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The UK has seen little progress in reducing road death over the last decade and as a result, the government has been criticised by industry stakeholders for a lack of leadership, including the removal of national targets in 2011 and the devolution of powers to a municipal level. The aim of this paper is to understand how decision-making at a municipal level takes place from a systems perspective, using the case study of Cambridgeshire. Actors involved were mapped using a STAMP control structure analysis and highlighted a key role for formal and informal partnerships between local and national government agencies and non-government organisations at the same level in the control structure. The changing international context of the model for the UK is also discussed in relation to the UK's withdrawal from the European Union and provides a useful tool for future analysis of its effect on policy and decision-making. Practitioner summary: This paper uses a STAMP control structure analysis to understand how decision-making at a municipal level takes place from a systems perspective, using the case study of Cambridgeshire. It highlights a key role for formal and informal partnerships between organisations at the same level in the control structure. Abbreviations: STAMP: System Theoretic Accident Model and Processes; STAMP-CAST: Systems-Theoretic Accident Model and Processes – Causal Analysis using Systems Theory; FRAM: Functional Resonance Analysis Method; HFACS: Human Factors Analysis and Classification Scheme; NGO: Non-Government organisation; iRAP: International Road Assessment Programme; EuroRAP: European Road Assessment Programme; NCAP: New Car Assessment Programme; CCG: Clinical Commissioning Group; GP: General Practitioner; PPE: Personal Protective Equipment; SD: standard deviation; Beds: Bedfordshire; Cambs: Cambridgeshire; Herts: Hertfordshire; Pboro: Peterborough. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Due to an increasingly elderly population, a higher incidence of chronic diseases and higher expectations regarding public service provision, healthcare services are under increasing strain to cut costs while maintaining quality. The importance of promoting systems of co-produced health between stakeholders has gained considerable traction both in the literature and in public sector policy debates. This study provides a comprehensive map of the extant literature and identifies the main themes and future research needs.Methods: A quantitative bibliometric analysis was carried out consisting of a performance analysis, science mapping, and a scientific collaboration analysis. Web of Science (WoS) was chosen to extract the dataset; the search was refined by language, i.e. English, and type of publication, i.e. journal academic articles and reviews. No time limitation was selected.Results: The dataset is made up of 295 papers ranging from 1994 to May 2019. The analysis highlighted an annual percentage growth rate in the topic of co-production of about 25%. The articles retrieved are split between 1225 authors and 148 sources. This fragmentation was confirmed by the collaboration analysis, which revealed very few long-lasting collaborations. The scientific production is geographically polarised within the EU and Anglo-Saxon countries, with the United Kingdom playing a central role. The intellectual structure consists of three main areas: public administration and management, service management and knowledge translation literature. The co-word analysis confirms the relatively low scientific maturity of co-production applied to health services. It shows few well-developed and central terms, which refer to traditional areas of co-production (e.g. public health, social care), and some emerging themes related to social and health phenomena (e.g. the elderly and chronic diseases), the use of technologies, and the recent patient-centred approach to care (patient involvement/engagement).Conclusions: The field is still far from being mature. Empirical practices, especially regarding co-delivery and co-management as well as the evaluation of their real impacts on providers and on patients are lacking and should be more widely investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comparison of time delays in the awarding of public sector contracts in the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. The problem of these time delays has not been adequately addressed in the academic literature. The authors analysed the factors impacting on time delays in each country. A significant portion of GDP, in all countries, is allocated via public procurement. This paper compares the length of procurement procedures in the Czech Republic and the UK and the reasons for delays. The authors highlight the absence of public policies on procurement in the Czech Republic. A basic prerequisite for improving the results of public procurement is for all actors in the process to be involved and committed: officials and politicians and the public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper systematically analyzes the discourse of quality in public policies and reforms of the U.K. National Health Service (NHS) between 1983 and 2013. It identifies a subtle and cumulative but highly significant movement in which "quality" is transformed from a vague and largely undefined promise related to the pursuit and extension of New Public Management (NPM) doctrines into a set of catch‐all and seemingly apolitical norms for contemplating and undertaking reform. This finding contributes to debates about whether and to what extent NPM is "dead," "comatose," "very much alive," and so forth, showing that quality simultaneously displaces NPM as the source of catch‐all administrative norms, and also reinvigorates and embeds them within and as part of medical professionalism though with new points of emphasis and twists. Pointing to generalizable mechanisms underlying this transformation, this paper highlights a growing international quality improvement movement as offering a new and consequential set of reform doctrines, to borrow Hood's terms, "for all seasons." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore what has happened to the notion and reality of equal pay over the past 50 years, a period in which women have become the majority of trade union members in the UK. It does so in the context of record employment levels based upon women’s increased labour market participation albeit reflecting their continued over-representation in part-time employment, locating the narrowed but persistent overall gender pay gap in the broader picture of pay inequality in the UK. Design/methodology/approach – The paper considers voluntary and legal responses to inequality and the move away from voluntary solutions in the changed environment for unions. Following others it discusses the potential for collective bargaining to be harnessed to equality in work, a potential only partially realised by unions in a period in which their capacity to sustain collective bargaining was weakened. It looks at the introduction of a statutory route to collective bargaining in 2000, the National Minimum Wage from 1999 and at the Equality Act 2010 as legislative solutions to inequality and in terms of radical and liberal models of equality. Findings – The paper suggests that fuller employment based upon women’s increased labour market activity have not delivered an upward pressure on wages and has underpinned rather than closed pay gaps and social divisions. Legal measures have been limited