Government Sources Research Articles

The Value of Auditor Verification Amid Economic Uncertainty: International Evidence from Small Businesses

SUMMARY We examine the value of auditor verification to small businesses when they face economic uncertainty. The COVID-19 pandemic was a significant, exogenous economic shock that immediately heightened the need for external funding for many companies. Using a sample of small, private companies from 21 countries, we examine how the receipt of an audit prior to the pandemic affects the primary type of financing companies obtain during the pandemic. We find that companies with audited financial statements available are more inclined to secure primary funding from bank loans rather than from equity contributions from existing owners or new investors. However, an audit is not associated with primary funding from government sources. We also document that businesses benefit most from an audit when information asymmetry and economic disruption are relatively high and when the supply of government liquidity support is relatively low. Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text. JEL Classifications: M21; M42.

Health and climate change: adaptation policy in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Recent extreme weather events attributable to climate change have major implications for policy. Here we summarize and evaluate the current state of climate change adaptation policy, from a health perspective, for Aotearoa New Zealand, based on government sources. Legislation relating to both environmental management and health are currently subject to major reforms. At present, adaptation policy emphasises protection of health care facilities from climate extremes; there is insufficient attention paid to broader determinants of health. We argue for greater health input into adaptation planning. Without intersectoral collaboration, contributions from diverse communities, and better support of indigenous solutions, climate change policy is unlikely to achieve effective health outcomes and there is a risk that climate change will exacerbate inequities. We recommend that the Climate Change Commission engage formally and directly with health bodies to strengthen the Commission's advice on the implications of climate change, and of national climate change policies, on health and equity. Climate resilient development does not occur without better public health. For this reason, the health sector has a critical role in the development and implementation of adaptation policy.

Scientists, speak up! Source impacts trust in health advice across five countries.

We examined how different types of communication influence people's responses to health advice. We tested whether presenting COVID-19 prevention advice (e.g., washing hands/distancing) as either originating from a government or scientific source would affect people's trust in and intentions to comply with the advice. We also manipulated uncertainty in communicating the advice effectiveness. To achieve this, we conducted an experiment using large samples of participants (N = 4,561) from the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Malaysia, and Taiwan. Across countries, participants found messages more trustworthy when the purported source was science rather than the government. This effect was moderated by political orientation in all countries except for Canada, while religiosity moderated the source effect in the United States. Although source did not directly affect intentions to act upon the advice, we found an indirect effect via trust, such that a more trusted source (i.e., science) was predictive of higher intentions to comply. However, the uncertainty manipulation was not effective. Together, our findings suggest that despite prominence of science skepticism in public discourse, people trust scientists more than governments when it comes to practical health advice. It is therefore beneficial to communicate health messages by stressing their scientific bases. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

“Fighting the pandemic!” Western Australian pharmacists’ perspectives on COVID-19 vaccines: A qualitative study

BackgroundIn Western Australia, community pharmacists are authorized to administer a range of vaccines without a prescription. Since mid-July 2021, pharmacists can also administer Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines. Little is known about how pharmacists think and feel about giving and receiving COVID-19 vaccines and how they discuss it with patients. AimThis study aimed to explore Western Australian pharmacists' perceptions on being vaccinated with, administering, and communicating about COVID-19 vaccines. MethodsSemi structured interviews were conducted with 20 pharmacists from metropolitan and regional areas of Western Australia across a two-week period in July and early August 2021. Interview transcripts were coded using NVivo 20 and data was thematically analyzed using the framework method. ResultsMost pharmacists (n = 16, 80 %) had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Some expressed difficulty accessing the vaccine while two unvaccinated pharmacists were hesitant to receive it due to concerns about vaccine development. The majority of pharmacists spoke positively about administering the vaccines, discussing perceived facilitators such as designated vaccination days but also perceived barriers such as inadequate financial reimbursement compared to other healthcare providers. Many pharmacists obtained their information from Australian government sources and training modules. Pharmacists were only passively promoting COVID-19 vaccines, with conversations mostly initiated by patients. Most pharmacists specified they would highlight the common side effects when administering the vaccine and would provide patients with written information. ConclusionThe majority of pharmacists were willing to administer and be vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccines. Since pharmacists play an important role in increasing vaccine uptake, governments should provide equitable reimbursement to pharmacists in line with other vaccinators such as General Practitioners. We welcome the recent resources produced by governments and pharmacy professional organizations to help pharmacists actively promote the vaccines since this work was undertaken.

