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In 2023, the UK Government published its long-awaited reform strategy for England's children's social care system. Whilst the strategy set out planned reforms for several aspects of the wider system, an area requiring particular 'priority' was the purported workforce instability seen within child protection social work. However, the strategy has subsequently faced criticism on the basis that the suggested reforms were not satisfactorily informed by the testimonies of practicing social workers. This paper draws from a mixed-method study to report on the lived experiences of a sample of 201 child protection social workers practicing across England, in the context of better understanding the factors which they believed were impacting on workforce stability within England's child protection system. Implications that emerge are the need for an increase in the monetary commitment offered by the UK Government (especially in the context of tackling high caseloads, and improving local authority pay scales to reduce the allure of agency work); a targeted emphasis on challenging local cultures preoccupied with evidencing compliance over time spent with children; and the Government taking a more assertive role in tackling the often-counterproductive commentary perpetuated by politicians and media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper examines the role of senior personnel within Active Partnerships as the personnel seek to strategically manage UK policy developments. This paper explores how Active Partnerships engage with the policy process within an environment characterized by systemic structural changes, mounting fiscal challenges, political uncertainty and a succession of public health concerns. Design/methodology/approach: Using the Multiple-Streams Framework (MSF), a case study approach was adopted, focusing on the perspectives of senior personnel. Semi-structured interviews with individuals involved in the management and operation of five Active Partnerships across the South of England and one national stakeholder that works closely with Active Partnerships were conducted. Data were collected during the period following Andy Reed's review of the operation of Active Partnerships. The interviews were complemented by documentary analysis. Findings: Findings illustrate that while senior practitioners within Active Partnerships often behave in line with Lipsky's notion of street-level bureaucrats, by maximizing collective leverage, advocating priorities and providing a voice for local partners, the senior practitioners adopt behaviors more akin to policy entrepreneurs. In this sense, they seek to influence the policy process at critical junctures in order to promote preferred outcomes and protect sectoral interests. Originality/value: This study has explored the relationship between strategic management and the policy process in the context of the rapidly changing policy domain that frames the work of regional sports organizations known as Active Partnerships. The conceptual frame of the investigation is the concept of "policy entrepreneurship", which seeks to articulate how individuals and collectives engage in the policy process, in order to secure outcomes conducive to their objectives. This, in turn, provides a sense of context for the contemporary challenges associated with the management of sport and physical activity (PA). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Co‐production with communities is increasingly seen as best practice that can improve the quality, relevance and effectiveness of research and service delivery. Despite this promising position, there remains uncertainty around definitions of co‐production and how to operationalize it. The current paper describes the development of a co‐production strategy to guide the work of the ActEarly multistakeholder preventative research programme to improve children's health in Bradford and Tower Hamlets, UK. Methods: The strategy used Appreciative Inquiry (AI), an approach following a five‐step iterative process: to define (Step 1) scope and guide progress; to discover (Step 2) key issues through seven focus groups (N = 36) and eight in‐depth interviews with key stakeholders representing community groups, and the voluntary and statutory sectors; to dream (Step 3) best practice through two workshops with AI participants to review findings; to design (Step 4) a co‐production strategy building on AI findings and to deliver (Step 5) the practical guidance in the strategy. Results: Nine principles for how to do co‐production well were identified: power should be shared; embrace a wide range of perspectives and skills; respect and value the lived experience; benefits should be for all involved parties; go to communities and do not expect them to come to you; work flexibly; avoid jargon and ensure availability of the right information; relationships should be built for the long‐term; co‐production activities should be adequately resourced. These principles were based on three underlying values of equality, reciprocity and agency. Conclusion: The empirical insights of the paper highlight the crucial importance of adequate resources and infrastructure to deliver effective co‐production. This documentation of one approach to operationalizing co‐production serves to avert any misappropriations of the term 'co‐production' by listening to service users, stakeholders and other relevant groups, to develop trust and long‐term relationships, and build on the learning that already exists amongst such groups. Patient or Public Contribution: The work was overseen by a steering group (N = 17) of individuals, both professional and members of the public with experience in undertaking co‐production, and/or with some knowledge of the context of the two ActEarly field sites, who