bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Increasing Patient Charges in the National Health Service: A Method of Privatizing Primary Care
Authors: Birch S.
Published: January 2009

Frequent increases in the real value of National Health Service (NHS) patient charges have been made since the Conservative Party's return to office in 1979. For those patients subject to these charges the increases have led to a substantial reduction in the level of subsidization of the cost of the service. The rationale for the subsidization of health care is shown to be unrelated to ‘ability to pay’ considerations. Consequently the ‘backdoor privatization’ of these services is inconsistent with the objectives of the NHS even though the Government has continually committed itself to these objectives. Alternative policies to increasing patient charges are suggested which would encourage the efficient use of NHS resources without compromising NHS objectives.
The Strange Case of British Earnings-Related Unemployment Benefit
Authors: Micklewright John
Published: January 2009

The abolition in 1982 of the Earnings-Related Supplement (ERS) to unemployment benefit, which had been introduced in 1966, left the UK with no element of income support for the unemployed linked to previous earnings. The ERS scheme represents an important case study of economic and social policy but it has been little researched hitherto. The paper examines the history of ERS, showing how the original legislation and subsequent development produced a benefit that bore little relation to schemes in other countries. Unpublished administrative data on the receipt of ERS are used to help document the scheme's failings, and the paper closes by placing ERS within the context of the development of unemployment insurance in Britain.
The place of values in social policy
Authors: Myrdal Gunnar
Published: January 2009

Let me start this article on the valuation basis of social policy by a negative assertion contradicting the title. To stress the subjectivity of the valuation process, I deliberately use the word ‘valuations’ and avoid the term ‘values’ that is so popular in all social science – except in the combination ‘value-premises’ when certain valuations have been defined and made explicit for use in research.
Value problems of Welfare-Capitalism
Authors: Marshall T. H.
Published: January 2009

I have borrowed this term from Richard Crossman. When he wrote his contribution to the New Fabian Essays in 1952 he took stock of the present state of socialism, as the original Fabians had done in 1889. He hoped to discover ‘a philosophy of Socialism’ with life in it. But he failed. An obvious place to look for it was in the Welfare State, as it had emerged from the hands of the post-war Labour government. But the Welfare State, he decided, was not socialist; it was ‘the climax of a long process, in the course of which capitalism had been civilised and to a large extent reconciled with democracy’. Later on he referred to the product of this process as ‘welfare capitalism’. He ought to have called it ‘democratic-welfare-capitalism’ because, as I shall argue, democracy deserves to have a position as a third party of independent status, not just to be taken for granted.
Income maintenance and income taxation
Authors: Atkinson A. B.
Published: January 2009

Social policy and taxation have commonly been regarded in Britain as quite separate aspects of government policy. Changes in taxation appear to be decided largely independently of the aims of social policy, and reforms of the social security system are often proposed with no regard to their fiscal consequences. Despite the fact that Chancellors of the Exchequer have recently arrogated the right to announce increases in National Insurance benefits, there is little evidence of co-ordination between the Treasury and the Department of Health and Social Security over income maintenance. Yet there is clearly a close relationship between these two arms of government policy, and it is important that any proposal for reform should consider taxation and social policy in conjunction.
Action-research in community development
Authors: Lees Ray
Published: January 2009

At the end of 1971 the Government designated the extention of the Community Development Project to the planned total of twelve areas. The project was then described as ‘a national action-research experiment’ carried out in selected urban localities in order to discover ‘how far the social problems experienced by people in a local community can be better understood and resolved through closer co-ordination of all agencies in the social welfare field – central and local government and the voluntary organizations – together with the local people themselves’. There was a special emphasis placed on the importance of ‘citizen involvement and community self-help’, together with the expectation that ‘the lessons learned can be fed back into social policy, planning and administration, both at central and local government level’.
Health ‘On the Welfare’ – A Case Study
Authors: Blaxter Mildred
Published: January 2009

A welfare benefit concerns a ‘need’ which a society has decided ‘ought’ to be met. What match is there between the system of welfare which has been laid down by legislation, and the way in which the members of society who are the potential recipients conceive of it? If, as Titmuss has said, definitions of needs are the interdependent manifestations ‘first, of society's wish to survive as an organic whole and, secondly, of the expressed wish of all the people to assist the survival of some people,’ how are these two objectives related, and how do the concepts of need held by ‘all the people’ match those held by the ‘some’? How in practice is the ‘need’ defined, and how do individuals define their own needs?
Social Policy and Public Organizational Values
Authors: Kogan Maurice
Published: January 2009

