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Across the United Kingdom public (and private) resources have been targeted on improving broadband infrastructure. While this has served to provide new opportunities for households and firms, there has been some debate around the ability of firms to take full advantage of the opportunities that arise through this evolving infrastructure. In this respect, there has been particular debate on how far small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have taken up the challenge of effectively engaging with the resource. Drawing on the case of Wales, this paper explores the digital maturity of a sample of Welsh SMEs. The paper provides evidence of how far SMEs are successfully engaging with the new opportunities available through broadband, and develops a typology of firms according to their engagement. The paper then explores how these differences produce policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mortality at older ages varies by season, increasing the uncertainty associated with modelling and projecting mortality at older ages and ultimately contributing to pension providers' overall risk. As the population ages, it becomes more important to understand variations in seasonal mortality between pensioners and to identify those most vulnerable to seasonal mortality differences. Using data from the Self-Administered Pension Schemes mortality investigation of the Continuous Mortality Investigation of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, UK, this paper investigates variations in seasonal mortality amongst members of UK occupational pension schemes over the period 2000--2016. Results are also compared with the corresponding population of England and Wales. For the oldest age groups (80+), which are most affected by seasonality, females are more vulnerable to seasonal differences in mortality for each pensioner group relative to males. Following a long-term decline in the winter-summer mortality gap the gap increased over the period, particularly for female pensioners and dependants. Seasonality remains a feature of UK mortality at older ages and risk management for pension schemes should consider seasonality when analysing overall mortality experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper investigates whether high borrowing costs deterred investment in sanitation infrastructure in late nineteenth-century Britain. Town Councils had to borrow to fund investment, with considerable variation in interest rates across towns and over time. Panel regressions, using annual data from more than 800 town councils, indicate that higher interest rates were associated with lower levels of infrastructure investment between 1887 and 1903. Instrumental variable regressions show that falling interest rates after 1887 stimulated investment and led to lower infant mortality. These findings suggest that Parliament could have expedited mortality decline by subsidizing loans or facilitating private borrowing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Debate around Wales' place in the United Kingdom has intensified over recent years, with radically differing visions for the union of the Welsh and UK governments emerging alongside growing (though still minority) support for Welsh independence. This article argues that these constitutional debates must be considered alongside Wales' current fiscal position. Wales' estimated fiscal deficit is reflective of long-standing economic underperformance as part of the UK, which we argue is unlikely to be addressed under current economic, fiscal and constitutional arrangements. On the other hand, it also suggests a difficult economic outlook for an independent Wales, which would require tough fiscal and economic choices to address Wales' apparent balance of payments deficit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the memorandum of the Royal Medico-Psychological Association. It focuses on the green paper that indicates the administrative structure of the medical services in England and Wales. It is explained that any attempt to integrate the present tripartite administration into a single authority for a single community would be accepted by the Association, if satisfactory arrangements may be made that surpass the existing ones. Moreover, it should take responsibility for all the health functions of present local health authorities. Thus, it is stated that the unification of the tripartite structure of the National Health Service, by the development of Area Health Boards, are supported by them.

