policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of austerity and welfare reform on staff in the caring services is an emerging story yet to be fully told. This paper presents three narratives of early austerity drawn from 14 in-depth interviews with staff of a small homelessness and resettlement service in England from 2011 to 2014. Experiences are represented through narratives of ‘emerging realities’, ‘deletion’ and ‘changing relations’. The workers’ stories revealed that the extent of welfare reforms and funding cuts not only impacted on the provision of services, but also on personal and professional values held by homelessness and resettlement service staff. Ethics of care, as embodied ethical practice in emotional, identity and interactive work, formed the basis for relationships between staff and homeless people or those at risk of homelessness. The rapidly changed funding and policy context for homelessness and resettlement services destabilised workers’ self-concept as providers of relational care. A notion of ‘embodied austerity’ emerged from staff reflections on everyday experiences of austerity over time and contributes, perhaps, to a common story of workers’ experiences during a period of social welfare in hard times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2020 is the fiftieth anniversary of the creation of a unified profession of social work across the United Kingdom and of the creation of integrated personal social services in each of the four UK countries. This paper reflects on the genesis of these changes, tracks developments over the past fifty years, and comments on the current state of social work and the personal social services in England and throughout the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early modern water management was as much a social and political endeavour as an environmental one. This paper explores this assertion by analysing the different forms of knowledge used by English Commissions of Sewers in the governance of flood defence and drainage in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Using examples drawn primarily from Gloucestershire and Lincolnshire, in south-west and eastern England respectively, this paper traces the rise and decline of popular influence over water management. Where Commissions of Sewers operated harmoniously, they were staffed by significant numbers of local people, who valued their right to participate in water management. With the involvement of large numbers of 'ordinary' people, Commissions of Sewers, and particularly the minutes of Courts of Sewers, became repositories of oral and customary knowledge about the functioning of local drainage networks and flood defence schemes. However, the paper argues that, over time, as customary knowledge that was divulged and negotiated orally became codified, and decisions about water management became founded on textual precedent, those who lacked access to textual resources lost influence over water management decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article continues research into social mobility in England in the nineteenth century by examining the links with different occupational structures, socio-economic and industry/occupation, for a specific location. This allows an examination of the impact of the characteristics of these structures on occupational and thence on social mobility. Occupational mobility has long been recognised as a major determinant of social mobility and has been the subject of a number of papers, usually to determine how much a specific variable affects the level and type of mobility observed. Rarely do these analyses consider the location’s occupational structure, and its changes, as a determinant of the level of mobility. This paper finds that much of the variability of occupational mobility of a locality is determined by the characteristics of the different industries and occupations in that location. Industries and occupations provide a context within which other factors, such as literacy, operate. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is continued failure to build homes for diverse and disabled occupancy. We use three eco-communities in England to explore how their eco-houses and wider community spaces accommodate the complex disability of hypotonic cerebral palsy. Using site visits, video footage, spatial mapping, field diary observations, surveys and interviews, this paper argues that little attention has been paid to making eco-communities and eco-houses accessible. There are, we argue, three useful and productive ways to interrogate accessibility in eco-communities, through understandings of legislation, barriers and mobility. These have three significant consequences for eco-communities and disabled access: ecological living as practised by these eco-communities relies upon particular bodily capacities, and thus excludes many disabled people; disabled access was only considered in relation to the house and its thresholds, not to the much broader space of the home; and eco-communities need to be, and would benefit from being, spaces of diverse interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to look at the recent UK Court of Appeal decision in Jones v Ruth and explores whether building works are capable of being construed as harassment by the Courts. Design/methodology/approach – The paper looks at the concept of harassment as used in the Prevention of Harassment Act 1997 and how this applies in the context of building operations. It adopts a black letter or doctrinal approach to the study. Findings – Whilst it is confirmed that a certain amount of inconvenience due to building operations is not actionable in English law, the Court of Appeal in this case has confirmed that in cases where harassment is proven, then substantial damages may be imposed on the offending party. This has implications not only for building contractors but for construction professionals such as architects or building surveyors who are involved in supervising contractors. Research limitations/implications – This research takes the subject of construction law into uncharted territory. Previously it was thought by many observers that the Prevention of Harassment Act was confined to cases involving employment law and/or sexual or racial discrimination. Jones v Ruth shatters this previous thinking in this area and confirms that "harassment" cases can be applied in building projects. It is arguable that were Jones v Ruth merely a High Court decision, then only a limited weight might be given to the verdict. However, Jones v Ruth now is a Court of Appeal decision which gives an authoritative voice to the verdict by some of the most powerful judges in the land. Practical implications – The