scholarly journals The UK Government’s COVID-19 Policy: What Does “Guided by the Science” Mean in Practice?

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Cairney
Keyword(s):  
Government Policy ◽  
Expert Advice ◽  
Advisory Group ◽  
Community Studies ◽  
Policy Problem ◽  
Uk Government ◽  
Run Up ◽  
High Consistency ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Right

UK government ministers state that their COVID-19 policy is “guided by the science.” In practice they mean “our scientists,” and initial UK government policy was highly consistent with that advice. Ministers formed strong relationships with key scientific advisors, relied on evidence from their Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), and ignored or excluded many other sources. I explore two types of lesson from this experience. First, UK studies of interest groups help explain the politics of expert advice. They show that the minister-adviser relationship is conditional on the ways in which the UK government assigns status to particular sources of science advice, and the willingness of those advisers to follow the “rules of the game,” within a wider political and policymaking context. Second, documentary analysis of SAGE minutes and meeting papers, and analysis of oral evidence to key House of Commons committees, shows high consistency between SAGE advice and UK government policy in the run up to lockdown. Ministers relied on their advisers to define the policy problem and identify feasible solutions throughout this period, while their advisors supported government policy and the right of ministers to make it. This new experience reflects and reinforces longstanding evidence from policy community studies: some experts remain core insiders if they advise on policies that they do not necessarily support, while outsiders have the freedom to criticize the policy they were unable to influence.

Chapter I. The Home Economy

1990 ◽  
Vol 131 ◽  
pp. 6-23
Keyword(s):  
Market Exchange ◽  
Full Membership ◽  
Full Member ◽  
Market Exchange Rate ◽  
The Government ◽  
Run Up ◽  
The One ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Right

The probability has increased that the UK will become a full member of the EMS before the next general election. The issue is by no means settled, but full membership now seems the right assumption to make for the forecast. The precise timing is difficult to foresee: on the one hand the present economic situation in this country makes an immediate move difficult, on the other hand the Government might be loath to make the move in the run-up to the election. Fortunately the choice of the exact date is not very material to the forecast. We have assumed the fourth quarter of the year is the date of entry. A more important question concerns the terms on which the UK joins: whether sterling joins at the market exchange rate of the day and the width of the band within which it can fluctuate.

UK initiatives to reduce antimicrobial resistant infections, 2013-2018

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 131-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Hopkins
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Antimicrobial Resistance ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Antibiotic Use ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Uk Government ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight the local, national and global actions from the UK to reduce the impact of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) on human health. Design/methodology/approach – Synthesis of UK government policy, surveillance and research on AMR. Findings – Activities that are taking place by the UK government, public health and professional organisations are highlighted. Originality/value – This paper describes the development and areas for action of the UK AMR strategy. It highlights the many interventions that are being delivered to reduce antibiotic use and antimicrobial resistant infections.

scholarly journals Working with family carers: towards a partnership approach

2001 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Nolan
Keyword(s):  
Government Policy ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Community Care ◽  
Informal Carer ◽  
Family Carers ◽  
Tony Blair ◽  
Late Arrival ◽  
Uk Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Partnership Approach

The use of the term ‘family (informal) carer’, as it is currently conceptualized, is recent and is largely the product of increased attention in the academic and policy literature over the last two decades. Despite their fairly late arrival on the scene, family carers now occupy centre stage in UK government policy, having being described by the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, as the ‘unsung heroes’ of British life, who are essential to the fabric and character of Britain. Such recognition stems from the growing realization that family carers are the lynchpin of community care, providing 80% of all the care needed at an estimated saving to the UK government of some £40 billion annually.

Centre of IT Excellence for SMEs in the West Midlands, UK

2005 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 385-391
Author(s):  
Diana Thompson ◽  
Garry Homer
Keyword(s):  
Technology Transfer ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
Quantitative Data ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
The West ◽  
West Midlands ◽  
Uk Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University ◽  
European Technology

This paper presents an analysis of the IT Futures Centre, a European technology transfer project based at the University of Wolverhampton in the UK. After reviewing UK government policy in technology transfer, the authors highlight the project's two key elements – a new state-of-the-art building and an IT consultancy team – both of which are dedicated to providing advice, consultancy, training and demonstration facilities for small and medium-sized companies in the West Midlands region of England. The paper addresses the systems and methodology used for delivery and the quantitative data available which indicate the progress companies have made as a result of this intervention. Finally, issues that have arisen during the operation of the project to date are discussed, especially the problems that academics face in the delivery process.

Does Relevance to Work Mean Learning to Work?

1998 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 134-138
Author(s):  
Gabriel Jacobs
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Educational Theory ◽  
Student Attitude ◽  
Education Sector ◽  
Current Thinking ◽  
Public Pressure ◽  
Uk Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Right

This paper argues the case that the acceptance by UK government bodies of current thinking on educational theory, and a widespread student attitude towards learning that focuses on future employability but that also in a sense forsakes the very notion of study, together threaten to undermine the quality of graduate which employers have the right to expect. It would seem that the UK government is intending to compel the higher education sector, by means of selective funding but also backed by public pressure, to provide an education for its students more transparently relevant to the workplace. Academics and employers alike should seriously consider the negative implications of this policy, even if, realistically, it is unlikely that the forces driving it can be resisted.

scholarly journals Black Lives Matter and the Anti-Woke Campaign in the UK

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Pilkington
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Structural Racism ◽  
The Us ◽  
Historical Role ◽  
Uk Government ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Right