Analytical reference framework to analyze non-COVID-19 events

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the healthcare system, leading to delays in detection of other non-COVID-19 diseases. This paper presents ANE Framework (Analytics for Non-COVID-19 Events), a reliable and user-friendly analytical forecasting framework designed to predict the number of patients with non-COVID-19 diseases. Prior to 2020, there were analytical models focused on specific illnesses and contexts. Then, most models have focused on understanding COVID-19 behavior. There is a lack of analytical frameworks that enable disease forecasting for non-COVID-19 diseases.MethodsThe ANE Framework utilizes time series analysis to generate forecasting models. The framework leverages daily data from official government sources and employs SARIMA models to forecast the number of non-COVID-19 cases, such as tuberculosis and suicide attempts.ResultsThe framework was tested on five different non-COVID-19 events. The framework performs well across all events, including tuberculosis and suicide attempts, with a Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) of up to 20% and the consistency remains independent of the behavior of each event. Moreover, a pairwise comparison of averages can lead to over or underestimation of the impact. The disruption caused by the pandemic resulted in a 17% gap (2383 cases) between expected and reported tuberculosis cases, and a 19% gap (2464 cases) for suicide attempts. These gaps varied between 20 and 64% across different cities and regions. The ANE Framework has proven to be reliable for analyzing several diseases and exhibits the flexibility to incorporate new data from various sources. Regular updates and the inclusion of new associated data enhance the framework's effectiveness.ConclusionsCurrent pandemic shows the necessity of developing flexible models to be adapted to different illness data. The framework developed proved to be reliable for the different diseases analyzed, presenting enough flexibility to update with new data or even include new data from different databases. To keep updated on the result of the project allows the inclusion of new data associated with it. Similarly, the proposed strategy in the ANE framework allows for improving the quality of the obtained results with news events.

DATA JOURNALISM IN HEALTH REPORTING IN BANGLADESH: PATTERN OF PRACTICES, IMPEDIMENTS AND PREPARATIONS FOR JOURNALISTS

Data journalism, with its ability to provide macro and micro-scale perspectives on health care, redefined health reporting during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Under these circumstances, health has taken the place of high significance. Consequently, the curiosity to see how data journalism is exercised while covering health issues in Bangladesh led to the idea of this study. This investigation aimed to shed light on how data journalism was applied while reporting on health in Bangladeshi media. The study was conducted following a mixed-method approach; quantitative data through content analysis and qualitative data through key informant interviews. The news published in August and September of 2022 in online editions of The Business Standard, the Prothom Alo, the Daily Star and the Ittefaq; was taken for content analysis. Additionally, four key informant interviews with academicians, journalism trainers and media development experts were conducted. The study concluded that data journalism practices in Bangladesh are not up to the standard. The scenario is also severely poor in terms of the number of published data stories; only 24 reports among 736 health-related news were data-driven stories. The Business Standard published 19 health-related data stories, which is the highest among the four news outlets. On the other hand, the Prothom Alo and the Ittefaq did not publish any health-related data story. Even the data-driven stories published in these four news outlets focused only on urban areas. Additionally, the data-driven stories were mainly reported based on government sources. Besides, among 25 data visuals, 84% were pictographs. However, the interviewees identified not having an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) tool for the Bengali language as a significant impediment to the flourishment of data journalism in Bangladesh. They also marked that, journalists in our newsrooms often do not possess the technical skills to carry out the data-driven story. Nevertheless, they proposed that, to improve the scenario of data journalism in Bangladesh, news industry and the universities should work together. Media development organizations should advocate the concept of data journalism in the newsrooms. Furthermore, they have to introduce workshops and training programs on data journalism.

