GB Energy Governance for Innovation, Sustainability and Affordability: An institutional framework

This is the final version. Available from the IGov website at the link in this record.IGov research sits within the University of Exeter’s Energy Policy Group and is an Established Career Fellowship funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

Codes Governance and Reform Discussion Paper

This discussion paper summarises some of the key points that were raised at a recent cross industry workshop run by the Energy Policy Group on the future of gas and electricity code governance in October 2015. More details of the event are available on IGov events page. The paper provides: Background context on the main energy industry codes and standards in Great Britain A history of reform efforts A summary of the key issues raised at the Codes Governance Workshop covering: 1) Access to Information; 2) Code Simplification & Consolidation; 3) Code Governance, Administration and Architecture. Conclusion

Governing for Innovation, Sustainability and Affordability: An institutional framework

This is the final version. Available from the IGov website at the link in this record.IGov research sits within the University of Exeter’s Energy Policy Group and is an Established Career Fellowship funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

Innovation and the governance of energy industry codes

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from BIEE via the link in this record.Energy industry codes set the rules for a large range of practices in gas and electricity networks and markets. They are a key but often overlooked element in the governance of energy. Crucially, for any aspect of energy policy to function well in practice, the relevant codes must be aligned with that policy. Central to this issue is code governance; i.e. the arrangements for changing or modifying codes. While Ofgem has a final veto, and can suggest where there is a need to make major changes to reflect new policies, the process of governing codes still lies primarily with the industry itself. It has long been recognised that there are a number of problems with the code governance system. One is the complexity and fragmentation of both codes themselves and the code governance process, which deter market entry and participation by smaller actors in the governance system. A second, related, issue is the dominance of incumbents on code panels and working groups. A third problem is a lack of fit between code objectives and wider policy objectives. Overall, the concern is that codes deter innovation. These problems inspired Ofgem’s 2008 Code Governance Review, but they have nevertheless persisted. Further reforms are being adopted under the CMA’s energy markets investigation and a further Ofgem review. However, these reforms remain piecemeal and incremental, and do not engage with the fundamental principle underlying code governance, which can be seen as one of ‘self-authored regulation’. This principle was designed to reduce regulatory risk and problems arising from informational asymmetries, but has opened up risks of regulatory and informational capture, and regulatory inertia. An alternative reform agenda, based on a strategic engagement with these trade-offs, is suggested here, which involves relocating code governance into the public sphere, not to Ofgem, but rather to a dedicated codes management bodyThis work was supported by The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) [EP/K001582/1]

‘It’s better than daytime television’: questioning the socio-spatial impacts of massage parlours on residential communities

It has been shown that street sex work is problematic for some communities, but there is less evidence of the effects of brothels. Emerging research also suggests that impact discourses outlined by residential communities and in regulatory policies should be critiqued, because they are often based on minority community voices, and limited tangible evidence is used to masquerade wider moral viewpoints about the place of sex work. Using a study of residents living in close proximity to brothels in Blackpool, this paper argues that impact is socially and spatially fluid. Impact needs to be evaluated in a more nuanced manner, which is considerate of the heterogeneity of (even one type of) sex work, and the community in question. Brothels in Blackpool had a variety of roles in the everyday socio-spatial fabric; thus also questioning the common assumption that sex work only impacts negatively on residential communities

Governing for Innovation Without Disruption in Energy Systems

This is the final version of the presentation. Available from iGov via the link in this record. IGov research sits within the University of Exeter’s Energy Policy Group and is an Established Career Fellowship funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).There is an enormous amount of change going on in energy systems (technology (supply, demand and operation); economics; social preferences; environmental understanding, business models etc) which is leading to uncertainty The accompanying paper is focused on energy system ‘disruption’ from a Government decision-makers point of view, it: Sets out general challenges facing energy system transformation Sets out the additional, specific challenges faced by GB Sets out principles of institutional reform Sets out the solutions for the GB problems: the IGov framewor

The abolition of the General Teaching Council for England and the future of teacher discipline

With the abolition of the General Teaching Council for England in the 2011 Education Act, this article considers the future of teacher discipline in England. It provides a critique of the changes to the regulation of teacher misconduct and incompetence that draws on a Foucauldian framework, especially concerning the issue of public displays of discipline and the concomitant movement to more hidden forms. In addition, the external context of accountability that accompanies the reforms to teacher discipline are considered including the perfection of the panoptic metaphor presented by the changes to Ofsted practices such as the introduction of zero-notice inspections. The article concludes that the reforms will further move teachers from being occupational professionals to being organisational professionals marking them apart from comparable professions in medicine and law

Responsible participation and housing: restoring democratic theory to the scene

Tensions between individual liberty and collective social justice characterise many advanced liberal societies. These tensions are reflected in the challenges posed for representative democracy both by participatory democratic practices and by the current emphasis on (so-called) responsible participation. Based on the example of ‘community’ housing associations in Scotland, this paper explores these tensions. It is argued that the critique of responsibility may have been over-stated – that, in particular, ‘community’ housing associations offer the basis for relatively more inclusive and effective processes of decision-making than council housing, which relies on the traditional processes and institutions of representative local government for its legitimacy

Negotiating professional and social voices in research principles and practice

This paper draws on work conducted for a qualitative interview based study which explores the gendered racialised and professional identifications of health and social care professionals. Participants for the project were drawn from the professional executive committees of recently formed Primary Care Trusts. The paper discusses how the feminist psychosocial methodological approach developed for the project is theoretically, practically and ethically useful in exploring the voices of those in positions of relative power in relation to both health and social care services and the social relations of gender and ethnicity. The approach draws on psychodynamic accounts of (defended) subjectivity and the feminist work of Carol Gilligan on a voice-centred relational methodology. Coupling the feminist with the psychosocial facilitates an emphasis on voice and dialogic communication between participant and researcher not always captured in psychosocial approaches which tend towards favouring the interviewer as ‘good listener’. This emphasis on dialogue is important in research contexts where prior and ongoing relationships with professional participants make it difficult and indeed undesirable for researchers to maintain silence

Dynamics of sediment flux to a bathyal continental margin section through the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum

The response of the Earth system to greenhouse-gas-driven warming is of critical importance for the future trajectory of our planetary environment. Hyperthermal events – past climate transients with global-scale warming significantly above background climate variability – can provide insights into the nature and magnitude of these responses. The largest hyperthermal of the Cenozoic was the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM ∼ 56 Ma). Here we present new high-resolution bulk sediment stable isotope and major element data for the classic PETM section at Zumaia, Spain. With these data we provide a new detailed stratigraphic correlation to other key deep-ocean and terrestrial PETM reference sections. With this new correlation and age model we are able to demonstrate that detrital sediment accumulation rates within the Zumaia continental margin section increased more than 4-fold during the PETM, representing a radical change in regional hydrology that drove dramatic increases in terrestrial-to-marine sediment flux. Most remarkable is that detrital accumulation rates remain high throughout the body of the PETM, and even reach peak values during the recovery phase of the characteristic PETM carbon isotope excursion (CIE). Using a series of Earth system model inversions, driven by the new Zumaia carbon isotope record, we demonstrate that the silicate weathering feedback alone is insufficient to recover the PETM CIE, and that active organic carbon burial is required to match the observed dynamics of the CIE. Further, we demonstrate that the period of maximum organic carbon sequestration coincides with the peak in detrital accumulation rates observed at Zumaia. Based on these results, we hypothesise that orbital-scale variations in subtropical hydro-climates, and their subsequent impact on sediment dynamics, may contribute to the rapid climate and CIE recovery from peak-PETM conditions