scholarly journals Contemporary Employer Interest Representation in the United Kingdom

2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leon Gooberman ◽  
Marco Hauptmeier ◽  
Edmund Heery
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Individual Interest ◽  
Collective Interest ◽  
Interest Representation ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Regional Interest ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
New Type ◽  
Corporate Social

Focusing on employers’ organizations in the United Kingdom, this article contributes to the literature on employer interest representation by advancing three interrelated arguments, which reflect how the methods, structure and interests of employer representation have evolved. First, the primary method of collective interest representation has shifted from collective bargaining, nowadays only pursued by a minority of employers’ organizations, to political representation, now the most frequent form of collective interest representation. Second, the structure of employer interest representation has evolved and is fragmented between a small number of large, general employers’ organizations, a large majority of sectoral employers’ organizations, regional interest representation in the devolved nations, which has become more important, and a new type of employer body, the employer forum, which focuses on corporate social responsibility. Third, the shift in collective interest representation is complemented by a broadening of individual interest representation, with employers’ organizations having developed a wide range of services.

scholarly journals Are public service media distinctive from the market? Interpreting the political information environments of BBC and commercial news in the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
pp. 026732312110121
Author(s):  
Stephen Cushion
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Television News ◽  
Information Environment ◽  
Political Information ◽  
The Political ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
International Issues ◽  
Market Driven

Public service media face an existential crisis. Many governments are cutting their budgets, while questioning the role and value of public service broadcasting because many citizens now have access to a wide range of media. This raises the question – do public service media supply a distinctive and informative news service compared to market-led media? Drawing on the concept of political information environment, this study makes an intervention into debates by carrying out a comparative content analysis of news produced by UK public service broadcasters and market-driven media across television, radio and online outlets (N = 1065) and interviewing senior editors about the routine selection of news. It found that almost all BBC news and commercial public service media platforms reported more news about politics, public affairs and international issues than entirely market-driven outlets. Online BBC news reported more informative topics than market-based media, which featured more entertainment and celebrity stories. The value of public service media was demonstrated on the United Kingdom’s nightly television news bulletins, which shone a light on the world not often reported, especially BBC News at Ten. Most market-driven media reported through a UK prism, excluding many countries and international issues. Overall, it is argued that the influence of public service media in the United Kingdom helps shape an information environment with informative news. The focus of the study is on UK media, but the conceptual application of intepreting a political information environment is designed to be relevant for scholars internationally. While communication studies have sought to advance more cross-national studies in recent years, this can limit how relevant studies are for debates in national political information environments. This study concludes by recommending more scholarly attention should be paid to theorising national policy dynamics that shape the political information environments of media systems within nations.

School Reform and Parental Engagement Learning in the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Goodall
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
School Improvement ◽  
School Reform ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Parental Engagement ◽  
Reform Movements ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Per Se

Parental engagement in children and young people’s learning has been shown to be an important lever for school improvement and young people’s outcomes. However, parents are rarely involved in school reform movements. These reform movements are generally centered on the school rather than on improvement of learning per se. Shifting the focus away from the school and to learning as an overarching aim requires the inclusion of and partnership with parents. This is a new way of understanding school reform but has the best chance of supporting all students, including those not best served by the schooling systems in the early 21st century. The reforms here are chiefly concerned with U.K. schooling systems, but could be more widely applicable, and call on a wide range of evidence, from the United Kingdom and beyond.

