Private finance for the delivery of school projects in England

This paper analyses the use of the private finance initiative (PFI) approach to deliver school projects in England. The findings are based on case-study research in the Building Schools for the Future scheme (BSF), the largest single capital investment in SO years to rebuild and renew all of England's secondary schools. Up to half of the school infrastructure is to be procured by PFI contracts. A major concern has been the high cost associated with PFI procurement and any subsequent changes to scope. Furthermore, in some cases PFI-funded schools have been closed soon after completion; at great cost to the public sector. The aim of this research was therefore to understand the underlying reasons for these problems. The main conclusion is that the difficulties in BSF arise from not sorting out strategic issues and instituting appropriate organisational frameworks before engaging the private sector. The result of this is a lack of clarity about the long-term needs and end user aspirations. A brief outline of current programme management methods is given and it is suggested that this might be integral to the successful delivery of schools using private finance. A clear strategic vision that cascades into projects via programmes will ensure that the school infrastructure is appropriate for the anticipated strategic benefits and is aligned to the overall service delivery ambitions

The transformation of transport policy in Great Britain? 'New Realism' and New Labour's decade of displacement activity

In a 1999 paper, Goodwin announced ‘the transformation of transport policy in Great Britain’. His central point was that consensus was emerging among policy makers and academics based on earlier work including Transport: The New Realism, which rejected previous orthodoxy that the supply of road space could and should be continually expanded to match demand. Instead a combination of investment in public transport, walking and cycling opportunities and – crucially – demand management should form the basis of transport policy to address rising vehicle use and associated increases in congestion and pollution / carbon emissions. This thinking formed the basis of the 1997 Labour government’s ‘sustainable transport’ policy, but after 13 years in power ministers neither transformed policy nor tackled longstanding transport trends. Our main aim in this paper is to revisit the concept of New Realism and re-examine its potential utility as an agent of change in British transport policy. Notwithstanding the outcome of Labour’s approach to transport policy, we find that the central tenets of the New Realism remain robust and that the main barriers to change are related to broader political and governance issues which suppress radical policy innovation

Practical reasoning in political discourse: The UK government's response to the economic crisis in the 2008 Pre-Budget Report

This article focuses on practical reasoning in political discourse and argues for a better integration of argumentation theory with critical discourse analysis (CDA). Political discourse and its specific genres (for example, deliberation) primarily involve forms of practical reasoning, typically oriented towards finding solutions to problems and deciding on future courses of action. Practical reasoning is a form of inference from cognitive and motivational premises: from what we believe (about the situation or about means—end relations) and what we want or desire (our goals and values), leading to a normative judgement (and often a decision) concerning action. We offer an analysis of the main argument in the UK government’s 2008 Pre-Budget Report (HM Treasury, 2008) and suggest how a critical evaluation of the argument from the perspective of a normative theory of argumentation (particularly the informal logic developed by Douglas Walton) can provide the basis for an evaluation in terms of characteristic CDA concerns. We are advancing this analysis as a contribution to CDA, aimed at increasing the rigour and systematicity of its analyses of political discourse, and as a contribution to the normative concerns of critical social science

The challenge of embedding an ecosystems approach:patterns of knowledge utilisation in public policy appraisal

The ‘ecosystem services approach’ (ESA) to policy making has refocused attention on how knowledge is embedded in policy. Appraisal has long been identified as an important venue for embedding, but suffers from well-known difficulties. This paper examines the extent to which an ESA appears in UK policy appraisal documents, and how far implementing an ESA via appraisal may encounter the same difficulties. A clear understanding of this is vital for interrogating claims that improving knowledge necessarily leads to more sustainable ecosystem management. The paper reports on the content of seventy-five national-level policy appraisals undertaken in the United Kingdom between 2008 and 2012. Only some elements of an ESA appear, with even the environment ministry failing to systematically pick up the concept, which is indeed subject to many of the familiar barriers to embedding environmental knowledge in appraisals. Policy initiatives attempting to institutionalise ecosystem values need to be conversant with these barriers

Introducing willingness-to-pay for noise changes into transport appraisal: an application of benefit transfer.

Numerous research studies have elicited willingness-to-pay values for transport-related noise, however, in many industrialised countries including the UK, noise costs and benefits are still not incorporated into appraisals for most transport projects and policy changes (Odgaard et al, 2005; Grant-Muller et al, 2001). This paper describes the actions recently taken in the UK to address this issue, comprising: primary research based on the city of Birmingham; an international review of willingness-to-pay evidence; development of values using benefit transfers over time and locations; and integration with appraisal methods. Amongst the main findings are: that the willingness-to-pay estimates derived for the UK are broadly comparable with those used in appraisal elsewhere in Europe; that there is a case for a lower threshold at 1 45dB(A)Leq,18hr1 rather than the more conventional 55dB(A); and that values per dB(A) increase with the noise level above this threshold. There are significant issues over the valuation of rail versus road noise, the neglect of non-residential noise and the valuation of high noise levels in different countries. Conclusions are drawn regarding the feasibility of noise valuation based on benefit transfers in the UK and elsewhere, and future research needs in this field are discussed

