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‘Behaviour change’ has become a buzz phrase of growing importance to policymakers and researchers. There is an increasing focus on exploring the relationship between social organisation and individual action, and on intervening to influence societal outcomes like population health and climate change. Researchers continue to grapple with methodologies, intervention strategies and ideologies around ‘social change’.

Multidisciplinary in approach, this important book draws together insights from a selection of the principal thinkers in fields including public health, transport, marketing, sustainability and technology. The book explores the political and historical landscape of behaviour change, and trends in academic theory, before examining new innovations in both practice and research. It will be a valuable resource for academics, policy makers, practitioners, researchers and students wanting to locate their thinking within this rapidly evolving field.

‘Behaviour change’ has become a buzz phrase of growing importance to policymakers and researchers. There is an increasing focus on exploring the relationship between social organisation and individual action, and on intervening to influence societal outcomes like population health and climate change. Researchers continue to grapple with methodologies, intervention strategies and ideologies around ‘social change’.

Multidisciplinary in approach, this important book draws together insights from a selection of the principal thinkers in fields including public health, transport, marketing, sustainability and technology. The book explores the political and historical landscape of behaviour change, and trends in academic theory, before examining new innovations in both practice and research. It will be a valuable resource for academics, policy makers, practitioners, researchers and students wanting to locate their thinking within this rapidly evolving field.

As the UK negotiates Brexit, what are the effects, implications and challenges that lie ahead? Janice Morphet takes a long term view on the range of institutional and operational options that may be deployed by the UK, EU and other international institutions seeking to influence the negotiations and outcome.

The book offers a context for the current debate and a new framework with which to assess and discuss the forthcoming negotiations taking into account the likely effects on the UK of forthcoming EU policies, and an analysis of the implications of policies foregone.

The book includes discussion of what Brexit means for the devolved nations, and the island of Ireland, where the Good Friday agreement and border management are serious enough to give pause to the whole process.

Social housing continues to decline as existing tenanted homes are sold to their occupiers and run-down council estates are demolished. Demonstrating the value of the ‘Housing Plus’ approach –investment beyond “bricks and mortar” – this book outlines the role social landlords can play in tackling community problems. By investing in estate renewal, helping to house the vulnerable, offering a wide range of tenures and encouraging community housing, this approach builds links between housing design and a wider social value agenda.

With the voices of tenants and frontline staff at the forefront, Anne Power demonstrates how policy and practice can shift the bias against social housing in favour of its re-expansion.

More young children than ever before are spending their time in some form of early childhood service. But how do we know what they think about it? While there has been a move to take children's views into account more generally, very little attention has been given to listening to young children below the age of six or seven.

This book is the first of its kind to focus on listening to young children, both from an international perspective and through combining theory, practice and reflection. With contributions and examples from researchers and practitioners in six countries it examines critically how listening to young children in early childhood services is understood and practised.

Each chapter is rooted in the everyday lives of young children and presents a range of actual experiences for students and practitioners to draw from. Beyond listening goes further to address key questions emerging from early childhood services and research. These are What do we mean by listening? Why listen? How do we listen to young children? What view of the child do different approaches to listening presume? What risks does listening entail for young children?

The authors are leading experts in this area of rapidly growing interest and have themselves developed innovative methods such as the Mosaic approach, which is discussed in the book.

The past three decades have seen an international ‘turn to participation’ – letting those who will be affected by outcomes play an active role in decision-making – but there is widespread dissatisfaction with actual instances of citizen-state engagement. Neighbourhood planning in England exemplifies this contradiction.

This innovative analysis brings theory, research and practice together to give insights into how and why citizen voices become effective or get excluded. Ethnographic data from detailed studies of neighbourhood planning are used to illustrate the constraints and possibilities of a wide range of participatory governance practices and social movements. The book concludes with recommendations to re-invigorate community involvement in planning and beyond.

The past three decades have seen an international ‘turn to participation’ – letting those who will be affected by outcomes play an active role in decision-making – but there is widespread dissatisfaction with actual instances of citizen-state engagement. Neighbourhood planning in England exemplifies this contradiction.

This innovative analysis brings theory, research and practice together to give insights into how and why citizen voices become effective or get excluded. Ethnographic data from detailed studies of neighbourhood planning are used to illustrate the constraints and possibilities of a wide range of participatory governance practices and social movements. The book concludes with recommendations to re-invigorate community involvement in planning and beyond.

In recent years, a wave of reforms known as ‘nudges’ or ‘behavioural interventions’ have emerged in public policy and administration. ‘Nudge’ policies are created to lightly influence groups in society to change their behaviour, using behavioural insights to solve complex policy problems. Generally, behavioural approaches focus on the psychology underlying the implementation and effects of policies in practice.

First published as a special issue of Policy & Politics journal, this book situates these reforms within a broader tradition of methodological individualism.

With contributions from international scholars, it demonstrates that when behavioural policies expand their focus beyond the individual, they have the potential to better understand, investigate, and shape social outcomes.

This controversial book argues that concepts such as ‘successful’ and ‘active’ ageing - ubiquitous terms in research, marketing and policy making concerned with older adults – are potentially dangerous paradigms that reflect and exacerbate inequalities in older populations.

This author presents a new theory to make sense of the popularity of these ‘successful’ and ‘active’ ageing concepts. Readers are invited to view them through the prism of Model Ageing – a theory that throws light on the causes and consequences of attempts to model ageing as a phenomenon and stage of life that is in need of direction, reshaping and control.

This is essential reading for anyone seeking to make sense of social constructions of ageing in contemporary societies.

This collection of work has been produced as a result of a major 1994 UK seminar on the measurement and analysis of social exclusion, sponsored by the European Commission and the UK Department of Social Security. There are contributions from a wide range of academics with varying backgrounds.

Three main concerns are targeted:

the conceptualisation of social exclusion;

the measurement of social exclusion;

the indicators for monitoring the effectiveness of policies for combating social exclusion.

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This book provides an invaluable review of the literature available and presents major new thinking in terms of theory, understanding and data analysis. It will be important reading for students, researchers and policy makers working in this field.

"Beyond the Workfare State" explores equality, discrimination and human rights in relation to employability and 'welfare-to-work' policies. It draws extensively on new research from the SEQUAL Project, undertaken for the European Social Fund, which investigated seven dimensions of discrimination in a labour market that is theoretically 'open to all'.

