The changing policy environment for voluntary action from 1979

2018 ◽  
pp. 19-38
Author(s):  
Rose Lindsey ◽  
John Mohan ◽  
Sarah Bulloch ◽  
Elizabeth Metcalfe
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Voluntary Sector ◽  
Voluntary Action ◽  
Policy Environment ◽  
Strong Continuity ◽  
Policy Deliberation ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
Voluntary Organisations

This chapter analyses post-1979 changes in the British political and policy environment for volunteering and voluntary action. It distinguishes between government policy measures targeted at voluntary action by individuals, proposals to encourage the development of voluntary organisations, and the government’s institutionalisation of the voluntary sector by bringing the sector into public policy deliberation. The chapter demonstrates variations in the underlying motivations for government policy, showing how different government administrations have sought to solve certain problems through voluntary action. The chapter draws primarily upon public sources, but also upon archival records of central government deliberations. There has been strong continuity between governments, but there have also been significant differences in the emphasis these have placed on particular elements of policy. All post-1979 governments have supported voluntary action by individuals, at least rhetorically. This chapter identifies differences, however, in relation to how these various governments sought to promote voluntary action; and in how they engaged with voluntary organisations in supporting public policy.

New Labour's Approach to the Voluntary Sector: Independence and the Meaning of Partnership

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Government Policy ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Voluntary Sector ◽  
New Labour ◽  
Partnership Approach ◽  
Voluntary Organisations

A major problem for voluntary organisations service providers under contract has been their independence in regard to both the relatively narrow issue of the terms and conditions of service provision, and the broader issue about the part voluntary organisations might play in policy shaping and democratic renewal. I examine the way in which New Labour has developed its ‘partnership’ approach to the voluntary sector since 1998. I argue that better terms and conditions have been secured for voluntary organisations providing services, and that large and umbrella organisations now have more impact on the implementation of central government policy. However, the more equal partnership required for a policy-shaping role in the sense of agenda-setting is likely to remain elusive, while at the local level there are tensions between the idea of voluntary organisations as agents of ‘civil renewal’ and as service providers.

scholarly journals The Complexity of Drug Consumption Room Policy and Progress in Finland

2021 ◽  
pp. 009145092110025
Author(s):  
Ali Unlu ◽  
Fatih Demiroz ◽  
Tuukka Tammi ◽  
Pekka Hakkarainen
Keyword(s):  
Complexity Theory ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Drug Consumption ◽  
People Who Use Drugs ◽  
Local Response ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Moral Frameworks ◽  
Drug Consumption Room

Drug consumption rooms (DCRs) have been established to reach high-risk people who use drugs (PWUDs) and reduce drug-associated harm. Despite effectiveness, their establishment requires strong advocacy and efforts since moral perspectives tend to prevail over health outcomes in many countries. DCRs have generally emerged as a local response to inadequate central government policy. Likewise, the initiative of the Municipality of Helsinki in 2018 opened up a discussion between central government, society, and local actors in Finland. This would be the first DCR in Finland, which makes the policy process and the progress of the initiative interesting for analysis. In this article, the identification of agents, structures of interactions, environmental challenges, and policy opportunities are analyzed within the framework of complexity theory. Our results show that the initiative faces policy barriers that have mainly arisen from the conceptualization of DCRs in moral frameworks that result in the prolongation of political and professional actors to take a position on DCRs.

Demographic echoes of the maternity data in the Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
I Marasovic Šušnjara
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Population Decline ◽  
Live Birth Rate ◽  
Natural Increase ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Birth Rates ◽  
Live Births ◽  
Societal Challenges ◽  
Adoption And Implementation ◽  
Policy Measures