This paper began by referring to assumptions of conflict. It seems inevitable and beneficial that two sets of values should run through organization. Conflict between control and dynamism, anxiety and uncertainty, constraint and freedom, relates to the sort of work that any organization has to perform – someone has to make the running while others have to count the cost. Such conflicts are similar to general human ambivalence and form part of the dynamics of change as well as of control. But the balance to be struck between development and control is a matter of choice, which can be reinforced by structural and training patterns. This does not dispose of the issue as to whether the civil service in fact does obstruct change. This essay has argued that there are concepts relating to those values that are particularly important to public organizations. But it is virtually impossible to argue, as some have done, as to whether our present breed of administrators, are friendly or inimical to change. Nor does it answer the question of where and how social policy values are formed.

In summary, my argument has been as follows:

(a) social policy values can be classified in several different ways. A classification used here is a distinction between basic values or ‘oughts’ and concepts concerned with the ‘hows’ or with the instruments and institutions with which values are pursued. There are reciprocal relationships between these concepts but they are usefully analysed as separate relata;

(b) the values of central government civil servants and ministers will tend to be instrumental in form, though not necessarily in conflict with social policy-values, because they control complex organizations in which non-operational abstractions have to be made over the whole range of public policies;

(c) policy formulation is becoming more sophisticated, but the functions of government concerned with development and value analysis are not adequately structured or legitimated. As a result disciplined enquiry, much of which is financed by government, has inadequate impact because there is no overriding change model in which training has a part.
Policies for Priority Areas
Authors: Donnison David
Published: January 2009

During the last six years Britain has had a boom in priority area policies: educational priority areas, community development and community action projects, the urban programme, the Department of the Environment's six cities projects, the planners’ comprehensive development areas and general improvement areas, neighbourhood councils and (most recently) the Home Office Deprivation Unit. These and other initiatives (repeatedly concerned with ‘areas’, ‘communities’, ‘neighbourhoods’ and ‘urban’ problems) have been the talk of all concerned with social policies.
Urban Land Policy in Five Western Countries
Authors: Neutze Max
Published: January 2009

Western governments often attempt to regulate the use of privately owned urban land, while still relying on private landowners and developers to initiate development. This requires restrictions on the ways owners can develop their land, which restricts supply and increases land prices. The incentive of landowners to maximize the value of their land leads them to resist any restrictions on their right to develop.

Different countries have responded to these difficulties in achieving land use policy objectives in different ways. In the United States, and to a lesser degree Australia, the private market largely determines the way cities grow and land use planning has only a minor influence. In Sweden and the Netherlands most land for development is purchased by the municipalities who also initiate the development. Britain, with strong land use controls, still relies on private development initiatives. Those controls restrict the land available and contribute to high land prices.
The Provident Fund Approach to Social Security in the Eastern Caribbean
Authors: Fletcher Leonard P.
Published: January 2009

The paper describes the introduction of National Provident Fund Schemes in the British Leeward and Windward Islands under the guidance of the British Government during the 1960s. Adopted on the recommendations of technical experts from the United Kingdom, the schemes are very similar (except for the inoperative one in one of the territories where unfavourable political developments occurred); they are funded by payroll taxes levied on both employers and employees, cover nonpensionable employees between ages 16 and 60 and make provisions for retirement and other benefits which have mostly been deferred. The operations of the schemes are discussed, with critical attention being given to the use made of the accumulated funds. Many weaknesses of the schemes are discussed, some of which make them inferior, in the writer's view, to alternate programmes suggested several years earlier. The paper concludes with the hope that in spite of the schemes' limitations, improvements will be made so as to improve the prospects for social security in the region.
Rent Benefits and Tenants' Attitudes. The Batley Rent Rebate and Allowance Study
Authors: Taylor-Gooby Peter F.
Published: January 2009

This article discusses a study of the factors affecting rent rebate and allowance take-up carried out by Batley Community Development Project. The scope and limitations of an action-research approach in monitoring the impact of publicity, and the importance of attitudinal explanations of the take-up of means-tested benefits are discussed.