The book provides an overall analysis of policy shifts and presents a wide and distinctive range of illustrative studies that give voice to a variety of potentially marginalised groups. Chapters deal with obstacles to labour-market access around each of the following themes: gender and class; disability; race and ethnicity; geographical exclusion; sexual orientation; the problems of old and young people; and refugees.

The authors draw attention to localised examples of promising practice, but also connect these to a broader 'human rights' agenda, linking them to changing legislative and governance frameworks. Its scope covers the whole of Great Britain and it shows how devolution in Scotland and Wales, and at the regional level in England, is creating new possibilities for mainstreaming good practice in this key area.

The book will be of great interest to academics and students in social policy and related fields. It will also be valuable for professionals, policy makers and practitioners in the regeneration, community development and anti-discrimination fields, particularly in the UK but also in Europe and beyond.

"Beyond the Workfare State" explores equality, discrimination and human rights in relation to employability and 'welfare-to-work' policies. It draws extensively on new research from the SEQUAL Project, undertaken for the European Social Fund, which investigated seven dimensions of discrimination in a labour market that is theoretically 'open to all'.

The book provides an overall analysis of policy shifts and presents a wide and distinctive range of illustrative studies that give voice to a variety of potentially marginalised groups. Chapters deal with obstacles to labour-market access around each of the following themes: gender and class; disability; race and ethnicity; geographical exclusion; sexual orientation; the problems of old and young people; and refugees.

The authors draw attention to localised examples of promising practice, but also connect these to a broader 'human rights' agenda, linking them to changing legislative and governance frameworks. Its scope covers the whole of Great Britain and it shows how devolution in Scotland and Wales, and at the regional level in England, is creating new possibilities for mainstreaming good practice in this key area.

The book will be of great interest to academics and students in social policy and related fields. It will also be valuable for professionals, policy makers and practitioners in the regeneration, community development and anti-discrimination fields, particularly in the UK but also in Europe and beyond.

This book uses a range of interpretive approaches to reveal the dynamics of service users' and professionals' individual experiences and life-worlds. From their research the contributors show how biographical methods can improve theoretical understanding of professional practice, as well as enrich the learning and development of professionals, and promote more meaningful and creative practitioner - service user relationships.

The book:

· reviews applications of biographical methods in both policy and practice in a range of professional contexts, from health and social care to education and employment;

· explores the impact of social change in three main arenas - transformation from Eastern to Western types of society in Europe, major shifts in social and welfare principles, experiences of immigration and of new cultural diversities - on professional practice;

· critically evaluates subjective and reflexive processes in interactions between researchers, practitioners and users of services;

· considers the institutional arrangements and cultural contexts which support effective and sensitive interventions;

· draws on actual projects and tracks reflection, progress and outcomes.

With contributions from leading international experts, it provides a valuable comparative perspective. Researchers, policy analysts and practitioners, postgraduate students, teachers and trainers will find this book a stimulating read.

This book uses a range of interpretive approaches to reveal the dynamics of service users' and professionals' individual experiences and life-worlds. From their research the contributors show how biographical methods can improve theoretical understanding of professional practice, as well as enrich the learning and development of professionals, and promote more meaningful and creative practitioner - service user relationships.

The book:

· reviews applications of biographical methods in both policy and practice in a range of professional contexts, from health and social care to education and employment;

· explores the impact of social change in three main arenas - transformation from Eastern to Western types of society in Europe, major shifts in social and welfare principles, experiences of immigration and of new cultural diversities - on professional practice;

· critically evaluates subjective and reflexive processes in interactions between researchers, practitioners and users of services;

· considers the institutional arrangements and cultural contexts which support effective and sensitive interventions;

· draws on actual projects and tracks reflection, progress and outcomes.

With contributions from leading international experts, it provides a valuable comparative perspective. Researchers, policy analysts and practitioners, postgraduate students, teachers and trainers will find this book a stimulating read.

What are the building blocks of the new societal architectures after COVID-19? What are the evolving lifestyle patterns, social connections and relationality, and what can biographical research bring to explore these unprecedented societal circumstances?

This first book in the new series Advances in Biographical Research focuses on the place of biographical research in analysing and shaping social futures characterised by physical distancing and isolation, social fragmentation, trauma and vulnerability, including breaks in biographical trajectories.

Written by experienced and early career researchers, it demonstrates how biographical research responds to new societal architectures: theoretically and empirically.

What does mothering mean in different cultures and societies? This book extensively applies biographical and narrative research methods to mothering from international perspectives.

This edited collection engages with changing attitudes and approaches to mothering from women’s individual biographical experiences, illuminating how socially anticipated tasks of mothering shaped through interlinking state, media, religious beliefs and broader society are reflected in their identities and individual life choices. Considering trust, rapport, reflexivity and self-care, this collection advances methodological practice in the study of mothers, carers and childless women’s lives.

Based on 250 life-story interviews in seven European Union countries, Biography and social exclusion in Europe:

analyses personal struggles against social exclusion to illuminate local milieus and changing welfare regimes and contexts;

points to challenging new agendas for European politics and welfare, beyond the rhetoric of communitarianism and the New Deal;

vividly illustrates the lived experience and environmental complexity working for and against structural processes of social exclusion;

refashions the interpretive tradition as a teaching and research tool linking macro and micro realities.

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Students, academic teachers and professional trainers, practitioners, politicians, policy makers and researchers in applied and comparative welfare fields will all benefit from reading this book.

Over several decades, anti-oppressive practice and anti-discriminatory perspectives have become an integral part of social work. Responding to an urgent need for an up-to-date text that addresses recent developments, this book charts the impact of social changes and new literature shaping social work theory and practice with black and minority individuals, families and communities. It builds upon popular texts addressing anti-discriminatory frameworks but focuses specifically upon black perspectives in social work, taking into account current issues and concerns.

Written specifically for a US and UK market, the book provides an excellent introductory text to social work with black and minority ethnic communities for students, lecturers, practice teachers/assessors who are engaged in examining anti-discriminatory practice frameworks and black perspectives in academic settings and practice learning. It will support curriculum-based learning through its focus on anti-discriminatory practice in a climate that appears less sympathetic to the multicultural nature of British society.