in the extent to which they have secured equal pay and wider social equality, whilst state support for collective solutions to equality has waned. Its replacement by a statutory minimum wage initially closed pay gaps, but appears to have run out of steam as employers accommodate minimum hourly rates through the reorganisation of working time. Social implications – The paper suggests that statutory minima or even voluntary campaigns to lift hourly wage rates may cut across and even supersede wider existing collective bargaining agreements and as such they can reinforce the attack on collective bargaining structures, supporting arguments that this can reduce representation over pay, but also over a range of other issues at work (Ewing and Hendy, 2013), including equality. Originality/value – There are then limitations on a liberal model which is confined to promoting equality at an organisational level in a public sector subject to wider market forces. The fragmentation of bargaining and representation that has resulted will continue if the proposed dismantling of public services goes ahead and its impact upon equality is already suggested in the widening of the gender pay gap in the public sector in 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses conflicts associated with policies to protect the built heritage. Such conflicts relate to a host of tensions between private and public concerns and specifically between pro-development and pro-conservation approaches. To examine these cleavages, the paper operationalises private and public concerns over heritage by asking if there is a recognisable set of justifications that policy-makers use for supporting a pro-conservation or alternatively a pro-development approach? To do this, the paper looks at appeals decided by Her Majesty’s Planning Inspectors in London. The findings show that although they are not dichotomous, public and private interests in heritage development can be factually recognised in the setting of appeals. Moreover, the paper finds that Planning Inspectors often channel conflicts through the prism of certain public interests, namely, protecting architectural and physical attributes of the building and its surroundings. Although inspectors are instructed to actively weigh in other (potentially overriding) considerations in heritage appeals, such as socio-economic and proprietary issues, these considerations do not appear to have the same standing within the decision-making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Department of Education and Science, led by then Secretary of State Margaret Thatcher, published a White Paper in December 1972 calling for a dramatic expansion of public nursery education, so that it might be available within a decade to all families with 3- and 4-year-old children who chose to utilize it. While this failed policy is seldom remembered today, and Thatcher's efforts to promote the care and education of young children are not considered part of her considerable legacy, the White Paper's policy propositions challenge understandings about the formation and consistency of both Britain's child care policy and 'Thatcherism'. During this period, Thatcher believed that extending the frontiers of the state was appropriate to promote child welfare during the crucial first years of life. She conceived of nursery education as serving a developmental and educational purpose for all children, quite separate from welfare provisions for poor families or work supports for women. It is this crucial, albeit arbitrary, distinction which explains how nursery education was envisaged as an exception to her advocacy of cutting welfare spending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the mutual disruption and support of economic growth and health improvement in the last 500 years in the UK.Design/methodology/approach The paper is a general review and it compares institutional development, public policy, technological advances and scientific discoveries in economic growth with those in health improvement.Findings The paper finds the co-existence of slower economic growth and less increasing life expectancy from 1541 to 1871 and that of faster economic growth and rising life expectancy from 1871 to 2001. It is organized health improvement that effectively propelled economic growth in the time span of 1871-2001.Research limitations/implications The findings may contribute to the literature on mutual enhancement between economic growth and health improvement.Practical implications The findings may also provide implications to the policy makers how important organized health improvement is to economic growth.Social implications The findings show that when UK Government was leading in organized health improvement for the population, economic grown got propelled into a faster lane.Originality/value This paper is among the first to unveil that a socially responsible government has permanent impact on the paths of both economic and social growth. It has value to other researchers attempting to understand the mutual disruption and support of economic growth and health improvement in the historical UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policymakers are liable to 'treasure what is measured' and overlook phenomena that are not. In an era of increased reliance on administrative data, existing policies also often determine what is measured in the first place. We explore this two-way interaction between measurement and policy in the context of the investment incomes and capital gains that are missing from the UK's official income statistics. We show that these 'missing incomes' change the established picture of economic inequality over the past decade, revealing rising top income shares during the period of austerity. The underestimation of these forms of income in official statistics has hidden the impact of tax policies that disproportionately benefit the wealthiest. We urge a renewed focus on how policy affects and is affected by measurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the UK a 'crisis' has been manufactured around the so-called baby boomer generation. It has been claimed that this demographic (those born between 1946 and 1964) have benefitted from supportive public policies throughout their lives and are still continuing to access advantages but at some cost to younger generations. For example, policies that offer protection against age discrimination coupled with the end of mandatory retirement have offered baby boomers the opportunity to extend their working lives. In choosing to remain in paid work when they could have retired, it has been claimed that older workers limit employment opportunities for younger people. This paper explores the perceptions and experiences of twelve older academics from the baby boomer generation who have stayed on in their posts and asks questions about social justice issues; that is, issues of distribution, inclusion and recognition. We argue that discourses that malign and/or exclude older academics need to be disrupted and that a kinder alignment between employers, managers, and differently-aged university employees may go some way to dispelling any concerns about intergenerational unfairness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years have seen an explosion of interest in basic income proposals. While this is not an entirely new phenomenon, what is different about the current discourse is the Left's wholehearted embrace of what has traditionally been seen as a conservative social policy in Britain. It is my contention that UBI is