scholarly journals Geographic and Temporal Access to Basic Banking Services Offered through Post Offices in Wales

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andra Sonea ◽  
René Westerholt
Keyword(s):  
Road Network ◽  
Post Office ◽  
Spatial Access ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Banking Services ◽  
Post Offices ◽  
Geographical Access ◽  
Population Grid ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

AbstractAccess to ‘universal banking services’ through the post office network has been a goal of the UK governments over the last twenty years. Various policies and mechanisms have been put in place in an attempt to maintain national geographical coverage with access points while increasing the financial viability of the network. One such mechanism is represented by the six official criteria for access to post offices, expressed as a percentage of the UK population living within one mile, three miles, and six miles of a post office. The method for calculating compliance with these access criteria is not published. Nor will any granular results be published, but only an annual statement that the criteria are being met. This article examines geographical and temporal access to post offices in order to understand the territorial coverage of the network and the impact this has on the provision of basic banking services. The area under investigation is Wales, for which we are reviewing the Government’s official access criteria. Through the Post Office Ltd website, we are collecting up-to-date information on the locations and opening hours of post offices in Wales. In addition, a detailed population grid is combined with calculated areas of equidistant geographical access, called isochrones, to determine the number of people who have access to the post office network. The isochrones are based on the Welsh road network and are calculated for different travel modes and thresholds using a powerful routing engine. Our results show that the official access criteria are largely unmet in Wales. In addition, and in contrast to previous studies, we show a rural-urban divide not in terms of spatial access, but in the combination of spatial and temporal access. The results are of both practical and theoretical value and will hopefully inform policy makers.

scholarly journals European Youth Work Policy and Young People’s Experience of Open Access Youth Work

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
JON ORD ◽  
MARC CARLETTI ◽  
DANIELE MORCIANO ◽  
LASSE SIURALA ◽  
CHRISTOPHE DANSAC ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Young People ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Youth Work ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
European Youth

Abstract This article examines young people’s experiences of open access youth work in settings in the UK, Finland, Estonia, Italy and France. It analyses 844 individual narratives from young people, which communicate the impact of youthwork on their lives. These accounts are then analysed in the light of the European youth work policy goals. It concludes that it is encouraging that what young people identify as the positive impact of youth work are broadly consistent with many of these goals. There are however some disparities which require attention. These include the importance young people place on the social context of youth work, such as friendship, which is largely absent in EU youth work policy; as well as the importance placed on experiential learning. The paper also highlights a tension between ‘top down’ policy formulation and the ‘youth centric’ practices of youth work. It concludes with a reminder to policy makers that for youth work to remain successful the spaces and places for young people must remain meaningful to them ‘on their terms’.

Understanding Affordability

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Meen ◽  
Christine Whitehead
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Home Ownership ◽  
House Prices ◽  
Household Formation ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Developed World ◽  
The Impact

Affordability is, perhaps, the greatest housing problem facing households today, both in the UK and internationally. Even though most households are now well housed, hardship is disproportionately concentrated among low-income and younger households. Our failure to deal with their problems is what makes housing so frustrating. But, to improve outcomes, we have to understand the complex economic and political forces which underlie their continued prevalence. There are no costless solutions, but there are new policy directions that can be explored in addition to those that have dominated in recent years. The first, analytic, part of the book considers the factors that determine house prices and rents, household formation and tenure, housing construction and the roles played by housing finance and taxation. The second part turns to examine the impact of past policy and the possibilities for improvement - discussing supply and the impact of planning regulation, supply subsidies, subsidies to low-income tenants and attempts to increase home ownership. Rather than advocating a particular set of policies, the aim is to consider the balance of policies; the constraints under which housing policy operates; what can realistically be achieved; the structural changes that would need to occur; and the significant sacrifices that would have to be made by some groups if there are to be improvements for others. Our emphasis is on the UK but throughout the book we also draw on international experience and our conclusions have relevance to analysts and policy makers across the developed world.

scholarly journals Protocol for a Mixed-Method Investigation of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Gambling Practices, Experiences and Marketing in the UK: The “Betting and Gaming COVID-19 Impact Study”

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (22) ◽  
pp. 8449
Author(s):  
Kate Hunt ◽  
Nathan Critchlow ◽  
Ashley Brown ◽  
Christopher Bunn ◽  
Fiona Dobbie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Mixed Method ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Risk Groups ◽  
Third Wave ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Treatment Providers ◽  
Sports Events ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

