Early process evaluation of new claims for Personal Independence Payment

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is a new benefit, replacing Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for eligible working age people nationally from June 2013. Similarly to DLA, PIP is a non means-tested benefit intended to contribute to meeting the extra costs of disability. This study was commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) as an early process evaluation of PIP for new claimants. Its main aims were to understand what was working well and what was not working well in the claiming process for PIP and to identify potential areas for improving delivery

Universal Credit : the story so far ...

Introduction to a themed section on Universal Credit

St Helena Social Welfare Review

The objectives of the whole review were to: *Provide recommendations for the uprating of benefits (initially for the uprating due in October 2012). * Review the benefits system and make recommendations. Throughout the review, and particularly in looking to the future, we were asked to take into account the possible effects and impacts of the opening of the St Helena international airport (scheduled for 2016). A minimum income standard for St Helena was recommended as the basis for setting and uprating benefit levels. The introduction of a child benefit allowance was recommended to start as soon as possible. Further recommendations on the targeting of benefits, reorganisation of benefits structures and or office procedures were also made

New deal for disabled people national extension: findings from the first wave of qualitative research with clients, job brokers and jobcentre plus staff

The New Deal for Disabled People (NDDP) was introduced in 1998 and 1999 as a series of pilots designed to evaluate services based on the use of personal advisers to help disabled people move into or stay in paid employment. The pilots were wound up in 2001 and superseded by what is known as the ‘national extension’ of NDDP, the aim of which is to ‘support and test innovative ways of helping people on Incapacity Benefits move from economic inactivity into sustained employment’ (DSS, ES, DfEE research specification, April, 2001). Services under the national extension are provided by a network of around 60 ‘Job Broker’ organisations including voluntary and other not-for-profit bodies, commercial companies, government agencies and other public sector organisations. This report presents findings from a first wave of qualitative research carried out in 2002 which forms part of a larger programme of work aimed at providing the Department for Work and Pensions with a comprehensive evaluation of the NDDP extension. The overall aim of the qualitative research is to explore the organisation, operation and impacts of the Job Broker service from the perspective of all key stakeholders, including users and providers of Job Broker services, and staff of Jobcentre Plus offices. Specifically, the research was designed to produce data on the following: • factors affecting participation in the Job Broker programme • clients’ understanding and experiences of NDDP • the role and operation of Job Brokers • the role and operation of the Jobcentre Plus staff who can provide people with information about Job Broker services. A research design was adopted that aimed to gather data using a range of qualitative research techniques from key actors associated with 18 Job Broker services operating in 15 specific geographical areas. The first wave of data collection was carried out in the Summer/Autumn of 2002; a second wave is planned for 2003. The report is organised into three main parts. Part I (Chapters 2 to 5) presents findings from the Job Broker and Jobcentre Plus staff research. In Part II (Chapters 6 to 9), the client perspective is presented. Part III (Chapter 10) provides an overall summary of the emerging issues

Using a model of group psychotherapy to support social research on sensitive topics

This article describes the exploratory use of professional therapeutic support by social researchers working on a sensitive topic. Talking to recently bereaved parents about the financial implications of their child's death was expected to be demanding work, and the research design included access to an independent psychotherapeutic service. Using this kind of professional support is rare within the general social research community, and it is useful to reflect on the process. There are likely to be implications for collection and interpretation of data, research output and the role and experience of the therapist. Here, the primary focus is the potential impact on researcher well-being

Work Programme Evaluation : the participant experience report

This report brings together and summarises the key evidence available from the different strands of the Work Programme evaluation relating to the experience of participants. In particular, it presents analyses from two waves of a large scale longitudinal survey of participants and a multi-wave (partly cross-section, partly longitudinal) programme of in-depth qualitative fieldwork with participants. The evaluation tracks the Work Programme over several years from its launch in 2011

Testing Treat-to-Target Outcomes With Initial Methotrexate Monotherapy Compared With Initial Tumor Necrosis Factor Inhibitor (Adalimumab) Plus Methotrexate in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis

Objectives: To compare responses in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) initially treated with the tumour necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) adalimumab+methotrexate (MTX) versus MTX monotherapy who may have continued receiving MTX or switched to adalimumab rescue therapy after inadequate response to MTX. Methods: OPTIMA enrolled MTX-naive patients with active RA for <1 year. This post hoc analysis determined the proportion of patients, stratified by initial treatment, who achieved 28-joint modified Disease Activity Score based on C reactive protein <3.2, normal function and/or no radiographic progression at weeks 26, 52 and 78. Results: Significantly greater proportions of patients initially treated with adalimumab+MTX (n=466) compared with MTX monotherapy (n=460) achieved good clinical (53% vs 30%), functional (45% vs 33%) and radiographic (87% vs 72%) outcomes at week 26. From weeks 26 to 78, adalimumab rescue patients achieved similar clinical and functional outcomes versus patients initially treated with adalimumab+MTX. However, significantly more patients initially treated with adalimumab+MTX had no radiographic progression at weeks 52 and 78 versus patients initially treated with MTX (both timepoints: 86% vs 72%). Conclusions: In early RA, starting with MTX monotherapy and adding TNFi after 26 weeks yields similar longer term clinical results as starting with TNFi+MTX combination therapy but allows a small but significant accrual of radiographic damage

Enhanced transport of plant-produced rabies single chain antibody-RVG peptide fusion protein across an in cellulo blood-brain barrier device

The biomedical applications of antibody engineering are developing rapidly and have been expanded to plant expression platforms. In this study, we have generated a novel antibody molecule in planta for targeted delivery across the blood–brain barrier (BBB). Rabies virus (RABV) is a neurotropic virus for which there is no effective treatment after entry into the central nervous system. This study investigated the use of a RABV glycoprotein peptide sequence to assist delivery of a rabies neutralizing single-chain antibody (ScFv) across an in cellulo model of human BBB. The 29 amino acid rabies virus peptide (RVG) recognizes the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAchR) at neuromuscular junctions and the BBB. ScFv and ScFv-RVG fusion proteins were produced in Nicotiana benthamiana by transient expression. Both molecules were successfully expressed and purified, but the ScFv expression level was significantly higher than that of ScFv-RVG fusion. Both ScFv and ScFv-RVG fusion molecules had potent neutralization activity against RABVin cellulo. The ScFv-RVG fusion demonstrated increased binding to nAchR and entry into neuronal cells, compared to ScFv alone. Additionally, a human brain endothelial cell line BBB model was used to demonstrate that plant-produced ScFv-RVGP fusion could translocate across the cells. This study indicates that the plant-produced ScFv-RVGP fusion protein was able to cross the in celluloBBB and neutralize RABV

Vagueness in Geography

Some have argued that the vagueness exhibited by geographic names and descriptions such as ''Albuquerque,'' ''the Outback,'' or ''Mount Everest'' is ultimately ontological: these terms are vague because they refer to vague objects , objects with fuzzy boundaries. I take the opposite stand and hold the view that geographic vagueness is exclusively semantic, or conceptual at large. There is no such thing as a vague mountain. Rather, there are many things where we conceive a mountain to be, each with its precise boundary, and when we say ''Everest'' we are just being vague as to which thing we are referring to. This paper defends this view against some plausible objections