practical implication is that building surveyors supervising building works need to be aware of the law to avoid being sued for harassment. Social implications – It might have been taken for granted that all building works involve noise, dust, vibration, etc. Jones v Ruth confirms that in extreme circumstances it is possible to recover large damages for harassment and that all persons involved in the construction process ought to take note. Originality/value – There is an expanding body of law dealing with compensation for inconvenience and disturbance, however there is a paucity of literature dealing with the implications of this for building surveyors and construction professionals. This paper explores claims for harassment through the lens of a major Court of Appeal decision in a succinct and practical way to allow academics and practitioners an insight into this expanding area of construction law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce and present the first findings of a new English performance indicator in the primary healthcare of adults with Down syndrome. This is a performance target, with associated bonus payment, requiring General Practitioners (GPs) to undertake annually a screening blood test for thyroid hormone deficiency. Design/methodology/approach – Analysis and review of data collected from all GP practices and published by the National Health Service (NHS) Information Centre. Findings – In total, 82 per cent of those identified as in the target group were screened and 10 per cent were identified as not wanting to be screened or screening inappropriate. The target group numbered just over 60 per cent of the number estimated from epidemiological and other studies. The numbers of cases involved is small (0, 1 or 2 cases in 75 per cent of GP practices), and whilst variation in coverage at local level appears important, numbers are too small for the variations seen in the first year's data to be statistically significant. The scope of the data precludes useful strategic analysis of the value of the intervention. Research limitations/implications – Data from several years need to be taken together. The NHS Information Centre should slightly increase the scope of the data to allow analysis of whether the programme is having useful public health benefits. Originality/value – The paper examines a new data source and makes points applicable to a wider range of similar datasets in the same programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the New Labour governments' approach to amending the regime for the protection of heritage assets in England. Design/methodology/approach – The paper critically reviews New Labour policy documents alongside contemporary research-based literature. Findings – The terms heritage, conservation and sustainability are increasingly regarded as synonyms. While providing initiatives for the built heritage, New Labour urban policy was set in the context of domestic economic and political restructuring and increased international environmental awareness. This has made managing the heritage environment at both national and local levels more challenging, an aspect that has been exacerbated by the New Labour government's introduction of performance targets and new operational languages. Originality/value – The paper offers an applied consideration of three specific aspects of recent heritage protection direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population projection models that introduce uncertainty are a growing subset of projection models in general. In this paper we focus on the importance of decisions made with regard to the model specifications adopted. We compare the forecasts and prediction intervals associated with four simple regional population projection models: an overall growth rate model, a component model with net migration, a component model with in-migration and out-migration rates, and a multiregional model with destinationspecific out-migration rates. Vector autoregressive models are used to forecast future rates of growth, birth, death, net migration, in-migration and out-migration, and destinationspecific out-migration for the North, Midlands, and South regions in England. They are also used to forecast different international migration measures. The base data represent a time series of annual data provided by the Offi ce for National Statistics from 1976 to 2008. The results illustrate how both the forecasted subpopulation totals and the corresponding prediction intervals differ for the multiregional model in comparison to other simpler models, as well as for diff erent assumptions about international migration. The paper ends with a discussion of our results and possible directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify and review the leadership challenges in workforce planning, paying special reference to adult social care primarily in England (UK) whilst raising leadership issues that have international resonance. Design/methodology/approach – This is a viewpoint which presents a distillation of key issues, challenges and relevant literature spanning workforce planning, human resources and social care. Findings – The paper finds that growing demands on services, rising expectations for personalised care and support, together with the provision of safe and effective joined up care are some of the key drivers facing social care and wider public services. Leaders need to ensure a robust data and evidence base, sound interpretation of intelligence as well as building integrated approaches to workforce planning both within and between services. Practical implications – Workforce leadership provides the bedrock to ensuring social care builds the workforce required for the future. As services undergo redesign and transformation the workforce planning task is more important now than ever and is a key responsibility for every organisation's leadership, including chief executives, commissioners and workforce specialists. Originality/value – Workforce planning in social care is afforded relatively little attention and the analysis presented in this paper provides the stimulus for debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the 1992 Further and Higher Education Act, local education authorities (LEAs) lost control of further education in England. Now, after spending almost two decades out in the cold, from 2010, local authorities are set to become re-involved in the further education system. Given this, this paper takes the opportunity to look back on the end of LEA control and reflect upon why further education colleges were removed from local authorities in the first place. It is acknowledged that the ideological stance of government was clearly an important factor in ending LEA control, and that the perceived need to make cost savings in the early 1990s also contributed to both the form and haste with which colleges were 'incorporated'. However, arguably the end of LEA control was as much a process as a single event. This paper traces the path that, it is argued, made up that long goodbye. