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Background: The 2022/23 influenza season in the United Kingdom saw the return of influenza to prepandemic levels following two seasons with low influenza activity. The early season was dominated by A(H3N2), with cocirculation of A(H1N1), reaching a peak late December 2022, while influenza B circulated at low levels during the latter part of the season. From September to March 2022/23, influenza vaccines were offered, free of charge, to all aged 2–13 (and 14–15 in Scotland and Wales), adults up to 49 years of age with clinical risk conditions and adults aged 50 and above across the mainland United Kingdom. Methods: End‐of‐season adjusted vaccine effectiveness (VE) estimates against sentinel primary‐care attendance for influenza‐like illness, where influenza infection was laboratory confirmed, were calculated using the test negative design, adjusting for potential confounders. Methods: Results In the mainland United Kingdom, end‐of‐season VE against all laboratory‐confirmed influenza for all those > 65 years of age, most of whom received adjuvanted quadrivalent vaccines, was 30% (95% CI: −6% to 54%). VE for those aged 18–64, who largely received cell‐based vaccines, was 47% (95% CI: 37%–56%). Overall VE for 2–17 year olds, predominantly receiving live attenuated vaccines, was 66% (95% CI: 53%–76%). Conclusion: The paper provides evidence of moderate influenza VE in 2022/23. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the long-term growth of the banking sector in Great Britain and money stock in the period 1844-1880. Detailed estimates of long-term monetary and banking growth in the country exist for the years after the late 1870s, although controversy remains as to their precise accuracy, but even reasonably accurate figures for the greater part of the nineteenth century have proved elusive. It is here that this paper makes a contribution by drawing heavily upon archive material to present new estimates for England and Wales for part of that early period, 1844-80. New estimates are made for commercial bank liabilities to the public and long-term trends in the growth of the money stock are calculated. Data for the number of banks and banking offices are readily available from 1844 in the directory "Banking Almanac," providing one measure of the growth of the commercial banking sector with some breakdown as to the institutional nature and geographical location of firms within the sector. However, they can provide but a crude measure of the growth and density of banking services.

This paper describes how a strategy for health services has been developed for NHS Wales and examines the role of accruals accounting in asset management and development. It uses archival investigation as well as interviews and a questionnaire. The role of accruals accounting in the operation of the service, particularly as it relates to the capital asset base of the Trusts and how these are managed, is discussed in the context that Trusts are autonomous units that develop services, and hence their capital asset base, through their own internal planning structure. It is found that, on devolution, there was a lack of consistent information about the stock of capital assets and that capital charges, based on accruals accounting, were not penetrating asset management within individual Trusts. Although strategies were being developed centrally, their implementation at a Trust level can be impeded as a consequence of accruals accounting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brown macroalgae habitats provide a range of ecosystem services, offering coastal protection, supporting and increasing biodiversity, and more recently have been recognized for their potential role as blue carbon habitats. Consequently, accurate areal estimates of these habitats are vitally important. Satellite imagery is often utilized for areal estimates of vegetated habitats due to their ability to capture vast areas but are disadvantaged by their lower resolution. In contrast, imagery collected by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) provide high‐resolution datasets but are unable to cover the necessary spatial scale required for calculating areal estimates at regional, national or international scales. This study successfully and accurately corrects the outputs from low‐resolution Sentinel 2 imagery to the standard of high‐resolution UAV imagery by using a novel brown algae index and a simple regression model to provide accurate spatial estimates. This model was applied to rocky shores across Wales, UK to predict a spatial extent of 6.2 km2 for three fucoid macroalgae species; Ascophyllum nodosum, Fucus vesiculosus and F. serratus. The regression model was validated in two ways. First, the data used to create the regression model was split to train and test (50:50) the model, with a root mean square error of ~8%–14%. Secondly, spatial estimates of fucoids in independent aerial imagery were assessed using aerial photography interpretation and compared to that of the regression model (7% difference). The carbon standing stock of fucoids calculated from the spatial estimate (6.2 km2) was found to be significantly lower than that of other marine carbon stores, indicating that fucoids do not significantly contribute as a