potentially a dangerous policy for the Left, in that it risks undermining the – admittedly imperfect – welfare protections already in existence. This paper draws on Marxist political economy in order to demonstrate how the emancipatory potential of UBI has been somewhat overstated by some of its Leftist supporters, while a discussion of the neutrality of the State is important in considering how this 'shape-shifting social policy' is likely to be implemented in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Docherty I. and Mackie P. Planning for transport in the wake of Stern and Eddington, Regional Studies. The recent Stern and Eddington Reports for the UK Treasury emphasize the significance of the linkages between transport, land use, the environment, and the economy. Against that background, the purpose of this paper is to consider the future of transport planning in England given the liberalizing thrust of the Barker Review on land-use planning and the subsequent White Paper Planning for a Sustainable Future (2007). In reviewing the demographic and economic assumptions of the White Paper, it is concluded that in certain respects there are important mismatches between the emerging government policy on strategic planning and the Stern and Eddington Reports. [image omitted] Docherty I. et Mackie P. Planifier le transport a la suite des rapports de Stern et d'Eddington, Regional Studies. Les recents rapports Stern et Eddington, rediges au nom du ministere des Finances au Royaume-Uni, soulignent l'importance des liens qui existent entre le transport, l'occupation du sol, l'environnement et l'economie. Sur un tel fond, cet article cherche a considerer le futur de la planification du transport en Angleterre etant donne l'impulsion liberalisee donnee par la Barker Review sur l'occupation du sol et vu le projet de loi ulterieur Planifier un avenir durable (2007). En faisant la critique des suppositions demographiques et economiques du projet de loi, on conclut qu'il y a a certains egards d'importantes disparites entre la politique gouvernementale sur la planification strategique et les rapports Stern et Eddington. Transport Planification Avenir durable Occupation du sol Docherty I. und Mackie P. Verkehrsplanung im Anschluss an Stern und Eddington, Regional Studies. In den jungsten Berichten von Stern und Eddington fur das britische Finanzministerium wird die Bedeutung der Verknupfungen zwischen Verkehr, Landnutzung, Umwelt und Wirtschaft betont. Vor diesem Hintergrund soll mit diesem Beitrag die Zukunft der Verkehrsplanung in England untersucht werden, insbesondere im Hinblick auf die Liberalisierungsbemuhungen im Barker-Gutachten zur Planung der Landnutzung sowie in der anschliessendem Weissbuchplanung fur nachhaltige Zukunft (2007). Nach einer Uberprufung der demografischen und wirtschaftlichen Annahmen des Weissbuchs ziehen wir den Schluss, dass die entstehende Regierungspolitik zur strategischen Planung hinsichtlich bestimmter Aspekte erheblich von Sterns und Eddingtons Berichten abweicht. Verkehr Planung Nachhaltigkeit Landnutzung Docherty I. y Mackie P. Planificacion para el transporte tras Stern y Eddington, Regional Studies. En los recientes informes de Stern y Eddington para el Ministerio de Hacienda del Reino Unido se pone de relieve la importancia de los vinculos entre transporte, uso del suelo, medio ambiente y economia. Con estos datos, en este articulo analizamos el futuro de la planificacion del transporte en Inglaterra, teniendo en cuenta el empuje liberal del Informe Barker sobre la planificacion del uso del suelo y la posterior Planificacion del Libro Blanco para un Futuro Sostenible (2007). Al revisar las hipotesis demograficas y economicas del Libro Blanco, concluimos que en ciertos aspectos existen importantes incompatibilidades entre la nueva politica gubernamental sobre la planificacion estrategica y los Informes de Stern y Eddington. Transporte Planificacion Sostenibilidad Uso del suelo [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the significance of the Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland. The Act of Union between the two countries which come into force on January 1, 1800 was the outcome of immediate military necessity. It was also the outcome of decades of spasmodic thought by politicians on both sides of the Irish Sea concerning the relationship between the two islands. But while the overall intention was undoubtedly an integrative one, a failure to understand the nature of Irish politics and society together with the pressing imperatives of war with France generated a casual and shallow attitude towards administrative detail and undermined those master plans.

This paper provides an overview of the Home‐School Knowledge Exchange Project and an introduction to this special issue on home–school knowledge exchange. The paper starts by situating the project within a number of contexts—those of UK educational research, national and international interest in home–school relationships, national and local priorities around literacy, numeracy and primary/secondary transfer, and theoretical work on ‘funds of knowledge’. The paper then goes on to show how these contextual factors influenced the project's aims and design. The paper ends by identifying a number of important themes and issues in the area of home–school knowledge exchange, and shows how these are illuminated by the papers presented in this volume. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young carers are the subject of public policies in the UK, which aim to address their needs as a group experiencing disadvantage relating to their caring role. These policies are implemented in a way that aims to improve their health and their educational and social opportunities, but left unaddressed is a wider context of inequalities. Nevertheless, inequalities are a feature of the terrain upon which social policies for young carers are developed and implemented. Evaluation of the ways that young carers and their families are impacted by public policies demands an understanding of those inequalities. Academic knowledge of how experiences diverge as a result of multiple intersecting inequalities is so far limited. This paper reports from a study that aimed to contribute greater understanding of the interaction between inequalities, young carers, family life and social policies in England. Ethnographic research methods created a record of care, family life and the impact of social policies. Unequal conditions of care are an important feature of the lives of young people and their families with on-going caring responsibilities. Young carers and their families positioned at the intersection of inequalities of 'race'/ethnicity, class and disability had different and unequal experiences of support. The paper discusses these findings and explores the implications for social policies and social work practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a commentary on the article "Political engagement in the 2019 UK general election of patients with autism and/or a learning disability detained in a psychiatric hospital". Design/methodology/approach: This paper considers the wider issue of political participation by persons with disabilities, especially those whose freedom is restricted. Findings: Access to voting rights remains problematic for many disabled people. It is crucial that this basic form of political participation is ensured, but there is further to go. Originality/value: This paper suggests the need for greater attention to and support for disabled peoples' right to political