Search

The government’s health and care white paper, which forms its legislative plans for the NHS in England, was revealed on 5 February 2021 by the Health Policy Insight website.12 Doctors’ attitudes to NHS politics and policy making vary widely, as does their interest in them. Quite a few doctors choose to ignore the politics of the system and to deliver their best care in the system as it is. And for doctors in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland the government proposals will not make any difference because the NHS in those nations is organised differently. For doctors in England, however, the proposed legislation is relevant because it contains significant changes to the current system. It is also different because many, although not all, of these changes were requested by the English NHS’s leadership. There are two main changes in the proposed new legislation. One is to reverse almost every aspect of the Health and Social Care Act 2012. The …

On 19th February 2020, the European Commission published the long-awaited and pre-announced White Paper on artificial intelligence. In addition, the Commission published a document shaping Europe's digital future, a document on the European data strategy and a report on the impact of artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and robotics on security and liability . Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in her presentation of the new EU digital strategy that the objectives for shaping Europe's digital future cover “everything from cyber-security to critical infrastructures, digital education to skills, democracy to media" . Whether this promise has been fulfilled and to what extent it has been possible to focus on content will be examined below. For this purpose, the following article will discuss individual proposals from selected documents and address newly emerging liability issues arising in connection with the use of AI.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretically informed analysis of a struggle for power over the regulation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and social and environmental accounting and reporting (SEAR) within the European Union.Design/methodology/approachThe paper combines insights from institutional theory (Lawrence and Buchanan, 2017) with Vaara et al.’s (2006) and Vaara and Tienar’s (2008) discursive strategies approach in order to interrogate the dynamics of the institutional “arena” that emerged in 2001, following the European Commission’s publication of a Green Paper (GP) on CSR policy and reporting. Drawing on multiple sources of data (including newspaper coverage, semi-structured interviews and written submissions by companies and NGOs), the authors analyse the institutional political strategies employed by companies and NGOs – two of the key stakeholder groupings who sought to influence the dynamics and outcome of the European initiative.FindingsThe results show that the 2001 GP was a “triggering event” (Hoffman, 1999) that led to the formation of the institutional arena that centred on whether CSR policy and reporting should be voluntary or mandatory. The findings highlight how two separate, but related forms of power (systemic and episodic power) were exercised much more effectively by companies compared to NGOs. The analysis of the power initiatives and discursive strategies deployed in the arena provides a theoretically informed understanding of the ways in which companies acted in concert to reach their objective of maintaining CSR and SEAR as a voluntary activity.Originality/valueThe theoretical framework outlined in the paper highlights how the analysis of CSR and SEAR regulation can be enriched by examining the deployment of episodic and systemic power by relevant actors.

Purpose This paper aims to provide a comprehensive conceptual framework and strong arguments with an intent to examine the stock market variables (predictors) indicating the money laundering (ML) and terrorism financing (FT) proceeds. Design/methodology/approach This paper provides a comprehensive review of ML/FT through the stock market across developed, developing and emerging jurisdictions, sheds light on the existing literature and critically evaluates the gap in the relevant studies. Moving forward, this paper develops the conceptual framework and formulates hypotheses to explore the empirical relationship. Findings This paper advocates and finds a basis to carry out much-needed empirical research between the ML/FT and stock market keeping in view the growing criminal cases in the developing countries. This paper suggests mining proxies from the publically available stock market data and the results of existing seminal research as variables of the study. These data and results carry information about the ML determinants. After developing hypothetical research providing concepts, this paper also finds that using a suitable methodology, preferable Bayesian logistic and linear regression models, it is possible to find the typologies and factors that can indicate and endorse the use of the stock market for ML/FT. Broadly, it is found that the significance of this study will be two-pronged: empirical development and policy implications. Research limitations/implications This paper mainly focuses on the developing region, a newly emerging market and, peculiarly, a grey-listed region by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Practical implications In light of the existing literature and to the best of the researchers’ knowledge, this study will bring into focus the new age of the action research on the ML regime in the securities markets of the developing countries, hence, the emerging markets. Moreover, this research shall have a sheer significance for the policy measures on FATF recommendations on ML and FT, especially for the countries listed as “grey”. Social implications The research based on comprehensive review will help in controlling the social behaviours aiding the proceeds of ML. Originality/value This research is extremely novel to the best of the researcher's knowledge.