blue carbon habitat based on biomass alone. This study produces a robust and accurate remote sensing technique to estimate spatial extent of macroalgae at large spatial scales, with possible worldwide applicability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This short paper presents some results of an attempt to derive a suitable function to explain unit costs in the water supply industry in England and Wales. The data we used were the latest available at the time of writing. The data, in effect, were for the year 1965-66. It was not possible, because of lack of data, to carry out a time-series analysis to supplement our cross-section findings. At the moment the industry is composed of some 331 undertakings; our sample, which is based on data provided by I.M.T.A.,' covers 162 of those under- takings. In effect, it covers: 67 local authorities; 75 water boards; and 20 water companies. In this paper then we are concerned with the derivation of an industry average cost curve, or function. Although the resulting curve could be similar to the envelope curve, or to part of the envelope curve, as we know it, it will differ from the usual conception of that curve because of the nature of production conditions in the water supply industry. Section II notes the type and characteristics of the four cost functions we have fitted to the data. Section III briefly presents and assesses the statistical results obtained from using those functions. Section IV then makes some comments on the major issue of amalgamation in the light of the statistical results.

This article presents an input-output table for England and Wales for the year 1688 which is based on the extensive dataset compiled by Gregory King in the 1690s, together with other contemporary and modern material relating to the end of the seventeenth century. As well as showing the inter-relationships between the different parts of the economy, the data in the table can be used to compute national income and the shares of different sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, and services in total value added. Further, the approach used to compile the table provides a way to subject King's data to as much independent assessment as is possible given alternative sources of information. Sensitivity analysis is used to assess the impact on national income and sector shares of alternative estimates of the grain harvest, metal manufacture, and service sector output. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Too many people living with chronic kidney disease are opting for and starting on hospital‐based dialysis compared to a home‐based kidney replacement therapy. Dialysis services are becoming financially unsustainable. Objective: This study aimed to assess the efficacy of coproductive research in chronic kidney disease service improvement to achieve greater sustainability. Design: A 2‐year coproductive service improvement study was conducted with multiple stakeholders with the specific intention of maximizing engagement with the national health kidney services, patients and public. Setting and Participants: A national health kidney service (3 health boards, 18 dialysis units), patients and families (n = 50), multidisciplinary teams including doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers, and so forth (n = 68), kidney charities, independent dialysis service providers and wider social services were part of this study. Findings: Coproductive research identified underutilized resources (e.g., patients on home dialysis and social services) and their potential, highlighted unmet social care needs for patients and families and informed service redesign. Education packages were reimagined to support the home dialysis agenda including opportunities for wider service input. The impacts of one size fits all approaches to dialysis on specialist workforce skills were made clearer and also professional, patient and public perceptions of key sustainability policies. Discussion and Conclusions: Patient and key stakeholders mapped out new ways to link services to create more sustainable models of kidney health and social care. Maintaining principles of knowledge coproduction could help achieve financial sustainability and move towards more prudent adult chronic kidney disease services. Patient or Public Contribution: Involved in developing research questions, study design, management and conduct, interpretation of evidence and dissemination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from England and Wales, we test the hypothesis that legalizing abortion reduces crime. The timing of changes in crime rates in aggregate data is generally inconsistent with this hypothesis. Using panel data on recorded crime from 1983 to 2001, we are able to replicate the negative association between abortion rates and reported crime that J. J. Donohue and S. D. Levitt found for the United States. However, this association breaks down under the scrutiny of robustness checks and is not present when we examine data on convictions broken down by age. Overall, we find no clear, consistent relationship between abortion and crime in England and Wales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of regulation of sex work is undergoing sweeping changes across Europe and client criminalization is