participation, including people with learning disabilities and autism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to illustrate the tension between public health and civil liberties through the case study of the UK government's emergency response to the Covid-19 pandemic. In the area of public health, this tension is predominantly approached by reference to two theories: liberalism and communitarianism. This paper studies these positions and how they are manifested in evidence-based policymaking by combining a study of public health policy with a study of public health ethics. The studies help demonstrate the UK government's framing of health policy relating to Covid-19 in terms of liberalism and communitarianism. The paper concludes that in the initial UK government response to Covid-19, the government discourse evoked communitarian values and framed its policies as being evidence-led and as prioritising public health. However, the policy measures themselves manifested liberal values: they had the underlying concern of not infringing excessively on civil liberties, and individuals were given autonomy of decision making within the measures that were taken. The article concluded that emergency times require a communitarian response based on preventative action. This article is the first to combine public health policy with public health ethics to demonstrate how values form a key part of decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to update the core data set of self-neglect safeguarding adult reviews (SARs) and accompanying thematic analysis. It also explores whether lessons are being learned from the findings and recommendations of an increasing number of reviews on self-neglect cases. Design/methodology/approach: Further published reviews are added to the core data set, mainly drawn from the websites of safeguarding adults boards (SABs). Thematic analysis is updated using the domains used previously. The domains and the thematic analysis are grounded in the evidence-based model of good practice, reported in this journal previously. Findings: Familiar findings emerge from the thematic analysis and reinforce the evidence-base of good practice with individuals who self-neglect and for policies and procedures with which to support those practitioners working with such cases. Multiple exclusion homelessness and alcohol misuse are prominent. Some SABs are having to return to further cases of self-neglect to review, inviting scrutiny of what is (not) being learned from earlier findings and recommendations. Research limitations/implications: The national database of reviews commissioned by SABs remains incomplete. The Care Act 2014 does not require publication of reports but only a summary of findings and recommendations in SAB annual reports. National Health Service Digital annual data sets do not enable the identification of reviews by types of abuse and neglect. However, the first national analysis of SARs has found self-neglect to be the most prominent type of abuse and/or neglect reviewed. Drawing together the findings builds on what is known about the components of effective practice, and effective policy and organisational arrangements for practice. Practical implications: Answering the question "why" remains a significant challenge for SARs. The findings confirm the relevance of the evidence-base for effective practice but SARs are limited in their analysis of what enables and what obstructs the components of best practice. Greater explicit use of research and other published SARs might assist with answering the "why" question. Greater scrutiny is needed of the impact of the national legal, policy and financial context within which adult safeguarding is situated. Originality/value: The paper extends the thematic analysis of available reviews that focus on study with adults who self-neglect, further reinforcing the evidence base for practice. Propositions are explored, concerned with whether learning is being maximised from the process of case review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dual or multiple earnership has been considered an important factor to prevent in-work poverty. The aim of this paper is to quantify the impact of second earnership on the risk of in-work poverty and the role of the tax-benefit system in moderating this risk. Our analysis refers to 2014 and employs EUROMOD, the tax-benefit microsimulation model for the European Union and the United Kingdom. In order to assess the role of second earners in preventing in-work poverty we simulate a counterfactual scenario where second earners become unemployed. Our results show that the effect of net replacement rates (i.e. the ratio of household income before and after the transition of second earners to unemployment) on the probability of in-work poverty is negative and statistically significant, but in relative terms it appears to be small compared to the effects of individual labour market characteristics, such as low pay and part-time employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses policies and practices designed to support digital transformation in the tourism workforce in six OECD countries, namely Germany, Greece, Iceland, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Data for the project were gathered via a questionnaire survey, interviews with key informants and examination of various policy documents in 2021. Contrasting practice in relation to digital skills development is revealed. Significant deficiencies are evident in relation to the availability of high‐quality data, evaluation, understanding, leadership, and infrastructure among the six countries. Ways in which effective policy development might emerge are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthcare on both sides of the Atlantic is a highly charged political and economic subject. This work considers US media coverage of the UK's National Health Service (NHS), an under-researched area. We assess the framing of the NHS in editorials, opinion and feature articles during the time of the Obama administration to show how media can perform the role of lesson-drawing, a theory adopted from public policy research. The study also applies the notion of journalistic habitus in this context. Using these ideas, we address a hypothesis which holds that US coverage is framed around the flaws of the UK's NHS. The paper considers how intermedia editorial and news values operate, with commentators drawing a range of negative lessons in both the Democrat- and Republican-supporting press. We find that the NHS was often posited as a flawed international variant of the single-payer model, where newspapers employed an ahistoric explanation of failure and decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As in many European states, a shortage of housing in England has resulted in some families who are 'waiting for' adequate and secure housing in England while also having the 'weight of' their children being placed outside their care hanging over them. This paper reports on the development of a practice guidance document that included an online survey with 38 children's social services practitioners in England regarding their practice experiences of responding to family homelessness. Findings suggest the complexity of the issue of family homelessness and implicitly highlight its neglect within contemporary research and policy in the UK. Homeless families are caught between the constraints of housing shortages and the complexity of the needs underpinning their homelessness. Despite these constraints, social work practice has an important role to play in providing, or facilitating families' pathway to, housing advocacy and advice. Most importantly of all, social work practice can maximise families' access to statutory family support provision so that families can be helped to remain together wherever this is safely possible. Suggestions for practice, policy, and research development are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Purpose: Considerable attention has been given to the vulnerability of young people leaving care in the UK in their transition to adulthood. To date, however, there has been limited focus on the perceptions of care leavers about what factors enable and inhibit effective practice. