Bulletin: August08

Bulletin: August 2008

Welcome to this Government Social Research bulletin covering GSR and other government research news during August.

Please use the links below to navigate to sections of interest to you.

On this page:

GSR news
Government research outputs
Website of the month

Visit the Homepage and Research news pages for more recent items.

GSR news

New GSR training programme starts

Training courses run for GSR members, run by GSR and the Institute of Education, start their 2008/09 programme with 'Review of Statistical Concepts and Methods' running very soon on 17 and 18 September. GSR members can book their place for this or any other course now.

GSR training programme

GSR announces annual conference 2009

The 2009 annual conference for GSR members will be held at the University of Warwick on 9-10 July. Organised by DCSF/DIUS with event management from GSRU, the event will be running concurrently with the Government Economic Service annual conference at the same venue. The agenda is still to be planned, but joint sessions with our GES analytical colleagues are proposed.

September’s lunchtime seminar will be on customer insight

Resuming after its summer break, the monthly GSR programme of free seminars kicks off with ‘Social research and customer insight’. This will provide an overview of customer insight and provide current examples of where departments have brought insight and social research together to good effect. There will also be an opportunity to discuss the issues around bringing the two disciplines together – and the challenges this may bring - with social researchers working in customer insight and customer insight colleagues.

The event will be held at the Treasury on Friday 26 September from noon till 2pm. A sandwich lunch is included and you can reserve your place by emailing your contact details to gsruseminars@hm-treasury.x.gsi.gov.uk putting ‘Customer insight seminar’ in the subject line.

Government research outputs

DCSF

2007 Childcare and early years providers survey - This survey series is used to collect information on the key characteristics of childcare and early years provision and the workforce in the different types of childcare and early years settings, including full day care, childminders and nursery schools.
Factors that promote high post-16 participation of many minority ethnic groups - A systematic review of UK-based aspirations literature.
Influences on attainment in primary school, interactions between child, family and school contexts

DEFRA

Sustainable development indicators in your pocket 2008 - provides a statistical overview of the country’s progress in tackling key economic, social and environmental issues, by bringing together an extensive range of indicators that can literally fit in your pocket. They cover a wide range of topics of everyday concern such as health, housing, jobs, crime, education, and our environment, all of which may affect whether we can live more sustainably in the future.

DFT

Statistical bulletin road statistics 2007: Traffic, speeds and congestion - includes the first release of National Statistics on 2007 Road Traffic, Free Flow Vehicle Speeds in Great Britain, and Traffic Speeds on the Strategic Road Network in England. The bulletin also includes further information about congestion on urban and inter-urban roads.

DWP

Changing economic circumstances in childhood and their effects on subsequent educational and other outcomes - this study explored the link between changes in income (or income-related measures) and child outcomes in early childhood, middle childhood and in adolescence.
Routes onto incapacity benefit (IB): findings from a follow-up survey of recent claimants
A ‘user voice’ study: Jobcentre plus customers’ perspective on DWP/DIUS strategy for skills - explores the views of Jobcentre Plus customers on the recommendations made by the 2006 Leitch Review and the developing DWP/DIUS policy response.
Routes onto incapacity benefit: Findings from a follow-up survey of recent claimants - examines whether the financial benefits from Pathways are larger or smaller than its costs and the ‘generalisability’ of some of the quantitative findings.
Disability living allowance – disallowed claims - examines the extent to which those applying for Disability Living Allowance (DLA) understand the purpose of the benefit and the qualifying conditions.

MoJ

Early evaluation of the domestic violence, crime and victims Act 2004 - focuses on the three measures of the Act that were implemented during the evaluation period.
County court anti-social behaviour co-ordinators - a pilot scheme - investigates perceptions of the effectiveness of the pilot scheme in enhacing relationships between courts and their users, and improving the processing of anti-social behaviour-related cases. It also discusses the views of housing and legal professionals involved with anti-social behaviour proceedings, as well as the views of the co-ordinators themselves.
Implementing services for women offenders and those 'at risk' of offending - A research report on the early implementation of the Together Women programme, which addresses the needs of women offenders and those described as 'at risk' of offending.

Scottish Government

Subjective perceptions of well-being in Scotland - summarises the key findings on subjective well-being in Scotland and explores how happy and satisfied people in Scotland are with their lives in general and how satisfied they are with certain domains in particular.
Exploring the links between transport and culture - explores the role of transport as a barrier to participation in cultural activities in Scotland, and makes recommendations on how accessibility by public transport could be improved.
Review of literature on domestic abuse and its effects on children and young people
Scottish social attitudes survey 2007: Something to be ashamed of or part of our way of life? Attitudes towards alcohol in Scotland - contains findings from a module of questions in the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey 2007, and examines public attitudes towards drinking and the role of alcohol in Scottish culture.

Website of the Month

Association for Geographic Information (AGI)

The AGI was one of several social science learned societies to attend a meeting hosted by GSR last month. Geographic information is defined as being about objects or phenomena that are associated with a location relative to the surface of the Earth. The AGI exists to represent the interests of the UK's geographic information (GI) industry; a wide-ranging group of public and private sector organisations, suppliers of GI software, hardware, data and services, consultants, academics and interested individuals.

Association for Geographic Information (AGI)

Visit the Bulletin Archive to view the contents of previous Bulletins.

Copy deadline for next Bulletin is noon Monday 15 September 2008

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