Due to the size and complexity of the NDIS reform, there has been a wealth of commentary and analysis developed by the government, academia and industry groups; sometimes in collaboration. In this document we identify and summarise 84 reports representing grey literature developed up to 2020 and relating to the NDIS, its management and the economic, social and policy milieu in which it operates.

M. Moore will present the solutions and next steps highlighted in WFPHA position paper to create a sense of ownership by all health professionals to align their efforts and advocacy for equitable and effective immunization.

Collaborative governance has emerged as a popular approach to address complex governance problems. In recent years, research within this tradition has studied the linkage between outputs—agreed upon courses of action and outcomes—and the impacts of those actions. Yet, collaborative arrangements (“collaboratives”) are likely to vary depending on their context and policy domain, making it difficult to draw generalizable insights about the linkage between outputs and outcomes. Furthermore, as collaboratives change over time (e.g., by building capacities, gathering resources, and fostering participant engagement), the nature of their respective processes—and outputs—also evolves. We argue that the burgeoning research on collaborative evolution thus needs a way to not only theoretically organize but also to identify what, in practice, reflects collaborative evolution. Assuming that evolution—or change in the collaborative process dynamics—occurs across different milestones (e.g., each iteration of deliberation and planning, successes and failures of implementation, or the participant dynamics therein), we argue that outputs should reflect those changes over time. This study builds on collaborative evolution research by offering a series of propositions on how collaboratives change throughout different periods of their lifecycle. With semiautomated text analysis techniques, we examine how outputs change over time for 10 different regional collaborative planning processes. Specifically, our study focuses on how outputs from each region’s planning process change between two time periods (2009–2011 and 2015–2017) in the state of Georgia. We observe temporal- and arrangement-specific variation in recommended actions and nominations of actors responsible for implementing such outputs. Our evaluation of commonly designed collaboratives convened by the State suggest that certain action types are associated with specific stages of the evolution of a collaborative, as well as case-specific dynamics that occur in individual collaboratives. La gobernanza colaborativa se ha convertido en un enfoque popular para abordar problemas complejos de gobernanza. Recientemente, investigaciones en esta tradición han estudiado los vínculos entre productos (“outputs”, en Inglés)—entendidas como cursos de acción acordados entre las partes—y resultados (“outcomes”, en Inglés), es decir, los impactos de esas acciones. Dado que los esquemas de gobernanza colaborativos pueden variar según su contexto y su área de trabajo, la generalización de resultados al estudiar el vínculo entre productos y resultados puede dificultarse. Además, a medida que las dinámicas de colaboración cambian con el tiempo (por ejemplo, mediante la creación de capacidades, la recopilación de recursos y cambios en las dinámicas de participación de los miembros), la naturaleza del proceso colaborativo, y sus dinámicas—y productos—también pueden cambiar. El creciente interés sobre la evolución de esquemas de gobernanza colaborativa necesita, por tanto, una forma no sólo de organizarse teóricamente, sino también de identificar los efectos de dicha evolución en la práctica. Suponiendo que la evolución, o el cambio en dinámicas del proceso colaborativo, ocurre a través de diferentes hitos (por ejemplo, nuevas instancias de deliberación y planificación, éxitos y fracasos de la implementación, o cambios en las dinámicas de participación), argumentamos que los productos generados por esquemas colaborativos deben reflejar esos cambios en el tiempo. Basándonos en la literatura sobre la evolución de esquemas de gobernanza colaborativa, ofrecemos una serie de proposiciones sobre cómo cambian las colaboraciones a lo largo de distintos períodos durante su ciclo de vida. Analizamos 10 procesos regionales de planificación colaborativa en el estado de Georgia (USA), aplicando técnicas de análisis de texto semiautomatizadas para examinar cómo cambian los productos de estos procesos a lo largo del tiempo. Nos enfocamos en cómo cambian los productos generados por cada proceso colaborativo en dos momentos (2009-2011 y 2015-2017). Los resultados demuestran la existencia de variaciones con respecto a las acciones recomendadas por cada producto y los actores mencionados a cargo implementar dichos productos. Ésto sugiere que ciertos tipos de acciones están asociadas a etapas específicas en la evolución de un esquema colaborativo, así como también la presencia de ciertas acciones presentes en algunos esquemas particulares.