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach: This systematic literature review sought to elicit the views of UK care leavers in identifying barriers and facilitators to the process of transition to adulthood. Qualitative studies in the care-leaving field were identified, of which seven met inclusion criteria and were included in the final synthesis. Findings: The findings yielded a range of facilitators, including authentic and consistent relationships with those acting in the role of corporate parent; and flexible systems, which accommodated personal readiness for leaving care. Barriers included insufficient recognition of, and a lack of support for, the psychological dimensions of transition, exacerbated by insufficient support networks. Research limitations/implications: This literature search yielded seven qualitative papers, some with small sample sizes, meaning that the findings may not be representative of a wider population or directly relevant to international contexts. Practical implications: Suggestions for enhancing the transition process are posited. In particular, the potential usefulness of an "interdependence" transition approach for UK care leavers is proposed. Originality/value: This study analyses qualitative data, thus constituting a response to policy calls for care leaver views to be central to transition processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since European Union (EU) enlargement in 2003, labour migration from East to West and South to North has increased. It is to be expected that a share of these workers will want to retire in their host countries. According to the academic literature, EU legislation protects such mobility well by allowing the transfer of rights accrued in any EU country to another. However, such research has focused on legislation, not outcomes. We know little about how migration will affect the financial status of retired migrants in their host country and their ability to sustain a life there, should they stay after retirement. Using migration, wage and pension policy data (Eurostat, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), this paper projects the post-retirement incomes of a range of hypothetical EU migrants, selected in relation to the most common migratory flows since 2003. After having worked in their home countries (Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Italy) for at least ten years, these people move to richer countries (Italy, Spain, Germany, United Kingdom) and work there for at least 30 years. To determine whether they can remain settled after decades of labour force participation in the host country, the paper adds their pension entitlements from home and host countries and compares this income with the relative poverty line of the host countries. This shows that good portability of entitlements matters little when these are very low because of a large wage gap between home and host country. Thus, after at least 30 years of enjoying all citizenship rights as workers, most of these individuals are projected to receive incomes below the relative poverty line of their host countries and thus experience a sharp drop in this status. Their citizenship is diminished. The paper concludes by considering policies that could avoid such an outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on insider accounts from UK Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) officials to analyse the relationship between evidence and policy making at a time of rapid policy development relating to Universal Credit (UC). The paper argues, firstly, that evidence selection within the DWP was constrained by the overarching austerity paradigm, which constituted a Zeitgeist and had a significant bearing on the evidence selection and translation process, sharpening the focus of policy officials and analysts on the primacy of quantitative evidence when advising Ministers. Secondly, while methodological preferences (or an 'evidence hierarchy') impacted on evidence selection, this was not as significant as practitioners' perceived capabilities to handle and develop evidence for policy. These capabilities were linked to departmental structures and constrained by political feasibility. Together, these dimensions constituted a significant filtration mechanism determining the kinds of evidence that were selected for policy development and those omitted, particularly in relation to UC. The paper contributes to debates about the contemporary role of evidence in policymaking and the potential of the relationship between future evidence production and use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of a 'no deal' or 'hard' Brexit on the recognition of insolvency proceedings commenced in the UK by the remaining Member States of the European Union (EU) post‐Brexit. The paper considers the framework currently implemented by the Recast European Insolvency Regulation and the possible approaches when it will cease to apply to proceedings commenced post‐Brexit. The paper identifies that there will be no overarching framework in the event that 'no deal' is reached between the UK and the EU for post‐Brexit arrangements, resulting in reliance on individual Member States' domestic laws to determine recognition of insolvency proceedings commenced in the UK. The paper sets out the contrasting approaches of five of the UK's key trading partners in the EU: France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain. The paper concludes that UK insolvency proceedings will not be recognised in a consistent manner in these Member States, which will be detrimental to stakeholders in, and ultimately the economies of, the UK and these Member States. In doing so, the paper underlines the importance of an agreement being reached between the UK and the EU on the recognition of cross‐border insolvency proceedings for the benefit of all parties. Copyright © 2018 The Authors International Insolvency Review published by INSOL International and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to analyse the levels of access to healthcare available to undocumented migrants in the Italian and British health systems through a comparative analysis of health policies for this population in these two national health systems. Design/methodology/approach - It builds on textual and legal analysis to explore the different meanings that the principle of universal access to healthcare might have according to literature and legal documents in the field, especially those from the human rights domain. Then, the concept of universal access, in theory, is contrasted with actual health policies in each of the selected countries to establish its meaning in practice and according to the social context. The analysis relies on policy papers, data on health expenditure, legal statutes and administrative regulations and is informed by one research question: What background