Re-examining British welfare-to-work contracting using a transaction cost perspective

AbstractThis article critically reflects on the administration of activation services in the UK. It describes the welfare-to-work quasi-market and focuses on the impact of 2008 commissioning reforms that advocated amalgamating small contracts into larger ‘lots’, creating a top tier of prime providers to manage subcontractors, and increasing outcome-based funding. Drawing on transaction cost theory and empirical case study research, it is demonstrated that these changes led to an increase in a range of activities and costs for competing service providers that undermine government rhetoric of choice and efficiency. This article adds to the existing literature on welfare-to-work contracting by demonstrating the difficulties some organisations face in the context of welfare markets and questioning public service out-sourcing processes. It concludes by reflecting on the implications for future market-based social policy reforms.</jats:p

"Challenge Current Practice and Assumptions! Make waves!!” : What Works Scotland Collaborative Learning Event 23 & 24 February 2016 Queens Hotel, Perth

No abstract available

Influence of thermal treatment on aptamer structure & Synthesis and purification of modified Acinetobacter baumanii-binding aptamers

Aptamers are single-stranded nucleic acid sequences which bind to defined targets with high affinity and specificity, primarily through formation of unique secondary and tertiary structures. Aptamers are promising tools in biotechnology, with applications in diagnostics, biosensors, and therapeutics. However, their translation from research to application has been limited by recently reported issues with aptamer reproducibility – aptamers are often incompletely characterized in the literature. Since aptamers bind to their targets via unique secondary and tertiary structures, these binding structures need to be properly characterized. As nucleic acid structure may be highly flexible, it is important to outline the conditions under which the aptamer forms the correct ligand-binding structure. To this end, adenosine-, ampicillin-, and quinine-binding aptamers were subjected to different thermal pre-treatment conditions. Following thermal treatment, aptamers were analyzed using anion-exchange HPLC, circular dichroism and UV/vis spectroscopy, and thermal melt curves. Results clearly demonstrate the conformational flexibility of aptamer sequences depending on thermal pre-treatment, which may have implications for binding. These findings may help guide decisions for aptamer selection and optimization. Towards a different goal, solid-phase phosphoramidite chemistry was used for the synthesis of modified aptamers which are reported to bind Acinetobacter baumannii, and synthesis products were purified using anion-exchange HPLC. In one synthesis, the 80mer Aci55 was synthesized with a 5’-DBCO functionality for future coupling with azido-nanoparticles containing antibiotics as a therapeutic for the treatment of bacterial infections. A short-linker DBCO-Aci55 was synthesized with sufficient purity, but the long-linker DBCO-Aci55 synthesis conditions require further optimization. In a second synthesis, Aci55 and point mutation variants were synthesized with a 5’-FAM functionality to be analyzed for binding capabilities against different A. baumannii isolates. Nine FAM-modified Aci55 sequence variants were synthesized with sufficient purity as determined by MS and HPLC, with yields ranging from 6-9%. This work highlights the limitations of synthesis and purification of long oligonucleotides and proposes modifications to be made to the standard synthesis scheme to improve overall coupling efficiency

Political and ethical dilemmas in multi-agency participatory research:The role of the buffer zone

The ‘buffer zone’ frames the contested space that university researchers must persistently animate and mediate to successfully pursue participatory research with public and third sector partners. This article explores this conceptualisation through a consideration of political and ethical dilemmas in participatory research practice. We contend that participatory researchers must identify, respond to and reflect on everyday and momentous dilemmas by combining technical, relational and political skills. We illustrate this by drawing on extensive collaborative action research conducted with public service partners as part of the What Works Scotland programme (2014–2019). By critically reflecting on university research realities, this article shares insights into complex multi-agency participatory research dilemmas; offers methodological, conceptual, ethical and political evidence to help university researchers navigate such contexts, notably by engaging the buffer zone and finally, considers how universities and research funders should better support participatory research practices

Nurturing the buffer zone:Conducting collaborative action research in contemporary contexts

There is a shift in university-based social research towards interdisciplinary working and collaboration with non-academic partners, which requires a reconsideration of methodological concepts and research practices. In this article, we draw on intensive collaborative action research (CAR) into public service reform to demonstrate how this ‘collaborative shift’ both challenges and creates new considerations for mainstream research approaches. We contend that the contemporary emphasis on research collaborations creates challenges for both social science researchers and non-academic partners, which require greater conceptual consideration. Researchers need to engage in distinctive, significant and ongoing relational, pragmatic and political work in multi-agency contexts. We present the concept of a ‘buffer zone’: a dynamic, contextual space and set of practices necessary to undertake participatory research within complex and changeable settings. This has implications for research management, design, funding and training

Collaborative Action Retreat Report: Summary of Retreat Held in June 2015

No abstract available

Marketisation of UK employment programmes: the impact on a third sector organisation

Since 1999 UK employment programmes (known as welfare-to-work programmes) have been delivered through the procurement of services from organisations outside of the public sector. Managed by contractual arrangements and arranged in a quasi-market system controlled by the state, private and third sector organisations compete to secure contracts predominantly based on payment-by-results and competitive tendering processes. This thesis used an instrumental case study to analyse the impact of the welfare-to-work quasi-market on a third sector organisation based in Scotland. Using a qualitative mixed-methods research strategy including 20 in-depth interviews, 150 documents, an ethnographic study and financial analysis of the organisation’s accounts, the thesis presents an in-depth insight into the development of the welfare-to-work market and its changes over time and the impact this had on instigating organisational change in a third sector organisation. Drawing on transaction cost theory, neoinstitutional theory and resource dependency theory the study found that activities, structure, and management processes changed in line with changes in its organisational field in order to attract and maintain resources and gain legitimacy. Furthermore, the organisation under investigation faced financial management tensions as it sought to balance its involvement in service delivery with transaction costs associated with market participation. The thesis found that the dependence on resources from complex quasi-markets relations creates new power asymmetries between delivery organisations and the state