The COVID-19 pandemic led to unprecedented restrictions on people’s movements and interactions, as well as the cancellation of major sports events and social activities, directly altering the gambling landscape. There is urgent need to provide regulators, policy makers and treatment providers with evidence on the patterns and context of gambling during COVID-19 and its aftermath. This protocol describes a study addressing the following three questions: (1) How has COVID-19 changed gambling practices and the risk factors for, and experience of, gambling harms? (2) What is the effect of COVID-19 on gambling marketing? (3) How has COVID-19 changed high risk groups’ gambling experiences and practices? This mixed-method study focuses on two groups, namely young adults and sports bettors. In workpackage-1, we will extend an existing longitudinal survey of gambling in young adults (aged 16–24 years) (first wave conducted June–August 2019), adding COVID-19-related questions to the second wave (July–August 2020) and extending to a third wave in 2021; and undertake a survey of sports bettors in the UK (baseline n = 4000, ~July–August 2020), with follow-ups in ~October–November 2020 and ~February-March 2021. In workpackage-2, we will examine changes in expenditure on paid-for gambling advertising from January 2019 to July 2021 and undertake a mixed-method content analysis of a random sample of paid-for gambling advertising (n ~ 200) and social media marketing (n ~ 100) during the initial COVID-19 “lockdown”. Workpackage-3 will involve qualitative interviews with a purposive sample of (a) young adults (aged 18–24 years) and (b) sports bettors.

A Study on Methodologies for Research Impact Assessment: Responses of the UK Research Councils to the Warry Report

2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 393-397 ◽  
Author(s):  
André Luiz de Campos
Keyword(s):  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Research Funding ◽  
Research Impact ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Impact Studies ◽  
Research Impact Assessment ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Research Councils ◽  
The Impact

The experience of the UK Research Councils in assessing the impacts of their research funding is discussed, including a report on the findings of research which reviewed the impact studies implemented by the Research Councils. The response of the Councils to the challenge of demonstrating the impacts of their funding and the main methodologies used are presented and the implications of both for the Research Councils and policy makers elsewhere are outlined.

scholarly journals Are citizen juries and assemblies on climate change driving democratic climate policymaking? An exploration of two case studies in the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Wells ◽  
Candice Howarth ◽  
Lina I. Brand-Correa
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Policy ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Elected Representatives ◽  
The Impact

Abstract In light of increasing pressure to deliver climate action targets, and the growing role of citizens in raising the importance of the issue, deliberative democratic processes (e.g. Citizen Juries and Citizen Assemblies) on climate change are increasingly being used to provide a voice to citizens in climate change decision-making. Through a comparative case study of two processes that ran in the UK in 2019 (the Leeds Climate Change Citizens’ Jury and the Oxford Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change), this paper investigates how far Citizen Assemblies and Juries on climate change are increasing citizen engagement on climate change and creating more citizen-centred climate policy-making. Interviews were conducted with policy-makers, councillors, professional facilitators and others involved in running these processes to assess motivations for conducting these, their structure and the impact and influence they had. The findings suggest the impact of these processes is not uniform: they have an indirect impact on policymaking by creating momentum around climate action and supporting the introduction of pre-planned or pre-existing policies rather than a direct impact by being truly being citizen-centred policymaking processes or conducive to new climate policy. We conclude with reflections on how these processes give elected representatives a public mandate on climate change, that they help to identify more nuanced and in-depth public opinions in a fair and informed way, yet it can be challenging to embed citizen juries and assemblies in wider democratic processes.

scholarly journals An engineering model of the COVID-19 trajectory to predict the success of isolation initiatives

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven King ◽  
Alberto Striolo
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Optimal Solution ◽  
Epidemiological Models ◽  
Engineering Model ◽  
Medium Term ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Successful Isolation ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