conditions better explain more universal and comprehensive health systems for undocumented migrants? Findings - By answering this research question the paper concludes that the Italian health system is more comprehensive than the British health system insofar it guarantees access free of charge to different levels of care, including primary, emergency, preventive and maternity care, while the rule in the British health system is the recovering of charges for the provision of services, with few exceptions. One possible legal explanation for the differences in access between Italy and UK is the fact that the right to health is not recognised as a fundamental constitutional right in the latter as it is in the former. Originality/value - The paper contributes to ongoing debates on Universal Health Coverage and migration, and dialogues with recent discussions on social justice and welfare state typologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how localized (organization-level) actors of policy initiatives that are inspired by neoliberal ideologies use management accounting and control practices. Specifically, it addresses the operational stages of a case study Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract within the United Kingdom's (UK's) transport sector of roads for embedding government objectives in the underlying project road. Design/methodology/approach: This paper adopts Dean's (2010) analytics of government to unpack the accounting-based control practices within the case study contract in order to articulate how, at the micro level, the government's objective of improving road-users' safety is enacted, modified and maintained through such regimes. Findings: Drawing on a content-based analysis of UK government PFI policy and extensive case study-specific documents, together with interviews and observations, this research provides theoretical insights about how control practices, at a distance without direct intervention, function as forms of power for government for shaping the performance of the PFI contractor. The authors find that the public sector's accounting control regimes in the case study project have a constraining effect on "real partnership working" between the government and private contractors and on the private sector's incentive to innovate. Research limitations/implications: By analyzing a single road case study PFI contract, the findings may not be generalizable. Originality/value: This paper provides significant theoretically informed insights about how public service delivery that is outsourced to private contractors is controlled by government at a distance within complex organizational arrangements (e.g. PFI). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes how the large budget deficits of 2020 in the United States and the United Kingdom were financed, how central banks are in practice managed not just short-term interest rates but also yields on government bonds, and how their ability to resist a post-coronavirus surge in inflation has been compromised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within what is known as the post-truth era, politicians strategically trade in alternative interpretations of data, make bold populist claims and on occasions be completely dishonest for party political gains. Such practices coincide with ever-declining trust in politicians and the democratic system, a phenomenon common to both Spain and the UK. We enquire whether public mistrust is deserved exploring the extent party leaders employ misinformation as part of their strategic communication. The paper analyses falsehoods made by political leaders as determined by major fact-checking sites EFE Verifica and Newtral in Spain, and the UK's BBC Reality Check and Full Fact. We categorise falsehoods as misinformation, alternative facts, bullshit or lies. Results show right-wing parties most responsible for all forms of falsehoods, or they are most likely to face analysis from factcheckers. Falsehoods are used by governments defending their policies, but also by oppositions to attack the government; especially alternative facts. The overwhelming majority of policy attacks based on false information are from opposition parties, particularly Spanish parties on the right. The flagrant use of bullshit and lies, while simultaneously calling out their more mainstream opponents for similar practices, poisons the notion of democratic pluralism and makes low public trust seem perfectly justified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children and young people's (CYP) life chances depend heavily on family resources. This paper reports a rapid review of qualitative/mixed method studies about Universal Credit undertaken with CYP in the UK; subsequently expanded to include additional descriptors of economic disadvantage. Sixteen studies were reviewed; narrative synthesis was used to explore themes. Most recruited CYP with experience of economic disadvantage; none explicitly reported perspectives of CYP experiencing disability or rurality. Findings show growing up in poverty has significant, negative impacts on health and well‐being, causing feelings of exclusion, shame and unfairness; raising important questions about the adequacy of welfare support in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article tracks how a trope of middle-class household thrift, grounded on the autarchic Aristotelian oikos, has long fueled derogatory discourses in Britain aimed at low-income urban residents who practice quite different forms of thrift. Since the 1970s this trope has migrated across scales, proving a potent metaphor for national economic policy and planetary care alike, and morally and economically justifying both neoliberal welfare retraction compounded by austerity policies and national responses to excessive resource extraction and waste production. Both austerity and formal recycling schemes shift responsibility onto consumer citizens, regardless of capacity. Further, this model of thrift eclipses the thriftiness of low-income urban households, which emerges at the nexus of kin and waged labor, sharing, welfare, debt, conserving material resources through remaking and repair and, crucially, the fundamental need for decency expressed through kin care. Through a historicized ethnography of a London social housing estate and its residents, this paper excavates what happens as these different forms and scales of household thrift coexist, change over time, and clash. Ultimately, neoliberal policy centered on an inimical idiom of thrift delegitimizes and disentitles low-income urban households and undermines their ability to enact livelihood practices of sustainability and projects of dignity across generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to summarise policy interventions and realistic strategies for achieving greater gender equality in paid and unpaid work, which were identified during a conference on "Gender equality in paid and unpaid work" held on 8 December 2009 at the Church House Conference Centre, London, UK. Design/methodology/approach – The conference included four plenary talks and group discussions. The paper is based on the presentations and group discussions. Findings – Government policies need to be holistic in the sense that labour market inequalities are often interlinked with inequalities in the home. The current economic recession can be seen as an opportunity to renegotiate work and life arrangements. Originality/value – The papers presented at the conference included original qualitative and quantitative research by