The research shows that take-up is relatively low, especially in the case of private tenants, and little affected by experimental publicity. Take-up cannot be explained as a simple function of publicity initiatives. Complex attitudinal factors only disclosed in depth-interview affect the impact, relevance and credibility of campaigns. Such factors, and particularly stigma, are likely to limit the potential of publicity for raising the take-up of rent benefits.
Some Economics of Hospital Waiting Lists in the NHS
Authors: Culyer A. J. , Cullis J. G.
Published: January 2009

The article concerns waiting for inpatient admission in the NHS and focuses on three aspects of this persistent problem. These are the merits or otherwise of rationing health care through waiting as opposed to pricing, the interpretation of waiting lists as a proxy for excess demand in the ‘market’ for inpatient care, including a critical examination of the logic and empirical evidence underlying the view that inpatients pay a time price for their admission, and the question of an admissions index to replace the largely inconsistent admission criteria currently employed in the hospital service. In particular the construction of an index incorporating the values of fairness and efficiency is discussed and the following characteristics suggested for inclusion: time already spent on the waiting list; urgency based on expected rate of deterioration of the patient's condition; urgency based on the patient's health status; urgency based on the ‘social productivity’ of the patient and the number of economic dependants; and urgency based on other social factors.

The conclusions are that emphasis should be placed on waiting times rather than lists, that systematic admissions criteria should be developed and that the latter should incorporate social judgements which to date have been ignored or dominated by clinical judgements.
Neighbourhood Information Centres – Access or Advocacy?
Authors: Butcher Hugh
Published: January 2009

Two approaches to Information and Advice Centre provision are reviewed and their consequences for work with individuals and groups outlined. The approaches – called the ‘extension’ and ‘advocate-organizer’ models of Centre function – are then examined in the light of findings from research on an ‘Information and Action Centre’ in West Cumbria. Policy implications of the ‘advocate-organizer’ type of service are discussed with reference to questions of management and auspice.
Decision-making by non-elected members: an analysis of new provisions in the 1972 Local Government Act
Authors: Richardson Ann
Published: January 2009

This paper draws attention to new provisions in the 1972 Local Government Act which enable non-elected persons to determine local authority policies, through their co-option on to sub-committees with delegated powers. It sets out these provisions in the light of previous legislation and discusses why they were introduced. It then points out one area of local authority administration in which they are likely to be implemented, involving new systems for tenant participation in council housing management. A concluding section raises some questions about the implications of these provisions for the legislative process in general, in particular the ability of legislative changes to have unintended consequences.
The Development of Welfare States: The Production of Plausible Accounts
Authors: Carrier John , Kendall Ian
Published: January 2009

This article is intended to extend our previous analysis (Journal of Social Policy, Vol. 2, Part 3, July 1973) of explanations of the development of social policy. Some problems associated with the preparation of historical accounts are examined and we proceed to review the value of international comparisons of welfare developments as a device for avoiding some of these problems. We look at some examples of studies that have utilized international comparisons and the problems involved in attempting such studies. Our conclusion is that the use of the comparative method is valuable, not because it enables us to get any nearer the truth about welfare developments, but rather because the range of plausible explanations that it will generate makes us more aware of the variety of perspectives on welfare activities that can exist and of the multitude of value-systems that are embodied in these perspectives.
Hotel and Dependency Costs of Residents in Old People's Homes
Authors: Davies Bleddyn , Knapp Martin R. J.
Published: January 2009

A comparison of costs to the organization of alternative forms of care requires estimates for similar types of client. The degree of dependency is the main characteristic in which comparability is necessary with regard to services for the aged. This paper presents estimates of the costs incurred in providing residential care for clients of four degrees of incapacity for self-care – the capacity implicit in Bevan's residential hotel model of the old people's home, and three progressively more severe states of dependency. The estimates are for two cost concepts – average (unit) costs and marginal costs (the cost of caring for an additional person). The paper also estimates both long-run costs (costs that it is appropriate to take into account in decisions in which capital investment in new plant is being considered), and short-run costs (costs that it is appropriate to consider when the issue is the allocation of existing capacity between client groups). It also examines the consequences of the size of the home with regard to costs. Inter alia the paper shows:

(a) that the size of home beyond which costs do not fall with scale provides for as many as fifty places (equivalent to an average daily census of forty-six residents); and

(b) that, although the dependency components of costs are much smaller than the hotel components, dependency costs are large enough for it to be important to base comparisons of alternative forms of care on estimates of costs for clients which are comparable with respect to dependency.
Youthful Offenders in Israel
Authors: Fishman Gideon
Published: January 2009