Much media and societal attention is today focused on how to best control the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). Every day brings us new data, and policy makers are implementing different strategies in different countries to manage the impact of COVID-19. To respond to the first ‘wave’ of infection, several countries, including the UK, opted for isolation/lockdown initiatives, with different degrees of rigour. Data showed that these initiatives have yielded the expected results in terms of containing the rapid trajectory of the virus. When this article was first prepared (April 2020), the affected societies were wondering when the isolation/lockdown initiatives should be lifted. While detailed epidemiological, economic as well as social studies would be required to answer this question completely, here we employ a simple engineering model. Albeit simple, the model is capable of reproducing the main features of the data reported in the literature concerning the COVID-19 trajectory in different countries, including the increase in cases in countries following the initially successful isolation/lockdown initiatives. Keeping in mind the simplicity of the model, we attempt to draw some conclusions, which seem to suggest that a decrease in the number of infected individuals after the initiation of isolation/lockdown initiatives does not necessarily guarantee that the virus trajectory is under control. Within the limit of this model, it would seem that rigid isolation/lockdown initiatives for the medium term would lead to achieving the desired control over the spread of the virus. This observation seems consistent with the 2020 summer months, during which the COVID-19 trajectory seemed to be almost under control across most European countries. Consistent with the results from our simple model, winter 2020 data show that the virus trajectory was again on the rise. Because the optimal solution will achieve control over the spread of the virus while minimising negative societal impacts due to isolation/lockdown, which include but are not limited to economic and mental health aspects, the engineering model presented here is not sufficient to provide the desired answer. However, the model seems to suggest that to keep the COVID-19 trajectory under control, a series of short-to-medium term isolation measures should be put in place until one or more of the following scenarios is achieved: a cure has been developed and has become accessible to the population at large; a vaccine has been developed, tested and distributed to large portions of the population; a sufficiently large portion of the population has developed resistance to the COVID-19 virus; or the virus itself has become less aggressive. It is somewhat remarkable that an engineering model, despite all its approximations, provides suggestions consistent with advanced epidemiological models developed by several experts in the field. The model proposed here is however not expected to be able to capture the emergence of variants of the virus, which seem to be responsible for significant outbreaks, notably in India, in the spring of 2021, it cannot describe the effectiveness of vaccine strategies, as it does not differentiate among different age groups within the population, nor does it allow us to consider the duration of the immunity achieved after infection or vaccination.

scholarly journals A lost decade? A renewed case for adult social care reform in England

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
JON GLASBY ◽  
YANAN ZHANG ◽  
MATTHEW R. BENNETT ◽  
PATRICK HALL
Keyword(s):  
Social Care ◽  
Current System ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Department Of Health ◽  
Working Age ◽  
Lost Decade ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Urgent Action

Abstract Drawing on a 2010 analysis of the reform and costs of adult social care commissioned by Downing Street and the UK Department of Health, this paper sets out projected future costs under different reform scenarios, reviews what happened in practice from 2010-19, explores the impact of the growing gap between need and funding, and explores the relationship between future spending and economic growth. In the process, it identifies a ‘lost decade’ in which policy makers failed to act on the warnings which they received in 2010, draws attention to the disproportionate impact of cuts on older people (compared to services for people of working age) and calls for urgent action before the current system becomes unsustainable.

Educating Students for E-Entrepreneurship in the UK, the USA and China

2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cindy Millman ◽  
Wang-Chan Wong ◽  
Zhengwei Li ◽  
Harry Matlay
Keyword(s):  
Entrepreneurship Education ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Rigorous Research ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

A growing body of research evaluates various aspects of entrepreneurship education (such as curriculum, delivery and assessment) and links it to outcomes in terms of both the number and quality of entrepreneurs entering an economy. There is, however, a marked paucity of empirically rigorous research appraising the impact of entrepreneurship education on graduates' intentions and perceived ability to set up Internet-based e-enterprises that can operate across temporal and geographical boundaries. This paper provides a comparative overview of entrepreneurship education in the UK, the USA and China with a focus on IT and non-IT students' e-entrepreneurship intentions, perceptions and outcomes. The research on which the paper is based was carried out in two distinct phases: first, focus groups were used to design, pilot and develop a comprehensive research questionnaire for use in a wider, multi-country survey; second, questionnaires were then distributed to students in IT and non-IT related disciplines in the UK, the USA and China. The preliminary results show that most respondents were slow to conceptualize and contextualize e-entrepreneurship in the prevailing socio-economic and political conditions of their countries of origin. There were no significant differences between students of IT and non-IT disciplines in their perceptions of the viability and practicality of engaging in e-entrepreneurship. Generic support initiatives appear to neglect the vast portfolio of skills needs for graduates engaging in Internet trading. The authors recommend that entrepreneurship education providers should engage with emergent models of e-entrepreneurship and that policy makers should provide innovative initiatives to cater for the specific needs of e-entrepreneurs.

scholarly journals OP0276-PARE CREATING POLITICAL LEVERS TO IMPROVE AXIAL SPONDYLOARTHRITIS CARE

2021 ◽  
Vol 80 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. 167.2-168
Author(s):  
J. Hamilton ◽  
D. Webb ◽  
S. Whalley
Keyword(s):  
Axial Spondyloarthritis ◽  
Delayed Diagnosis ◽  
Quality Standard ◽  
Inflammatory Back Pain ◽  
Research Support ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Nice Guideline ◽  
Link Type ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