The cereal grain trade in the United Kingdom: the problem of cereal variety

1984 ◽  
Vol 304 (1120) ◽  
pp. 395-407 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Major Constituent ◽  
Variety Identification ◽  
Starch Gel Electrophoresis ◽  
Current Frequency ◽  
Growth Environment ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Cereal Grain ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Impact

The production of cereals in the United Kingdom has increased steadily over recent years from 12.6 million tonnes in 1964 to 21.8 million tonnes in 1982. During this period, the United Kingdom’s accession to the E.E.C. in 1973 caused a reverse in the milling industry’s policy of including only a small proportion of home-grown wheat with imported wheat in breadmaking grists. Home-grown wheat is now the major constituent of mass produced bread. Since the passing of the Plant Varieties Rights Act in 1964, plant breeders have been able to collect royalties on the sale of seed of their varieties; this led within a decade to a large number of high yielding varieties on offer to the farmer. Thus during the period of adjustment to home-grown wheat after 1973, the milling industry had to select from a wide range of varieties of different milling and baking qualities. Selection was aided by the offer of a ‘premium’ (extra payment) for wheat of the right variety. The millers’ problem then was to be able to check that the wheat received was of the variety claimed by the supplier. Investigations of the heterogeneity ofgliadins by electrophoresis had been conducted by several workers, but a refined procedure was developed that used starch gel electrophoresis that was able to distinguish most varieties of wheat grown in France and the E.E.C. Different electrophoretic patterns were obtained from individual grains of different varieties: grains of the same variety gave similar patterns irrespective of growth environment. Subsequent developments of variety identification by electrophoresis have improved the resolution and time of analysis. Use of electrophoresis to check the varietal composition of grain being supplied to a British miller revealed that contracts that specified varietal content were usually, but not always, complied with. It was found that the miller was able to seek financial reimbursement from his supplier to compensate for the poorer grade of wheat received in about one in eight deliveries from France; and in about one in seven deliveries from the British farmer. Farmers have now adjusted to growing, storing and supplying varieties separately, such that the current frequency of erroneous grain delivery is about one in 50. The impact of variety identification by electrophoresis in barley trading has been less than in wheat trading. This is partly because it is sometimes possible to verify a purchase through examination of grain morphology, and partly because the alternative electrophoretic analysis is often impractical, because of frequently large numbers of barley varieties carrying identical hordein proteins.

Armchair Auditors: Crowdsourcing Analysis of Government Expenditures

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel E. O'Leary
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Information And Communications Technology ◽  
Government Expenditures ◽  
Data Movement ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Open Data Movement

ABSTRACT Increasingly, there is interest in using information and communications technology (ICT) to help build a “better world.” As an example, the United Kingdom has initiated an “open data” movement to disclose financial information about federal and local governments and other organizations. This has led to the use of a wide range of technologies (Internet, Databases, Web 2.0, etc.) to facilitate disclosure. However, since there is a huge cost of generating and maintaining open data, there also is a concern: “will anyone do anything with the data?” In a speech in 2009, David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, used the term “armchair auditor” to describe crowdsourcing analysis of that data. In that speech, Cameron (2009) noted: “Just imagine the effect that an army of armchair auditors is going to have on those expense claims.” Accordingly, as more and more countries and organizations generate open data, those “armchair auditors” could play an increasingly important role: to help crowdsource monitoring of government expenditures. This paper investigates a number of potential benefits and a number of emerging concerns associated with armchair auditors.

Surface and Groundwater Quality and Health, with a Focus on the United Kingdom

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Neal
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Groundwater Quality ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Basic Sanitation ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Surface And Groundwater

Freshwater environments are of major importance to health issues in both direct (e.g., drinking water and sanitation) and indirect (e.g., industry, agriculture, and amenity/recreation) ways. However, water resources are finite, and, though renewable, demands have multiplied over the last 100 years due to escalating human populations and the growing requirements of industry and agriculture. Hence, there are increasing global concerns over the extent of present and future good quality water resources. As Gleick (1998) emphasizes: . . . ·Per-capita water demands are increasing, but percapita water availability is decreasing due to population growth and economic development. . . . . . . ·Half the world’s population lacks basic sanitation and more than a billion people lack potable drinking water; these numbers are rising. Incidences of some water-related diseases are rising. . . . . . . ·The per-capita amount of irrigated land is falling and competition for agricultural water is growing. . . . . . . ·Political and military tensions/conflicts over shared water resources are growing. . . . . . . ·A groundwater overdraft exists, the size of which is accelerating; groundwater supplies occur on every continent except Antarctica. . . . . . . ·Global climate change is evident, and the hydrological cycle will be seriously affected in ways that are only beginning to be understood. . . . The chemical composition of surface and groundwaters is influenced by a wide range of processes, some of which are outside the influence of humans while others are a direct consequence of anthropogenic pollution or changing of the environment. Starting with the range and nature of the processes involved, the changing nature of surface and groundwater quality is illustrated here, based on the evolution of the United Kingdom from a rural to an industrial and to a post- industrial society. The issue of what constitutes a health risk is outlined in relation to the pragmatic approaches required for environmental management. Surface and groundwater exhibit a wide range of chemical compositions, and, in ecosystems uninfluenced by humans, the range of compositions can vary considerably.