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper seeks to extend understanding of how being responsible and accountable for performance impacts on control processes between organisations. Design/methodology/approach - The paper analyses empirical findings gathered from officers of two local education authorities about their control relationships with schools. It provides a Habermasian theoretically informed analysis of these control relationships. Control is studied as the steering processes that occur between organisations in response to regulation from government. Findings - The LEA officers employ the language of influence to conceal ongoing direct forms of control over schools. As the officers attempt to demonstrate their accountability to the Department of Education and Skills, they use communication and information strategically to steer schools towards their ways of thinking. Research limitations/implications - The paper focuses only on the views of LEA officers. Further research is required to ascertain the views of schools and other stakeholders in local education. Practical implications - Where regulatory bodies demand performance accountability from organisations, appropriate control mechanisms are necessary to ensure that organisations work in transparent ways towards regulatory objectives. Originality/value - Steering, responsibility, accountability and control are discussed in an educational context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The concept of conscientious objection is well described; however, because of its nature, little is known about real experiences of nursing professionals who apply objections in their practice. Extended roles in nursing indicate that clinical and value-based dilemmas are becoming increasingly common. In addition, the migration trends of the nursing workforce have increased the need for the mutual understanding of culturally based assumptions on aspects of health care delivery. Aim: To present (a) the arguments for and against conscientious objection in nursing practice, (b) a description of current regulations and practice regarding conscientious objection in nursing in Poland and the United Kingdom, and (c) to offer a balanced view regarding the application of conscientious objection in clinical nursing practice. Design: Discussion paper. Ethical considerations: Ethical guidelines has been followed at each stage of this study. Findings: Strong arguments exist both for and against conscientious objection in nursing which are underpinned by empirical research from across Europe. Arguments against conscientious objection relate less to it as a concept, but rather in regard to organisational aspects of its application and different mechanisms which could be introduced in order to reach the balance between professional and patient's rights. Discussion and conclusion: Debate regarding conscientious objection is vivid, and there is consensus that the right to objection among nurses is an important, acknowledged part of nursing practice. Regulation in the United Kingdom is limited to reproductive health, while in Poland, there are no specific procedures to which nurses can apply an objection. The same obligations of those who express conscientious objection apply in both countries, including the requirement to share information with a line manager, the patient, documentation of the objection and necessity to indicate the possibility of receiving care from other nurses. Using Poland and the United Kingdom as case study countries, this article offers a balanced view regarding the application of conscientious objection in clinical nursing practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context The white paper ‘Trust, Assurance and Safety: the Regulation of Health Professionals in the 21st Century’ proposes a single, generic multi-source feedback (MSF) instrument in the UK. Multi-source feedback was proposed as part of the assessment programme for Year 1 specialty training in histopathology. Methods An existing instrument was modified following blueprinting against the histopathology curriculum to establish content validity. Trainees were also assessed using an objective structured practical examination (OSPE). Factor analysis and correlation between trainees’ OSPE performance and the MSF were used to explore validity. All 92 trainees participated and the assessor response rate was 93%. Reliability was acceptable with eight assessors (95% confidence interval 0.38). Factor analysis revealed two factors: ‘generic’ and ‘histopathology’. Pearson correlation of MSF scores with OSPE performances was 0.48 ( P = 0.001) and the histopathology factor correlated more highly (histopathology r = 0.54, generic r = 0.42; t = − 2.76, d.f. = 89, P < 0.01). Trainees scored least highly in relation to ability to use histopathology to solve clinical problems (mean = 4.39) and provision of good reports (mean = 4.39). Three of six doctors whose means were < 4.0 received free text comments about report writing. There were 83 forms with aggregate scores of < 4. Of these, 19.2% included comments about report writing. Results Specialty-specific MSF is feasible and achieves satisfactory reliability. The higher correlation of the ‘histopathology’ factor with the OSPE supports validity. This paper highlights the importance of validating an MSF instrument within the specialty-specific context as, in addition to assuring content validity, the PATH–SPRAT (Histopathology–Sheffield Peer Review Assessment Tool) also demonstrates the potential to inform training as part of a quality improvement model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Castanea sativa is classified as non-indigenous in Britain and Ireland. It was long held that it was first introduced into Britain by the Romans, until a recent study found no corroborative evidence of its growing here before c. AD 650. This paper presents new data on the genetic diversity of C. sativa in Britain and Ireland and potential ancestral sources in continental Europe. Microsatellite markers and analytical methods tested in previous European studies were used to genotype over 600 C. sativa trees and coppice stools, sampled from ancient semi-natural woodlands, secondary woodlands and historic cultural sites across Britain and Ireland. A single overall genepool with a diverse admixture of genotypes was found, containing two sub groups differentiating Wales from Ireland, with