Background:Research carried out in 2016 by NASS showed that the range and quality of axial spondyloarthritis (axial SpA) services generally offered around the UK were variable 1. The publication by the regulator, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), of a Guideline for Spondyloarthritis (NG65) in 2017 2 and the corresponding Quality Standard (QS170) in 2018 3, for the first time provided national guidance and standards of services that should be available for people with axial SpA. National oversight of the implementation of these however was missing.Objectives:NASS worked with Parliamentarians to establish the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Axial Spondyloarthritis in January 2019. We gave it a very specific objective - to oversee the implementation of NH65 and QS170. The group seeks to improve axial SpA services in England whilst raising awareness of the condition at a parliamentary level, working closely with NASS.Methods:The group is a unique forum in the UK, bringing together patients, clinicians, researchers, policy makers, national bodies and parliamentarians. The group has met five times covering a range of topics including the delay to diagnosis, the uptake of NG65 and hydrotherapy.In 2019 the group carried out a national inquiry into the standards of axial SpA services in the UK, developing a ten-question quality framework, based largely on the NICE Guideline recommendations and Quality Standard. In July 2020 a meeting was convened to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on axial SpA services. The meeting presented research carried out by NASS and M&F Health with patients and clinicians respectively.Results:The results of the national inquiry for England were published in January 2020 4. The inquiry found that large discrepancies remain in the provision of axial SpA services. Only 21% of local commissioning bodies have an inflammatory back pain pathway, and less than half of NHS providers have a specialist axial SpA clinic.The results of COVID survey shows significant impacts on the health of axial SpA patients and on the availability and modality of rheumatology services. The APPG later published a report with a set of recommendations 5, creating minimum service specifications for axial SpA services during crisis periods such as the recent pandemic, as well as service recovery. Comment on this research was also published in The Lancet Rheumatology 6.In September 2020 the work of the APPG led to a debate in Parliament on delayed diagnosis in axial SpA.Discussions on the future of hydrotherapy services has resulted in the mobilisation of stakeholders across condition areas.Conclusion:All All Party Parliamentary Group is already proving to be an effective political lever to improve axial SpA care. It has shown huge variations in the standard of care and provision of services still remain and has brought this to the attention of Parliamentarians, policy makers and clinicians.References:[1]Mohammed H Derakhshan, Himanshu Pathak, Debbie Cook, Sally Dickinson, Stefan Siebert, Karl Gaffney, NASS and BRITSpA investigators, Services for spondyloarthritis: a survey of patients and rheumatologists, Rheumatology, February 2018[2]Spondyloarthritis in over 16s: diagnosis and management (NG65), https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng65, February 2017[3]Spondyloarthritis (QS170), https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/qs170, June 2018[4]Axial Spondyloarthritis Services in England – A national inquiry, https://nass.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Axial-Spondyloarthritis-Services-in-England-FINAL.pdf, January 2020[5]COVID-19 & Axial SpA: Government Recommendation Paper, https://nass.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/APPG-Recommendation-Paper-COVID-19-Axial-SpA-for-website-1.pdf, October 2020[6]Helena Marzo Ortega, Simon Whalley, Jill Hamilton, Dale Webb, COVID-19 in axial spondyloarthritis care provision: helping to straighten the long and winding road, https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanrhe/article/PIIS2665-9913(20)30413-6/fulltext, 1 December 2020Disclosure of Interests:Jill Hamilton Grant/research support from: Funding was received from Novartis to support APPG 1, 2 and 4, Dale Webb Grant/research support from: Funding was received from Novartis for APPG 1, 2 and 4, Simon Whalley: None declared

scholarly journals The impact of COVID-19 related regulations and restrictions on mobility and potential for sustained climate mitigation across the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK: A data-based commentary.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Corker ◽  
Kaloyan Mitev ◽  
Astrid Nilsson ◽  
Milan Tamis ◽  
Thijs Bouman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Behaviour Change ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Observed Behaviour ◽  
Mitigate Climate Change ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Behaviour Changes ◽  
The Impact

Human behaviour change is necessary to meet targets set by the Paris Agreement to mitigate climate change. Restrictions and regulations put in place globally to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 during 2020 have had a substantial impact on everyday life, including many carbon-intensive behaviours such as transportation. Changes to transportation behaviour may reduce carbon emissions. Behaviour change theory can offer perspective on the drivers and influences of behaviour and shape recommendations for how policy-makers can capitalise on any observed behaviour changes that may mitigate climate change. For this commentary, we aimed to describe changes in data relating to transportation behavioursrelating to working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic across the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK. We display these identified changes in a concept map, suggesting links between the changes in behaviour and levels of carbon emissions. We consider these changes in relation to a comprehensive and easy to understand model of behaviour, the COM-B, to understand the capabilities, opportunities and behaviours related to the observed behaviour changes and potential policy to mitigate climate change. There is now an opportunity for policy-makers to increase the likelihood of maintaining pro-environmental behaviour changes by providing opportunities, improving capabilities and maintaining motivation for these behaviours.

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