Providing safe and supported accommodation for young people who are in the care system and who are at risk of, or experiencing, sexual exploitation or trafficking for sexual exploitation

This report presents the findings of a scoping study into accommodation for young people at risk of/experiencing sexual exploitation. The scoping study took place January to March 2011 and included a literature search, consultation with young people, consultation with practitioners and development of a full research proposal. The research was funded by the NSPCC

Delivery of advice to marginalised and vulnerable groups: the need for innovative approaches

Knowledge, capacity, capability and understanding are the key pre-requisites to access to justice.4 If legal aid services are to be effective in reaching people who are disadvantaged, disempowered or marginalised, then integrated, connected service delivery, outreach and relationship building, community development and education play a vital role. This article presents selected research findings from England and Wales, and Australia, illustrating the advice needs of disadvantaged groups. It further presents four delivery models from around the world, which all aim for innovation and flexibility. The article concludes with a number of key issues to consider when delivering advice to marginalised and vulnerable groups

Rights and responsibilities: The Disability Discrimination Act (1995) and adults with learning disabilities

The purpose of this research is to examine Part III (access to goods, facilities and services) of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 in relation to people with learning disabilities. Very little previous research has been done on this topic. The study aims, firstly, to explore how far people with learning disabilities, family carers and service providers are aware of their rights and responsibilities under the Act; secondly, to examine what legal action has been taken by people with learning disabilities and thirdly, to identify any barriers associated with the Act and how these might be overcome

Social enterprise as a socially rational business

What is the goal of social enterprise policy? Is it the creation of a ‘not-for-profit’ or ‘more-than-profit’ business movement? In institutional policy circles, arguments are shaped by the desire to protect assets for the community, while entrepreneurial discourses favour a mixture of investment sources, surplus sharing and inclusive systems of governance. This article uses data from a critical ethnography to offer a third perspective. Human behaviour is a product of, and support system for, our socio-sexual choices. A grounded theory of social and economic capital is developed that integrates sexuality into organisation development. This constructs business organisations as complex centres of community-building replete with economic and social goals. By viewing corporate governance from this perspective social enterprise is reconceived as a business movement guided by social rationality with the long-term goal of distributing social and economic capital across stakeholder groups to satisfy individual and collective needs.</p

An external evaluation of Phat Pak process and structure: Volume 1: Evaluation report

An evaluation was conducted by the 510 Evaluation Research Group 2007 after receiving a request from the Phat Pak Governance Group (PPGG). The evaluation focused on four areas identified in the Phat Pak service specification plan attached to it’s Ministry of Health contract (Youth participation, Communication Strategies, Decision making Processes and Skills Development). Our intention of evaluating the Phat Pak Programme has been to, through feedback from a range of participants, gauge the extent that the programme objectives (such as those highlighted in the contract are being met. More specifically, the function of the evaluation has been to help identify specific areas that are working well and those areas that need further development. It is our intention that the evaluation will provide both short and long-term direction with added insight towards increasing participation and enhancing health outcomes for youth and the wider community of the Waikato region

Towards the estimation of the economic value of the outputs of Scottish higher education institutions : Next Steps Summary Report

This paper represents a summary of the 'Next Steps Project' which piloted the practical application of a new methodological approach applying welfare economic principles to estimate the value of non-market outputs of higher education institutions. 3 areas of non-market activity of Scottish higher education institutions were studied, namely community engagement, cultural outreach and public policy advisory activity. The aim of the study was to use real world higher education data to test the new methodological framework's potential to identify areas of high value and where metrics could be devised to support public resource allocation decisions

Understanding how people choose to pursue taught postgraduate study

HEFC

The secret world of liver transplant candidate assessment

Organ transplantation is a field entangled with ethical complexities. One of the major controversies subject to debate is resource allocation. The UK's organ procurement agency, NHS Blood and Transplant, must ensure that the limited number of human organs are allocated to the most efficient, yet the most deserving, transplant candidates. NHSBT have published numerous organ allocation protocols to this end, but little of known of the transplant candidate assessment process, which not only plays a pivotal role in selecting suitable transplant candidates for the waiting list, but also plays host to some of the most difficult ethical decisions in medicine. This piece will examine the UK liver transplant candidate assessment process in detail, paying particular attention to the composition of transplant teams, the diverse candidate criteria under examination, and the controversial grounds upon which a candidate can be excluded from transplantation. The limited regulations surrounding transplant teams and the opportunities to discriminate against particularly vulnerable candidates—such as alcoholics and illicit drug users—will also be discussed, and it will be asked if a fair assessment process for all liver transplant candidates can be guaranteed by NHSBT when transplant teams are subject to such a wealth of discretion. </jats:p

The ACTwatch project: methods to describe anti-malarial markets in seven countries.

BACKGROUND: Policy makers, governments and donors are faced with an information gap when considering ways to improve access to artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) and malaria diagnostics including rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs). To help address some of these gaps, a five-year multi-country research project called ACTwatch was launched. The project is designed to provide a comprehensive picture of the anti-malarial market to inform national and international anti-malarial drug policy decision-making. METHODS: The project is being conducted in seven malaria-endemic countries: Benin, Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia from 2008 to 2012.ACTwatch measures which anti-malarials are available, where they are available and at what price and who they are used by. These indicators are measured over time and across countries through three study components: outlet surveys, supply chain studies and household surveys. Nationally representative outlet surveys examine the market share of different anti-malarials passing through public facilities and private retail outlets. Supply chain research provides a picture of the supply chain serving drug outlets, and measures mark-ups at each supply chain level. On the demand side, nationally representative household surveys capture treatment seeking patterns and use of anti-malarial drugs, as well as respondent knowledge of anti-malarials. DISCUSSION: The research project provides findings on both the demand and supply side determinants of anti-malarial access. There are four key features of ACTwatch. First is the overlap of the three study components where nationally representative data are collected over similar periods, using a common sampling approach. A second feature is the number and diversity of countries that are studied which allows for cross-country comparisons. Another distinguishing feature is its ability to measure trends over time. Finally, the project aims to disseminate findings widely for decision-making. CONCLUSIONS: ACTwatch is a unique multi-country research project that threads together anti-malarial supply and consumer behaviour to provide an evidence base to policy makers that can help determine where interventions may positively impact access to and use of quality-assured ACT and RDTs. Because of its ability to detect change over time, it is well suited to monitor the effects of policy or intervention developments in a country