This chapter investigates the historical and social context of cultural rights in Taiwan, and analyses specifically how researchers, artists, cultural practitioners, and the public have taken part in the managing, mismanaging, and upward-managing process of the project ‘2017 National Cultural Congress and Culture White Paper’ (2017 NCCWP). The authors suggest that a co-designed democratic mechanism, together with the empowering strategies, and co-governing/co-management strategies adopted by the Ministry of Culture, NPOs, and fence-straddling entities (e.g. advisory committees) are the key to facilitate people’s cultural rights in the case of 2017 NCCWP. Furthermore, everyday contacts between various cultural groups will benefit public participation in cultural affairs and strengthen peoples’ cultural rights. This chapter also explores the implications of the 2017 NCCWP case and the challenges of cultural rights in contemporary Taiwan.

Purpose This paper aims to study the effectiveness of the implementation of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations in the UK in an attempt to combat the laundering of proceeds of corruption. Design/methodology/approach A desk review of secondary resources was conducted to analyze available literature to examine the research topic. Findings The leakage of 11.5 million documents, known as the Panama papers, has revealed that the UK functioned as a safe haven for illicit and corrupt money. In an attempt to address this, the country called for a public registry of beneficial owners to disclose the identities of the owners of the incorporated corporations and to extend them to individuals abroad holding UK property. The FATF report recognizes the UK’s far-reaching regulation. Despite the measures taken, UK still faces serious risks with regard to the laundering of criminal proceeds, which demonstrates that technical compliance with FATF rules is not enough to effectively curb money laundering. Originality/value This study suggests that FATF rules’ effectiveness in identifying instances of laundering the proceeds of corruption is limited because of the deeply rooted system vulnerabilities and the rapid changes in money laundering trends.

The fatal conceit of foreign intervention refers to the limitations faced by governments using discretionary power to address perceived problems in foreign societies. Drawing on evidence from the “Afghanistan Papers”—a collection of internal government documents compiled by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) and released in December 2019—we demonstrate how the failure of the U.S.-led intervention in Afghanistan to meet the stated objectives illustrates the fatal conceit of foreign intervention. We explore the limitations faced by foreign government interveners in three stages, reflecting distinct decision nodes within a means-ends framework in which the policies relating to foreign intervention are formulated and implemented.

Purpose Taking into consideration the lively debate about recognition, measurement, and disclosure criteria for heritage assets (HA) in financial reporting, the purpose of this paper is to examine the comment letters submitted by governmental organizations regarding the consultation paper (CP) on HA in order to understand what is the position of the governmental organizations in relation to critical issues of the accounting and financial reporting of HA. Design/methodology/approach From a methodological point of view, a content analysis was performed. First, the responses were classified according to level of agreement with the 13 items included in the CP on HA; second, the arguments adduced by respondents in supporting or contradicting the proposed approaches and definitions have been investigated. Findings The majority of responses came from countries with relevant differences in culture, administrative traditions and accounting systems. Governmental organizations strongly agreed with the recognition of heritage items as “assets” in financial reporting, while conflicting positions on measuring bases were identified. Originality/value This study is one of the few studies based on the content of the comment letters received in response to the CP on HA. The present study can also give an idea of the content of the future IPSAS on HA. Moreover, it is the first study attempting to enrich the debate on governmental organizations’ participation to the IPSAS standard-setting process.

The organisation of the 24-h day for hospital nurses in two 12-h shifts has been introduced with value propositions of reduced staffing costs, better quality of care, more efficient work organisation, and increased nurse recruitment and retention. While existing reviews consider the impact of 12-h shifts on nurses’ wellbeing and performance, this discussion paper aims to specifically shed light on whether the current evidence supports the value propositions around 12-h shifts. We found little evidence of the value propositions being realised. Staffing costs are not reduced with 12-h shifts, and outcomes related to productivity and efficiency, including sickness absence and missed nursing care are negatively affected. Nurses working 12-h shifts do not perform more safely than their counterparts working shorter shifts, with evidence pointing to a likely negative effect on safe care due to increased fatigue and sleepiness. In addition, nurses working 12-h shifts may have access to fewer educational opportunities than nurses working shorter shifts. Despite some nurses preferring 12-h shifts, the literature does not indicate that this shift pattern leads to increased recruitment, with studies reporting that nurses working long shifts are more likely to express intention to leave their job. In conclusion, there is little if any support for the value propositions that were advanced when 12-h shifts were introduced. While 12-h shifts might be here to stay, it is important that the limitations, including reduced productivity and efficiency, are recognised and accepted by those in charge of implementing schedules for hospital nurses.