becoming very widespread, with conflicting claims about the intended and actual consequences of this policy. We discuss changes in demand for paid sex accompanying the criminalization of prostitution in the United Kingdom, which moved from a relatively permissive regime under the Wolfenden Report of 1960, to a much harder line of aiming to crack down on prostitution with the Prostitution (Public Places) Scotland Act 2007 and the Policing and Crime Act of 2009 in England and Wales. We make use of two waves of the British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (NATSAL2, conducted in 2000–2001 and NATSAL3, conducted in 2010–2012) to document the changes in both the amount of demand for paid sex and in the type of clients that have taken place across the two waves, and their possible implications for policies that frame prostitution as a form of crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We used the HealthWise Wales (HWW) platform to explore public knowledge about the UK Yellow Card scheme (YCS), the spontaneous reporting scheme for suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and whether a short information video could improve awareness. Members of the public in Wales (n = 1606) completed a questionnaire about the YCS, watched the information video and then completed a follow‐up questionnaire. Almost half (46.5%) of respondents said they had previously experienced an ADR (>90% of the ADRs involving prescribed medicines). Before the video, 18% of respondents knew how to report an ADR via the YCS and of these, 34% were from allied‐health professions. Immediately after watching it, 71% participants reported knowing how to report and 82% reported being confident to report. If this awareness were maintained, such an approach could contribute to improved reporting of suspected ADRs by the public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distributions of Daubenton's bat (Myotis daubentonii), common pipistrelle, (Pipistrellus pipistrellus), and soprano pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pygmaeus) were investigated along and altitudinal gradient of the Lledr River, Conwy, North Wales, and presence assessed in relation to the water surface condition, presence/absence of bank‐side trees, and elevation. Ultrasound recordings of bats made on timed transects in summer 1999 were used to quantify habitat usage. All species significantly preferred smooth water sections of the river with trees on either one or both banks; P. pygmaeus also preferred smooth water with no trees. Bats avoided rough and cluttered water areas, as rapids may generate high‐frequency echolocation‐interfering noise and cluttered areas present obstacles to flight. In lower river regions, detections of bats reflected the proportion of suitable habitat available. At higher elevations, sufficient habitat was available; however, bats were likely restricted due to other factors such as a less predictable food source. This study emphasizes the importance of riparian habitat, bank‐side trees, and smooth water as foraging habitat for bats in marginal upland areas until a certain elevation, beyond which bats in these areas likely cease to forage. These small‐scale altitudinal differences in habitat selection should be factored in when designing future bat distribution studies and taken into consideration by conservation planners when reviewing habitat requirements of these species in Welsh river valleys, and elsewhere within the United Kingdom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two new genera and species of morganucodontans, Bridetherium dorisae and Paceyodon davidi, are recognized as members of the Morganucodon-sphenodont fauna preserved in a fissure filling (Pant 4) exposed in Pant Quarry, Vale of Glamorgan, southern Wales. Both taxa are based on isolated molariforms. Mode of occlusion of upper and lower molariforms in B. dorisae differs from the embrasure shearing pattern of Megazostrodon and the offset pattern characteristic of Morganucodon. Lack of a clear correlation between different patterns of occlusion and morphologies of their molariforms supports the working hypothesis that a close correlation between function and morphology of the molars characteristic of therian mammals, for example, was not present in morganucodontans. P. davidi is based on an isolated morganucodontan molariform that is significantly larger than any yet discovered. Several isolated morganucodontan-like molariforms cannot be referred to these taxa. The new Welsh morganucodontans added to records from other sites indicate the group achieved considerable taxonomic diversity and a near global distribution by the Early Jurassic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contribution of English and Welsh lead mines to the silver supplies of mints between Domesday Book and the end of the fifteenth century is assessed in this article, comparing evidence for the size of silver production with mint output data. It is shown that the proposal that northern Pennine mines were the principal source of the silver in the late twelfth-century English currency is untenable. Welsh mines supplied limited amounts of silver to local mints around 1200. Devon silver made a significant but not predominant contribution to mint output at times of bullion scarcity in