This study investigates the legal status and treatment of the youthful offender in Israel. Due to a legal provision, in the case of the youthful offender, the court is required to receive a pre-sentencing report from a probation officer; however, there is no institutionalized indication as to how or to what degree the judges should follow the report. Our findings reveal that both judges and probation officers adhere to high professional standards and make their decisions according to the specific case brought in front of them, and that they are not affected by social class or ethnic stereotypes. In spite of a considerable correspondence between the recommendations made by the probation officers and the decisions made by the judges, one cannot avoid noticing also some discrepancy. This is attributed to the strong therapeutic values which characterize the probation officers' training and which are less evident among the judges. The consequences of this discrepancy are analysed and discussed and a few steps to narrow the gap are suggested.
Analyses in the Social Division of Welfare
Authors: Sinfield Adrian
Published: January 2009

Richard Titmuss's ‘The Social Division of Welfare’ has been neglected as a framework for assessing changes in social policy and society. The analytical, as opposed to the descriptive, value of the original essay becomes more evident, and more significant, when the relations between the social divisions of labour and welfare are examined in terms of the distribution of benefits and services through the public, fiscal and occupational systems; the growth and differential recognition of needs and ‘man-made’ states of dependency; the variations in the primary objectives of welfare including control; the interrelationship of the different systems and the ways in which they legitimate the existing social structure. This paper seeks to show that, combined with a consideration of power and the state, time and security and the institutions of capitalism, the ideas of the original essay encourage a more dynamic analysis of the impact of the three systems of welfare on society than has so far been attempted.
Paternalism and Social Policy
Authors: Weale Albert
Published: January 2009

This paper discusses the notion of paternalism, and its application to the evaluation of social policies. It attempts first to define the concept, using Mill's distinction between self- and other-regarding actions. A paternalistic policy is one in which the government renders a self-regarding action less eligible for a citizen, with the intention of benefiting the citizen in question. This concept is then applied to the analysis of redistribution by means of social policy measures. Two questions are discussed: (a) whether any redistribution must be paternalist, and (b) whether redistribution in kind is more paternalist than redistribution in cash. It is argued that paternalism need not be the explanation for the policy in either case. Finally three criteria are specified in terms of which paternalistic interventions by the state might be assessed as justified or not.
Who Cares for the Family?
Authors: Land Hilary
Published: January 2009

Although Britain has never had a set of policies explicitly labelled ‘family policies’, most if not all social policies are implicitly family policies because they are based on certain assumptions about the nature of relationships between the sexes and the generations. By careful examination of the detail of the legislation and administrative rules, together with the way in which services are allocated and used, it is possible to expose these assumptions and show that they are not only consistent between policies but very persistent over time. This paper first examines the assumptions concerning the division of unpaid labour within the family whereby women care for the young, the sick and the old and for able-bodied adult men (their husbands). The examples are selected from a variety of income maintenance systems and services for children, the old and the disabled. Particular attention is focused on the extent to which it is recognized that women are at the same time workers in the labour market and unpaid domestic workers in the home. The second part of the paper analyses the impact on their participation and opportunities in the labour market of the ideology which accords to women the primary responsibilities for caring for other members of their family. The perpetuation of such an ideology favours the interests of men and frequently the interests of the economically powerful, but it is not assumed that these interests always coincide.
War Conditions and Narcotics Control: The Passing of Defence of the Realm Act Regulation 40B
Authors: Berridge Virginia
Published: January 2009

This paper analyses the determinants of social policy through a study of a crucial stage in the evolution of British narcotics legislation. Conditions in the First World War fundamentally altered the way in which narcotics were controlled in England and established a ‘hard-line’ reaction to drug use later reflected in the firstDangerous Drugs Act(1920) and the debates of the 1920s. Wartime needs formulated a pattern of governmental responsibility which, with control vested in the Home Office, still persists. The paper analyses the tendencies inherent in nineteenth-century poisons legislation, and argues that, despite Britain's reluctant adherence to the American-inspired system of international narcotic control, domestic narcotics legislation as considered prior to the outbreak of war was more liberal than the wartime regulation. Drug smuggling from England to the far east and fears, largely illusory, of a cocaine ‘epidemic’ in the army in 1916 brought more stringent regulation. Narcotic controls in Britain appeared set on a path similar to that of America'sHarrisonAct, which was being interpreted in an absolutist way. Only the report of the Rolleston Committee on Morphine and Heroin Addiction in 1926 marked a victory for the medical approach, but the influence of the events of 1916 lived on in other ways.
The Unemployed on Supplementary Benefit: Living Standards and Making Ends Meet on a Low Income
Authors: Clark Marjory
Published: January 2009