Economic Burden Associated With Untreated Mental Illness in Indiana

There is a paucity of systematically captured data on the costs incurred by society-individuals, families, and communities-from untreated mental illnesses in the US. However, these data are necessary for decision-making on actions and allocation of societal resources and should be considered by policymakers, clinicians, and employers. To estimate the economic burden associated with untreated mental illness at the societal level. This cross-sectional study used multiple data sources to tabulate the annual cost of untreated mental illness among residents (≥5 years old) in Indiana in 2019: the US National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the National Survey of Children's Health, Indiana government sources, and Indiana Medicaid enrollment and claims data. Data analyses were conducted from January to May 2022. Direct nonhealth care costs (eg, criminal justice system, homeless shelters), indirect costs (unemployment, workplace productivity losses due to absenteeism and presenteeism, all-cause mortality, suicide, caregiver direct health care, caregiver productivity losses, and missed primary education), and direct health care costs (disease-related health care expenditures). The study population consisted of 6 179 105 individuals (median [SD] age, 38.0 [0.2] years; 3 132 806 [50.7%] were women) of whom an estimated 429 407 (95% CI, 349 526-528 171) had untreated mental illness in 2019. The economic burden of untreated mental illness in Indiana was estimated to be $4.2 billion annually (range of uncertainty [RoU], $2.1 billion-$7.0 billion). The cost of untreated mental illness included $3.3 billion (RoU, $1.7 billion-$5.4 billion) in indirect costs, $708.5 million (RoU, $335 million-$1.2 billion) in direct health care costs, and $185.4 million (RoU, $29.9 million-$471.5 million) in nonhealth care costs. This cross-sectional study found that untreated mental illness may have significant financial consequences for society. These findings put into perspective the case for action and should be considered by policymakers, clinicians, and employers when allocating societal resources and funding. States can replicate this comprehensive framework as they prioritize key areas for action regarding mental health services and treatments.

Legacies of Legibility: Genealogical Story-Telling as an Echo of State Power

Genealogy necessitates historical records, the majority of which derive from government sources, despite families’ “private” lives. State records weren’t intended to service future family historians, but were a means to state-formation and power. Consequently, records used by family historians reflect statist concerns, not state subjects’. Genealogy databases and censuses were analyzed to determine how many derive from state sources. An individual, anecdotal example focused upon a US Census record illuminates genealogical insight and misunderstanding; despite relevance, interpretation problems confront family historians. Genealogical research is limited by modernity's governmentality and the state gaze, impacts generally under-acknowledged by the average family historian.

How Do Households Respond to Job Loss? Lessons from Multiple High-Frequency Datasets

How much and through which channels do households self-insure against job loss? Combining data from a large bank and from government sources, we quantify a broad range of responses to job loss in a unified empirical framework. Cumulated over a two-year period, households reduce spending by 30 percent of their income loss. They mainly self-insure through adjustments of liquid balances, which account for 50 percent of the income loss. Other channels—spousal labor supply, private transfers, home equity extraction, mortgage refinancing, and consumer credit—contribute less to self-insurance. Both overall self-insurance and the channels vary with household characteristics in intuitive ways. (JEL D12, G21, G51, J64, J65)

Analyzing the Brazilian project of energy expansion

The Brazilian energy grid encompasses mainly hydroelectric power, despite investments in other energy sources. The country’s energy forecast is based on the demand and the contracted projects to supply the consumers’ needs. The present study aimed to analyze the Brazilian investment in energy based on the installed capacity and the country’s forecast. The research question evaluated whether the future energy investments comply with the country’s agreement in reducing emissions and focusing on sustainable development. Primary data were retrieved from governmental open sources and organized. The dependent variables were the data on installed capacity in 2021 (MW), forecast capacity for 2024 (MW), and growth (%). Applying the random forest model, data mining using the Rapidminer Studio was applied to the database. Decision tree algorithms were obtained involving the studied variables. The accuracy was 68% and kappa (<i>κ</i>)=0.60 (prediction result is suitable when accuracy is ≥60%, and <i>κ</i>≥0.60). Three decision tree models were selected to represent the chosen attributes based on the coherence of the decision flow amongst the studied variables. Using data mining, the prediction models of the energy investment in Brazil show the energy forecast for 2024. The current study points out that future investments in energy sources in the electric grid in Brazil aim for diversity since it plans for solar and wind energy sources; nevertheless, it also includes thermal and hydroelectric energy sources.