Two ammonites have been found in porcelaneous limestones of the White Lias Formation traditionally considered to be of Rhaetian (Late Triassic) age at Lavernock Point, south Wales (ST 181 681). These ammonites, named here Neophyllites lavernockensis. sp. nov, are the earliest recorded from the UK. This horizon is located directly above a major negative δ13C isotope anomaly (CIE1) in the Upper Cotham Member that marks the top of the Triassic System and below another negative δ13C isotope anomaly (CIE3). Both correlate with negative δ13C isotope anomalies in the Triassic–Jurassic global boundary stratotype section and point (GSSP) at Kuhjoch, Austria. This establishes the base of the tilmanni Chronozone, Hettangian Stage and Jurassic System in SW Britain within the White Lias Formation at Lavernock Point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how the law of England and Wales1 has responded thus far to medical and clinical advances that have enabled patients with prolonged disorders of consciousness to survive. The authors argue that, although the courts have taken account of much of the science, they are now lagging behind, with the result that some patients are being denied their legal rights under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. The article further argues that English law does not comply with the United Kingdom's commitments under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Stressing the need for the law to keep in step with advances in science, the article concludes with robust recommendations for improvements, based on the latest research in neuroscience, to the way in which life-sustaining treatment decisions are made. This would mean that the wishes of patients, including those with covert awareness, can be better reflected in best interests assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Adolescent self-harm in Europe is a major public health challenge and shares a risk continuum with suicide. Recent research demonstrates a strong risk correlation with attempting suicide in the community-based adolescent self-harm population group, similar to research findings for populations in health settingbased research. In the UK increasing rates in hospital admissions represent the "tip of the iceberg" within the community, with potentially two thirds of the population group not accessing health services for support. This brings many health risks, including an increased suicide risk. Finding a solution to these issues requires a preventative intervention approach for young people, including community-based delivery to address service access barriers. Secondary schools are posited as key settings where this type of support could be delivered. But emerging UK research demonstrates challenges in completing adolescent self-harm research with young people in schools. Objectives: This paper centres on a current adolescent self-harm preventative intervention research project in Cardiff University. It focuses on ethical research practice in community-based adolescent self-harm research. Methods: This paper appraises some of the core ethical issues, challenges and their management in completing adolescent selfharm prevention intervention research in secondary school settings in Wales. It also provides an overview of the project's innovative safety protocol design. Results: This project was successful in managing the potential risks to the school-based adolescent research participants. Conclusions: This work helps address some of the current research barriers to completing adolescent self-harm prevention intervention research in schools, to facilitate shared solutions to the urgent public health challenge of adolescent self-harm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines teacher confidence in teaching music within the context of the introduction of a Foundation Phase ‘curriculum’ in Wales for pupils aged 3–7 years. This involved a move away from music as a single subject to being part of creative development. The findings are based on a small-scale study of 12 teachers from four primary schools in south Wales. The findings illustrate that teacher confidence has improved since the Foundation Phase was introduced. The language used in the new documentation was a contributory factor as teachers found it more straightforward to understand what they were expected to do, and being able to combine music with other topics made it easier and more enjoyable to teach music. As a result, music (both indoors and outdoors) is a more regular occurrence and has become liberated from its perceived single subject status with the associated confidence issues. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Previous studies have highlighted the paucity of knowledge possessed by people in a number of jurisdictions with regard to specific legal issues and processes, yet what has not been fully understood is the practical impact of this lack of knowledge. This paper looks at how knowledge of rights affects the resolution of civil justice problems. Data were extracted from a large-scale survey of adults’ experience of rights problems throughout England and Wales (10,537 adult respondents). The results demonstrated that most individuals were not aware of their rights at the time the problem occurred (64.8 per cent). Knowledge was shown to be poorest amongst those with mental illness, those without higher qualifications and those renting their homes. Problems where knowledge was poor included clinical negligence, welfare benefits and neighbours issues. Knowledge did not appear to be related to a particular problem-solving strategy but had an impact on the