the 1290s and the mid-fifteenth century. Imported silver was usually a greater source of the metal in the English currency than locally mined silver, and gold coins constituted most of England's money supply from the mid-fourteenth century onwards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The joint-stock banks that established after the liberalizing legislation of 1826 were periodically criticized during the nineteenth century for their low-quality and rapidly deteriorating shareholder constituencies. The quality of a bank's shareholding constituency was of paramount importance because of unlimited shareholder liability. Using archival records, this article examines the quality of bank shareholder constituencies over the nineteenth century. The main finding is that shareholder constituencies did not deteriorate in quality until the introduction of limited liability. The non-deterioration of constituencies is attributed to bank deeds which locked in the aggregate quality of shareholder constituencies by empowering directors to vet all share transfers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can a more collaborative form of public management correct for the historical link between social and economic status (SES) and political participation? New initiatives to involve the citizen directly in public decision making--citizen governance--aim to include a wider representation of groups in society because they draw from service users and seek to recruit hard-to-reach groups. To test the claim that citizen governance may be more representative than other acts of political participation, this essay reports data from the 2005 English and Welsh Citizenship Survey. Using descriptive statistics and regression analysis, it finds evidence that citizen governance is more representative than civic activities, especially for young people and ethnic minority communities. Policy makers can fine-tune their interventions to reach underrepresented groups without believing the citizen governance is a panacea for long-running biases in civic participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new source, 1840s Admiralty seamen's tickets, is used to explore three anthropometric issues. First, did being born in a city, with its associated disamenities, lead to stunting? Second, did being born near a city, whose markets sucked away foodstuffs, lead to stunting? Third, did child labour lead to stunting? We find that only those born in very large cities suffered a level of stunting that contemporaries could have observed. Being born near a city, which gave parents opportunities to trade away family calories, and perhaps increased exposure to disease, did not cause stunting. Britain was a well-integrated market; all families, whatever their locations, had options to trade and faced similar disease environments. Finally, although adults who had gone to sea young were shorter than those who did not enlist until fully grown, going to sea did not stunt. Instead, plentiful food at sea attracted stunted adolescents, who reversed most of their stunting as a result. But child labour at sea was different from other forms of children's work because wages were largely hypothecated to the child as food and shelter onboard. In contrast, where wages were paid to the child or his parents in cash, they became submerged in the household economy and their benefits were shared with other family members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores judicial perceptions of child witnesses. It considers the impact of recent legislation in England and Wales as well as in Scotland which classified all child witnesses as vulnerable and introduced a series of special measures to facilitate children's evidence. The article reports the findings of an empirical research study conducted with the judiciary in Scotland which suggests that judicial perceptions of child witnesses extend across a complex spectrum where a child may be viewed as vulnerable but is also likely to be seen as suggestible, reliable or resilient. The article advances two propositions. First, that the statutory conceptualization of children as invariably vulnerable has not displaced established beliefs concerning children's suggestibility and therefore has made little difference to perceptions of their ability to produce reliable testimony. Second, that focusing on children's potential for resilience rather than their vulnerability may prove a more productive conceptualization of children, one which could better support their capability as witnesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Male preference in many Asian cultures results in discriminatory practices against females, including neglect and infanticide. This preference, together with the availability of prenatal sex determination and sex-selective abortion, has led to an increase in sex ratios at birth in China, India, and South Korea. The resulting expected gender imbalances raise ethical, demographic, and social concerns. We analyzed birth statistics to see whether similar trends are apparent among births to foreign-born mothers in England and Wales. Before 1990, sex ratios at birth were consistently nearly one point lower (104) for the three major Asian groups in Britain compared with mothers born in Western countries. This is