FISCAL POLICY OF UKRAINE AS THE FACTOR OF THE SUSTAINABILE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TERRITORIES IN CONDITIONS OF MARTIAL LAW

It proves that the fiscal policy in the war conditions needs economic diversification with the help of the use of existing resources optimization and the search of uninvolved ones as well. The aim of the research is to deeply analyze the theoretical-methodological bases of Ukrainian fiscal policy formulation and fulfillment in conditions of martial law and its impact on the financial system of the government. Government’s revenue (taxes) and government’s expenditure are the main instruments of fiscal policy. High uncertainty in condition of full-scale war led to the reducing of the effectiveness of market instruments of fiscal policy and made it impossible in the traditional format.
 It defines that instruments of fiscal policy helped to provide some measures for designing expansionary fiscal policy in conditions of martial law. Grant funds of international partners as well as non-tax revenue at the expense of voluntary transfers from citizens, enterprises, and organizations to support Ukraine have become the ultimate source of government’s revenue from the beginning of the war. The search of instruments for financing (ensuring defense capability and security of the country; social expenses, increasing the monetary support of the military, debt service expenses) has become the key of fiscal policy.
 It explains that negative opening balance of consolidated budget of Ukraine targeted at cyclical economy position of the country proves the sharp softening of fiscal policy. The probation of such kind of fiscal policy was due to the intense growth of the budgetary expenditures on providing defense capabilities of the country and incentives to support economy in conditions of martial law.
 It proves that the abrupt deficit expansion of consolidated budget is the justified countercyclical measure of fiscal policy in conditions of martial law. The softening of fiscal policy in the country has mainly become possible because of quite balanced fiscal policy of past years and considerable international support as well.

Patterns of Journalistic Role Performance during Public Health Crises: Covering COVID-19 in the UK

ABSTRACT While journalism scholarship has long been exploring how journalistic role performance (“JRP” thereafter) varies in different scenarios, seldom have studies captured how JRP during public health crises reflects the all-around influence of such crises on journalism practice. To fill the gap, our study examined the patterns of JRP in UK news coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic. We draw on a content analysis of 4,184 news stories from 15 UK national news outlets across television, radio, print, and online platforms in 2020. Our results indicate that UK journalism emphasised the performance of the service role by providing news of use to the public, the civic role by (partially) inviting the public into political life, and the interventionist role by explicitly bringing to the fore journalists’ voices. UK journalism also suppressed the infotainment role. The power relations between UK journalists and the government showed a more complicated picture. UK journalists performed a watchdog role by maintaining a seemingly sceptical and distant approach to government sources, yet also showed traces of cooperation with government agendas in ensuring compliance with public health messaging. These findings are discussed in relation to ongoing debates in health and crisis news, and journalistic role performance.

Gun Laws, Stay-at-Home Orders, and Poverty: Surges in Pandemic Firearm Violence in Large US Cities

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic heralded a surge in firearm homicides (FH) in many, but not all, urban centers. We aimed to determine the relationship of firearm restrictive legislation, stay-at-home orders (SaHOs), and FH during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in US cities. MethodsDemographics and socioeconomic data were captured from the 2020 US Census for large (population ≥250,000) cities. FH data were captured from the Gun Violence Archive. We retrieved firearm recovery estimates from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Firearms Trace Database. Firearm restrictive legislation was gathered from the State Firearm Laws Database. SaHO durations were found from press releases and government sources. Variables with P ≤ 0.200 in univariate linear regression were entered into a final multivariable model. ResultsA median of 7.5 FH per 100,000 people occurred in the 85 included US cities across 32 states in 2020 (range, 0.35-69.80 per 100,000). In multivariable regression, longer SaHOs (β: 0.033, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.014-0.053, P = 0.001) and higher poverty (β: 0.471, 95% CI: 0.280-0.670, P < 0.001) were associated with increases in FH. Handgun-specific laws (β: −0.793, 95% CI: −1.430 to −0.160, P = 0.015) were associated with lower FH. ConclusionsWe found that poverty and longer SaHOs were associated with increased FH in large US cities during the height of the pandemic, while handgun-specific laws were associated with a decrease. Reducing poverty, mitigating the negative effects of SaHOs, and expanding handgun-specific legislation may protect from surges in FH during future crises.