researchers from several social science disciplines. The participants in the group discussions were academics, policy makers, pressure groups, practitioners and third-sector workers, and thus provided a variety of different viewpoints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Improving pathways to care is an important part of UK Government policy on delivering equitable treatment for black and minority ethnic (BME) patients. However, there is little guidance on how this can be achieved. This systematic review aimed to evaluate research studies reporting initiatives to enhance pathways to mental health care for BME groups. Methods. A review of published English language literature of studies reporting an evaluated intervention that aimed to enhance care pathways for BME communities or that achieved this as a by-product. Data extracted included the type of pathway improved, samples characteristics, type of intervention and outcome. Results. Six studies met inclusion criteria. In only one was the initiative UK based. There was evidence that interventions led to three types of pathways change; accelerated transit through care pathways, removal of adverse pathways, and the addition of a beneficial pathway. Ethnic matching promoted desired pathways in many groups but not African Americans, managed care improved equity a pre-treatment service improved access to detoxification and an education leaflet increased recovery. Conclusion. Only a small number of papers satisfied the review criteria. Consequently, there is currently a dearth of information on which to build evidence-based guidance for service development. Evidence that is available is mainly not from the UK and hence needs to be treated with caution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The leaders of governments in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Queensland recently created “implementation” or “delivery” units at the centre, ostensibly to advise, monitor, and ensure better implementation of policy initiatives. This collection of papers seeks to explore the emergence, roles, functions, and accomplishments of policy implementation and delivery units, as well as their prospects. This overview paper provides a framework for analyzing and assessing the work of these units to date, beginning with a synopsis of the evolution of thinking on implementation, and turning to the new environment for governance, policy development, and implementation. It casts policy implementation and delivery units as one of several “adhocracies” that populate the centre of government, which may take on quite different roles. The paper provides an overview of the case studies and key findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1998 the UK government published a White Paper on tobacco which set out the development of smoking cessation treatment services across England. This paper presents a detailed analysis of the events leading up to the inclusion of smoking cessation treatment services within the White Paper, and the background to the evaluation of those services, the results of which are the subject of the remaining papers in this supplement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - Aims to unpack the development and subsequent growth in the UK of so-called new localism concepts and policies post-1997. Design/methodology/approach - Highlights both the political rhetoric and the practical applications of such policies. In this context, introduces the articles in this special issue which focus on various dimensions of new localism-style policy, predominantly in the UK, but provide a series of arguments and illustrate a number of contradictions that are equally applicable in many Western countries. Findings - Tension exists between centralising focus and constructing prescribed policy at national state level, and decentralising power and responsibility to a more inclusive group of stakeholders in order to develop increasingly nuanced and locally specific sets of regeneration priorities and outcomes. Originality/value - The articles in this special issue illuminate a number of lessons for regeneration practitioners and managers, and for academics engaged in research and evaluation of public sector policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The on call service for health protection in most parts of the UK is provided by general public health consultants, registrars and nurses as the first tier of response backed up by medical consultants in health protection. The first tier responder usually carries a large bag of papers containing both local and national guidance on the management of common cases/incidents. An electronic on call pack may provide a suitable practical alternative to large paper based systems and help professionals deliver out of hours health protection advice and response to incidents. Methods: We developed and piloted an electronic on call pack in Hertfordshire for use at the health protection unit level containing key local and national guidelines, contact information and useful references. The on-call pack was initially piloted using a laptop and more recently using a personal digital assistant (PDA). The use of the on-call pack was evaluated. Results: Key advantages of the electronic system include reduced size, faster access to information that is clearly indexed and the relative ease of updating information. As part of the pilot, the electronic on call pack was presented to a local and regional training meeting with good response from participants using qualitative and quantitative methods. Conclusion: It is anticipated that with suitable evaluation this system can be adapted and utilised by other health protection practitioners. This system provides a fast, reliable and easily maintained source of information for the public health on-call team. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to outline the experiences of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families during the coronavirus pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: This paper draws on research gathered and collated by three different organisations working with families of children and young people with SEND. Findings: There were a number of common findings across all three surveys. In particular: the rapid collapse of external support for children and families; the reduction/withdrawal of support exacerbated the stress and exhaustion already experienced by many families; it proved very difficult to establish home learning and get adequate support from schools; there was little government recognition of families' vulnerability and need for support; and, paradoxically, a significant minority of children and families reported increased well-being. Originality/value: Findings carry clear implications both for the provision of child and family support during any further lockdowns and, more generally, in respect of government policy and funding of family support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While social policy falls predominantly under national rather than European Union (EU) jurisdiction, there are nonetheless multiple ways in which social policy and social outcomes in EU member states have been affected by EU membership. This paper draws on existing evidence and analysis to review the consequences for UK social policy of the decision to leave the EU. We focus predominantly on the implications of the British government's pledge to 'take back control' of money, borders and laws. Our conclusion is that Brexit is likely to have negative effects on the quality of public services and, for some groups in particular, social rights, and that these effects are likely to be greater the more distant are the future trading and wider relationships between the UK and the EU27. