• Consultation for a Change? Engaging Users and Communities in the policy Process

      Cook, Dee (Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2002)
      The process of consultation has become integral to the development, implementation and evaluation of a raft of UK health and social policies. However, the current bewildering patchwork of area–based initiatives means that, in many localities, it is impossible to evaluate the outcomes of particular targeted initiatives, let alone make sense of local planning consultations, Best Value reviews and (multi–agency) service reviews which run concurrently. The cumulative effects of this consultation "overload" threaten to swamp both local authorities and their service users. Consul–tation is itself a crucial yet deeply problematic process. There is an official view which holds that an "old" model of consultation—often tokenistic and unrepresentative—is being replaced with a "new" one. This paper examines and challenges that view in relation to the key policy areas of housing, social services and policing. It also pays particular attention to, and problematizes, the notion of "hard–to–reach groups", which is so dominant in the discourse of consultation. The paper argues that developing appropriate tools and recognizing that consultation is a process—not an event—are essential starting points in addressing these problems. The next step is to reconcile the principles of both evidence–based policy and user–led services into a strategic (and "joined–up") framework. But, when all this is accomplished, we still need to question the political and fiscal contexts in which policy–making takes place and within which the process of consultation is itself bounded.
    • Crime Prevention v Planning: Section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. Is it a Material Consideration?

      Moss, Kate (Palgrave Macmillan, 2001)
      In a previous paper, Moss and Pease outlined that although Section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 was arguably the most radical section, this did not appear to have been recognised. Specifically, fieldwork suggested that police requests for crime prevention measures, made on the basis of Section 17, were not consistently being accommodated, particularly where they conflicted with what planning officers wanted. It was argued that Section 17 should have a greater visible impact upon the agencies that it would necessarily affect. Contested planning applications since this time suggest that whilst many police forces and local councils, including planning departments, have been working hard to implement the requirements of Section 17, this is being undermined by decisions of the Planning Inspectorate. They maintain that in the absence of case law, Section 17 does not constitute a material consideration in terms of planning. Some examples, which have been contested on this basis, are discussed. It is suggested that the Planning Inspectorate should interpret Section 17 as a material consideration, in line with the guidelines laid down in Home Office Circular 5/94 'Planning Out Crime'3 and give greater primacy to the views held by the public in Crime Audits.
    • Developing Preventative Practices: The Experiences of Children, Young People and their families in the Children's Fund

      Evans, Ruth; Pinnock, Katherine; Bierens, Hanne; Edwards, Anne (London: Department for Education and Skills, 2006)
      The Children's Fund was set up in 2000, in part as a catalyst to move forward interagency co-operation and child and family-led preventative services in local authorities. The initiative will run until 2008 and have total funding of £960m over the life of the programme. It is, therefore, part of a long-term strategy aimed at strengthening communities and families as places where children and young people can develop as healthy, responsible and engaged citizens. The initiative targets children and young people aged five to 13 years who are considered to be at risk of social exclusion in 149 partnership arrangements across all 150 local authorities in England. The National Evaluation of the Children's Fund (NECF) was commissioned in late 2002 and ran until March 2006. The NECF was co-ordinated by the University of Birmingham & Institute of Education. The evaluation examined the structures, processes and outcomes of the Children's Fund. The evaluation has generated a series of reports. 'Developing Preventative Practices: The Experiences of Children, Young People and their families in the Children's Fund' aims to address the overarching question of which Children's Fund practices and approaches promote good outcomes for children and young people and support their pathways to inclusion. The report uses the concepts of risk, resilience and protection to understand the responses of children and families to the services provided by the Children's Fund and the immediate impact these services have made on their lives, The report also begins to locate these experiences within some broader notions of social exclusion and inclusion in order to reflect on how learning from the Children's Fund might be taken forward.
    • Developing Responsive Preventative Practices: Key Messages from Children's and Families' Experiences of the Children's Fund

      Pinnock, Katherine; Evans, Ruth (Wiley InterScience, 2008)
      As part of the prevention and social inclusion agenda, the Children's Fund, set up in 2000, has developed preventative services for children at risk of social exclusion. Drawing on a large qualitative dataset of interviews conducted in 2004/05 with children, young people and their parents/carers who accessed Children Fund services, this article analyses key practices and approaches valued by children and parents. These included: specialist support tailored to individual support needs, family-oriented approaches, trusting relationships with service providers, multi-agency approaches and sustainability of services. Finally, the article draws out key lessons for the future development of preventative services. (Blackwell)
    • Informatization of local democracy: A structuration perspective

      Parvez, Zahid (IOS Press, 2006)
      Academics and researchers face a challenge of making sense of the role e-democracy plays in the democratic process and with what implications. This requires a deeper understanding of the objectives and assumptions that underpin e-democracy innovations, as well as institutional and technology structures that condition their role in democratic engagement. This paper interprets case study data collected from three UK local authorities in light of Giddens Structuration theory to make sense of the role e-democracy plays in the democratic process. From the data, it elicits and identifies categories of social structures as perceived by different actors surrounding e-democracy. The insights gained suggest that social structures influence actors in prioritising, shaping and appropriating e-democracy and thus, in moderating its role in local democracy. Using these insights the paper offers some useful suggestions for enhancing democratic engagement through e-democracy projects.
    • Measuring the effectiveness of information technology management: a comparative study of six UK local authorities

      Worrall, Les (University of Wolverhampton, 1998-09)
      Evaluating and managing the effective delivery of IT services is an issue which has been brought into sharper relief recently. This has been particularly prevalent in the UK public sector where the growing emphasis on formalised client-contractor relationships, outsourcing and benchmarking (both between local authorities and between local authorities and private sector organisations) has meant that the definition of service standards and agreeing performance criteria has attracted considerable practitioner attention. This research is based on 300 interviews conducted in six UK local authorities. The investigation used both gap analysis and perceptual mapping techniques to develop an understanding of the aspects of IT service delivery that users' value most in conjunction with an assessment of how well they perceive their IT department is performing on these criteria. The paper exposes considerable differences in the relative performance of the six local authorities from both the gap analysis and the perceptual mapping elements of the investigation. The methodology is shown to provide an effective way of identifying key performance issues from the user perspective and benchmarking service performance across organisations.