Public Librarians Hold Critical and Evolving Role as Community Facilitators of Government Information

A Review of: Zhu, X., Winberry, J., McBee, K., Cowell, E., &amp; Headrick, J. S. (2022). Serving the community with trustworthy government information and data: What can we learn from the public librarians? Public Library Quarterly, 41(6), 574–595. https://doi.org/10.1080/01616846.2021.1994312 Objective – To understand public librarians’ experiences in addressing their communities’ government information and data needs. Design – Semi-structured interviews. Setting – 4 public county library systems in 2 southern states in the United States in early 2019, prior to onset of the COVID-19 pandemic Subjects – 31 public service librarians, recruited through a combination of theoretical and convenience sampling strategies. Methods – The researchers conducted individual interviews, ranging between 30 and 60 minutes, with each participant. Interview recordings were transcribed and processed through the qualitative data software NVivo, using a grounded theory approach with open inductive coding followed by thematic analysis. Main Results – Six major findings were identified through thematic coding, including variability and complexity of reference questions, diversity in patron demographics, need for advanced knowledge of the local community context, preparedness of librarians to provide reference consultation for government information, balance between information and interpretation, and trust issues related to government sources. Challenges related to digital literacy level was a shared factor across multiple themes, as patrons’ government information needs are increasingly impacted by their ability to access web, mobile, and computer technologies, navigate online resources, and interpret bureaucratic vocabulary. Some librarians also expressed their own eroding trust towards the validity of government sources, such as climate change information from the Environmental Protection Agency under the Trump administration. Conclusion – A majority of the findings were consistent with past literature, including the breadth and depth of varying government informational needs of public library patrons and the trust patrons have for their public libraries and librarians. Researchers also noted limited initiatives by public libraries to proactively educate patrons about open data or misinformation and recommended that libraries and library science educators better prepare current and future librarians for their role as government information mediators.

Socioeconomic Determinants of Modern Agricultural Technology Adoption among Farmers in Rivers State: A Case Study of Etche Local Government Area.

This research examined the socio-economic determinants of modern agricultural technology adoption among farmers in Rivers State. The specific objectives were to examine how education; gender; farm size; marital status and annual farm income influences the adoption of modern agricultural technology. Primary data was collected and inferential statistics (linear regression, Probit regression and Logistic regression) were used in the analysis of collected data. The results showed that 72% of the respondents were female, 30% being majority of the respondents fell between the age category of 36-43 years, 64% were married, 34% being majority have primary education as their highest educational qualification, 46% of the farmers earn ?120,000 and above annually. The results also revealed that only 14% of the farmers adopted high yielding varieties as their modern agricultural technology while 86% reported not adopting any agricultural technology. 30 % of the farmers grow cassava as their main farm crop. None of the farmers reported using reported using inorganic fertilizers; only 5% reported using poultry droppings. 76% reported not using high yielding varieties, while only 24% reported using high yielding varieties. 86% reported getting their high yielding varieties from other sources other than ADP and government sources. 100% of the respondents reported the absence of extension training to be a limiting factor to adoption of modern agricultural technology. 38% reported lack of awareness. The logistic regression results had an R 2 of 74% indicating that a 74% variation in modern agricultural technology adoption is determined by variations in the independent variables. The independent variables had significance values of 0.04 for level of education, 0.00 for f.,[arm size, annual farm income has a p-value of 0.03, 0.714 for gender and 0.701 for age. Only annual farm income, farm size and educational level had significant influence on farmers’ adoption of

Evolution of English Language Learning in US Schools

This article will track the difference in language, legislation, and provisions for English Language Learners (ELLs) in the United States from the years 1995 to 2020 with a focus on changes within different presidential administrations and how those administrations attempted to address the education and rights of these students. In the 1995 Annual Report for the US Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR), during the Clinton Administration, several issues and solutions were discussed concerning the Civil Rights of what was referred to as Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students within US schools. Since then, several steps have been taken to achieve equity for these students, including major amendments to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. In 2002, the Bush Administration signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which intended to institute greater regulations for schools to ensure marginalized students, including English Language Learners (ELLs), are receiving adequate education and having issues taken into account in programming and tools. In 2015, the Obama Administration passed a new version of this bill titled the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which attempted to address out-of-date regulations from NCLB as well as institute new expectations for schools, additional support for teachers, and increase access to quality preschools. This article will look at the changes implemented by these Acts and their efficacy using governmental and non-governmental sources, including the OCR’s 2020 Annual Report to compare current issues facing ELLs with those from 1995.This article will provide introductory literature on the issues related to English language learning in US schools, which we will build on in our timeline and discussion.

