policy

Delivering children's services in the UK and other parts of the world - a short policy context

Paper that aims to articulate the variety of models for children’s services delivery that exist internationally and places these in the context of current UK policy and practice. The key sections present outlines of the different policy and service provision approaches to children’s services in the UK and the top performing OECD countries. This latter group comprises the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden), and the Netherlands. Brief reference is made to other countries, where appropriate.

Rethinking disability policy

Viewpoint that reviews some aspects of disability policy since the early 1990s before making a detailed assessment of the current polices being introduced by the Coalition Government.

Themes discussed include:

- Welfare reform
- Personalisation policies and adult social care
- The political and economic context of disability policy
- The changes disabled people should be campaigning for.

The Smith Group report: recommendations for the Scottish Government

The Smith Group (the Group) has been active since 2005, advising and guiding Ministers in successive administrations on education policy, enterprise in education and youth employment issues. The composition of the group is its strength, bringing together leading figures in business and education to bring fresh perspective to what is at once a challenge and an opportunity - how Scotland can best prepare its young people to make effective contributions in their adult lives.

Pre-school education and care: a 'win-win' policy (LLAKES Research Paper 32)

Pre-school education and care (PSEC) is often claimed as a ‘win-win’ policy which simultaneously enhances both economic competitiveness and social cohesion. High levels of PSEC are said to raise living standards by increasing female employment rates and improving young people’s skills and to mitigate inequalities by reducing social gaps in learning outcomes. Much of the evidence for this rests on analysis of data for a small number of countries. In this paper the claims are tested using cross-national time series data for a large number of OECD countries.

RCTs for policy interventions? : a review of reviews and meta-regression

The aim of this review is to determine whetherrandomised controlled trials (RCTs) lead to the same effect size and variance as non-randomised studies (NRSs) of similar policy interventions; and whether these findings can be explained by other factors associated with the interventions or their evaluation.This systematic review was published by EPPI-Centre in 2011.Systematic reviews aim to find as much as possible of the research relevant to the particular research questions, and use explicit methods to identify what can reliably be said on the basis of these studies.

SCIE report 39 : protecting adults at risk : London multi-agency policy and procedures to safeguard adults from abuse

The report is relevant to all organisations that have reasonability for safeguarding adults at risk in London. Each local partnership in London is asked to adopt this policy and procedures so that there is consistency across London in how adults at risk are safeguarded from abuse. Report published by Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) in January 2011. Review date is January 2014.

SCIE report 11: ESRC research, social work and social care

This report looks at what contribution ESRC research programmes make - and might make - to the knowledge base for social work and social care. The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is the largest single UK funder of social science research. Its role has been significantly expanded in recent years with a view to reinforcing the contribution made by social science to evidence-based policy and practice. Report published by Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) in December 2004.

Educational attainment of looked after children (SPICe Briefing 11/79)

Briefing produced to support an inquiry by the Education and Culture Committee into the educational attainment of looked after children.

Despite ten years of policy effort to improve the educational attainment of looked after children, national statistics show that attainment and school attendance is still much lower and exclusions much higher than the average for all pupils.