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence

We live in a society that is increasingly preoccupied with allocating blame: when something goes wrong someone must be to blame. Bringing together philosophical, psychological, and sociological accounts of blame, this is the first detailed criminological account of the role of blame in which the authors present a novel study of the legal process of blame attribution, set in the context of criminalisation as a social and political process. This timely and topical book will be essential reading for anyone working or researching in the criminal justice field. It will also be of wider interest to anyone wishing to discover the role of blame in modern society.

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence

We live in a society that is increasingly preoccupied with allocating blame: when something goes wrong someone must be to blame. Bringing together philosophical, psychological, and sociological accounts of blame, this is the first detailed criminological account of the role of blame in which the authors present a novel study of the legal process of blame attribution, set in the context of criminalisation as a social and political process. This timely and topical book will be essential reading for anyone working or researching in the criminal justice field. It will also be of wider interest to anyone wishing to discover the role of blame in modern society.

In recent years, new areas of biology, especially epigenetics and neuroscience, have enthralled the public imagination. They have been used as powerful arguments for developing social policy in a particular direction, from early intervention in the lives of disadvantaged children to seeking 'biomarkers' as identifiers of criminality.

This timely book, written by leading commentators, critically examines the capabilities and limitations of these biotechnologies, exploring their implications for policy and practice.

The book will enable social scientists, policy makers, practitioners and interested general readers to understand how the new biologies of epigenetics and neuroscience have increasingly influenced the fields of family policy, mental health, child development and criminal justice.

The book will facilitate much needed debate about what makes a good society and how best to build one. It also draws attention to the ways that the uncertainties of the original science are lost in their translation into the everyday world of practice and policy.

In recent years, new areas of biology, especially epigenetics and neuroscience, have enthralled the public imagination. They have been used as powerful arguments for developing social policy in a particular direction, from early intervention in the lives of disadvantaged children to seeking 'biomarkers' as identifiers of criminality.

This timely book, written by leading commentators, critically examines the capabilities and limitations of these biotechnologies, exploring their implications for policy and practice.

The book will enable social scientists, policy makers, practitioners and interested general readers to understand how the new biologies of epigenetics and neuroscience have increasingly influenced the fields of family policy, mental health, child development and criminal justice.

The book will facilitate much needed debate about what makes a good society and how best to build one. It also draws attention to the ways that the uncertainties of the original science are lost in their translation into the everyday world of practice and policy.

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. How does Brexit change Northern Ireland’s system of government? Could it unravel crucial parts of Northern Ireland’s peace process? What are the wider implications of the arrangements for the Irish and UK constitutions?

Northern Ireland presents some of the most difficult Brexit dilemmas.

Negotiations between the UK and the EU have set out how issues like citizenship, trade, the border, human rights and constitutional questions may be resolved. But the long-term impact of Brexit isn’t clear.

This thorough analysis draws upon EU, UK, Irish and international law, setting the scene for a post-Brexit Northern Ireland by showing what the future might hold.

Increasing numbers of researchers are using arts-based, embodied or creative methods. They promote rapport and connection, facilitating research that reaches beyond surface understanding to expose authentic stories and hidden, richer truths. Whilst powerful, these methods can have unintended consequences and the potential for harm.

Drawing on case studies and lessons learned from programmes and work across research, therapy, education, art and science, this engaging book explores and demonstrates the porous borders of research.

It invites researchers to reflect and consider the boundaries and consequences of their work in order to deepen and widen its applicability and impact across science, art, education and therapy.

Increasing numbers of researchers are using arts-based, embodied or creative methods. They promote rapport and connection, facilitating research that reaches beyond surface understanding to expose authentic stories and hidden, richer truths. Whilst powerful, these methods can have unintended consequences and the potential for harm.

Drawing on case studies and lessons learned from programmes and work across research, therapy, education, art and science, this engaging book explores and demonstrates the porous borders of research.

It invites researchers to reflect and consider the boundaries and consequences of their work in order to deepen and widen its applicability and impact across science, art, education and therapy.

Questions of migration and citizenship are at the heart of global political debate with Brexit and the election of Donald Trump having ripple effects around the world.

Providing new insights into the politics of migration and citizenship in the UK and the US, this book challenges the increasingly prevalent view of migration and migrants as threats and of formal citizenship as a necessary marker of belonging. Instead the authors offer an analysis of migration and citizenship in practice, as a counterpoint to simplistic discourses.

The book uses cutting-edge academic work on migration and citizenship to address three themes central to current debates – borders and walls, mobility and travel, and belonging. Through this analysis a clearer picture of the roots of these politics emerges as well as of the consequences for mobility, political participation and belonging in the 21st century.

Since 1990, the World Bank, most of the other international agencies and an increasing number of governments have committed themselves to the eradication of poverty. But the basis of their work badly needs overhaul and concerted verification. Breadline Europe provides a scientific and international basis for the analysis and reduction of poverty. It demonstrates that there is far more important research into the problem of poverty going on in many countries of Europe than the international agencies and national governments admit or even realise. Knowledge of the major scientific advances in research needs to be spread among other countries within as well as outside Europe.

Breadline Europe has been written by a number of leading European poverty researchers and has three main themes: the need for a scientific poverty line: for better definition and measurement of what is the biggest and rapidly growing international social problem; the need for better theories distinguishing between poverty and social exclusion, with the corresponding policies calculated to diminish these problems;the need for better international social policy and for better policy-related analyses of poverty: for more exact analysis of the year-by-year contribution of specific policies to poverty.

This is the first book to examine poverty in Europe within the international framework agreed at the 1995 World Summit on Social Development. Breadline Europe provides up-to-date, essential reading for social science undergraduates and postgraduate students. It will also be of considerable interest to policy makers and NGOs with a concern for poverty reduction.

With ever-decreasing affordability and availability of homes, the UK has a longstanding and complex housing crisis.

Rather than laying the blame on a particular group or cause, this book explains the root causes of our current housing situation and proposes useful ways forward. The author uses his experience of delivering housing policy in Greater Manchester to analyse the interlocking issues of demographic and social policy change, the financial and planning systems, the construction industry and the UK’s recent change of government.

Key reading for housing researchers and policy makers, this book analyses recent reform plans and the feasibility of achieving an effective and accessible UK housing landscape.

With ever-decreasing affordability and availability of homes, the UK has a longstanding and complex housing crisis.