The murder of George Floyd by police officers in the US in 2020 reignited the Black live matter movement and reverberated across the world. In the UK many young people demonstrated their determination to resist structural racism and a number of organizations subsequently acknowledged the need to take action to promote race equality and reflect upon their historical role in colonialism and slavery. At the same time, resistance to these challenges has mounted, with right-wing news media and the UK government drawing upon an anti-woke or anti-PC discourse to disparage attempts to combat structural racism and decolonise the curriculum. This chapter argues that the campaign to discredit anti-racism culminated in 2021 in the production of the Sewell report commissioned by the government. This chapter critically examines this report and the discourse which underpins the report. The discourse is consonant with that of the anti-woke campaign propagated by the right-wing news media and the UK government, and entails the reproductoion of rather than opposition to structural racism.

scholarly journals Analytical modelling and UK Government policy

AI and Ethics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Oldfield ◽  
Ella Haig
Keyword(s):  
Quality Assurance ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
West Coast ◽  
Model Building ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Analytical Modelling ◽  
Analytical Models ◽  
Uk Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Made In

AbstractIn the last decade, the UK Government has attempted to implement improved processes and procedures in modelling and analysis in response to the Laidlaw report of 2012 and the Macpherson review of 2013. The Laidlaw report was commissioned after failings during the Intercity West Coast Rail (ICWC) Franchise procurement exercise by the Department for Transport (DfT) that led to a legal challenge of the analytical models used within the exercise. The Macpherson review looked into the quality assurance of Government analytical models in the context of the experience with the Intercity West Coast franchise competition. This paper examines what progress has been made in the 8 years since the Laidlaw report in model building and best practise in government and proposes several recommendations for ways forward. This paper also discusses the Lords Science and Technology Committees of June 2020 that analysed the failings in the modelling of COVID. Despite going on to influence policy, many of the same issues raised within the Laidlaw and Macpherson Reports were also present in the Lords Science and Technology Committee enquiry. We examine the technical and organisational challenges to progress in this area and make recommendations for a way forward.

For Whose Benefit?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Patrick
Keyword(s):  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Policy Problem ◽  
The Social ◽  
Critical Account ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Welfare Reforms

How is welfare reform anticipated, experienced and reflected upon by those directly affected? What protection do the social rights of citizenship offer to those in receipt on out-of-work benefits? Is a policy focus on moving people into paid employment the right one? What is the impact of the pervasive stigma of benefits receipt on those on out-of-work benefits? And does mainstream politicians’ and the media’s analysis of the policy ‘problem’ of ‘welfare’ coincide with lived experiences? This book answers these questions in exploring how those at the sharp end of welfare reform experience changes to the benefit system. Drawing upon repeat interviews with single parents, disabled people and young jobseekers in the UK, this book explores how the rights and responsibilities of citizenship are experienced on the ground, and whether the welfare state still offers meaningful protection and security to those who rely upon it for all or most of their income. Further, the extent of the gap between lived experiences of ‘welfare’ and the policy rhetoric is illustrated, with a discussion of the consequences of this for the likely success of the welfare reform programme. This book provides a critical account of the welfare reforms undertaken by David Cameron’s UK Governments between 2010 and 2016, and concludes by suggesting an alternative way forward, one with the scope to deliver meaningful social and citizenship inclusion for all.

Security in Pension Provision: A Critical Analysis of UK Government Policy

2005 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
PATRICK JOHN RING
Keyword(s):  
Government Policy ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Niklas Luhmann ◽  
Ontological Security ◽  
Third Way ◽  
Labour Government ◽  
Anthony Giddens ◽  
Uk Government ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk

The Labour government has often argued that it is attempting to find a ‘third way’ in politics, appearing to take its inspiration from Anthony Giddens and, in relation to Labour's pensions policy, Giddens' notion of ‘positive welfare’.Noting that the government maintains that ‘pensions are all about security’, and that it has declared the importance of this position throughout its reform of UK pension provision, this article critically examines the nature of the ‘security’ its reform is likely to deliver. Using the work of Giddens, it notes the importance of the concept of ontological security, and the relevance of trust to security. From this basis, and drawing upon the work of both Giddens and Niklas Luhmann, it goes on to consider whether the government's reforms of the three pillars of pension provision in the UK – state provision, occupational provision and personal provision – are capable of delivering greater security in pension provision.It concludes that, quite apart from the potential criticisms of the conception of positive welfare itself, the government's apparent adoption of such an approach has failed to appreciate adequately the importance of ontological security to any understanding of welfare. As a consequence, it is suggested that the practical outcome is reform that is likely to create much less security in pension provision than either Giddens' approach, or indeed regular government pronouncements, might suggest.

The Sheffield Urban Study project

1999 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Blundell Jones ◽  
Alan Williams ◽  
Jo Lintonbon
Keyword(s):  
Government Policy ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Urban Study ◽  
Uk Government ◽  
Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University ◽  
The City

In the UK, government policy has encouraged architecture schools to be more research active and there is pressure to make the two final years of the five year course more definitively postgraduate. The University of Sheffield has responded with an experiment that combines studio teaching with real research on the city and its history. Sheffield is Britain's fourth largest city with a population of around half a million. It grew very rapidly in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, It now employs a fraction of the former labour force and the city is having to adjust its identity.

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