The level of income which supplementary benefit provides can be viewed as the government-approved minimum income level for this country. This article reports on a study which looked at a particular group of people who are living on this state minimum, and investigated how they were managing financially. The study discovered that most of the male unemployed claimants who were interviewed had suffered an appreciable drop in their incomes and living standards compared with when they were in work, and this caused budgeting problems as they tried to cut back on their normal expenditure or to supplement their weekly income in various ways. Contrary to popular belief, the study found that it was the unemployed men with families who were least able to cope, although for them the relative drop in income between work and unemployment was less. They appeared to be hard pressed both in and out of work, and had less in the way of savings and stocks of clothing to cushion them for their period on benefit. The paper concludes, with the Supplementary Benefits Commission, that supplementary benefit incomes for the unemployed, especially those with families, are barely adequate to meet their needs at a level which would allow them to participate fully in the society in which they live.
Social Policy since Titmuss
Authors: Donnison David
Published: January 2009

Britain, like other advanced urban industrial countries, is passing through economic changes more fundamental than the recession and inflation which take so much of the headlines. These changes in industrial structure have political implications which influence the distribution of power and the allocation of opportunities and rewards, both through the market and through the social wage furnished by governments. They call for a critical reappraisal of old ideas about the practice, the study and the teaching of social policy, and an attempt to formulate new approaches to this field – or to reformulate the old approaches.
Social Conscience and Social Policy
Authors: Baker John
Published: January 2009

Elementary textbooks in a subject may well influence students more than their subsequent reading, and they show the basic assumptions of teachers. This article is based on a study of introductory reading recommended to social administration students in British universities and polytechnics in 1976. It argues that many textbooks incorporate to some extent an ideal-typical interpretation of social policy which is called ‘the social conscience thesis’. The first part of the article sets out to establish that this approach, which was one of the dominant ones in social administration, remains influential. It is still the most common interpretation of social policy at the elementary level. The article is not concerned with advanced and specialized texts, where, although the social conscience thesis is still strong, different approaches are more commonly found. The second part then attempts to explain why this approach was once so powerful and why it is still with us.
Voluntary Agencies in the Welfare State: An Analysis of the Vanguard Role
Authors: Kramer Ralph M.
Published: January 2009

While pioneering has long been assumed to be the unique function of voluntary agencies, the flow of private invention to public adoption has rarely been studied empirically. Drawing on an exploratory study of twenty national agencies serving the physically and mentally handicapped, this article re-evaluates the vanguard role of the voluntary agency. Much of what has been regarded as ‘innovative’ consisted of small-scale, non-controversial, incremental improvements or extensions of programs with few original features to under-served clienteles. A series of external and internal organizational constraints to the statutory adoption of new programs is identified, which suggests that the conventional notion of voluntary pioneering is no longer appropriate. A new model of program change is proposed based on multiple outcomes and a redefinition of the concept of innovation. Some hypotheses are offered regarding conditions conducive to the initiation of new programs.
Teaching Social Policy: Some European Perspectives
Authors: Jones Catherine
Published: January 2009

This article sets out to explore the ways in which social policy is catered for, at university level, in various European countries. It starts with a review of the ‘Sigriswil (1972 and 1973) Colloquia’ papers on ‘The Study of Social Policy: Teaching and Research’. Having weighed up the evidence – or lack of evidence – emanating from these get-togethers, the article then goes on to explore university social policy teaching – and the extent to which this may or may not constitute a coherent specialist programme – in selected West German, French, Swedish and Swiss (Geneva) university arrangements. Concluding comments on this evidence highlight several key aspects of debate so far as present and probable trends in social policy and administration education at university level in Britain are concerned.
Social Control Theories of Social Policy
Authors: Higgins Joan
Published: January 2009

The concept of social control is crucial in explaining both the growth of social policies and their effects. It raises important questions about the legitimacy of state intervention, the maintenance of order and the protection of individual freedom. The term is widely used in the social policy literature but there have been few attempts to define it or to explore its various meanings and connotations. The aim of this article is to examine some of these issues. It begins with an account of the growth of social control theories focusing particularly upon recent developments in Marxist thought and the literature on the ‘urban crisis’ and ‘radical social work’. The second and third sections of the article explore the different usages of the notion of social control and evaluate some of the main propositions of social control theories of social policy.
Pivot or Pilot?: The Role of the Independent Members of Wages Councils
Authors: Stevenson June
Published: January 2009