Rather than laying the blame on a particular group or cause, this book explains the root causes of our current housing situation and proposes useful ways forward. The author uses his experience of delivering housing policy in Greater Manchester to analyse the interlocking issues of demographic and social policy change, the financial and planning systems, the construction industry and the UK’s recent change of government.

Key reading for housing researchers and policy makers, this book analyses recent reform plans and the feasibility of achieving an effective and accessible UK housing landscape.

Often portrayed as an apolitical space, this book demonstrates that home is in fact a highly political concept, with a range of groups in society excluded from a ‘right to home’ under current UK policies.

Drawing on resident interviews and analysis of political and media attitudes across three case studies – the criminalisation of squatting, the bedroom tax and family homelessness – the book explores the ways in which legislative and policy changes dismantle people’s rights to secure, decent and affordable housing by framing them as undeserving.

Often portrayed as an apolitical space, this book demonstrates that home is in fact a highly political concept, with a range of groups in society excluded from a ‘right to home’ under current UK policies.

Drawing on resident interviews and analysis of political and media attitudes across three case studies – the criminalisation of squatting, the bedroom tax and family homelessness – the book explores the ways in which legislative and policy changes dismantle people’s rights to secure, decent and affordable housing by framing them as undeserving.

This book is a manifesto for change that showcases new policy ideas for an incoming Labour government.

Organised by the Society of Labour Lawyers, the Labour Party’s legal think tank, the contributors inspire debate about Britain’s future, exploring a wide range of issues from access to justice to family law reform, housing, employment, EU and trade law, asylum and refugee law, immigration and citizenship, international law and constitutional reform.

This book is a must-have collection of new insights into how a Labour government can renew Britain.

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence.

Long term resident migrants to the UK, who often possess valuable skills for the economy, still face significant barriers to citizenship. In this important book, Dr Prabhat captures the experiences of those who successfully become British citizens through stories of belonging, citizenship and the law; beautifully illustrated by artist Sam Church. Speaking to contemporary times of Brexit, the book exposes the challenges which become insurmountable for many migrants, and illuminates the gap between policy and practice in gaining British citizenship.

Britain is going through the most radical upheaval of the benefits system since its foundations were laid at the end of the 1940s. In Broken Benefits, Sam Royston argues that social security isn’t working, and without a change in direction, it will be even less fair in the future.

Drawing on original research and high-profile debates, this much-needed book provides an introductory guide to social security, correcting misunderstandings and exposing poorly understood problems. It reveals how some workers pay to take on additional hours; that those who pay national insurance contributions may get nothing in return; that some families can be paid to split apart; and that many people on the lowest incomes are seeing their retirement age rise the fastest.

Broken Benefits includes real-life stories, models of household budgets, projections of benefit spending, and a free online calculator showing the impact of welfare changes on personal finances. The book presents practical ideas of how benefits should be reformed, to create a fairer, simpler and more coherent system for the future.

This highly topical report provides much needed evidence to inform the re-configuration of services for children and young people. Focusing on the Connexions strategy and service in England, it explores the effectiveness of inter-agency working in this area.

The report is based on two years research in three contrasting Connexions Partnerships and around 300 hours of interviews with key stakeholders, young people's Personal Advisors and young people themselves. It examines the inter-agency strategies developed by the partnerships but, most importantly, what impact they have had on the interventions made with young people facing acute and complex needs.

It will be of particular interest to Connexions professionals and managers, others involved in partnership working, those involved in the development and implementation of Children and Young People's Strategic Partnerships and Children's Trusts, as well as youth researchers and policy makers.

In the UK there is increasing acceptance that credit unions have a potentially important role to play in the provision of affordable credit to all sections of society, including those facing financial exclusion. Against this backdrop, this study seeks to identify current patterns of credit union development, quantify the performance of credit unions and isolate those factors which make some credit unions more successful than others.

The study considers the financial profile of UK credit union movement, examining the relative performance of credit unions for the UK as a whole and separately for Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. It also uses case studies to explore key trends within the sector, including consideration of recently established 'fast growth' credit unions, which have received pump priming from their local authorities, as well as a number of merging credit unions.

Building better credit unions provides descriptive statistics conceptualising the UK credit union movement; outlines the differences in the profile of credit union penetration within the main UK regions; considers recent legislative amendments; investigates why some credit unions perform much better than others and identifies a series of policy recommendations needed to strengthen the sector.

This report will be invaluable to the management and board of individual credit unions, the decision makers in the various credit union trade associations, the credit union regulator and policy makers in the arena of financial inclusion in central and local government.

What would it take to make society better? For the majority, conditions are getting worse and this will continue unless strong action is taken. This book offers a wide range of expert contributors outlining what might help to make better societies and which mechanisms, interventions and evidence are needed when we think about a better society.

The book looks at what is needed to prevent the proliferation of harm and the gradual collapse of civil society. It argues that social scientists need to cast aside their commitment to the established order and its ideological support systems, look ahead at the likely outcomes of various interventions and move to the forefront of informed political debate.

Providing practical steps and policy programmes, this is ideal for academics and students across a wide range of social science fields and those interested in social inequality.

What would it take to make society better? For the majority, conditions are getting worse and this will continue unless strong action is taken. This book offers a wide range of expert contributors outlining what might help to make better societies and which mechanisms, interventions and evidence are needed when we think about a better society.

The book looks at what is needed to prevent the proliferation of harm and the gradual collapse of civil society. It argues that social scientists need to cast aside their commitment to the established order and its ideological support systems, look ahead at the likely outcomes of various interventions and move to the forefront of informed political debate.

Providing practical steps and policy programmes, this is ideal for academics and students across a wide range of social science fields and those interested in social inequality.

In 2003 the Labour Government published its ambitious Sustainable Communities Plan. It promised to bring about a 'step change' in the English planning system and a new emphasis on the construction of more balanced, cohesive, and competitive places.

This book uses historical and contemporary materials to document the ways in which policy-makers, in different eras, have sought to use state powers and regulations to create better, more balanced, and sustainable communities and citizens. It charts the changes that have take place in community-building policy frameworks, place imaginations, and core spatial policy initiatives in the UK since 1945. In so doing, it examines the tensions that have emerged within spatial policy over the types of places that should be created and the forms of mobility and fixity required to create them. It also shows that there are significant lessons that can be learnt from the experiences of the past. These can be used to inform contemporary policy debates over issues such as migration, uneven development, key worker housing, and sustainability.

