Is the grass always greener? Making sense of convergence and divergence in regeneration policies in England and Scotland

This paper is concerned with the trajectories of regeneration policy discourse and practice in a devolved UK context. Over recent years the asymmetrical nature of devolved governance has intensified, exemplified by a policy of political containment in Scotland and a reconfiguration of sub-national institutional architecture in England. Against a backdrop of the transfusion of Holyrood’s devolution agenda and Westminster’s localism programme, an empirical analysis of contemporary English and Scottish regeneration policy is provided. We investigate the extent to which perceived divergences in government policy resonate with those at the sharp end of regeneration practice, informed by concepts derived from the policy convergence/divergence literature. The key finding is the coexistence of ideological divergence, replete in political discourse and policy documentation, but growing convergence in actual existing practice, evidenced in the nature, extent and scale of initiatives. The enveloping fiscal context and austere politics, producing what is anticipated to be a protracted period of financial retrenchment, appears to be a defining factor in contemporary urban regeneration policy convergence

A qualitative study of handovers at shift changeovers in five care homes for older people in England

Background: It is widely acknowledged that inadequate handovers are associated with putting patients at risk in clinical settings; however, handover practices have received little attention in other 24-hr settings such as long-stay residential care facilities. Aim: This study aimed to explore the perceived purpose and organisational processes involved in the handover of information between shifts of staff caring for older residents in five care homes in England. Methods: The study took an ethnographic approach to fieldwork, undertaken between February and June 2016. It consisted of observations of handovers (n = 12) and interviews with managers, Registered Nurses (RNs) and care assistants (n = 27) working day and night shifts. Interview transcripts and observation notes were analysed within NVivo using a matrix approach. Results: Handovers were highly variable in all five care homes in relation to their timings, locations, content and participants. Managers and RNs highlighted handovers as an opportunity for risk assurance, supervision, team building, staff education and monitoring of residents’ clinical status. In comparison, care assistants considered the purpose of handovers to be prepared for the responsibilities of working a shift. The discussion addresses implications of these findings, particularly consideration of how best use can be made of RN skills and knowledge in handovers. Conclusion: Research is needed to identify whether care home resident safety can be linked to handover practices and how the presence of RNs in handovers in care homes affects this. Implications for practice: Care home managers, RNs and care workers may find this research useful in practice when considering how best to organise handovers and deploy staff in care homes for older people.</p

Housing Policies in London, 2000–2016: Policies for a Progressive World City?

International audienc

Housing market renewal and demolition in England in the 2000s: the governance of a ‘wicked problem’

This paper considers some of the issues raised by the governance of housing market renewal, and more specifically demolition, in areas of England suffering from long-standing economic decline and housing market weakness. It examines the experiences of the Housing Market Renewal (HMR) Pathfinder initiative in England, which ran from 2003 to 2011. It reviews some of the strands in the critique of the programme and suggests that they may have tended to overstate the professional and institutional power of the agencies involved to ‘deliver’ their programmes in the face of media or community resistance. On the basis of secondary analysis and stakeholder interviews, the paper suggests that the underlying fragility of the ‘partnership’ governance model on which HMR was founded caused a retreat from demolition as an option in housing market restructuring and wider uncertainty about the focus of the programme – they were ‘wicked problems’ that were difficult to manage. These problems were compounded first by the housing market impacts of global financial crisis from 2008 and the election of a hostile central government in 2010, leading to the premature closure of the HMR programme in March 2011. In conclusion, the paper considers whether it is likely that any future regeneration programme incorporating even modest levels of demolition will be attempted within a ‘partnership’ model of governance in areas of housing market weakness