provided regular oversight and feedback on the AI process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the development and implementation of a nationally drafted strategy for fraud in local government in England. The purpose, relevant to other countries which also face (or evade) problems of policy outreach, is to consider what is required to achieve effective implementation through three broad aspects: aims, ownership, and impact. There is a particular focus on the assessment of the strategy implementation process and what mechanisms translate strategies into effective delivery or what other factors may subvert that delivery. The empirical research draws on the UK government's 2006 policy review on fraud and the consequential changes between then and 2019, including a number of fraud strategies initiated by the United Kingdom central government. To review implementation in practice, it focuses on the 2011 local government strategy and uses a local-level case study to assess issues concerning aims, ownership, and impact, as well as the effect of other nationally determined policies and agendas. It concludes that without an 'owned' strategy implementation process as a whole, national strategies concerning the prevention and policing of fraud in England in the twenty-first century have had—and continue to have—modest impact on practice on the ground at the local level. We find it plausible that this is true elsewhere in the world, not only for crime control but also for other 'change' strategies in the public sector. However, testing that proposition is for researchers in other countries. Our aim here is to use this superficially parochial study to raise more universal questions about how policy designers (and academic researchers) need to take better account of circumstances on the ground, the management of strategy implementation and legitimacy, if their strategies are to be more than merely symbolic rhetoric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To assess the cost-effectiveness of strategies to increase cervical cancer screening uptake at first invitation (STRATEGIC trial). Methods We performed an economic analysis alongside the STRATEGIC trial, comparing each of seven novel interventions for improving cervical screening uptake with control general practices in Greater Manchester and Grampian (United Kingdom). A template was developed to measure the intervention costs. Trial estimates of screening uptake were combined with data from the literature to estimate healthcare costs of each intervention. The added lifetime costs and quality adjusted life years (QALYs) of attending cervical screening were estimated by a systematic literature review, with relevant results pooled and weighted by study quality. Trial results and estimated lifetime costs and benefits of screening were then combined in a decision analytic model, giving an incremental cost per QALY gained for each intervention. Uncertainty was addressed in probabilistic and univariate sensitivity analyses. Results Intervention costs per screening round per woman attending varied from about £1.20 (2014 UK) for the nurse navigator intervention to £62 for the unrequested HPV self-sampler kit. The meta-analysis revealed a lifetime discounted benefit from screening of 0.043 QALYs per woman attending, at an additional lifetime discounted cost of £234. The incremental cost per QALY gained in all interventions was below £13,000. Probabilistic sensitivity analyses suggested that only unrequested self-sampling and timed appointments have a high probability of being cost-effective. Conclusions Unrequested self-sampling and timed appointments are likely to be cost-effective interventions. Further research is required on the duration of effects and on implementing combinations of interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'Cambridge Phenomenon' has achieved global recognition as an exemplar of economic success. After decades of post-war planning restraint, a major shift in the strategic planning framework saw the city region enthusiastically backing future growth. Faced, subsequently, with abolition of formal strategic planning at a national level and when many local councils took the opportunity to scale back development proposals, Cambridge reasserted its commitment to growth. The new 'localism' and the 2012 National Planning Policy Framework, however, leaves this strategy - and the Cambridge Phenomenon itself - potentially vulnerable. This article explains the continuing momentum behind growth in the face of radical planning reform and looks at the potential tensions between this and the new localism. It provides an updated account of this iconic, high-tech cluster. It also aims to contribute to our conceptual understanding of strategies for growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debates have persisted about the character of the East–West population flows that followed the EU expansions. Some of the discussions surround the extent to which the mobility has been temporal and hence how likely these migrants are to settle permanently or to stay for long periods in host countries. This paper enhances the understanding of such issues through examining survey data on 700 Polish recent migrants in seven English and Welsh towns and supplemented by an analysis of qualitative data. Three categories of migrants are initially identified on the basis of their intentions of stay in the UK. Multinomial logit models are then estimated to examine the characteristics of individuals in each category to establish the factors that influence migration strategies and changes in plans. Results indicate that although standard socio-economic characteristics tend to be insignificant, migration strategies and changes in intentions are affected by migrant's view of whether their job matches their expectations, the