The book will be an important text for students and researchers in geography, urban studies, planning, and modern social history. It will also be of interest to practitioners working in central and local government, voluntary organisations, community groups, and those involved in the planning and design of sustainable communities.

In 2003 the Labour Government published its ambitious Sustainable Communities Plan. It promised to bring about a 'step change' in the English planning system and a new emphasis on the construction of more balanced, cohesive, and competitive places.

This book uses historical and contemporary materials to document the ways in which policy-makers, in different eras, have sought to use state powers and regulations to create better, more balanced, and sustainable communities and citizens. It charts the changes that have take place in community-building policy frameworks, place imaginations, and core spatial policy initiatives in the UK since 1945. In so doing, it examines the tensions that have emerged within spatial policy over the types of places that should be created and the forms of mobility and fixity required to create them. It also shows that there are significant lessons that can be learnt from the experiences of the past. These can be used to inform contemporary policy debates over issues such as migration, uneven development, key worker housing, and sustainability.

The book will be an important text for students and researchers in geography, urban studies, planning, and modern social history. It will also be of interest to practitioners working in central and local government, voluntary organisations, community groups, and those involved in the planning and design of sustainable communities.

Developed from nearly 20 years' practice and consulting experience, this ground-breaking text challenges practitioners to understand, and work, with their clients as relational beings rather than independent units, whatever the presenting problem might be. The book focuses on an often neglected key condition, that sustainable and accountable personal relationships are a precondition for health and well-being, and argues that there are always opportunities to deepen the quality, and range, of the client's connections with their current and future significant-others.

The central concern of the book is to describe practical actions that can be taken by any professional committed to strengthening the relational base of their clients - an agenda that is supported by coherently woven insights from critical theory and social epidemiology. Written in a compelling style and brought to life with more than twenty case vignettes, this original, practical and rich resource offers practitioners usable resources that can be incorporated within many practice roles.

Especially relevant to senior students and those in casework, this innovative, timely, multidisciplinary material is ideal for all those who wish to make a practical difference to the lives of their clients.

Developed from nearly 20 years' practice and consulting experience, this ground-breaking text challenges practitioners to understand, and work, with their clients as relational beings rather than independent units, whatever the presenting problem might be. The book focuses on an often neglected key condition, that sustainable and accountable personal relationships are a precondition for health and well-being, and argues that there are always opportunities to deepen the quality, and range, of the client's connections with their current and future significant-others.

The central concern of the book is to describe practical actions that can be taken by any professional committed to strengthening the relational base of their clients - an agenda that is supported by coherently woven insights from critical theory and social epidemiology. Written in a compelling style and brought to life with more than twenty case vignettes, this original, practical and rich resource offers practitioners usable resources that can be incorporated within many practice roles.

Especially relevant to senior students and those in casework, this innovative, timely, multidisciplinary material is ideal for all those who wish to make a practical difference to the lives of their clients.

How can unjust societies be overcome with a better distribution of opportunities to flourish? How can human development be revitalised in countries where social welfare is being questioned? In short, how can human development be fostered in practice? These are some of the important questions asked in this volume through analysis of existing policies and conceptualisations of coherent and systematic strategies for human development policies at the local, national and international level.

International contributors innovatively combine the hitherto unpaired perspectives of the capability approach and the tradition of critical social policy with empirical examples using case studies from South-Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and North and South America. The result is a call for a new, feasible approach towards more socially balanced, democratic and innovative capability-promoting policy activities, models and programmes that reduce social and human suffering to promote an enhanced social quality of current societies around the world.

Care: Personal Lives and Social Policy considers how normative assumptions about the meanings, practices and relationships of care are embedded in our everyday lives. It explores the ways in which these shape our sense of self and the nature of our relations with others. At the same time the book examines how social policy and welfare practices construct these relations and give or deny them meaning and validity. 

The authors draw upon a range of theoretical approaches and research evidence to bring into focus some of the different spaces and places where questions about care, in all its different dimensions, have been lived out, debated and struggled over. Each highlights the significance that class, 'race', gender, sexuality and age play in the analysis of care relations.

This book provides invaluable descriptions and comparative analyses of the now complex and highly varied arrangements for the care of children, disabled and older people in Europe, set within the context of changing labour markets and welfare systems. It includes analyses of the modernisation of informal care and new forms of informal care, topics often neglected in the literature.

Issues of gender, family change, social integration and citizenship are all explored in a series of chapters that report on original empirical, cross-national research. All contributors are high-ranking experts involved in the COST A13 Action Programme, funded by the European Union.

Care and social integration in European societies is essential reading for social policy and sociology academics, particularly those who are interested in comparative policy analysis, gender, labour markets and families. It is also recommended reading for graduate level students in these fields and policy makers, for whom the book provides a unique resource on the latest European developments in this critical policy area.

What ‘kind’ of community is demanded by a problem like dementia?

As aspects of care continue to transition from institutional to community and home settings, this book considers the implications for people living with dementia and their carers.

Drawing on extensive fieldwork and case studies from Canada, this book analyses the intersections of formal dementia strategies and the experiences of families and others on the frontlines of care.

Considering the strains placed on care systems by the COVID-19 pandemic, this book looks afresh at what makes home-based care possible or impossible and how these considerations can help establish a deeper understanding necessary for good policy and practice.

What ‘kind’ of community is demanded by a problem like dementia?

As aspects of care continue to transition from institutional to community and home settings, this book considers the implications for people living with dementia and their carers.

Drawing on extensive fieldwork and case studies from Canada, this book analyses the intersections of formal dementia strategies and the experiences of families and others on the frontlines of care.

Considering the strains placed on care systems by the COVID-19 pandemic, this book looks afresh at what makes home-based care possible or impossible and how these considerations can help establish a deeper understanding necessary for good policy and practice.

India’s ageing population is growing rapidly; over 60s constitute 7 per cent of the total population and this is projected to triple in the next four decades.

Drawing on a wide range of studies, this book examines living arrangements across India and their impact on the care and wellbeing of older people. Addressing access to welfare initiatives and changing cultural norms including co-residence, family care and migration, it reveals the diversity of living arrangements, cultural customs and the welfare issues facing older adults in India.

This book offers a crucial examination for practitioners, researchers and policymakers seeking to understand and develop the infrastructure required to meet the needs of older people in India.

India’s ageing population is growing rapidly; over 60s constitute 7 per cent of the total population and this is projected to triple in the next four decades.