Economic Issues in Water Privatisation and Regulation

1992 ◽  
Vol 26 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 1921-1928
Author(s):  
D. R. Glynn ◽  
W. R. Baker ◽  
C. A. Jones ◽  
J. L. Liesner
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Water Supply ◽  
Sewage Treatment ◽  
Public Water Supply ◽  
Economic Issues ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Us ◽  
Water And Sewerage Industry ◽  
Treatment And Disposal

During the privatisation of the United Kingdom water and sewerage industry a wide range of important and challenging practical economic issues were encountered, many of which also arise in some form or other throughout the developed and developing worlds. One such issue is the control of the prices charged for public water supply and sewerage, sewage treatment and disposal services. This paper explores some of those issues, analyses how privatisation and regulation have been shaped in order to address them, and, where possible, evaluates performance so far. Where appropriate, examples of how similar issues have been tackled are given for other countries, including the US and France.

Unpacking the Levels of Household and Individual Climate Change Adaptation: Empirical Evidence from Leeds, United Kingdom

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 501-513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chukwuma Otum Ume ◽  
Ogochukwu Onah ◽  
Kehinde Paul Adeosun ◽  
Onyekwe Chris Nnamdi ◽  
Nice Nneoma Ihedioha ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Government Support ◽  
Quantitative Aspect ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Climate Change Research ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Wide Range

AbstractThis study set out to empirically determine the current state of individual and household adaptation to climate change in the United Kingdom and how policy makers can improve on it. The study utilized both qualitative and quantitative approaches (mixed method). For the quantitative aspect of the study, a quota-sampling technique was employed in the selection of 650 respondents for the study using a well-structured questionnaire. The quota representation was based on age and gender. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and binary logit regression. In addition, qualitative content/topic analysis of an in-depth interview of the respondents was employed in further analyzing why and how policy makers can improve climate change adaptation. Findings from the study indicate the dire need for continued government support in household and individual adaptation in Leeds, and this support should also be encouraged in other cities where government intervention is low. Interventions in the form of subsidies, direct regulations, and public awareness are needed. The implementation of these measures is expected to generate a wide range of additional benefits to most vulnerable groups who should be central to the rapidly expanding climate change research and policy agenda in the United Kingdom.

Europe will revive the 'Tobin tax'

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Implementation Challenges ◽  
Tobin Tax ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
European Court ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Technical Issues ◽  
Two Stages ◽  
Financial Transactions

Subject Outlook for the introduction of a financial transactions tax. Significance Ten euro-area countries, led by Austria and France, have kickstarted plans to revive a 'Tobin tax' proposal, which will introduce a financial transactions tax (FTT) in two stages, the first by January 1, 2016 and the second a year later. Although FTT opponents, led by the United Kingdom, sank any EU-wide measure, the smaller group is now determined to go it alone with a measure that would apply only within these countries and to a broad range of transactions, including derivatives, at low rates. Impacts The European Commission will assist in addressing necessary technical issues. An FTT on a wide range of derivatives raises implementation challenges that cannot be solved according to the proposed timetable. The United Kingdom may subject any agreed FTT to further legal challenge before the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

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