Explaining Levels of Customer Satisfaction with First Contact with Jobcentre Plus: results of qualitative research with Jobcentre Plus Staff

This report is a follow up to the First Contact Customer Survey (Research Report 504). As a result of ongoing difficulties accessing data for sampling purposes, the initial plan to undertake qualitative follow-up research with customers was abandoned in favour of research with staff to explore process-related issues which might explain customer responses. The research was undertaken in September and October 2008 and included telephone interviews with senior staff combined with face-to-face interviews and structured observations with staff in Contact Centres, Jobcentres and Benefit Delivery Centres in four Jobcentre Plus regions. Findings relate specifically to staff perceptions of customer satisfaction with first contact

Politic and party organisation in Oldham

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Educational opportunity and achievement in the Manchester Area, 1833 - 1895. October, 1968

The aim of this inquiry into educational provision in the Manchester district in the nineteenth century is to discover to what extent the voluntary system as it existed before 1870 was able to cater for the educational needs of the area, how far direct state intervention after 1870 was justified and the effect it had on education. It is hoped that it will answer some of the questions, at least on a local level, raised by E.G. West in his controversial book education and the State published by the Institute of Economic affairs (1965) in which he claimed that schools provided by the religious agencies and private enterprise were capable of filling the educational deficiencies of the nineteenth century and that state intervention in 1870 inhibited the development of the private sector. The main conclusions reached are, firstly, that the voluntary system was incapable of providing education for anything approaching a satisfactory proportion of the child population, whether this is viewed as a place for every child or, as the School Boards subsequently fixed it, as a place for one-sixth of the population, one-fifth in poorer working-class districts such as were found in and around Manchester. The numerous inquiries into the state of education before 1870 reveal that some 50% of the child population was' at school, with one notable exception The Newcastle Commission, following an unsatisfactory and unrepresentative survey so far as Lancashire, was concerned, gave a figure of 65% for the sample area, this representing only 1 in 8 of the population - generally regarded as unsatisfactory. Even if the voluntary system could have provided the necessary, places, it is doubtful if they could have been filled without the element of compulsion which the School Boards introduced. Secondly, it must be concluded that state intervention on an ever increasing scale was, essential before educational system capable of meeting the needs of an expanding industrial society could be created. It was only in the late l860's, with the ever increasing threat of direct state intervention, that the voluntary system was prodded into action. Schools provided by them expanded at a remarkable rate and the most glaring deficiencies were filled. For this they must be given full credit, but they were not able to maintain this effort and keep pace with the expanding population on the one hand and the increasing demand for education of a superior character on the other. It was the School Boards which coped with these problems. Thirdly, the failure of the voluntary system is reflected in the poor quality of such education which was provided before 1870. The introduction of direct state intervention and the School Boards, did hot however automatically lead to improved standards

The role of skills: from worklessness to sustainable employment with progression : UK Commission for Employment and Skills Evidence Report no. 38

This study is shaped by the recognition that while there has been a great deal of policy development around the transition from unemployment and inactivity to employment over the last decade, policy can still be informed about how best to nurture sustainable employment for those at risk of labour market exclusion. There remain challenges associated with, for example, the cost-effectiveness of intervention, the „low pay no pay‟ cycle and access to training. As a consequence, the opportunities for sustainable progression, upward social mobility and alleviating poverty remain unrealised for many workers in lower paid occupations. The methodology underpinning this study is predominantly based on a literature search and review of the research and evidence base post 2005. This is supplemented with the development of four international case studies (Australia, Denmark, Germany, United States contained in a separate annex) and an e-consultation with country experts

The role of skills from worklessness to sustainable employment with progression

This study is shaped by the recognition that while there has been a great deal of policy development around the transition from unemployment and inactivity to employment over the last decade, policy has not been sufficiently informed about how best to nurture sustainable employment for those at risk of labour market exclusion. The review focused on evidence from 2005: it provides a review of data, UK and international literature and, incorporates findings from four international case studies ( Australia, Germany, Denmark and the United States. The report provides an overview of the economic context for low pay and low skilled work and highlights the need for a continuing commitment to promoting opportunities in the labour market as a means of progression and alleviating poverty and encouraging social mobility. The report argues that there is an inextricable link between skills and ‘better jobs’. The authors conclude that a long-term view is required to decide how best to support someone at the point of worklessness: to address employability barriers in the short-term; and prepare the individual to retain, and progress in, employment. The concept of career is explored as a framework for progression: a combination of career guidance, a career / personal development plan and career management skills are identified as tools to raise aspiration and enable individual’s to take action once they are in work to support their own progression. Thinking about the workplace, the report reviews the evidence on the role of job design, line management and progression pathways in facilitating workplace learning as a route to progression