Drawing on a wide range of studies, this book examines living arrangements across India and their impact on the care and wellbeing of older people. Addressing access to welfare initiatives and changing cultural norms including co-residence, family care and migration, it reveals the diversity of living arrangements, cultural customs and the welfare issues facing older adults in India.

This book offers a crucial examination for practitioners, researchers and policymakers seeking to understand and develop the infrastructure required to meet the needs of older people in India.

Care has been struggled for, resisted and celebrated. The failure to care in 'care services' has been seen as a human rights problem and evidence of malaise in contemporary society. But care has also been implicated in the oppression of disabled people and demoted in favour of choice in health and social care services.

In this bold wide ranging book Marian Barnes argues for care as an essential value in private lives and public policies. She considers the importance of care to well-being and social justice and applies insights from feminist care ethics to care work, and care within personal relationships. She also looks at 'stranger relationships', how we relate to the places in which we live, and the way in which public deliberation about social policy takes place. This book will be vital reading for all those wanting to apply relational understandings of humanity to social policy and practice.

Care has been struggled for, resisted and celebrated. The failure to care in 'care services' has been seen as a human rights problem and evidence of malaise in contemporary society. But care has also been implicated in the oppression of disabled people and demoted in favour of choice in health and social care services.

In this bold wide ranging book Marian Barnes argues for care as an essential value in private lives and public policies. She considers the importance of care to well-being and social justice and applies insights from feminist care ethics to care work, and care within personal relationships. She also looks at 'stranger relationships', how we relate to the places in which we live, and the way in which public deliberation about social policy takes place. This book will be vital reading for all those wanting to apply relational understandings of humanity to social policy and practice.

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

As populations age around the world, there is an urgent need to address the inadequate and unequal provision of care and support to older and disabled people.

This book represents the first collective effort to use the concept of care poverty to analyse unmet needs and inequalities in care at an international level and from a social policy perspective. It presents pioneering empirical studies and novel theoretical and methodological approaches to unmet needs and care poverty.

This volume points the way forward for international care research and, in particular, for the growing field of research on inadequate care and support.

EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

Technology is quickly becoming an integral part of care systems across the world and is frequently cited in policy discourse as pivotal for solving the ‘crisis’ in care and delivering positive outcomes.

Exploring the role of technology in Europe, Canada, Australia and Japan, this book examines how technology contributes effectively to the sustainability of these different care systems, which are facing similar emergent pressures, including increased longevity, falling fertility and the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It considers the challenges and opportunities of embedding technologies in care systems and the subsequent outcomes for older and disabled service users, carers and the care workforce.

What kinds of care are being offered or withdrawn by the welfare state? What does this mean for the caring practices and interventions of local activists?

Shedding new light on austerity and neoliberal welfare reform in the UK, this vital book considers local action and activism within contexts of crisis, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

Presenting compelling case studies of local action, from protesting cuts to children’s services to local food provisioning and support for migrant women, this book makes visible often unseen practices of activism. It shows how the creativity and persistence of such local practices can be seen as enacting wider visions of how care should be provided by society.

What kinds of care are being offered or withdrawn by the welfare state? What does this mean for the caring practices and interventions of local activists?

Shedding new light on austerity and neoliberal welfare reform in the UK, this vital book considers local action and activism within contexts of crisis, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

Presenting compelling case studies of local action, from protesting cuts to children’s services to local food provisioning and support for migrant women, this book makes visible often unseen practices of activism. It shows how the creativity and persistence of such local practices can be seen as enacting wider visions of how care should be provided by society.

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

This book sheds light on the challenges faced by Irish social housing residents, including substandard living conditions and unsafe environments that harm physical and mental health. It emphasizes the ‘networks of care' and mutual aid in working-class communities and addresses the right to adequate public housing at the local level.

The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the life-or-death importance of housing quality and the necessity for long-term collaboration between housing and health sectors. Adopting a 'City of Care' approach, which prioritizes social capital, affordable housing, and community infrastructure, is vital. This book advocates for systemic reform that incorporates an ethics of care into all policies, a crucial step in promoting public health and social justice in Europe and beyond.

Despite growing recognition of fathers’ involvement in family life, dominant narratives still marginalise men’s caring roles. Caring Fathers in the Global Context addresses a pressing gap in our shared understanding: how care is practised and experienced by men across diverse cultural, social and policy settings.

Drawing on wide-ranging, international research, this timely edited collection offers a rich, comparative exploration of how men become ‘caring fathers’ and the pathways leading to this. It connects fatherhood studies with care scholarship to provide new theoretical and empirical insights into how care is shared, negotiated and made meaningful in everyday life.

A vital and interdisciplinary resource for anyone studying families and social change, this book invites readers to rethink care, masculinity and intergenerational relationships in a rapidly changing world.

Police officers deal with mental illness-related incidents on an almost daily basis. Ian Cummins explores how factors such as deinstitutionalisation, community care failings and, more recently, welfare retrenchment policies have led to this situation. He then considers how police officers should be supported by community mental health agencies to make confident and correct decisions, and to ensure that the individuals they encounter receive support from the most appropriate services.

Of interest to police researchers and students of criminology and the social sciences, the book examines police officers’ views on mental health work and includes a chapter by a service user.

Police officers deal with mental illness-related incidents on an almost daily basis. Ian Cummins explores how factors such as deinstitutionalisation, community care failings and, more recently, welfare retrenchment policies have led to this situation. He then considers how police officers should be supported by community mental health agencies to make confident and correct decisions, and to ensure that the individuals they encounter receive support from the most appropriate services.

Of interest to police researchers and students of criminology and the social sciences, the book examines police officers’ views on mental health work and includes a chapter by a service user.

Choice pervades our society: it is founded on political rights to choose and our economy on market choices, but we have now reached the point where choice is extended almost everywhere.

This lively and topical book provides a critique of choice in contemporary society and policy, arguing that we can have too much of a good thing. And there are alternatives.

In part one, the author shows how choice works at a personal level, its demands, and how it can fail. By examining healthcare, education and pensions, he then explores the alternatives, such as provision.

In part two the book reviews the impact of choice through the life cycle, in areas such as careers, relationships fertility, retirement and death. The author considers whether this enhances or burdens our lives, and questions the assumption that more choice is always for the better.