Role of Voter Education and Performance of Electoral Management Body: A Case of Independent Electoral and Boundary Commission Kenya

This paper focuses on the role of voter education on performance of electoral management body. The study is undertaken at Independent Electoral and Boundary Commission (IEBC) Kenya. The study was grounded on civic engagement theory. The study was a descriptive research design investigation. The target population involved 772 commission officers with a sample size of 264 based on the Cochran formula. The IEBC officers were selected through use of stratified random sampling technique. The data collection tools were the questionnaire and interview schedule. Data collected from the field was analysed using qualitative and inferential statistics. Qualitative data analysis involved categorising responses from interviews and open-ended questions into themes and sub themes while inferential statistics was analysed using the Regression Model to test the hypothesis. The study found out that one of the pre-electoral strategies that IEBC focused on was voter education to the members of the public on regular occasion. The respondents indicated that the EMB conducted regular mobilisation campaigns jointly with other stakeholders to inform members of the public on matters relating to commission mandate in elections and boundary delimitations. Correlation statistics revealed existence of significant positive effect of pre-electoral voter education strategy and IEBC Kenya performance. It was concluded that voter education strategy played a significant role in predicting IEBC performance in Kenya. The study recommends that voter education needs to be done on continuous basis rather than waiting one year to the general election by regularly seeking funds support from government and non-government sources to support voter education

Openness to change among COVID misinformation endorsers: Associations with social demographic characteristics and information source usage

RationaleMisinformation is a major concern for public health, with its presence and impact strongly felt in the COVID-19 pandemic. Misinformation correction has drawn strong research interest. In contrast, relatively little attention has been given to the likelihood of favorable behavioral change post correction (i.e., openness to change). ObjectiveThis study seeks to identify the characteristics of COVID misinformation endorsers who are open to adopt more self-protective behaviors after misinformation correction. MethodsCOVID misinformation endorsers (N = 1991) in a large, nationally representative survey (fielded in October and November 2021) were asked how likely they would adopt self-protective behaviors if a source they trusted debunked their prior misperceptions. Multiple linear regression estimated the relationships between openness to change and socio-demographics, health-related factors, and health information source usage patterns. ResultsLess than half of the misinformation endorsers in the sample (41.3%) indicated any openness to change. Openness to change was positively associated with minority status and negatively associated with leaning Republican in political affiliation, higher income, being currently unvaccinated or unsure about vaccination status, better health, and a greater number of misinformation items endorsed. Past-month use of government, community, and personal sources for health information positively predicted openness. The use of online media was negatively associated with openness. ConclusionsOpenness to change is not guaranteed after misinformation correction. Targeted interventions based on openness to change are needed to enhance the public health impact of misinformation correction efforts.

The enablers, opportunities and challenges of electric vehicle adoption in Qatar: A systematic review of the literature and assessment of progress toward transportation transformation targets

Governments around the world are working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and the transportation system is focal to the transition toward more renewable energy sources. The State of Qatar has transitioned buses in its public transportation system to be fully electric and has set a 2030 target for 10% of all new sales of vehicles to be electric vehicles (EVs). Although constrained by data limitations, this paper synthesizes and assesses the evidence and makes recommendations to support the transportation transition. OBJECTIVE: This paper assesses the available evidence on EV transitions in Qatar, identifying enablers and barriers through the use of a systematic literature review and data obtained from government sources within Qatar. METHODS: The systematic literature review was conducted in March of 2023 using two academic databases (Scopus and Web of Science). Only English language peer-reviewed articles, books, and conference proceedings pertaining to Qatar and EVs or EV charging stations were included. No resources were identified on an Arabic language database. RESULTS: The systematic review process identified 26 relevant publications, which is synthesized and critically assessed into the following thematic clusters: (a) assessments related to the electrical grid and diversifying the energy mix, (b) the planning and distribution of charging stations, and (c) knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors as it relates to the socio-cultural dimensions of EV adoption. DISCUSSION: The authors conclude that to meet the 2030 target, the State of Qatar must improve data collection for monitoring, rapidly expand charging station infrastructure, enable private sector engagement, and raise awareness regarding EVs to change consumer perception and choices. They explore the specific policy interventions that these domains require for the country to meet its transportation transition objectives. OTHER: This review received no funding, and the authors have no registration name or number to declare.

February to May 2023

On 21 April, Dominic Raab resigned as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, to be replaced by Alex Chalk KC. On 8 May, The Times reported that the Bill of Rights Bill was to be dropped and that the Ministry of Justice had told its reporters that the new Justice Secretary had been ‘looking carefully’ at the Bill, while another Government source had described the Bill as a ‘complete mess’.