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Designing citizen-centred governance
- Authors:
- BARNES Marian, et al
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2008
- Pagination:
- 87p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- York
The expansion in opportunities for citizen participation and of partnerships as a means of making policy and delivering services has created a wide range of different ways in which public services are governed. This can result in confusion about who is responsible for what and how people can get involved in decision making. This study investigated different models of citizen-centred governance and the principles on which this is based.
Faith as social capital
- Author:
- JOSEPH ROWNTREE FOUNDATION
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2006
- Pagination:
- 4p.
- Place of publication:
- York
The Government has identified faith communities as important sources of social capital. But religion is also associated with conflict and division. How far is faith in 'faith' justified? How far should faith communities engage with government agendas, and what can they contribute to building bridges and forging links with others?
Local political leadership in England and Wales
- Author:
- JOSEPH ROWNTREE FOUNDATION
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2005
- Pagination:
- 4p.
- Place of publication:
- York
There is considerable interest in the role of effective political leadership within local authorities in achieving the goals of the Government's modernisation agenda for local government. This agenda is intended to improve service performance and strengthen community leadership and democratic renewal. Central Government has legislated for executive or cabinet government in the majority of local authorities to strengthen clarity of vision, community leadership and visibility.
Policies towards poverty, inequality and exclusion since 1997
- Author:
- JOSEPH ROWNTREE FOUNDATION
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2005
- Pagination:
- 4p.
- Place of publication:
- York
The Government has taken poverty and social exclusion very seriously, marking a clear distinction from recent previous administrations. A wide range of the problems faced by Britain in the mid-1990s has been recognised, as has their multi-faceted and inter-linked nature. Poverty and social exclusion have been the subject of some of the Government's most high-profile targets, particularly to cut and eventually "eradicate" child poverty, and to ensure that, within 10-20 years, no one is seriously disadvantaged by where they live. However, there are no targets for working-age poverty, for poverty of the population as a whole, or for overall inequality. There are vulnerable groups not covered by specific initiatives; and in the case of asylum seekers, government policy has increased exclusion (in the terms applied to other groups). Where initiatives have been specifically evaluated the effects have mostly been positive, although not always very large. Child poverty has been reduced by the Labour Government's tax and benefit reforms, and detailed analysis of family spending patterns suggests that the income changes for parents with children are having clear benefits. Overall, the impact of tax-benefit reform has been more progressive than an alternative policy of earnings-linking all benefit levels without reform would have been. But there are groups that have been left out. While poverty rates fell overall, those for working-age adults without children had reached record levels by 2002-03.
Disabled people and the internet: experiences, barriers and opportunities
- Authors:
- PILLING Doria, BARRETT Paul, FLOYD Mike
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2004
- Pagination:
- 90p.
- Place of publication:
- York
The Government intends to make all government information and transactions available electronically by 2005. An increasing proportion of useful commercial and social information is available online. However, disabled people can face particular challenges using the Internet - for example, cost, access difficulties and unfamiliarity with electronic technology. (These limiting factors can be exacerbated for older age groups to which many disabled people belong.) This research examined whether the provision of information, goods and services through the Internet removes many of the access barriers faced by disabled people, or adds to them. Views were obtained from enquirers to AbilityNet, a UK charity giving free computing advice to disabled people, and from focus group participants.
The experience of the Community Links Social Enterprise Zone
- Author:
- JOSEPH ROWNTREE FOUNDATION
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2004
- Pagination:
- 4p.
- Place of publication:
- York
The UK's first Social Enterprise Zone (SEZ), based in Newham, east London, was established in 1998. It built on the Business Enterprise Zone model, where designated areas are freed from a range of statutory regulations obstructing local economic growth, and applied this principle to community services. The SEZ is a test bed for new policies and services tackling regeneration in deprived areas. Users of public services and front-line workers generate all the ideas. In this study, those involved in running the SEZ report on the lessons from its first years. The SEZ developed a tool called 'what if...?' to gather ideas from users of public services and front-line workers. This has involved over 1,000 local people. Participants have attended meetings with officials from public sector agencies and central government, been involved in designing and carrying out research and helped deliver pilots testing SEZ proposals. The SEZ made extensive use of Public Service Agreements in order to establish how ideas could help government meet its own objectives. About 60 ideas were developed, each with a connection to a Public Service Agreement objective. It was believed at the start of the project that ideas would largely focus on policy changes. In fact most new proposals were for services or rules which turned out to be unimplemented elements of existing policy, and therefore not known about locally, or for better ways of delivering local services. The SEZ has established partnerships with local public sector agencies to test ideas. SEZ has had to fund or co-ordinate these pilots itself because of the complexity of accessing funds for testing innovation and the lack of financial and human resources in local agencies to test ideas developed at the local level. Feeding into policy at the central level has been the most challenging activity, even at a time when policy-makers have been inviting evidence from outside government. The SEZ has adopted a range of approaches to deal with this, including evidence-based policy contributions, building networks in government and building networks of practitioner organisations. However, the SEZ co-ordinators conclude that, as long as policy design remains tightly controlled by central government, government will not make best use of evidence from local experience.