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to provide an account of the legal development concerning civilian right to pursue legal action against public authorities. Review includes historical recap of the state of law practiced prior to 1977 and the decision in the case of O'Reilly that forcefully limit individual's right to bring action. Despite its blatant disregard of the relevant statute, the O'Reilly decision remains a valid precedent. The essay then considers subsequent law reform and the effect of the Human Rights Act 1998 in limiting the applicability of the O'Reilly principle. The essay aims to benefit law students and non-legal lay person. Design/methodology/approach: The paper adopts a hermeneutics positivism approach in considering relevant case laws that is precedent to the matter under discussion. Thereupon, an interpretivism approach is applied to examine subsequent reforms and its impact on civilian right to seek justice. Findings: Judicial exclusivity restrains right to seek justice, but is it not totally discredited due to public policy. UK membership in the EU is an obstacle to judicial sovereignty, but it is also an avenue to dilute exclusivity. Social implications: This paper is presented in a simple easy-to-understand form that enable lay-person to understand the current state of law in matters concerning public law violation by public authorities and avenues available to them. Originality/value: The paper contributes to reinforce understanding on the conflict between common law and statute, and current state of law concerning individual's right to access to the court of law in cases related to public laws and public authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the policies and programmes implemented in the UK between 2001 and 2017 to support the integration of migrants. It considers in particular three key reports, 'What works in community cohesion', 'Integration and Opportunity' and 'Integration Not Demonisation' and the ways these have influenced government policy and public perceptions of integration, including government support for ESOL provision for migrants. There is particular reference to the situation relating to migrant women, as this overview of policy and programme will provide the background for Nafisah Graham-Brown's research study on newly arrived migrant women and the development of their social relationships.(Graham-Brown, forthcoming). This paper uses Nafisah Graham-Brown's definition of integration 'Integration is the process whereby migrants become part of UK society, a process in which there are multiple responsible parties, including host communities and the government' (Graham-Brown, 2015). The definition of the concept of social cohesion is taken from Sagger et al Social cohesion is 'people's perceptions of how people get along with each other in their local area or neighbourhood' (2012, pg. 2). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a supply-side review of policies and practices that impact on the shortage of supply in the contemporary specialist housing market for older people in the UK.Design/methodology/approach The review is based on a review of academic literature, policy documents, reports and other sources.Findings There is a critical conflict between the key social purpose of specialist housing (i.e. living independent of socially provided care) and the values that underpin and ultimately limit the quantity of units in both the social and private sector. In the social sector, government policies prohibit rather than encourage local authorities and housing associations from increasing specialist housing stock. The nature of leasehold tenures in the private sector tends to commodify not only housing stock but also those who use it and therefore acts to instrumentalise housing supply in favour of the profit motive and the focus on the person and her or his needs is largely ignored.Originality/value While the shortage of specialist housing is well known, this paper is unique in that it provides a comprehensive and critical supply-side review of the factors that have created such conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social impact bonds are payment by results contracts that leverage private social investment to cover the up-front expenditure associated with welfare services. The introduction of private principles and actors through outcome-based commissioning has received a great deal of attention in social policy research. However, there has been much less attention given to the introduction of private capital and its relation to more established forms of quasi-marketisation. This paper examines what effect private social investment has on outcome-based commissioning and whether the alternative forms of performance measurement and management, that social impact bonds bring to bear on service operations, demonstrate the capacity to engender: innovation in service delivery; improved social outcomes; future cost savings; and additionality. This paper draws on an in-depth study of four social impact bonds in the UK context, as the welfare regime at the vanguard of this policy development. The findings suggest that the introduction of private capital in outcome-based commissioning has had a number of unique and unintended effects on service providers, operations and outcomes. The paper concludes by considering whether social impact bonds represent a risk or an opportunity for public service reform both in the UK and further afield. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper addresses important questions such as: what challenges are presented by new regulation to bank's infrastructure, risk management and profitability and how can these challenges be best addressed? It also examines the potential impact FinTech has on the riskiness of banks and proposes RegTech as the solution. Following a brief overview of the impact and costs of regulation since the financial crisis, the paper introduces RegTech in the context of challenges facing financial institutions and the limitations of governance, risk and compliance (GRC) systems. This paper's main contribution is in its delineation of a regulatory compliance and risk ontology, the technologies that underpin it and the related objective-risk-control (ORC) model. The paper argues that these provide a platform on which RegTech can perform effective risk management and compliance reporting in a global post-crisis regulatory environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of the political settlement has risen to occupy a central place in British policy toward conflict-affected and fragile states. Yet, at around the turn of the millennium, the term was barely mentioned in official circles and the so-called ‘good governance’ approach held sway as the dominant operational mode. So, how had this transformation in policy approach come about and what was the role of research? In this article, we demonstrate that research played a central role in influencing the rhetoric of policymakers through a process we term ‘cumulative influence’. Indeed, the subject of political settlements represents an excellent case study for understanding the dynamics of research utilisation. It allows us to build on existing models and suggest useful ways forward in this important area of public policy analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]