Britain has no statutory minimum wage. There is a system of wages councils responsible for fixing statutory minimum rates in forty-one trades where wages are low relative to the average, opportunities for working overtime are variable and no adequate machinery for collective bargaining exists. A peculiar feature of this system is the presence of three independent members who form a third ‘side’ in council negotiations. This article looks back briefly over the seventy years of the existence of wages councils (originally trade boards) and the changes in function which have occurred albeit by implication rather than overtly. It then proceeds to examine the role of the independent members within the system as it is now. Do these ‘conciliators with a casting vote’ fulfil a useful function? The main problem facing them today is seen as the need to reconcile the original purpose of helping to fix a just (or less unjust) wage translated into contemporary terms with a remuneration which is reasonable and feasible under the circumstances prevailing within the trades covered by wages councils.
The Social Creation of Poverty and Dependency in Old Age
Authors: Walker Alan
Published: January 2009

This article examines in detail some recent data on the living standards of elderly people. It is argued that poverty is related to low resources and restricted access to resources and therefore the article includes summarized information about a wide range of benefits and services. Questions are raised concerning the various social policies and processes which have contributed to the creation of poverty and dependency in old age. The growing importance of retirement is singled out for attention as one significant factor contributing to the depressed social status of the elderly, and as part of the general tendency in British society to devalue the worth of elderly people. It is thissocialrelationship between age and the labour market which deserves attention from policy-makers, who have tended to concentrate on the consequences rather than the causes of dependency.
Social administration digest
Authors: Slack Kathleen M.
Published: January 2009

Social security and income maintenance

As January had closed so February opened with anxiety about the effects of cuts in public expenditure on the most vulnerable members of the community. The position was outlined by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Abandoned Social Priorities. Millions of families, the pamphlet said, faced an unjustified fall in living standards as a result of the decreased proportion of national resources being devoted to the poorest section of society. At the same time they faced increased costs of school meals and transport, prescription charges, rents and clothing. In addition, the Labour Member for Birkenhead pointed out in a letter to the Secretary of State for the Social Services that because they were not informed of their right to free welfare foods only 2.5 per cent of 1.5 million families which were eligible to receive them claimed that right. He estimated that this was saving the government £125 million a year. Further spending cuts, already announced, which would amount to £1,000 million in 1980–1 augured a harsh year ahead.
Social administration digest
Authors: Slack Kathleen M.
Published: January 2009

Social security and income maintenance

Much unfinished social security business was completed or continued in August. Sir Arthur Armitage, Professor of Law and Vice Chancellor of the University of Manchester, was appointed Chairman of the Social Security Advisory Committee, which took the place of the Supplementary Benefits Commission (SBC), and the National Insurance Advisory Committee under the Social Security Act 1980.
Explanation and Social Policy: ‘The’ problem of social inequalities in health
Authors: Blume Stuart S
Published: January 2009

Inequalities in rates of sickness and mortality between social groups has long been a matter of concern and of inquiry in Britain. Disciplinary differentiation has resulted in the problem now being treated within what have become three distinct intellectual traditions. These are social administration, epidemiology, and sociology, and the accounts they provide differ significantly from each other. This is partly because ‘the’ problem is somewhat differently defined in each; and partly because of their different orientations to theory and to practical amelioration. This article explores the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, and raises the possibility of a more adequate explanation than any one discipline provides. The implications for study of social administration are considered.
Changing Relationships in Dutch Social Services
Authors: Brenton Maria
Published: January 2009

Social services in the Netherlands have traditionally been delivered by non-state agencies, in a climate of support for ‘private initiative’ and resistance to direct intervention by government. These agencies have, however, become almost totally dependent upon government finance, while operating virtually autonomously in a non-politicised sphere where services have become increasingly sophisticated and expensive. The power exercised over public resources and public services by these ‘private’ agencies, particularly at national level, and the lack of control over the welfare sector by government, has been the subject of growing criticism in recent years. The dysfunctions of a ‘voluntary’ system of social services have also become glaringly evident. This article traces the development of a relationship between state and ‘private enterprise’ in the social services which has developed from a strictly ‘separatist’ model to one where a high degree of inter-penetration has been reached. It also examines current efforts to extend this second ‘incorporated’ model of statutory-voluntary relationships by placing social welfare services under a greater measure of public control within a decentralized system of local political responsibility.
The Discriminatory System of Personal Taxation: Some Proposals for Reform
Authors: Wilkinson Margaret
Published: January 2009

