Employee demand for skills: evidence and policy review : UK Commission for Employment and Skills Research Report no. 3

This report presents the results of a detailed review of evidence and policy relating to the factors that influence the engagement of the individual in skills development. It incorporates a broad range of formal and informal learning activities, delivered in a range of institutional settings and through different media, including work-based, classroombased, distance learning and community based learning. The review is deliberately broad in its focus, drawing on evidence and policy relating to people in different positions within the labour market - in or out of work, new entrants into employment, younger and older workers, people with and without qualifications and/or with higher and lower skills. However, a key focus for the research was the barriers and factors affecting access to skills development opportunities among lower skilled and lower qualified people. The review was undertaken by WM Enterprise and the Employment Research Institute, Edinburgh Napier University for the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UK Commission)

DICOM metadata: a useful resource for big data analytics

Postprint (published version

The political economy of competitiveness and social mobility

Social mobility has become a mainstream political and media issue in recent years in the United Kingdom. This article suggests that part of the reason for this is that it can serve as a mechanism to discuss policy concerns that appear to be about social justice without questioning important aspects of neo-liberal political economy. The article charts the policy rhetoric on social mobility under both New Labour and the current Coalition Government. It is argued first that under New Labour the apparent commitment to social mobility was in fact subsumed beneath the pursuit of neo-liberal competitiveness, albeit imperfectly realised in policy. Second, the article suggests that under the Coalition Government the commitment to raising levels of social mobility has been retained and the recently published Strategy for Social Mobility promises that social mobility is what the Coalition means when it argues that the austerity programme is balanced with ‘fairness’. Third, however, the Strategy makes clear that the Coalition define social mobility in narrower terms than the previous government. It is argued here that in narrowing the definition the connection with the idea of competitiveness, while still clearly desirable for the Coalition, is weakened. Fourth, a brief analysis of the Coalition's main policy announcements provides little evidence to suggest that even the narrow definition set out in the Strategy is being seriously pursued. Fifth, the international comparative evidence suggests that any strategy aimed at genuinely raising the level of social mobility would need to give much more serious consideration to narrowing levels of inequality. Finally, it is concluded that when considered in the light of the arguments above, the Strategy for Social Mobility – and therefore ‘Fairness’ itself – is merely a discursive legitimation of the wider political economy programme of austerity

Gateway to health: promoting the physical and psychosocial wellbeing of older adults and people with long-term conditions

The ageing population and predicted increase in the number of people with long-term conditions (LTCs) presents a challenge to healthcare systems when faced with demands to provide more cost-effective and sustainable services. Optimising citizens’ health and wellbeing (HWB) could offer an efficient way to provide holistic care; however, it is not clear as to how to achieve this. This thesis demonstrates how my publications have helped to contribute to knowledge within the HWB arena for older adults and people with LTCs, and, specifically, to gain more understanding of their physical and psychosocial health needs and models of care that can promote their HWB. To offer context to these publications, this thesis provides a critical review of the relevant theory. This includes an appraisal of healthcare policy to highlight the issues faced by current health services, drivers for change and approaches to models of care. The concept of HWB has also been deliberated including a critical evaluation of its role in relation to healthy ageing and the wellbeing agenda. Six publications are contained within this thesis and, as a collective, reflect a mixed methods research design as they involve interviews, a focus group and surveys. The final publication, a theoretical paper, is an amalgamation of all the research findings discussed within the context of a critical review of the literature and linked explicitly to the physiotherapist’s role in long-term condition management. The findings of the publications are from insights gained from the perspectives of people with LTCs, though, mainly from those with neuromuscular disorders and mental ill-health, as well as older adults. The publications’ findings demonstrate the capacity of voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSE) to provide integrated care that meets the holistic needs of those who access them whilst, potentially, addressing the social determinants of health. They also highlight the necessity for supporting people with LTCs to improve their life circumstances through their own personal empowerment. This includes the ability to facilitate their readiness to take on the responsibility with partnership working between the individual and the healthcare worker and psychological support when needed being identified as key. Developing the person’s social skills and aptitude to build interdependent relationships have been determined as the ultimate goal to enhance capacity for community engagement and further access to HWB resources. The publications’ findings also show that capitalising on the power of social networks to foster older adults’ adherence to community physical activity (PA) groups may promote HWB and, thus, the ability to age healthily. It was also found that if older adults become embedded within the PA group’s network they could shape the environment to fulfil their own needs. In addition, the findings advocate the necessity for a transformation in physiotherapy practice including enhancing the physiotherapists’ role as health promoters. It is proposed that only by doing so; they can remain contemporary and continue to support the optimisation of the HWB of older adults and people with LTCs. Further to the publications, this thesis comprises a critical commentary that includes how VCSE can support healthcare services by promoting the HWB of people with LTCs and older adults. Finally, this thesis culminates in a critical discussion of the implications, for practice and policy, of the findings from my publications, with recommendations for further research

Towards Age-Friendly Work in Europe: A Life-Course Perspective on Work and Ageing from EU Agencies

[Excerpt] The European population is ageing owing to decreasing birth rates and increasing longevity. Population ageing is associated with a decrease in the size and ageing of the workforce. The majority of the EU Member States have reacted to this development by, among other measures, increasing retirement ages and limiting early access to pensions. Nevertheless, a large percentage of workers in the EU do not stay in employment until the official retirement age. The reasons for this are diverse, and will be examined in more detail in this report. Policy-makers are faced with the challenge of addressing this demographic change and its implications for employment, working conditions, living standards and the sustainability of welfare states. The working conditions of older workers and their participation in the labour market are affected by various policy areas (see also Table 1). This report aims to outline various aspects of the working conditions of the ageing workforce and related policies

Demographic Change in Japan and the EU

This volume contains selected papers of the 2008 annual conference of the German Association for Social Science Research on Japan (Vereinigung für sozialwissenschaftliche Japanforschung e.V. – VSJF). The academic meeting has addressed the issue of demographic change in Japan in comparison to the social developments of ageing in Germany and other member states of the European Union. The conference was organized by the Institute for Modern Japanese Studies at Heinrich-Heine-University of Duesseldorf and took place at the Mutter Haus in Kaiserswerth (an ancient part of Duesseldorf). Speakers from Germany, England, Japan and the Netherlands presented their papers in four sessions on the topics “Demographic Trends and Social Analysis”, “Family and Welfare Policies”, “Ageing Society and the Organization of Households” and “Demographic Change and the Economy”. Central to all transnational and national studies on demographic change is the question of how societies can be reconstructed and be made adaptive to these changes in order to survive as solidarity communities. The authors of this volume attend to this question by discussing on recent trends of social and economic restructuring and giving insight into new research developments such as in the area of households and housing, family care work, medical insurance, robot technology or the employment sector