discrete geographical and typological clusters. C. sativa genotypes in Britain and Ireland were found to relate predominantly to some sites in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Romania, but not to Greece, Turkey or eastern parts of Europe. C. sativa has come to Britain and Ireland from these western European areas, which had acted as refugia in the Last Glacial Maximum; we compare its introduction with the colonization/translocation of oak, ash, beech and hazel into Britain and Ireland. Clones of C. sativa were identified in Britain, defining for the first time the antiquity of some ancient trees and coppice stools, evincing both natural regeneration and anthropogenic propagation over many centuries and informing the chronology of the species’ arrival in Britain. This new evidence on the origins and antiquity of British and Irish C. sativa trees enhances their conservation and economic significance, important in the context of increasing threats from environmental change, pests and pathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out to review to what extent policies aimed at improving the quality of 'council-built' neighbourhoods achieved their objectives in the period 1975-2000, and the relevance of the experience for current policy. It discusses the main approaches to and diagnoses of problem estates, including the failure of the welfare state, the absence of enterprise, the failure of housing management, 'housing is not enough' and 'effort fragmentation', and provides an evaluation of the impacts of the main programmes, based mainly on the results of official evaluations. The paper notes the difficulties in making assessments of impacts in this area due to data shortcomings, but concludes that over 20 years of policies and programmes did not resolve the complex problems of these estates, nor reposition council-built estates from the bottom of the residential hierarchy. It suggests the reason for this failure was partly that the macro-economic climate and other government policies were countervailing, but also that policy lacked both clear goals and a good understanding of the problems to be faced. It also notes that housing improvements were often compromised by the failure to deal with wider problems. The paper argues that recent policy shows more promise, and seeks to better integrate mainstream spending programmes with area initiatives, although there is little evidence yet on how this is really working. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 30 years the housing system in England (and the rest of the UK) has undergone fundamental changes. This Special Issue of Housing Studies is based upon a major recent evaluation of English housing policy 1975-2000. This introductory paper outlines the aims and objectives of the evaluation, and its principal conclusions. It also sketches out the broader social and economic context for the evaluation, and provides a brief introduction to the substantive papers included in the Special Issue. These papers were selected to reflect the breadth of topics considered in the evaluation, and to represent the key housing policy debates and dilemmas that have contemporary resonance as well as historical significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent policy makers have sought to increase participation in full-time education beyond 16 and to broaden access among under-represented groups. Commentators on both sides of the border have drawn policy lessons from comparisons of the different UK systems, especially Scotland and England. This paper reviews the evidence on the level and distribution of participation in the four systems of the UK, using official statistics and survey data from the early 1990s. Participation has generally been highest in Northern Ireland and Scotland and lowest in England, but comparisons on a consistent age basis are less favourable to Scotland than those shown in official statistics. The average duration of participation is longest in Northern Ireland, whereas high Scottish participation at 16 is matched by a larger outflow at 17. Participation has risen throughout the UK since the 1980s but it has grown most steadily in Scotland, especially since the early 1990s. More females than males stay on beyond 16: the gender difference is largest in Northern Ireland and smallest in England. Throughout the UK higher attainers and youngsters from socially advantaged backgrounds are most likely to stay on, but these inequalities in participation are greatest in Scotland. School effects on participation are strongest in England and especially in Northern Ireland, where in addition to a selective-school effect there is most variability among schools of the same type. Participation varies locally but differences across the home countries cannot merely be attributed either to the social and educational composition of the age group or to the aggregate effects of local influences. The paper concludes that the benefits attributed to the flexibility of Scottish courses and qualifications need more critical scrutiny. There may be policy lessons from the apparently high participation rates in Northern Ireland, although better data are needed if such lessons are to be drawn with confidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mental health services in England, in common with many other European countries, have been the subject of sustained government attention during the 1990s. Since the election of the Labour administration in Britain in May 1997, mental health services have been discussed in most Department of Health documents on health and social care policy, and mental health services in England have a new national strategy. At the same time, the local provision of mental health services within NHS Trusts has been undergoing organisational change. This paper sets out the policy context and evidence base for the reorganisation of provider arrangements for mental health services. In addition, the results of a documentary analysis of unpublished reviews of provider arrangements in 10 localities are presented. The review identified three major themes: firstly, the reconfiguration of NHS Trusts is based around Specialist Mental Health Trusts and Community and Mental Health Trusts; secondly, the joint provision of services and/or the integration of services between health and social services is starting to appear and; thirdly, the delegation of responsibility to localities based on Primary Care Group/Social Services boundaries is being discussed. The paper discerns a number of trends and points to the need for further research, in particular into the relationship between organisational arrangements and effective service delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]