fulfilment of objectives and the obtaining of advice. Our findings depart from existing literature by indicating that knowledge of rights alone is not associated with legal self-sufficiency in terms of a reduced dependence upon legal advice services. We find, however, that individuals, with knowledge of rights, experience better outcomes when they opt to handle their problem alone. Accordingly, the presence or absence of knowledge of rights may be a useful proxy measure of legal advice need and relevant to the process of legal aid rationing. Our findings highlight the role that Public Legal Education (PLE) (both ‘rights-based education’ and ‘just-in-time/self-help’) may play in disposing of less complex problems, while presenting a strong case for the continued availability of free legal advice services. The research is discussed in the context of the recently announced legal aid reforms in England and Wales and their anticipated impact. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Following the House of Lords' decision in Purdy, the Director of Public Prosecutions issued an interim policy for prosecutors setting out the factors to be considered when deciding whether a prosecution in an assisted suicide case is in the public interest. This paper considers the interim policy, the subsequent public consultation and the resulting final policy. Key aspects of the policy are examined, including the condition of the victim, the decision to commit suicide and the role of organised or professional assistance. The inclusion of assisted suicides which take place within England and Wales makes the informal legal change realised by the policy more significant than was originally anticipated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The referendum vote for Remain in Scotland and Northern Ireland and the small majority for Leave in Wales immediately attracted much attention to the position of the devolved governments on Brexit negotiations and to the impact of Brexit on their jurisdictions. As the core of devolved powers relate to social policy, identifying the impact of leaving the EU on aspects of social policy is highly significant. This article examines the impact of EU programmes, funding, directives and regulations as delivered in recent years, noting the nature of the participation of the devolved administrations in EU decision making. The post-referendum concerns of the devolved governments and their approaches to Brexit and Brexit negotiations are explained. Also discussed are the likely major changes as well as possible changes that will take place in the operation of devolution after Brexit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the background to the recent growth in the number of remarriages of the divorced, tracing the increasing trend in divorce and subsequent remarriage in the last decade. The characteristics of such remarriages are analysed: their manner of solemnization, the distribution of ages at remarriage, seasonal variations, and the differences between metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas. Finally, the topical issue of remarriage of the divorced in church is discussed from a statistical standpoint, and variations by county presented in the form of maps. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Secure hospitals are a high-cost, low-volume service consuming around a fifth of the overall mental health budget in England and Wales.Aims: A systematic review and meta-analysis of adverse outcomes after discharge along with a comparison with rates in other clinical and forensic groups in order to inform public health and policy.Method: We searched for primary studies that followed patients discharged from a secure hospital, and reported mortality, readmissions or reconvictions. We determined crude rates for all adverse outcomes.Results: In total, 35 studies from 10 countries were included, involving 12 056 patients out of which 53% were violent offenders. The crude death rate for all-cause mortality was 1538 per 100 000 person-years (95% CI 1175-1901). For suicide, the crude death rate was 325 per 100 000 person-years (95% CI 235-415). The readmission rate was 7208 per 100 000 person-years (95% CI 5916-8500). Crude reoffending rates were 4484 per 100 000 person-years (95% CI 3679-5287), with lower rates in more recent studies.Conclusions: There is some evidence that patients discharged from forensic psychiatric services have lower offending outcomes than many comparative groups. Services could consider improving interventions aimed at reducing premature mortality, particularly suicide, in discharged patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes a case-note and interview study of a cross-sectional sample comprising 25% of all women serving a prison sentence in England and Wales. A 5% sample of the male sentenced prison population was used for comparison. Diagnoses were assigned on clinical grounds and an assessment was made of the treatment needs of all 'cases'. The prevalence of psychosis, around 2%, was similar in the two groups but women had higher rates of mental handicap (6% v. 2%), personality disorder (18% v. 10%), neurosis (18% v. 10%) and substance abuse (26% v. 12%). There is a need for closer links between the NHS and prison health services. Women's prisons lack a therapeutic community of the Grendon type, which may be of benefit to a substantial minority of inmates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carefully constructed but fallible historical estimates of GDP and agricultural output inform our understanding of the preindustrial origins of economic growth. Here we review four recent attempts at estimating agricultural output and food availability in England and Wales at different points between the Middle Ages and the Industrial Revolution. We highlight their contrasting implications for trends in well-being and nutritional status over time. Building on these estimates, we propose our own tentative, compromise estimate of food availability. The compromise estimates are more coherent with our understanding of conditions before and during the Industrial Revolution. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