inconsistent with previous suggestions that Asian populations have a higher “natural” sex ratio at birth. In the birth statistics since 1990, we find a four-point increase in the sex ratio at birth for mothers born in India, attributable particularly to an increase at higher birth orders, mirroring findings reported for India. This suggests that sex-selective abortion is occurring among mothers born in India and living in Britain. By contrast, no significant increase was observed for Pakistan-born and Bangladesh-born mothers, among whom male preference also exists. It seems that male preference in different cultures does not necessarily lead to sex-selective abortion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The devolution of legislative and executive powers to the different parts of the United Kingdom has meant that, because of the asymmetric arrangements made, there has been an increase in policy divergence from one part to another. Some of this has been intended, some unintended. With reference, in particular, to Scotland and Wales this article focuses on the asymmetric consequences of devolution which derive specifically from the jurisdictional or ‘legal system’ differences across the United Kingdom. These affect the conditions under which law-making powers may be devolved, the ‘management’ of devolution and the rights enjoyed by citizens. It is argued that the devolution of ‘legal system’ competence carries with it problems quite different from those associated with the devolution of other powers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is concerned with the costs of abating sulphur dioxide emissions from Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) power stations in England and Wales. The approach taken is to estimate the least cost methods, given various possible abatement technologies, for reducing aggregate CEGB emissions of sulphur dioxide to various arbitrarily chosen levels. Taking the period 1980 to 2000 three notional abatement standards are considered to reflect different stringencies. Section II of this article contains a discussion of projected sulphur dioxide emissions in Great Britain up to 2000 under a policy of no abatement. The implication for depositions in Scandinavia is discussed. Abatement technologies and some problems concerning the use of flue gas desulphurization in an integrated electricity supply system are considered in Section III and IV. Cost estimates are given in Section V and major results are presented in Section VI. Optimal emission standards depend on marginal damage and marginal abatement costs.

The article focuses on the ecological and historical factors in the distributions of the British Helianthemum species. Among the specie of these plants is the Helianthemum chamaecistus which is widely distributed in short dry chalk and limestone grasslands in Wales and England. It is dominated by Festuca ovina, Seslerina caerulea, and Zerna erecta, and appears in substrata in dry Agrostis tenuis-Festuca ovina grasslands in Scotland. On the other hand, H. apenninum is confined to open xeric grasslands on slopes that faces south on Carboniferous and Devonian limestones in Southwest England.

The article looks into the rate of spread of Spartina townsendii in the sandy lower parts and relatively muddy upper areas of the Dovey estuary. It also examined the competition of two aspects of Spartina with other salt-marsh species. The invasion of established Spartina and the invasion of grazed saltings by Spartina were also investigated. Quadrats found in sandy and relatively muddy areas revealed that the muddy area was completely covered with Spartina in two or three years. The study also revealed that the invasion of established Spartina by other salt-marsh species is a conspicuous feature of the estuary. Existing vegetation in the estuary were not affected by the invasion of established Puccinellia, Armeria and Festuca sward by Spartina.

The article offers information on Impatiens parviflora, an erect annual herb, and its presence in Great Britain. The plant has stems branching from the axils of the cotyledons. Its flowers are 10 to 15 millimeters long including spur. Its seeds are oblong with fine longitudinal striations. The plant is frequently persistent in gardens and shady waste places in various parts of England, Wales and Scotland. It discusses the habitat, climatic and topographical limitations of the plant. It lists the most frequent species at more than 1 of 19 localities in England and Scotland.

The article offers observation on the ecology of Juncus conglomeratus and Juncus effusus in Great Britain. Differences in their capsule and stem are the only thing that separates the two species. It notes that the Biological Flora of the British Isles failed to take into account the very widespread distribution of the J. effusus variety, which is often mistaken for J. conglomeratus. Specimens of J. conglomeratus can be found in some Wales localities such as the Conway Valley and Cwm Gwara. The distribution of these species can be described as patchy and rare among an abundance of other rush species. However, J. effusus species and its variety have an extensive distribution on the mountain slopes, poor pastures retrogressive to moorland, and open parts of the woods in North Wales counties.