Legislation In England Research Articles

The implementation of national labour legislation in England after the Black Death, 1349–1400

AbstractThe responses of labour markets to global pandemics are attracting renewed interest, although the English labour laws in response to the Black Death of 1348/9 – capping wages, imposing annual contracts, and restricting mobility – have a long and established scholarship. The conventional wisdom is that the legislation represented an extension of existing local practices and created common cause among all categories of employer. Yet this view is hard to reconcile with the fact that, despite subsequent revisions, the legislation soon failed. These arguments are tested through original research into how the legislation was actually enforced in a variety of legal tribunals (manorial, borough, and royal). A clear distinction is maintained between public presentments and private litigation, and a robust methodology is pursued to record their absence as well as quantifying their presence. This casts new light on the novelty of the labour laws, the reasons for their failure, and their influence on contract law. The analysis exemplifies the potential for short‐term legal responses to infectious diseases to have unintended and unanticipated long‐term consequences.

“I am in favour of organ donation, but I feel you should opt-in”—qualitative analysis of the #options 2020 survey free-text responses from NHS staff toward opt-out organ donation legislation in England

BackgroundIn May 2020, England moved to an opt-out organ donation system, meaning adults are presumed to be an organ donor unless within an excluded group or have opted-out. This change aims to improve organ donation rates following brain or circulatory death. Healthcare staff in the UK are supportive of organ donation, however, both healthcare staff and the public have raised concerns and ethical issues regarding the change. The #options survey was completed by NHS organisations with the aim of understanding awareness and support of the change. This paper analyses the free-text responses from the survey.MethodsThe #options survey was registered as a National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) portfolio trial [IRAS 275992] 14 February 2020, and was completed between July and December 2020 across NHS organisations in the North-East and North Cumbria, and North Thames. The survey contained 16 questions of which three were free-text, covering reasons against, additional information required and family discussions. The responses to these questions were thematically analysed.ResultsThe #options survey received 5789 responses from NHS staff with 1404 individuals leaving 1657 free-text responses for analysis. The family discussion question elicited the largest number of responses (66%), followed by those against the legislation (19%), and those requiring more information (15%). Analysis revealed six main themes with 22 sub-themes.ConclusionsThe overall #options survey indicated NHS staff are supportive of the legislative change. Analysis of the free-text responses indicates that the views of the NHS staff who are against the change reflect the reasons, misconceptions, and misunderstandings of the public. Additional concerns included the rationale for the change, informed decision making, easy access to information and information regarding organ donation processes. Educational materials and interventions need to be developed for NHS staff to address the concepts of autonomy and consent, organ donation processes, and promote family conversations. Wider public awareness campaigns should continue to promote the positives and refute the negatives thus reducing misconceptions and misunderstandings.Trial registrationNational Institute of Health Research (NIHR) [IRAS 275992].

Judicial Review Challenges to Secondary Legislation in England and Wales: Courting Controversy

Abstract The importance of secondary legislation in England and Wales cannot be understated. Its significance dwarfs the amount of political scrutiny which it receives. Secondary legislation can be subject to judicial review, but this may raise difficult constitutional issues. A potentially controversial ground of judicial review is that secondary legislation is contrary to the purposes of the enacting primary legislation. Examination of litigation regarding legal aid regulations shows how the courts’ view as to the purposes of such legislation can differ, revealing the essentially political choices which the courts have to make. There is however a way that will assist the courts in limiting such controversy if they find secondary legislation to be unlawful: they can order that the secondary legislation be quashed only from a future date, which would give Parliament or the executive time to address the legal defect identified. This encourages dialogue rather than conflict between the legal and executive branches of the constitution.