BackgroundAgeing is an important factor in the development of mental health problems and their treatment. We assessed age trajectories of common mental disorders (CMDs) and psychotherapy utilization from adolescence to old age, and examined whether these trajectories were modified by time period or birth cohort effects.MethodBritish Household Panel Survey (BHPS) with an 18-year follow-up between 1991 and 2009 (n = 30 224 participants, aged 15–100 years, with an average 7.3 person-observations per person). CMDs were assessed with the 12-item version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). Psychotherapy treatment utilization during the past year was self-reported by the participants. The modifying influences of time period and cohort effects were assessed in a cohort-sequential longitudinal setting.ResultsFollowing a moderate decrease after age 50, the prevalence of GHQ caseness increased steeply from age 75. This increase was more marked in the 2000s (GHQ prevalence increasing from 24% to 43%) than in the 1990s (from 22% to 34%). Psychotherapy utilization decreased after age 55, with no time period or cohort effects modifying the age trajectory. These ageing patterns were replicated in within-individual longitudinal analysis.ConclusionsOld age is associated with higher risk of CMDs, and this association has become more marked during the past two decades. Ageing is also associated with an increasing discrepancy between prevalence of mental disorders and provision of treatment, as indicated by lower use of psychotherapy in older individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In 2009, the Mental Health Act Commission for England and Wales was closed down and its functions subsumed in separate organisations in the two countries. Its final biennial report, issued that year, focused on coercion and consent. This article uses some aspects of the report to discuss the implications of lawful psychiatric coercion being predicted by social group membership (correlated with race, age and gender). The work of the Commission furnished useful information in this regard, but its framework for data collection could not, and so did not, illuminate a more established picture of the class gradient in mental health problems. With the latter literature in mind, material adversity may explain the racial patterning of psychiatric populations coercively detained. However, normative aspects of risk-taking in the community and in hospital may better predict the findings on age and gender. The article concludes by querying the ameliorative impact of government appointed ‘visitorial’ bodies. Legalism-plus-safeguards is a questionable basis for meaningfully bringing discriminatory powers to book, or for reversing the differential impact of pathogenic social forces. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

ObjectiveThe present study evaluated the impact of a national school programme of universal free healthy breakfast provision in Wales, UK.DesignA cluster randomised controlled trial with repeated cross-sectional design and a 12-month follow-up. Primary outcomes were breakfast skipping, breakfast diet and episodic memory. Secondary outcomes were frequency of eating breakfast at home and at school, breakfast attitudes, rest-of-day diet and class behaviour.SettingPrimary schools in nine local education authority areas.SubjectsA total of 4350 students (aged 9–11 years) at baseline and 4472 at follow-up in 111 schools.ResultsStudents in intervention schools reported significantly higher numbers of healthy food items consumed at breakfast and more positive attitudes towards breakfast eating at 12 months. Parents in intervention schools reported significantly higher rates of consumption of breakfast at school and correspondingly lower rates of breakfast consumption at home. No other significant differences were found.ConclusionsThe intervention did not reduce breakfast skipping; rather, pupils substituted breakfast at home for breakfast at school. However, there were improvements in children’s nutritional intake at breakfast time, if not the rest of the day, and more positive attitudes to breakfast, which may have implications for life-course dietary behaviours. There was no impact on episodic memory or classroom behaviour, which may require targeting breakfast skippers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how the land and the agricultural community were made out to be central to the assertion of Welsh national identity between the world wars. Political Nationalism came out of a disillusion with Liberal national sentiment. Liberal nationalists had recognised the significance of the land in Wales and made secure a devolved administrative regime for agriculture, the Welsh Council of Agriculture, originally established before 1914. For the political Nationalists, however, this was far too little. They perceived a cultural and economic crisis which might be overcome only through complete self-government. That crisis originated historically in the annexation of Wales to England which had intruded an alien land system and destroyed a