The system of personal taxation in the United Kingdom is under attack because of the way in which it discriminates between taxpayers on the basis of sex and marital status. Criticisms are allied with proposals for reform, all of which are primarily concerned with the social effects of changing the system. In this paper the various proposals have been categorized under the heads ‘conservative’, ‘radical’, and ‘moderate’ according to the social implications of the changes they advocate. Each set of proposals is discussed and evaluated in terms of revenue costs and savings to the Exchequer and real costs and benefits to the community. The proposals of the recent Green Paper are categorized as conservative and discussed under that head.
Influencing Social Policy: The Effectiveness of the Poverty Lobby in Britain
Authors: Whiteley Paul , Winyard Steve
Published: January 2009

This article looks at income maintenance pressure groups in Britain (the ‘poverty lobby’) and provides an assessment of their impact on policy in the 1970s. It is based on focused interviews with the leaders of 42 national pressure groups, MPs, Ministers, and senior civil servants. There is a discussion of conceptual and methodological problems involved in measuring effectiveness and a review of the theoretical literature on the role of pressure groups in the British political system. The study adopts a reputational approach to measuring effectiveness rather than a series of case studies. A number of specific successes are highlighted as well as examples of ‘agenda changing’ by groups. An explanation is provided in terms of the environment within which groups were operating, the strategies they adopted, and the resources they had available. The state of the economy was a particularly important factor in the 1970s as was the ability of groups to undertake joint action and form alliances with producer interests. The article concludes that the groups in the 1970s were influential rather than powerful and had more effect in the first part of the decade than at the end.
The Politics of Evaluation: the European Poverty Programme
Authors: Room Graham
Published: January 2009

The European Commission in Brussels ran a Poverty Programme of action projects and cross-national studies from 1975–80. An evaluation agency was set up by the Commission and carried out an evaluation of the Programme during 1979–80. This paper draws upon the experiences of that exercise in order to examine the concept and the practical implementation of a cross-national evaluation. It explores the political context of evaluation and the dilemmas and obstacles this poses for the evaluator. An evaluation exercise is an intrusion into the existing pattern of relationships among the various participants in the programme concerned. They will typically see it as an attempt at improved scrutiny and political control by its instigators – and the evaluator will therefore face a diplomatic as well as a technical task, particular vis-à-vis those participants upon whom he is dependent for the preparation of his report. This diplomacy will not take place in a vacuum, however, and its course will depend crucially upon the wider political context within which the future of the programme is being decided.
Private Agencies for Public Purposes: Some New Perspectives on Policy Making in Health Insurance Between the Wars
Authors: Whiteside Noelle
Published: January 2009

The approved societies, who were charged with the administration of health insurance in Britain, have long been blamed for the failure of the scheme to expand its coverage or scope in the interwar period. This paper takes a closer look at the administrative process and argues that societies were more vulnerable to central regulation than is commonly thought and were unable to resist cuts in public subsidies and extensions in liability introduced at their expense. They provided a convenient scapegoat for policies emanating primarily from the economic orthodoxy subscribed to by both government and the Treasury, modified to protect the unemployed during the slump. Health insurance policy was dominated to a large extent by the Government Actuary, who aimed to guarantee the cost effectiveness of the scheme. This paper also shows how administrative definitions and practices affected the classification of claimants to state social insurance at this time. It re-establishes the major weaknesses of the system, arguing that – in the light of recent discussions about reviving a system of national health insurance – we have much to learn from looking again at the experience of the interwar period.
Equity and Efficiency in the Allocation of the Personal Social Services
Authors: Bebbington A. C. , Davies Bleddyn
Published: January 2009

This paper investigates two issues of equity in the receipt of the home help service, one about territorial justice, the other about sex discrimination. It uses GHS data for 1980. An argument is developed about the efficiency with which services are targeted on persons who by normative criteria would appear to have most need of them. Efficiency is of two types: horizontal efficiency, the proportion of persons judged in need who receive services; and vertical efficiency, the proportion of services allocated to persons judged in need. The findings are that there is evidence of inequity both between different areas and between the sexes. Metropolitan areas are advantaged compared with rural areas, and this cannot be explained by differences in social support nor by the availability of other domiciliary services. Among the elderly living alone, neither sex is advantaged, but in elderly married couple households the home help service is more frequently provided in the case of a husband caring for a disabled wife than in the case of a wife caring for a disabled husband.
Gender and Social Policy: the impact of the public expenditure cuts and reactions to them
Authors: Edgell Stephen , Duke Vic
Published: January 2009