Abstract Background The demographic situation in the Split-Dalmatia County (SDC) is characterized by negative trends in the new millennium. Such a demographic picture entails many societal challenges. Considering the far-reaching consequences of population decline, the goal is to show what maternity data have been like in the SDC in the last decade. Methods Individual birth reports from health institutions in the SDC were used in the presentation of the maternity data. Demographic indicators were calculated based on data from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics. Results In 2018, in the SDC were reported 4,438 deliveries (13% less vs 2009; 5,103 deliveries) with a total of 4,577 children delivered, whereof 4,561 were live births and 16 were stillbirths. From a total of 4,516 live births, 13 live-born neonates died during the first week of their life. Most of women in labor (89%) were residents of the SDC. The average age of the new mothers was 28.9 years (in 2009; 26.9 years). Childbirth was most frequently recorded in the maternal age group 30 -34 (1,556 deliveries, i.e. 110,9/1,000 women of said age group; 92/1,000 in 2009). Among childbearing women with known data on earlier deliveries (4,431), 2,029 or 45.8% had their first deliveries, 1,549 or 35% had their second deliveries, 808 or 18% had their third or higher birth order deliveries. According to an estimate in 2018, 448,071 people lived in the SDC, less 1.5% from the last census (2011). The live birth rate was 9.5 /1,000 in 2018 (2009; 10.9/1,000). The total fertility rate was 1.53 in 2018 (2009; 1.6). The natural increase rate in 2018 was negative at -1.8 (-830 persons) (2009; 0.5 (250 persons)). Conclusions Depopulation, low birth rates and fertility, are the demographic reality of Split-Dalmatia County as well as Croatia, which requires adoption and implementation of various public policy measures that positively affect fertility to improve the demographic picture. Key messages Depopulation, low birth rates and fertility, are the demographic reality of Split-Dalmatia County as well as Croatia. Adoption and implementation of various public policy measures that positively affect fertility to improve the demographic picture are needed.

A Note on “Public Policy”

1973 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 661-664 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Vaison
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Studies ◽  
Policy Analysts ◽  
Government Body

Normally in political studies the term public policy is construed to encompass the societally binding directives issued by a society's legitimate government. We usually consider government, and only government, as being able to “authoritatively allocate values.” This common conception pervades the literature on government policy-making, so much so that it is hardly questioned by students and practitioners of political science. As this note attempts to demonstrate, some re-thinking seems to be in order. For purposes of analysis in the social sciences, this conceptualization of public policy tends to obscure important realities of modern corporate society and to restrict unnecessarily the study of policy-making. Public policy is held to be public simply and solely because it originates from a duly legitimated government, which in turn is held to have the authority (within specified limits) of formulating and implementing such policy. Public policy is public then, our usual thinking goes, because it is made by a body defined somewhat arbitrarily as “public”: a government or some branch of government. All other policy-making is seen as private; it is not public (and hence to lie essentially beyond the scope of the disciplines of poliitcal science and public administration) because it is duly arrived at by non-governmental bodies. Thus policy analysts lead us to believe that public policy is made only when a government body acts to consider some subject of concern, and that other organizations are not relevant to the study of public policy.

Attitudes to voluntary action

2018 ◽  
pp. 183-216
Author(s):  
Rose Lindsey ◽  
John Mohan ◽  
Sarah Bulloch ◽  
Elizabeth Metcalfe
Keyword(s):  
National Survey ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Strong Sense ◽  
Voluntary Action ◽  
Social Responsibilities ◽  
Voluntary Initiative ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Statistical Record ◽  
Over Time

This chapter reviews existing research on attitudes to voluntary action. Despite the importance of this topic, public attitudes have received even less consistent consideration over time than voluntary action itself. This chapter summarises information from the National Survey of Volunteering (1981 and 1991) and the British Social Attitudes Surveys (from the 1990s) on the virtues of voluntarism, and the relationship between voluntary action and government policy. However, given the later gaps in the statistical record, the emphasis in the chapter is firmly upon two key Mass Observation Project directives, implemented 16 years apart, in 1996 and 2012. Writers have a strong sense of where the boundary should lie between statutory responsibility and voluntary initiative; and demonstrate particular concerns of and criticisms about the use of volunteers to substitute for paid staff, and to undercut the position of the lowest-paid members of society. Writers also discuss strong concerns about the ways in which governments take the contribution of volunteers for granted, leading to scepticism about individual and community capacities to take on further social responsibilities. We argue that the rationales on which appeals for greater voluntary effort are made are crucial to the success of these appeals.

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