Un-charted Territory? Experiences of the Purchaser/Provider Split in Local Authority Children's Services

¹Ian Kirkpatrick Public Services Research Unit. Cardiff Business School, Aberconway Building, Colum Road, Cardiff CF1 3EU, UK. Summary A primary goal of Conservative government policy, expressedin the 1990 National Health Service and Community Care Act,was to encourage the development of market mechanisms throughthe separation of purchaser and provider roles. The main targetfor reform was to be adult services although, in the absenceof specific guidance, a number of local authorities also implementedpurchaser/provider structures in services for children and families.To date, little attention has been given in the literature eitherto describing what purchaser/provider structures involve inthis context or to assessing their impact. Drawing on case studydata from seven local authorities, this article seeks to addressthese deficiencies. It is argued that many changes have beencosmetic and that, while it is not possible to evaluate thelong-term effectiveness of the model, there is evidence thatit can have some negative consequences for the co-ordinationand delivery of services.     

THE BUILDING OF A REPUBLICAN REGIONAL BASE IN THE SOUTH THE ELEPHANT CROSSES THE MASON-DIXON LINE

Changes in party identification are examined from 1952 to 1988,with a special emphasis on the findings from the 1988 CPS SuperTuesday Study. It is found that in 1988 Republicans clearlyoutnumbered Democrats among southern whites for the first timeever. Demographic patterns of partisanship in 1988 are comparedto those from the 1950s. Most important is the relationshipwhich now exists between age and party identification. Republicansnow have a 29 percent lead over the Democrats among southernwhites under 30 years of age. While firm black support of theDemocratic party should prevent the South from becoming as solidlyRepublican as it once was Democratic, there is good reason toexpect further Republican gains in the South throughout theremainder of the twentieth century.     

THE FISCAL FRAMEWORK OF MONETARY POLICY

This paper i11ustrates the importance of the fiscal framework for monetary analysis by discussing three separate issues. I begin by examining how the fiscal framework changes the macroeconomic equilibrium associated with different steady state rates of money growth. This includes a summary of research that I have presented elsewhere and comments on several additional aspects of the way in which the fiscal structure destroys the neutrality of monetary policy.
The second section deals with the short-run impact of changes in monetary policy. Here again the fiscal structure complicates the economy's response to monetary policy.
The final section looks at the effect of the fiscal structure on the central banks choice of monetary policies. Fiscal structures are likely to influence the policies adopted because they affect the costs and benefits of monetary policies.     

Changes in functional limitation and survival among older Taiwanese, 1993, 1996, and 1999

Using data from the Survey of Health and Living Status of the Elderly in Taiwan, we investigate changes in difficulties in walking and climbing stairs, tasks that represent basic lower-body movements less likely to be influenced by changes in environment and social roles than are activities and instrumental activities of daily living. Results are shown for unadjusted prevalence rates and rates adjusted for changes in population composition. The findings indicate that Taiwan does not appear to be experiencing the improvements in functioning witnessed recently in the United States. Prevalence of functional limitation increased between 1993 and 1996 and between 1996 and 1999. One possible reason is the change in old-age survival, which appears to have benefited those who have functional limitations, especially in a severe form. The Universal Health Insurance programme, established in 1995, may have increased access to care and thus the survival of those in poorest health.     

A Welfare Trap? The Duration and Dynamics of Social Assistance Use among Lone Mothers in Canada

À la fin des années 1990, la politique de l'aide sociale canadienne s'est transformée, pour se concentrer sur la diminution de la «dépendance» ou de l'aide sociale à long terme. En utilisant des données de l'Enquête sur la dynamique du travail et du revenu (1996–2001) et l'analyse historique des événements, l'auteur étudie la durée de l'aide sociale chez les mères monoparentales et autres chefs de ménage. Ses résultats montrent que l'instruction des mères monoparentales et leur expérience du marché du travail constituaient des prédicteurs moins importants de la durée de l'aide sociale que leur histoire conjugale. Quoique les prestations qu'elles recevaient duraient généralement peu de temps, l'auteur a trouvé la preuve d'une dépendance néfaste, ou du «piège de l'aide sociale», après un contrôle de l'hétérogénéité non observée. C'est un exemple démontrant que recevoir de l'aide sociale est non seulement le résultat de trajectoires de vie particulières, mais façonne aussi la vie. In the late 1990s, the Canadian social assistance policy changed to focus on reducing “dependency” or long‐term receipt. Using data from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (1996–2001) and event history models, we investigate the duration of social assistance receipt for lone mothers and other household heads. We find that lone mothers' education and labor force experience were less important predictors for their duration on social assistance than their previous marital history. Although receipt was generally short term, we find evidence of negative duration dependence, or a “welfare trap,” after controlling for unobserved heterogeneity. This indicates one way in which a welfare receipt is not only the result of particular life course trajectories but also shapes lives.     

The Objectives of the Probation Service

Summary Two kinds of objective are identified: an organizational objectiveconcerned with efficiency, and a functional objective concernedwith the effectiveness of the service. Increasing responsibilitiesin respect of social enquiry work, parole, after-care and prisonwelfare have been absorbed remarkably smoothly during the 1960s,and even the inevitable administrative changes have been lessdisruptive than might have been anticipated. Any discussionabout the 'effectiveness' of the probation service highlightsthe need to clarify its purposes and its functions. It is arguedthat, although most officers would accept that their primaryfunction is and has traditionally been that of exercising oversightover the offender on behalf of the court and the community,there are unmistakeable signs that pressure will be broughtto bear on the probation service to adopt a more treatment-orientatedapproach. The switch to such a correctional role is bound todisturb the organizational objectives of the service, and raisequestions about the place of casework theory in the trainingand supervision of probation officers     

THE EFFECT OF REWARDS AND SANCTIONS IN PROVISION OF PUBLIC GOODS

A growing number of field and experimental studies focus on the institutional arrangements by which individuals are able to solve collective action problems. Important in this research is the role of reciprocity and institutions that facilitate cooperation via opportunities for monitoring, sanctioning, and rewarding others. Sanctions represent a cost to both the participant imposing the sanction and the individual receiving the sanction. Rewards represent a zero-sum transfer from participants giving to those receiving rewards. We contrast reward and sanction institutions in regard to their impact on cooperation and efficiency in the context of a public goods experiment . ( JEL C92)     

Work Satisfaction in Probation and Social Work

Correspondence to Professor Martin Davies, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ. Summary The design and preliminary development of a research instrumentintended to provide comparable measures of work satisfactionwithin different social work settings is described. The resultsof administering it to two separate samples of social workersand probation officers are presented. It appears that probation officers feel themselves more highlyregarded by members of the general public and are less likelyto say they are badly paid; they enjoy more job autonomy; rathermore social workers tend to feel alienated at work, but mostbelieve that they have better chances of career advancementthan is the case in the probation service. There are broad similarities between the two work settings sofar as work with clients and attitudes towards colleagues areconcerned; it is argued that the emergence of these similaritiesis methodologically reassuring because it suggests the stabilityof the data overall, and therefore increases the likelihoodthat the findings regarding agency differences are a valid reflectionof social reality in each setting.