Salaries of Members of Congress: A List of Payable Rates and Effective Dates, 1789-2008

Congress is required by Article I, Section 6, of the Constitution to determine its own pay. Prior to 1969, Congress did so by enacting stand-alone legislation. From 1789 through 1968, Congress raised its pay 22 times using this procedure. Congressional salaries initially were $1,500. By 1968, they had risen to$30,000. Stand-alone legislation may still be used to raise Member pay, as it was most recently in 1982, 1983, 1989, and 1991, but two other methods — including an automatic annual adjustment procedure and a commission process — are now also available. Under the annual adjustment procedure, Members were scheduled to receive a 2.7% increase in January 2008. The increase was revised to 2.5%, resulting in a salary in 2008 of $169,300, to match the percent increase in the base pay of General Schedule (GS) employees. By law, Members may not receive an increase greater than the increase in the base pay of GS employees. Congress voted to deny the scheduled January 2007 adjustment. Members last received a pay increase (1.9$165,200

Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation: Implications for land acquisition and population relocation

In response to the challenge of climate change, governments of developing countries are evolving adaptation and mitigation programmes for which they are seeking international financing. This paper presents the findings of a review of national action programmes and other interventions to assess their likely societal impacts with an emphasis on land-use change, future land acquisitions, population displacement and resettlement. Evidence presented suggests there is likely to be additional and large-scale resettlement related to adaptation and mitigation investments in the coming decades. It describes such climate change-related projects as infrastructure development projects and the population displacement they may generate as a form of development-created involuntary resettlement. The article considers the policy and development challenges such involuntary resettlement will pose and assesses the robustness of current governance arrangements to manage that resettlement. It is argued that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change process presents opportunities for improving the national and international management of land acquisition and resettlement, particularly in least developed countries and small island states, but cautions that, at present, the financing arrangements do not prioritise the legal protection of affected populations

Blue remembered skills : mental health awareness training for police officers

The Bradley Report (Bradley, 2009) has raised a number of important questions regarding the treatment of individuals who are experiencing mental health problems and find themselves in the criminal justice system. One of the key recommendations is that professional staff working across criminal justice organisations should receive increased training in this area. This paper explores the experiences of two professionals, a mental health nurse and a social worker, involved in providing training for police officers. It goes on to consider the most effective models of training for police officers

Working towards co-production in rehabilitation and recovery services

PurposeThis paper outlines the work of a service provider, service user and carer group created to develop a strategy for service user and carer co-production.ApproachA reflective narrative account is given of the process through which the group formed and began to develop a working model aimed at shaping a cultural shift towards more co-produced services. The paper has been co-produced and includes the collaborative voices of service users, carers, multi-disciplinary staff, third sector representatives, managers and colleagues from associated services.FindingsThe model developed outlines 3 stages for services to work through in order to achieve meaningful and sustainable co-produced services. The importance of developing associated policies related to such areas as recruitment, payment, support and training is also outlined. Challenges to co-production are noted along with suggested approaches to overcoming these.Implications and ValueThe ethos of co-production is relatively new in the UK and so knowledge of the process and model may help guide others undertaking similar work

Restorative Justice Cases in Scotland:Factors Related to Participation, the Restorative Process, Agreement Rates and Forms of Reparation

This research draws on four years of data from three restorative justice services in Scotland to explore the factors associated with service user participation, agreement rates, the use of direct or indirect restorative processes, and different forms of reparation. Among other things, the results show that participation is more likely if the accused is contacted before the victim, if the alleged offence involves vandalism, and if the accused is male or young or does not have a recorded history of offending. The results suggest that, given appropriate ethical and safety considerations, the default practice should be to approach the accused first. The implications of the results are discussed within a theoretical framework

Universal screening for meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus : interim results from the NHS Scotland pathfinder project

Following recommendations from a Health Technology Assessment (HTA), a prospective cohort study of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) screening of all admissions (N = 29 690) to six acute hospitals in three regions in Scotland indicated that 7.5% of patientswere colonised on admission to hospital. Factors associated with colonisation included re-admission, specialty of admission (highest in nephrology, care of the elderly, dermatology and vascular surgery), increasing age, and the source of admission (care home or other hospital). Three percent of all those who were identified as colonised developed hospital-associated MRSA infection, compared with only 0.1% of those not colonised. Specialtieswith a high rate of colonisation on admission also had higher rates of MRSA infection. Very few patients refused screening (11 patients, 0.03%) or had treatment deferred (14 patients, 0.05%). Several organisational issues were identified, including difficulties in achieving complete uptake of screening (88%) or decolonisation (41%); the latter was largely due to short duration of stay and turnaround time for test results. Patient movement resulted in a decision to decontaminate all positive patients rather than just those in high risk specialties as proposed by the HTA. Issues also included a lack of isolation facilities to manage patients with MRSA. The study raises significant concerns about the contribution of decolonisation to reducing risks in hospital due to short duration of stay, and reinforces the central role of infection control precautions. Further study is required before the HTA model can be re-run and conclusions redrawn on the cost and clinical effectiveness of universal MRSA screening