Choice pervades our society: it is founded on political rights to choose and our economy on market choices, but we have now reached the point where choice is extended almost everywhere.

This lively and topical book provides a critique of choice in contemporary society and policy, arguing that we can have too much of a good thing. And there are alternatives.

In part one, the author shows how choice works at a personal level, its demands, and how it can fail. By examining healthcare, education and pensions, he then explores the alternatives, such as provision.

In part two the book reviews the impact of choice through the life cycle, in areas such as careers, relationships fertility, retirement and death. The author considers whether this enhances or burdens our lives, and questions the assumption that more choice is always for the better.

This book offers a unique multi-disciplinary perspective on tackling health inequalities in a rich country, examining the New Labour policy agenda for tackling health inequalities and its inherent challenges.

The book presents an overview of progress since the publication of the seminal and ambitious 1998 Acheson Inquiry into health inequalities, and the theoretical and methodological issues underpinning health inequalities. The contributors consider the determinants of inequality - for example, early childhood experience and ethnicity - the factors that mediate the relationship between determinants and health - nutrition, housing and health behaviour - and the sectoral policy interventions in user involvement, local area partnership working and social work.

Challenging health inequalities offers a combination of broad analysis of progress from differing perspectives and will be key reading to academics, students and policy makers.

Sweden is often considered one of the most gender-equal countries in the world and held up as a model to follow, but the reality is more complex. This is the first book to explode the myth of Swedish gender equality, both offering a new perspective for an international audience, and suggesting how equality might be rethought more generally.

While the authors argue that the gender-equality mantra in Sweden has led to a society with increased opportunities for some, they also assert that the dominant norm of gender equality has become nationalistic and builds upon heteronormative and racial principles. Examining the changing meanings and parameters of gender equality against the country's social-democratic tradition and in the light of contemporary neoliberal ideologies, the book constitutes an urgent contribution to the debates about gender-equality policies and politics.

Sweden is often considered one of the most gender-equal countries in the world and held up as a model to follow, but the reality is more complex. This is the first book to explode the myth of Swedish gender equality, both offering a new perspective for an international audience, and suggesting how equality might be rethought more generally.

While the authors argue that the gender-equality mantra in Sweden has led to a society with increased opportunities for some, they also assert that the dominant norm of gender equality has become nationalistic and builds upon heteronormative and racial principles. Examining the changing meanings and parameters of gender equality against the country's social-democratic tradition and in the light of contemporary neoliberal ideologies, the book constitutes an urgent contribution to the debates about gender-equality policies and politics.

A vital interrogation of the internationally accepted policy and practice consensus that intervention to shape parenting in the early years is the way to prevent disadvantage. Given the divisive assumptions and essentialist ideas behind early years intervention, in whose interests does it really serve?

This book critically assesses assertions that the ‘wrong type of parenting’ has biological and cultural effects, stunting babies’ brain development and leading to a life of poverty and under-achievement. It shows how early intervention policies underpinned by interpretations of brain science perpetuate gendered, classed and raced inequalities. The exploration of future directions will be welcomed by those looking for a positive, collectivist vision of the future that addresses the real underlying issues in the creation of disadvantage.

A vital interrogation of the internationally accepted policy and practice consensus that intervention to shape parenting in the early years is the way to prevent disadvantage. Given the divisive assumptions and essentialist ideas behind early years intervention, in whose interests does it really serve?

This book critically assesses assertions that the ‘wrong type of parenting’ has biological and cultural effects, stunting babies’ brain development and leading to a life of poverty and under-achievement. It shows how early intervention policies underpinned by interpretations of brain science perpetuate gendered, classed and raced inequalities. The exploration of future directions will be welcomed by those looking for a positive, collectivist vision of the future that addresses the real underlying issues in the creation of disadvantage.

There is widespread recognition among policy makers, professionals and activists in Britain that Canadian work on violence against women has been in the vanguard. However, as Canadian research can be difficult to access from the UK, many in this country are vague about the details.

This report brings together 'state-of-the-art' accounts of Canadian approaches to violence against women and discusses them in the context of current UK policy.

In particular, it looks at:

refuges and women's services and campaigns;

government responses and inter-agency approaches to challenging violence against women;

law enforcement and legal reform;

work with children and young people;

the connection between research, activism and practice.

Challenging violence against women is required reading for policy makers in government, statutory and voluntary sector agencies, for activists in the women's movement against rape, sexual assault and domestic violence, and for academics in Canadian studies, women's studies, criminology and the social sciences.

Numerous books have been written about Victorian child care pioneers, but few biographical studies have been published about more recent child care and welfare giants. In the revised edition of this classic book, Bob Holman, a champion for children in his own right, looks at the lives of six inspirational individuals who have made significant contributions to the well-being of disadvantaged children. Each of the six discussed - Eleanor Rathbone, Lady Marjory Allen, Clare Winnicott, John Stroud, Barbara Kahan and Peter Townsend - has been important in establishing present systems of child care and welfare, and in stimulating debate around issues which remain high on policy and practitioner agendas.

Champions for children is essential reading for childhood and youth studies, sociology of the family, social work, social welfare, academics and students with an interest in child care and welfare issues.

This collection of 12 new and revised essays on child care and children’s services, written by leading child welfare historian Roy Parker, draws on his lifetime of research in this area.

By exploring various topics these essays explain significant political, economic, legal and ideological aspects of this history from the mid-1850s. This unique and lasting review of child care services allows readers to understand how the services for some of society’s most vulnerable children have become what they are, how well they have met and now meet the needs of those children.

The collection provides a high-quality, historical reference resource that will inform and capture the interest of social work and social policy students as well as social and legal historians, political scientists and those involved in administration and government, struggling with the issues of the day.

Crafted for those who dare to challenge the status quo, this is a radical guide for activists.

Drawing from frontline experiences in trade unions, environmentalism, animal rights, and social justice movements, the book explores essential themes from leadership to the art of negotiation. It asks crucial questions about organising and social movements in the 21st century.

Avoiding easy prescriptions, the authors uniquely guide readers to where theory meets practice.

Written by two experts in activist education and community organising, this is a refreshing take on movement building, empowering changemakers of today to forge new paths towards a more just world.

The general well-being of British adolescents has been the topic of considerable debate in recent years, but too often this is based on myth rather than fact. Are today's young people more stressed, anxious, distressed or antisocial than they used to be? What does research evidence tell us about the adolescent experience today and how it has changed over time? And how do trends in adolescent well-being since the 1970s relate to changes in education, leisure, communities and family life in that time?