Tackling health inequalities through integrated care in English police custodies: an inclusion perspective and model of care

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to identify novel ways of tackling health inequalities of underserved populations. It explores the opportunities presented by the changes in health and social care legislation to employ historically underused services, such as police custody healthcare providers, in addressing health inequalities.Design/methodology/approachThis research analyses the policy approaches to tackling health inequalities in the UK in the past 40 years with an emphasis on those experienced by the people detained in English police custodies. It analyses the current model of healthcare in police custody and proposes a novel integrated model of care and joint commissioning opportunities in funding it.FindingsPolicies to tackle health inequalities have largely failed, as they became entrenched. But recent changes in the health and social care legislation in England offer opportunities to address them by employing historically underused healthcare services, such as those operating in police custodies.Research limitations/implicationsThe research does not touch upon ethical considerations related to the patient privacy aspect of integrated care. Interventions by and interactions with police custody healthcare providers would be visible to all professionals with access to the patient’s health record. As with all novel interventions or innovative models of care, the effectiveness of such clinical interventions remains to be established by further research. It opens a new line of research on quality improvement through integration of care and explores understudied aspects of joint commissioning of integrated care.Practical implicationsIt offers health commissioners and public health leaders the opportunity to employ police custody healthcare services in reaching their population health management objectives and meeting their health inequalities objectives at local level. It also gives police and crime commissioners the opportunity to address the health drivers of criminal behaviour that overlap with health inequalities. It offers funding opportunities presented by jointly commissioning services at lower costs to both police and health commissioners alike. It improves the health outcomes of historically underserved populations by facilitating access to health and social care services and facilities.Social implicationsReducing health inequalities and disparities in health outcomes can decrease the costs of the healthcare services over the long term and might contribute to reducing criminality by addressing inequities and some health drivers of criminal behaviour.Originality/valueThe paper explores understudied opportunities offered by the recent changes in health and social care legislation in England and includes underused resources to tackle health inequalities.

Violence, Letters, and the Law: Jewish-Christian Interaction and Episcopal Sanction in Thirteenth-Century England

ABSTRACT In June 1278, Richard Gravesend, bishop of Lincoln, sent a letter to King Edward I, begging his aid in punishing fourteen Christians excommunicated for working as servants and nursemaids in Jewish households. Eight years later, Richard Swinfield, bishop of Hereford, wrote to the chancellor of Hereford commanding that he publicly condemn Christian participants in a local Jewish wedding celebration. These letters attest to the hostile legal and political climate for English Jews in the thirteenth century. But they also hint at communal interactions between Jews and Christians that proved more intimate and amicable than statutory records tend to indicate. In this essay, the authors-a historian and literary scholar, respectively-bring their distinct disciplinary perspectives to bear on these letters and their implications for thirteenth-century English communities. Tolan analyses them within the larger context of anti-Jewish legislation in England, while Jahner looks to contemporary literary and cultural productions sponsored by Gravesend and Swinfield and their households. Together, the authors consider the legacy of anti-Jewish violence in England by focusing on the kind of domestic affiliations and arrangements that often escape historiographic notice, even as they prove foundational to the regulation of communal affairs.

Advance Statements for Black African and Caribbean people (AdStAC): protocol for an implementation study

BackgroundThe UK government committed to legislating for Advance Choice Documents/Advance Statements (ACD/AS) following their recommendation by the Independent Review of the MHA (2018). ACDs/AS are yet to be implemented in routine practice despite evidence and high demand; they are associated with improved therapeutic relationships and a reduction (25%, RR 0.75, CI 0.61–0.93) in compulsory psychiatric admission. Barriers to their implementation are well documented, ranging from low knowledge levels to logistical challenges in accessing the content during episodes of acute care. In the UK this is an issue for Black people, who experience detention rates disproportionately (over three times) higher than those of White British people and have poorer care experiences and outcomes. ACDs/AS allow for Black people to have their concerns heard by mental health professionals in a care system where they often feel their views are ignored. AdStAC aims to improve Black service users’ experiences in mental health services in South London by co-producing and testing an ACD/AS implementation resource with Black service users, mental health professionals and carers/supporters of Black service users.Methods/designThe study will take place in South London, England over three phases: 1) formative work through stakeholder workshops; 2) co-production of resources through a consensus development exercise and working groups; and 3) testing of the resources using quality improvement (QI) methods. A lived experience advisory group, staff advisory group and project steering committee will support the study throughout. The implementation resources will comprise: advance choice document/advance statement (ACD/AS) documentation, stakeholder trainings, a manual for mental health professionals to facilitate the processes of creating and revising advance statements, and informatics development.DiscussionThe implementation resources will help increase the likelihood of the new mental health legislation in England being implemented effectively; through aligning evidence-based medicine, policy and law to effectively provide positive clinical, social and financial outcomes for Black people, the National Health Service (NHS) and wider society. This study will likely benefit a wider group of people with severe mental illness, as when marginalised groups who are least engaged, can be supported with these strategies, then the strategies are likely to work for others.