Continuity or change in business representation in Britain? An assessment of the Heseltine initiatives of the 1990s

Britain has a fragmented, overlapping, and underresourced system of business representation. Attempts at reform, however, have proved difficult and largely unsuccessful. A coherent and logical system is relevant, in terms of both an effective dialogue between government and business, and the promotion of competitiveness and productivity. Through interviews and archival evidence, I look at how government has attempted to reform business associations. The main focus is the Heseltine initiatives of the 1990s: I outline the various initiatives taken, reveal the extent to which policy represented continuity or change, and consider whether the initiatives were effective. I show that they had a degree of success but that they would have made greater impact if they had been sustained over a longer period of time. A consideration of the historical context, moreover, suggests there may be limits to the role of government intervention in business association reform

Aquatic food security:insights into challenges and solutions from an analysis of interactions between fisheries, aquaculture, food safety, human health, fish and human welfare, economy and environment

Fisheries and aquaculture production, imports, exports and equitability of distribution determine the supply of aquatic food to people. Aquatic food security is achieved when a food supply is sufficient, safe, sustainable, shockproof and sound: sufficient, to meet needs and preferences of people; safe, to provide nutritional benefit while posing minimal health risks; sustainable, to provide food now and for future generations; shock-proof, to provide resilience to shocks in production systems and supply chains; and sound, to meet legal and ethical standards for welfare of animals, people and environment. Here, we present an integrated assessment of these elements of the aquatic food system in the United Kingdom, a system linked to dynamic global networks of producers, processors and markets. Our assessment addresses sufficiency of supply from aquaculture, fisheries and trade; safety of supply given biological, chemical and radiation hazards; social, economic and environmental sustainability of production systems and supply chains; system resilience to social, economic and environmental shocks; welfare of fish, people and environment; and the authenticity of food. Conventionally, these aspects of the food system are not assessed collectively, so information supporting our assessment is widely dispersed. Our assessment reveals trade-offs and challenges in the food system that are easily overlooked in sectoral analyses of fisheries, aquaculture, health, medicine, human and fish welfare, safety and environment. We highlight potential benefits of an integrated, systematic and ongoing process to assess security of the aquatic food system and to predict impacts of social, economic and environmental change on food supply and demand

Aquaculture development in Scotland:regulation as a moving equilibrium

The expanding interest in marine planning and management raises important questions for the spectrum of marine, coastal and terrestrial environments. The role of state regulation in mediating conflicts over the use and development of the marine resource has spatial implications across these domains. Governance of the marine represents a very particular challenge since it involves a highly complex mix of common, legal and customary property rights and sets of defined territorial jurisdictions. The Planning etc. (Scotland) Act 2006 and subsequent policy iterations have changed institutional and organizational relations. The legislation included provisions for the extension of statutory land use planning controls to include coastal and transitional waters (i.e. to the 12-nautical mile limit), meaning that finfish and shellfish farming are subject to the terrestrial planning regime. This represents a turn from self-regulation to arrangements for state planning controls. This paper traces this evolution in terms of a moving equilibrium as both state and market have sought to minimize the transaction costs involved

Revisiting the 'Missing Middle' in English Sub-National Governance

In the light of the new Coalition Government’s proposed ‘rescaling’ of sub-national governance away from the regional level, it is an opportune time to re-consider the strength and weaknesses of the city or sub-regional approach to economic development and to search, once more, for the ‘missing middle’ in English Governance. In this context, the article initially assesses the case for city or sub regions as tiers of economic governance, before examining the lessons to be learnt from the experiences of the existing city regions in the North East of England. It argues that while contemporary plans to develop Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) can be usefully considered within the context of the emerging city regional developments under the previous Labour Governments, a number of important challenges remain, particularly in relation to ensuring accountable structures of governance, a range of appropriate functions, adequate funding, and comprehensive coverage across a variety of sub-regional contexts. While the proposals of the new Government create the necessary ‘space’ to develop sub-regional bodies and offer genuine opportunities for both city and county LEPs, the scale of the sub-regional challenge should not be underestimated, particularly given the context of economic recession and major reductions in the public sector