Does the Internet open up opportunities for disabled people?
- Author:
- JOSEPH ROWNTREE FOUNDATION
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2004
- Pagination:
- 4p.
- Place of publication:
- York
The Government intends to make all government information and transactions available electronically by 2005. An increasing proportion of useful commercial and social information is available online. However, disabled people can face particular challenges using the Internet - for example, cost, access difficulties and unfamiliarity with electronic technology. (These limiting factors can be exacerbated for older age groups to which many disabled people belong.) Almost all questionnaire respondents welcomed the Government's initiative to put all services online, provided that alternative communication methods remained available. Internet usage enabled questionnaire respondents to communicate with others, and to reach a variety of information resources in spite of difficulties. These groups included those who were unable to leave their homes, those who found writing or reading common forms of print inaccessible, or those with speech impairments. Two-thirds of Internet users in the survey wanted to use the Internet more, cost being the main reason holding them back. Cost - of buying a computer, of online access and of assistive devices - was also the most common reason preventing Internet non-users getting online. Questionnaire respondents and focus group participants who needed assistive devices had significant problems in identifying what to use, in affording it, and in getting guidance or training with the equipment. Disabled Internet users who needed assistive devices to use a computer and the Internet found fewer websites that were easy to use and navigate than did those not using assistive devices. Only about one in ten respondents knew the location of their local UK Online centre (where help is available to learn initial Internet-using skills); there was little knowledge of the training provided by UK Online centres or other organisations. About 40 per cent of Internet-using respondents had tried but had been unable to find suitable training locally.
Poverty in Britain: the impact of government policy since 1997
- Authors:
- SUTHERLAND Holly, SEFTON Tom, PIACHAUD David
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2003
- Pagination:
- 80p.
- Place of publication:
- York
Relative poverty, measured as households with less than 60 per cent of the national mid-point income, fell by around one million between 1996/7 and 2000/1, including half a million children. This was largely due to increasing levels of employment and above-inflation increase in some benefits, especially those for families with children. Policy modelling taking account of more recent tax and benefit changes including the introduction of child tax credits - shows that the Government’s policies would remove 1.3 million children from poverty by April 2004, other things being equal. However, the overall national increase in incomes since 1997 has served to raise the poverty threshold, with the result that the actual reduction in child poverty is likely to be around one million. The researchers estimate that the number of children in poor households will be one third below its 1997 level by 2004 before housing costs are taken into account, and a quarter lower after housing costs are deducted. This means that the Government should meet its short-term target, unless other factors, such as employment, take a turn for the worse. The study also anticipates a significant fall in poverty among pensioners between 1997 and 2003/4. However, the assessment of how many older people have been taken out of poverty depends heavily on which income measurement is used.The incomes of many pensioner households are clustered close to the poverty line; while their housing costs tend to be significantly lower than those of working-age adults. This means that the numbers measured ‘below the poverty line’ are particularly sensitive to where the line is placed and whether housing costs are included in the calculation. Calculated after housing costs, more than 1.2 million pensioners will have been raised above the poverty line by policies that include the Minimum Income Guarantee. But when household incomes are measured before deducting housing costs the expected reduction in pensioner poverty is only 270,000. A further analysis, looking at the impact of changes in duty on cigarettes, alcohol and petrol, and other indirect taxes, shows that poor families tend to be disproportionately affected. Even so, the overall reduction in poverty since 1997 would only be marginally lower if indirect taxation changes were reflected in official figures.
The financial costs and benefits of supporting children since 1975
- Author:
- JOSEPH ROWNTREE FOUNDATION
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2004
- Pagination:
- 4p.
- Place of publication:
- York
This project analyses how the amount of child-contingent support to which households are entitled has changed since 1975, and relates this to changes in taxes and benefits, the characteristics of households with children, and the costs of children. Total spending on child-contingent support has risen from £10 billion to £22 billion per year since 1975. Changes to tax and benefit policies were responsible for only 40 per cent of the increase in spending per child between 1975 and 1999. The rest was due to the changing characteristics of families. The large increases since 1999, however, are almost all due to policy changes. Many programmes have been used to deliver child-contingent support since 1975. Over time, child-contingent support has become more related to parents' income, as means-tested programmes and tax credits have grown. Universal child benefit, although maintaining its real value, has declined in importance from a peak of 79 per cent of total support in 1979 to 42 per cent in 2003.
Internet access and online services for older people in sheltered housing
- Author:
- JOSEPH ROWNTREE FOUNDATION
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2004
- Pagination:
- 4p.
- Place of publication:
- York
Government policy initiatives aim to encourage online delivery of government information and social services, and to promote take-up of Internet access by all UK residents. Online delivery of aspects of social care and health services will make it possible to access these services via the Internet. This small-scale study explored how older people living in sheltered homes use the Internet, and how they and their carers feel about online service access.