The Non-government Report on the Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Australia, Contribution by SCALES authors

This non-government report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child responds to the Australian Government’s Combined Second and Third Reports and makes recommendations to further Australia’s compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This report was prepared by the National Children’s and Youth Law Centre and Defence for Children International (Australia) following consultations with a wide range of people working with children and young people in Australia across many sectors as well as some participation and input from children and young people themselves

Evolving UK policy on diversity in the armed services: multiculturalism and its discontents

Reflecting a generally multiculturalist rhetoric, UK policy in this area has hitherto focussed on enhancing the degree to which the armed services represent or reflect the ethnic makeup of the UK population. Ambitious targets have been set and some progress made in moving towards them. However, the dynamics of population change, together with the diverse preferences of ethno-religious minorities, have meant that the goal of representativeness has remained out of reach. At the same time, the armed services have continued to struggle with an ongoing recruitment problem while the volume of operational commitments has shown little sign of reducing

Non-Performing Assets (Loans, Investments) Recovery Law

legislation authorizing NPART and describing some features of its operation including the eligibility of certain asset classes and institution

Toward 'socially constructive' social constructions of leadership

In their introductory editorial essay for this special issue, David Grant and Gail Fairhurst have done us a great service by valiantly producing a "Sailing Guide" to the Social Construction of Leadership (Fairhurst & Grant, 2010). As with rounding the Capes, this is not a task for the faint of heart. A sailing guide is designed to provide vital knowledge about a particular sea or coast, providing us with charts, warnings about potential hazards and an indication where we might find safe havens in a storm. Their sailing guide does this to great effect as it skilfully "boxes the compass" by revealing all of the potential directions that one might set one‟s sail by if one was sufficiently foolhardy to embark on a cruise of the social construction of leadership

National Security Risks? Uncertainty, Austerity and Other Logics of Risk in the UK government’s National Security Strategy

Risk scholars within Security studies have argued that the concept of security has gone through a fundamental transformation away from a threat-based conceptualisation of defence, urgency and exceptionality to one of preparedness, precautions and prevention of future risks, some of which are calculable, others of which are not. This article explores whether and how the concept of security is changing due to this ‘rise of risk’, through a hermeneutically grounded conceptual and discourse analysis of the United Kingdom government’s national security strategy (NSS) from 1998 to 2011. We ask how risk-security language is employed in the NSS; what factors motivate such discursive shifts; and what, if any, consequences of these shifts can be discerned in UK national security practices. Our aim is twofold: to better understand shifts in the security understandings and policies of UK authorities; and to contribute to the conceptual debate on the significance of the rise of risk as a component of the concept of security

From warfare to welfare: veterans, military charities and the blurred spatiality of post-service welfare in the United Kingdom

The military offers a form of welfare-for-work but when personnel leave they lose this safety net, a loss exacerbated by the rollback neoliberalism of the contemporary welfare state. Increasingly the third sector has stepped in to address veterans’ welfare needs through operating within and across military/civilian and state/market/community spaces and cultures. In this paper we use both veterans’ and military charities’ experiences to analyse the complex politics that govern the liminal boundary zone of post-military welfare. Through exploring ‘crossing’ and ‘bridging’ we conceptualise military charities as ‘boundary subjects’, active yet dependent on the continuation of the civilian-military binary, and argue that the latter is better understood as a multidirectional, multiscalar and contextual continuum. Post-military welfare emerges as a competitive, confused and confusing assemblage that needs to be made more navigable in order to better support the ‘heroic poor’

The biopsychosocial benefits and shortfalls for armed forces veterans engaged in archaeological activities

Background Organised outdoor activates are advocated as promoting multiple benefits for a veteran's wellbeing, of whom up to 50% have suffered either/both physical and mental health (MH) problems. This has resulted in significant investment in a growing number of outdoor events, one of which is the Defence Archaeology Group (DAG) which utilise the technical and social aspects of field archaeology in the recovery and skill development of injured veterans. Objective To advance knowledge within veterans MH and wellbeing through an understanding of the potential long term psychological benefits and shortfalls for veterans undertaking DAG activities. Design A constructivist grounded theory approach was used to enable identification of the issues from the participant veteran's perspective. Setting: DAG archaeological excavations in April and August 2015. Method Semi-structured interviews with 14 veterans. Results The qualitative coding resulted in the indication of 18 categories subsumed within four clusters: motivation and access; mental health; veteran and teamwork; therapeutic environment and leadership. Discussion The psychological benefits were improved self-esteem, confidence, a reduction in stigma and motivation to seek help. The reduction in situational stressors associated with difficult life conditions also appeared to improve mood, and there was a clear benefit in being in a caring environment where other people actively paid an interest. There were extended social benefits associated with being accepted as part of a team within a familiar military environment, which presented an opportunity to establish friendships and utilise military skill sets. Conclusion Organised outdoor activities offer multi-factorial hope for veterans searching for ways to ease the transition to civilian life and recover from military stress and trauma. The relaxing and reflective environment within a military setting appears to construct a sense of personal safety and thereby offers therapeutic value

Outcomes from a pilot psychological therapies service for UK military veterans

Aim: To evaluate the outcomes of participants attending a psychological therapies service for military veterans. Background: The UK Military Veterans’ Improving Access to Psychological Therapies Service (North West) (MV IAPT) provided a clinical psychological therapies service for military veterans. Outcomes of depression, anxiety and social adjustment were assessed after treatment in the service's pilot phase. Design: An observational, prospective cohort study examined changes in depression, anxiety and social adjustment during receipt of the service. Methods: Changes in depression (PHQ-9), anxiety (GAD-7) and social adjustment (WSAS) were examined in 952 veterans referred over 20 months from September 2011. Data were collected using the IAPT clinical information system plus additional fields. Changes for patients who completed treatment, remained in treatment and dropped out were compared. Results: Seven hundred and seven veterans received an initial assessment, from which 505 received two or more appointments. Of these, 156 completed treatments, 179 remained in treatment and 170 dropped out. The majority of veterans had been operationally deployed and were similar in risk characteristics to those in other military cohort studies. There were highly significant improvements on all measures (p<.01), with completers improving more and having higher rates of recovery from depression and anxiety than those remaining and drop outs. Recovery rates compared favourably with evaluations of general IAPT services and also exceeded reported natural recovery rates

A survey of intelligence analysts’ strategies for solving analytic tasks

Analytic performance may be assessed by the nature of the process applied to intelligence tasks and analysts are expected to use a 'critical' or deliberative mindset. However, there is little research on how analysts do their work. We report the findings of a quantitative survey of 113 intelligence analysts who were asked to report how often they would apply strategies involving more or less critical thinking when performing representative tasks along the analytic workflow. Analysts reported using ‘deliberative’ strategies significantly more often than ‘intuitive’ ones when capturing customer requirements, processing data, and communicating conclusions. Years of experience working in the intelligence community, skill level, analytic thinking training, and time spent working collaboratively (opposed to individually) were largely unrelated to reported strategy use. We discuss the implications of these findings for both improving intelligence analysis and developing an evidence-based approach to policy and practice in this domain