Public Social Policy
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GPs and 7 day working
May 21, 2015
by Ian Shaw Cameron’s announcement of 7 day working 8am-8pm for the GPs by 2020 so soon after the Election may have been his way of reassuring the public that the NHS was safe in his hands, but it’s not really going to happen this parliament and there are a number of reasons for that: …
Whatever happened to Cameron’s Big Society?
April 10, 2015
by Simon Roberts and Bruce Stafford Much was hung by Cameron on the ‘Big Society’. His notion of which involved citizens and service providers cooperating to co-produce, and in some cases citizens to provide their own, public services. Co-production, an idea that dates back to the 1970s, was presented by the in-coming Coalition government as …
Reforming the NHS reforms – the quiet side-lining of the Health and Social Care Act 2012
March 27, 2015
By Ian Shaw As widely anticipated the Health and Social Care Act has been a bit of a disaster… There has been more clinical engagement, especially with GPs, which is a good thing but the re-organisation led to a very complex organisational and governance structure (for example anyone know what clinical councils actually do? – …
Is more money really the answer to mental health problems?
March 20, 2015
By Rupal Patel This week saw the announcement of investing £1.25bn in mental health services by Chancellor George Osborne. Many will be pleased with the announcement but I am somewhat sceptical. Is more money the answer to our growing epidemic nature of mental health problems? Or is this simply a political ploy prior to the …
Isn’t spending on welfare meant to be falling?
March 18, 2015
By Bruce Stafford, Simon Roberts and Joe Sempik For all the talk of austerity and welfare cuts, it might be presupposed that spending by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has fallen and will continue to fall in the future. However, the Department’s own figures present a more nuanced and possibly unexpected picture. Source: …
Candid cameras?
March 16, 2015
By Bill Dixon According to a report in the Daily Mail, Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, wants all householders to install ‘eye level’ CCTV cameras in their homes. The Commissioner believes that more scene-of-crime footage will help police forces take advantage of technical improvements in facial recognition software by providing matches with the 12 …
The Participation Age and the Promise of a Better Future
March 10, 2015
By Stefanie Williamson With the ‘Increasing opportunities for young people and helping them to achieve their potential’ policy in full effect this year, the government has raised the participation age and young people leaving year 11 will now be required to stay in some form of education or training until the age of 18. But, …
Why the UK Government doesn’t know if its welfare reforms are discriminating against the most vulnerable people in Britain
February 27, 2015
by Simon Roberts and Bruce Stafford In his blog earlier this week Bruce showed that austerity is significantly underpinned by cuts to social security and as a consequence the most vulnerable are making the largest contribution to the public expenditure cuts. The targeted cuts have affected most non-pensioners in receipt of benefits notably the long …
The most vulnerable are making the largest contribution to the public expenditure cuts
February 23, 2015
By Bruce Stafford Shortly after the Coalition Government was formed it introduced an Emergence Budget, and since then it has held 5 Budgets and 5 Autumn Statements. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has used these to announce a series of cuts to public expenditure. These announcements have affected a number of public services, notably social …
What is the impact of austerity on individual attitudes and ‘lived experience’?
February 16, 2015
By Ruth Read On 16 January 2015 the Social Policy Association ran a workshop at the University of Leeds entitled “Austerity, Welfare and Citizenship”. The workshop highlighted some complex, troublesome and neglected aspects of the austerity story. Ruth Patrick described findings from her qualitative research tracking 15 claimants from three groups (young, lone parents, disabled …