Local economic strategy development under Regional Development Agencies and Local Enterprise Partnerships: applying the lens of the multiple streams framework

Following the decision to abolish the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in England by the newly elected Coalition Government in 2010, Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) were introduced to drive economic development at a local level. However, the limited Government prescription as to both the form and function of LEPs has contributed to a fundamental ambiguity as to their roles and ‘legitimate spheres’ of activity. In the context of this ambiguity, this paper uses the Multiple Streams Framework (Kingdon, 1995) to analyse the challenges faced by RDAs and LEPs in developing effective economic development strategies. The paper identifies the dimensions of strategic capability that LEPs must develop if they are to mature as effective agents of local economic development in England

Locating the place and meaning of physical activity in the lives of young people from low-income, lone-parent families

Background: In the United Kingdom (UK), it is predicted that economic cuts and a subsequent increase in child poverty will affect those already on the lowest incomes and, in particular, those living in lone-parent families. As a result, the informal pedagogic encounters within the family that contribute to the development of physical activity-related values, beliefs and dispositions from a very early age will be affected. Therefore, it is vital that we gain an understanding of the place and meaning of physical activity in the lives of young people, as well as the informal pedagogic practices and the socio-cultural forces that influence individual agency. Purpose: Based on Bourdieu's key concepts, this paper explores the interplay of structural conditions and personal agency with regard to physical activity in the lives of young people from low-income, lone-parent families. Methods: This study reports on the voices of 24 participants (aged 11–14) from low-income, lone-parent families in the West Midlands, UK. These participants were engaged in paired, semi-structured interviews to explore issues of personal agency by listening to how they reported on their present lives, past experiences and future possibilities with regard to physical activity. All corresponding interview data were analysed using analytical induction. Findings: This paper suggests that young people exhibited diminished desires to engage in activity due to structural constraints of time, parents' work commitments and a lack of transport that resulted in engagement in sedentary alternatives. Informal pedagogic practices within these families were restricted due to the associated structural conditions of living in a lone-parent family. As such, young people's choice to not seek out physical activities when at home reflected a ‘taste for necessity’ resulting from a lack of cultural and economic capital, placing restrictions on physical activity opportunities that stemmed from their family doxa. Conclusions: To succeed in fostering dispositions and opportunities to participate in physical activity, we must engage with young people from low-income, lone-parent families from an early age. Certainly though, further consideration of the informal pedagogic practices within, and the demands on, lone-parent families is required when designing any intervention or policy that seeks to enhance their current circumstances and provide opportunities for engagement in a variety of contexts

Positive youth development in swimming: clarification and consensus of key psychosocial assets

The purpose of this study was to gain a more cohesive understanding of the assets considered necessary to develop in young swimmers to ensure both individual and sport specific development. This two stage study involved (a) a content analysis of key papers to develop a list of both psychosocial skills for performance enhancement and assets associated with positive youth development, and (b) in-depth interviews involving ten expert swim coaches, practitioners and youth sport scholars. Five higher order categories containing seventeen individual assets emerged. These results are discussed in relation to both existing models of positive youth development and implications for coaches, practitioners and parents when considering the psychosocial development of young British swimmers

Shear behaviour of crushed concrete and bricks

Demolition waste materials mainly consist of concrete and bricks and arise from the demolition of existing structures and buildings. Environmental and economical reasons make their recycling necessary, but to date, their use is curtailed due to the lack of research in determining their properties. This paper reports on the efforts to understand the behavioural characteristics of three types of recycled material to determine their potential for engineering fill applications. For this purpose, their physical and mechanical characteristics were extensively investigated. Two types of crushed concrete, one obtained straight after demolition and the other processed to industry specifications, and one type of crushed brick were tested. An extensive large-scale shear box test regime was employed to determine the shear strength behaviour of the materials. The influence of the normal stress on the peak friction angle, the shear stress– horizontal displacement relationship and horizontal displacement– vertical displacement behaviour of the materials are discussed in this paper. The results showed that the behaviour of the three recycled materials during shear testing was similar to the behaviour exhibited by natural granular materials from literature. In conclusion, the shear box test results have shown that the specific demolition waste products exhibit considerable shear strength and can be utilised in construction as low-level engineering fill

The retreat from widening participation? : the National Scholarship Programme and new access agreements in English higher education

This article critically analyses the impact of reforms to the student financial support system in English higher education. Comparative analysis of financial support mechanisms and patterns of outreach engagement with groups underrepresented in higher education show a marked deterioration in the levels of cash support available and an increasingly focus on the brightest poor students (in the form of merit aid) at the expense of the generality of poorer students since the new support programme came into place. This can be seen as part of a wider policy shift away from generic widening participation to the targeting of specific cohorts to raise the attainment level of intakes or to meet recruitment shortfalls. The findings are located in a context of a (near) trebling of tuition fees, stagnation in overall student numbers and the promotion of market mechanisms, all of which can be seen as a challenge to the notion of social justice through the higher education system