natural, patriarchal rural order; which had foisted an alien commercial, industrial system and had led to the Anglicisation of Welsh society. In its depressed state, inter-war Wales was subjected to a new and reactive form of politics, often influenced by European right wing ideas, which was anti-urban, anti-capitalist, anti-English and anti-modern, all of which had wider repercussions for the future of Welsh identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although higher murder rates have traditionally been associated with large cities, this view has recently been challenged by several historians who have argued that 'homicide rates were negatively correlated with urbanisation and industrialisation', and this is rapidly becoming the new consensus. By exploring the geography of homicide rates for one area undergoing rapid urbanization and industrialization - England and Wales, 1780-1850 - this article challenges this new view and re-assesses the relationship between recorded homicide rates and both modernization and urbanization. After discussing the methodological problems involved in using homicide statistics, it focuses mainly on the first fifteen years for which detailed county-based data is available - 1834-48 - as well as looking at the more limited late eighteenth-century and early nineteenth-century evidence. This data raises fundamental questions about the links historians have recently made between urbanization and low homicide rates, since the remote rural parts of England and Wales generally had very low recorded murder rates while industrializing and rapidly urbanizing areas such as Lancashire had very high ones. Potential explanations for these systematic and large variations between urban and rural areas - including the impact of age structures and migration patterns - are then explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gemini is a cohort study of young twins in the United Kingdom designed to assess genetic and environmental influences on early childhood weight trajectories with a focus on infant appetite and the family environment. A total of 2402 families with twins born in England and Wales between March and December 2007 agreed to participate and returned completed baseline questionnaires. The sample includes 1586 same-sex and 816 opposite-sex twins. The study is currently funded for 5 years of follow-up, but is planned to continue into early adolescence and beyond, pending funding. With current funding of the study, families will be followed up when twins are: 8 months old (baseline), and then at 15, 20, 24, 36 and 48 months of age. Gemini is in its early stages, with baseline and first follow-up data collection completed. This is the first twin cohort to focus on childhood weight gain with detailed and repeated measures of children's appetite, food preferences, activity behavior and parental feeding styles, alongside detailed and repeated collection of anthropometrics. This article reviews the rationale for the Gemini study, its representativeness and the main measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we describe the current state of the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) system in England and Wales. This system rests on a distinction between assessment and appraisal and has three main strands: researcher-led HTA, the research and development program, and the HTA-NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence) process. We outline the pressures for HTA and how it has evolved in the British National Health Service. We discuss how HTA priorities are chosen, how HTA information is collected and assessed, how HTA evidence is used, and we make some observations about its impact. In our discussion, we consider some limitations of the HTA system, its possible divergence from evidence-based health care, its centralization, and some of the key challenges for managing HTA-driven policy. But we remain hopeful that HTA can contribute to better and more explicit decision-making within England and Wales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents information on a study which recognized lithofacies and reef types within Much Wenlock Limestone Formation of England and Wales. Overview on palaeogeography of the Formation; Types of lithofacies; Distribution of lithofacies; Diachronism of the Formation; Depositional history of the Formation.

Examines the economic and social change in England and Wales before and after the Industrial Revolution. Analysis of data on occupations from parish burial registers and lists of inhabitants; Comparison of the analyzed data with the classic social table of Gregory King; Interpretations of trends in national product and income distribution.

The article discusses the electoral politics in Wales. It discusses the ongoing dominance of the Labour Party over the Plaid Cymru which is the nationalist party. It describes the history of the Plaid Cymru including the growth of the Scottish Nationalist Party and its losses to the Labour Party. The article differentiates between the British and Welsh perspectives in the analysis of elections in Wales. It also presents the results of a survey, the Welsh Election Study, which provides information on the voting behavior of Welsh people. An overview of the survey is provided.

The article presents a response to a paper by Mok et al. on the suicide rate for men and women in Wales, Scotland and England. The suicide rate in Scotland and Northern Ireland is higher than those for Wales. The paper also shows that there is a high incidence of frowning in Scotland, which is attributed to the presence of 90% standing freshwater in all of Great Britain.