In social policy research the gender dimension has been relatively neglected in Britain. The attempt to selectively reduce public spending is examined with reference to its objective impact on men and women using official statistics and specialist reports. In addition, on the basis of a large-scale interview survey the subjective impact of and political reactions to the cuts are analysed by gender. The main findings are that this current social policy negatively affects women as both public sector workers and consumers more than men. Political reactions to the cuts were extensive but unrelated to gender per se. However, when one controls for economic activity and related variables, gender differences in terms of both political attitudes and behaviour were insignificant compared to the contrast between the economically active and inactive. The main social policy implication is that the restructuring of the welfare state hits women first and foremost.
Diffusion and the Development of Social Policy: Evidence from the Third World
Authors: Midgley James
Published: January 2009

Comparative studies of the origins of statutory welfare services have focused largely on the role of intra-societal factors in the genesis of welfare in the industrial countries. Developments in the developing countries, which comprise the majority of the world's nations, have not been adequately researched nor has the role of diffusion in transmitting social policies and practices been properly assessed. A review of the growth of modern social welfare services in the developing countries suggests that the diffusion of ideas and practices has been particularly important in the creation of their social services. This finding illustrates the need for a more broadly-based enquiry which pays greater attention to the role of diffusion in the development of statutory welfare.
Comparative Housing Research
Authors: Harloe Michael , Martens Maartje
Published: January 2009

The paper reviews major examples of comparative housing research which have been published in the last twenty years and suggests that the dominant approach — grounded in pluralism and convergence theory — which they exhibit is inadequate. Future studies need to be both more detailed and wider in scope, examining the dynamic of the interrelations between the institutions and the social forces involved in the provision of housing. Such a perspective is briefly developed and related to current developments in the housing markets and policies of some advanced capitalist societies. The paper concludes with a discussion of some of the practical problems of cross-national housing research.
The Politics of Health: The Case of Smoking Control
Authors: Calnan Michael
Published: January 2009

The policy of the United Kingdom government towards the control of smoking has been characterized by a non-interventionist approach such as persuasion and industrial self-regulation, as opposed to more direct intervention through fiscal policy or control over tobacco production and sales. The effectiveness of the policies adopted by the UK government is difficult to assess, although there has been a reduction over the last ten years in the proportion of smokers in the population. However, evidence from other countries shows that a more comprehensive programme including direct legislation controlling tobacco advertising has a much stronger impact on tobacco consumption. The determinants of the UK government's policy position are analysed and the evidence suggests that this policy position is determined in part by the power of the vested interests in the maintenance of tobacco production, as well as the confusion of interests within the government itself.
The Implementation of Housing Benefit
Authors: Hill Michael
Published: January 2009

This article sees the new housing benefit scheme as a policy initiative which presents local authorities, as the implementing agencies, with enormous problems in making a success of the operation of a scheme deeply flawed because of the government's commitment to save staff costs and avoid increases in benefit costs. It looks at the way in which during the policy-making process there was a move away from the ordiginal commitment to ‘unified housing benefit’ and explores the consequences of this for implementation.
Reformulating the Development Theory of Welfare
Authors: Uttley Stephen
Published: January 2009

Industrialization, technological change and overall economic development are often cited as important factors in the development of welfare states. This article examines the importance of cycles in economic activity and cycles in technological innovation to enhancing our understanding of welfare. The history of technological change in health-care services is used to illustrate the argument.
The Dialectic of Public and Private Pensions
Authors: Van Gunsteren Herman , Rein Martin
Published: January 2009

Complex images of the differences between public and private activities are endemic in modern capitalist societies. Numerous examples can be found in the field of social policy, but this paper focuses on the historical dialectic between public and private pension arrangements. It compares the interaction over time in a number of countries of the central principles of solidarity and equivalence which have shaped the development of pension provision. Then it illustrates how an understanding of contemporary pressures for the privatization of pension arrangements as a response to the fiscal crisis of welfare states cannot be divorced from their historical and institutional contexts. The paper concludes that pluralistic pension systems offer the best prospect for rational policy analysis and debate provided that a continuing critique of, and dialogue between, the different sectors is encouraged to flourish.
Gender Inequality and Social Policy: Women and the Redundancy Payments Scheme
Authors: Callender Claire
Published: January 2009

The article examines the impact of the redundancy payments legislation on women workers. The legislation's adequacy and appropriateness for women is assessed and the assumptions and values enshrined within it are analysed. The article demonstrates that the provisions of the legislation are disadvantageous to women in comparison to men, and that they in effect discriminate against them both directly and indirectly. Moreover, it is suggested that women's particular vulnerability to unemployment and redundancy may be partly explained by the actual mechanics of the redundancy legislation. It is argued that the legislation is based upon a male-dominated conceptualization of work and so fails to consider the position of women in the labour market — a market which by its very nature leads to gender inequalities.