This unique volume brings together the main findings from the Nuffield Foundation's Changing Adolescence Programme and explores how social change may affect young people's behaviour, mental health and transitions toward adulthood. As well as critiquing research evidence, which will be of interest to a wide academic audience, the book will inform the wider debate on this subject among policy makers and service providers, voluntary organisations and campaign groups.

The general well-being of British adolescents has been the topic of considerable debate in recent years, but too often this is based on myth rather than fact. Are today's young people more stressed, anxious, distressed or antisocial than they used to be? What does research evidence tell us about the adolescent experience today and how it has changed over time? And how do trends in adolescent well-being since the 1970s relate to changes in education, leisure, communities and family life in that time?

This unique volume brings together the main findings from the Nuffield Foundation's Changing Adolescence Programme and explores how social change may affect young people's behaviour, mental health and transitions toward adulthood. As well as critiquing research evidence, which will be of interest to a wide academic audience, the book will inform the wider debate on this subject among policy makers and service providers, voluntary organisations and campaign groups.

Issues of displacement and dispossession have become defining characteristics of a globalised 21st century. People are moving within and across national borders, whether displaced, relocated or moving in search of better livelihoods.

This book brings theoretical understandings of migration and displacement together with empirical illustrations of the creative, cultural ways in which communities reflect upon their experiences of change, and how they respond, including through poetry and story-telling, photography and other art forms, exploring the scope for building communities of solidarity and social justice.

The concluding chapters identify potential implications for policy and professional practice to promote communities of solidarity, addressing the structural causes of widening inequalities, taking account of different interests, including those related to social class, gender, ethnicity, age, ability and faith.

Issues of displacement and dispossession have become defining characteristics of a globalised 21st century. People are moving within and across national borders, whether displaced, relocated or moving in search of better livelihoods.

This book brings theoretical understandings of migration and displacement together with empirical illustrations of the creative, cultural ways in which communities reflect upon their experiences of change, and how they respond, including through poetry and story-telling, photography and other art forms, exploring the scope for building communities of solidarity and social justice.

The concluding chapters identify potential implications for policy and professional practice to promote communities of solidarity, addressing the structural causes of widening inequalities, taking account of different interests, including those related to social class, gender, ethnicity, age, ability and faith.

The relationship between citizens and local decision makers is a long standing policy pre-occupation and has often been the subject of debate by politicians across parties. Recent governments have sought to empower, activate and give responsibility to some citizens, while other groups have been abandoned or ignored.

Drawing on extensive up-to-date empirical work by leading researchers in the field, "Changing local governance, changing citizens" aims to explain what debates about local governance mean for local people. Questions addressed include: what new demands are being made on citizens and why? Which citizens are affected and how have they responded? What difference do changing forms of local governance make to people's lives? The book explores governance and citizenship in relation to multiculturalism, economic migration, community cohesion, housing markets, neighbourhoods, faith organisations, behaviour change and e-democracy in order to establish a differentiated, contemporary view of the ways that citizens are constituted at the local level today.

"Changing local governance, changing citizens" provides a pertinent and robustly empirical contribution to current debates amongst policy makers, academics, practitioners and local communities about how to respond to this changing policy framework. It will be of interest to post-graduate students and academic researchers in politics, public and social policy, sociology, local government and urban studies, as well as policy makers and practitioners.

The relationship between citizens and local decision makers is a long standing policy pre-occupation and has often been the subject of debate by politicians across parties. Recent governments have sought to empower, activate and give responsibility to some citizens, while other groups have been abandoned or ignored.

Drawing on extensive up-to-date empirical work by leading researchers in the field, "Changing local governance, changing citizens" aims to explain what debates about local governance mean for local people. Questions addressed include: what new demands are being made on citizens and why? Which citizens are affected and how have they responded? What difference do changing forms of local governance make to people's lives? The book explores governance and citizenship in relation to multiculturalism, economic migration, community cohesion, housing markets, neighbourhoods, faith organisations, behaviour change and e-democracy in order to establish a differentiated, contemporary view of the ways that citizens are constituted at the local level today.

"Changing local governance, changing citizens" provides a pertinent and robustly empirical contribution to current debates amongst policy makers, academics, practitioners and local communities about how to respond to this changing policy framework. It will be of interest to post-graduate students and academic researchers in politics, public and social policy, sociology, local government and urban studies, as well as policy makers and practitioners.

This book shares the experience of a four-year programme that was set up to explore how neighbourhood activity could best be supported. It follows the progress of 20 very different neighbourhood organisations across three countries to explore the opportunities and challenges of neighbourhood renewal from a community perspective. 

As well as testing out 'light touch' ways of offering support to community organisations, the report explores how different policies are working out on the ground; what it is realistic to expect of local residents and what needs to happen at agency level in order to address the 'implementation gap'. It will be valuable reading for policy makers and practitioners in the field of community engagement and neighbourhood renewal, as well as students and others who want an overview of how groups and organisations work at neighbourhood level in England, Scotland and Wales.

This report provides the first detailed assessment of housing association allocations policies for over 10 years. Since 1992, when the last national study of this kind was published, the sector has changed out of all recognition. In particular, stock transfer has not only expanded, but also altered the character of this segment of the housing market in a fundamental way.

Carried out in 2001-02, and funded by the Housing Corporation, the research focuses on the largest 250 'general needs' RSLs in England, nearly half of which are now transfer associations. It looks at the way that policies and practices on nominations and lettings are evolving in response to changing housing markets, legal and regulatory developments, and new thinking on social policy more broadly.

Changing Scotland uses longitudinal data from the British Household Panel Survey to improve our knowledge and understanding of the impact of devolution on the lives of people in Scotland. It is the first time that BHPS data has been used in this way.

The book provides a detailed examination of social, economic, demographic and political differences, especially those involving dynamic behaviour such as residential mobility, unemployment duration, job mobility, income inequality, poverty, health and deprivation, national identity, family structure and other aspects of individual's lives as they change over time. This data provides a 'baseline' for policy formulation and for analysing the impact of subsequent differential developments arising out of devolution.

The book is also an invaluable resource for establishing pre-existing differences between England and Scotland and evaluating the impact of policy initiatives by the Scottish Executive.