The South African land control system has always, to some extent, been interfered with by government. Interventions in the course of the twentieth century in particular have resulted in an unequal, fragmented and diverse land control system. The law has been integral to this process. Since 1994, within a constitutional paradigm, interventions have been aimed at untangling the complex web of land-related measures so as to affect an equitable, co-ordinated and less complex land system. In this process law - including policy documents, plans, programmes and legislative measures - is again integral. The aim of this contribution is to ascertain whether, under the present government, the mechanics of intervention within the land reform arena have resulted overall in a sensible, workable framework within which challenges and weaknesses linked to land reform can be addressed effectively. In this regard both the structural and material dimensions of recent interventions are set out. Within this context the most recent intervention dealing with land reform in particular, the Green Paper on Land Reform of 2011, is placed in perspective and investigated further in light of the recent National Development Plan. Specific themes that have resonated in the recent mechanics of intervention, as well as the persons and communities who stand to be affected by them and the possible extent of their collective impact, are thereafter discussed. Due to the general vagueness of the Green Paper and its lack of depth and detail, the extent of the impact of the recent measures cannot be ascertained fully. The alignment of the new bodies and institutions proposed by and their contribution to actually addressing the challenges identified in the Green Paper are furthermore problematic and disappointing. Excluding vast portions of rural land comprising communal areas from all of the recent tenure-related measures is especially disconcerting. Clearly, huge gaps prevail in the resultant framework. Overall, the analysis of the recent structural and material dimensions of the recent mechanics underlines that further engineering is urgently required.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to engage a contentious World Bank publication beyond its controversy. In particular, it assesses mechanisms that facilitate elite capture of foreign aid and potential strategies of accountability.Design/methodology/approachThis paper adopts desk research methodology, relying primarily upon journal papers, books and internet sources related to international development and corruption.FindingsThis paper isolates three factors that contribute to elite capture of foreign aid: the codified secrecy of offshore tax havens, customary clientelism and decentralised aid. Regarding accountability measures, it advocates decreasing livelihood dependence on local elites and encouraging meaningful involvement by civil society.Originality/valueThis paper de-sensationalises the controversial World Bank working paper, providing a contextualised reading that at the time of publication does not yet exist.

In March 2021, the UK Government presented its “Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy.” The launch of this 111-page document had been eagerly awaited by the securit...

The UK's recent Improving Lives Green Paper, and the new joint Work and Health Unit that penned it, offers a genuine window of opportunity for much-needed transformative change in service user experiences and system performance around health-related unemployment. Its analysis of the current system problems and its articulation of the UK's need for a better integrated future work-health system are well-considered. Its proposed reforms to bridge the gap are, however, inadequate. Focusing on this conversion gap, the article highlights the central but neglected role of three Cs (capacity, conditionality, connectivity) urgently needed to come to the aid of the Green Paper vision if it is to realise its potential.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s a process was started that would lead to the single currency in Europe. The choice made for its governance relied on an intergovernmental monitoring over convergence, based on the strict compliance to the Maastricht criteria. The White Paper of the Delors's Commission on Growth, Competitiveness, Employment was issued in September 1993 to face the new internal and external threats to the European economies. It provided a framework for policy-action that should accompany the building of the euro and help the European economy survive the challenges of globalization, sustainability and new ICTs. The paper aims to examine the White Paper of 1993, and to analyse the reasons why it was neglected and eventually set aside by the member States, thus weakening the long-term prospects of the European economy and the sustainability of the forthcoming European single currency.

In its long-anticipated white paper on housing, the government promised “bold new plans” to fix a broken market, but experts are disappointed, finding in it much blame and tinkering but few solutio...