time of entry into the UK and remittances. Analysis of the qualitative information reinforces some of the key findings and also indicates the importance of migrants' ability to reference their experiences in two settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The planning system in England has been subject to dramatic shifts since 2010. The previous government's preference for a strong regional focus in land-use strategy has been substituted with an emphasis on local control and responsibility. This has involved a 'down-scaling' of the system, with the revocation of 'regional spatial strategies' and a re-emphasis of the primacy of local government plans. It has also brought a 'localisation' of plan-making to a neighbourhood scale and a new role for community actors within local development planning. The shift in scale and focus has been accompanied by concerns over the system's ability to achieve broader and longer-term spatial objectives. Drawing on in-depth interviews with senior planning officers, this paper reflects on the risks that reform poses to the achievement of strategic planning objectives, looking in particular at housing delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of fundamental concerns have been raised over the recent abolition of regional economic and planning institutions processes and associated plans and strategies in England. In particular, questions have arisen over the strength and democratic accountability of the new arrangements emerging at a sub-regional scale--namely local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) that as yet have neither legal powers nor any formal planning role. Consequently, this article critically assesses the role, provenance and value of the abolished regional institutions together with the parallel criticisms. It also examines the potential for LEPs as their replacement and to develop into democratically accountable, locally self-determined strategic planning bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study that discusses the operational realities of river restoration in Great Britain as experienced in England to provide a vision on how to introduce the strategic planning and implementing the restoration measures. The study needs the operational decision-making, which promotes the strategic and progressive action, to make a real progress with river restoration. It shows that the success of river restoration scheme depends on parties' willingness to listen and innovate.

Alcohol misuse is coming up the policy agenda in England-with revisions in 2007 to the national Alcohol Strategy and the inclusion of alcohol-related health and crime reduction targets in statutory Local Area Agreements. However, community engagement in the development and implementation of such strategies remains marginal. This article reviews the learning from the Aquarius Route 50 Project in Birmingham, part of the Alcohol Education and Research Council funded UK Community Alcohol Prevention Programme. The applicability of the Holder 'multi-component' model of early intervention is considered in the context of suburban night time economies and 'travel to drink' cultures. Broader themes are also developed in terms of the connections between local action projects and broader strategic policy and planning systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 5 May 2000, Ken Livingstone became Mayor of London and Britain's first directly elected executive head of an administration. Returned as an independent, he had no backing from a party machine and inherited a weak administrative apparatus. Nevertheless, key strategies on transport, economic development, and land planning have been put in place in full or in their main outlines. A series of radical developments in management and policy have been carried through, while retaining high ratings in the opinion polls and rising approval from the business community. A popular explanation for this is the ‘pragmatism’ shown by the Livingstone administration. This article seeks to explain in greater depth its managerial/economic approach and to show that, while internally consistent, it is not readily understandable in terms of either the traditional right or the traditional left of the political spectrum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the views of several dementia care experts on what the National Dementia Strategy for England will mean for dementia services in Great Britain. Gwyn Grout says that the core message of the strategy is to reduce the dementia stigma. Chris Beech identifies lack of integrated planning and service delivery to be the main obstacles in dementia services. Hugh Chadderton says that comorbidities like hypertension and diabetes of older people with dementia are the neglected areas.

Transport has crept up the political wish list in recent years, with growing concern over pollution (health) and congestion (economy). In July 1998, the Government published its transport White Paper, "A New Deal for Transport: Better for Everyone," in an atmosphere of high expectations. The White Paper ranged widely over problems in the national transport system, set out many proposals, and received a widespread welcome as a landmark document. But despite some welcome new steps, the Government has also missed some key opportunities. The government is spelling out policy in more detail or inviting views on consultation, as a basis of implementing policies. Devolved governance is being brought in for Scotland and Wales, and more powers given for regional development in England: all have specific new responsibilities for transport strategy. A comprehensive national information system for public transport will be established by 2000. The new Commission for Integrated Transport will advise on transport integration, set targets and monitor progress.