NHS staff awareness, attitudes and actions towards the change in organ donation law in England—results of the #options survey 2020

BackgroundIn Spring 2020 there was a change in organ donation legislation in England (UK). Much is known about public opinions to organ donation and the change in legislation, however, there is little evidence about the opinions of the NHS workforce. This study set out to understand the levels of awareness, support and action of NHS staff to this change and explore the impact of respondent demographics, place and type of work on awareness, support and action.MethodsAn online survey was offered to all NHS organisations in North Thames and the North East and North Cumbria through the NIHR Clinical Research Network between July and December 2020. Participating organisations were provided with an information package and promoted the survey via email and internal staff communications. Associations were compared univariately using chi-square tests and logistic regression was used for multivariable analysis to compare findings with NHS Blood and Transplant public Kantar survey data.ResultsA total of 5789 staff participated in the survey. They were more aware, more supportive, more likely to have discussed their organ donation choices with family and more likely to be on the organ donor register than the public. This increased awareness and support was found across minority ethnic and religious groups. Those working in a transplanting centre were most aware and supportive and those working in the ambulance service were most likely to ‘opt-in’ following the change in legislation.ConclusionsNHS staff in England were well informed about the change in organ donation legislation and levels of support were high. NHS staff were six times more likely than the public to have a conversation with their family about their organ donation choices. The size and ethnic diversity of the NHS workforce offers an opportunity to enable and support NHS staff to be advocates for organ donation and raise awareness of the change in legislation amongst their communities.

35 years later: re-examining the offence of riot in the Public Order Act 1986

2021 marked the 35th year of the passage of the most important public order legislation in England, the Public Order Act 1986, and saw an ambitious attempt by the Government to ‘overhaul’ public order law, in the form of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. 2021 also marked 10 years since the devastating 2011 riots in England. In this context, this article analyses the necessity of and justifications for the riot offence. It argues that the riot offence is neither necessary from an instrumental perspective nor targeted at the mischiefs of public fear and overthrow of the state. Instead, the crux of the offence is the group element, shedding light more generally on public order law’s ideological function of imposing a specific form of ‘order’ and its susceptibility to abuse. The riot offence should therefore be abolished.

Theorizing surveillance and social spacingthroughfootball: The fan‐opticon and beyond

AbstractThis article critically examines the temporal mobilizations of a 25‐year football supporter social movement against the all‐seating (stadia) legislation in England and Wales, to unpack, and advance, (neo‐)Foucauldian panoptic theorizations of surveillance power and counter‐power. Drawing upon prior empirically informed analysis of this movement; ‘Safe Standing’, the article interrogates new policy‐based outcomes, including the early adoption of ‘licensed (Safe) Standing’ technology in 2022, to argue, that whilst publicly framed as a movement victory, it simultaneously serves to prefigure a new regulatory regime in football; one which extends the regulation and surveillance of fans within the wider social and corporatelifeworld. Introducing our new concept; the ‘fan‐opticon’, the article discusses how Safe Standing continues to normalize a momentum of surveillance in sport and highlights the contradictory nature of security‐related projects in the twenty‐first century. We conclude that the governmentality of the state through football, to be characteristic of temporally sensitive hermeneutic struggles of power and resistance, through the discipline, and self‐discipline of social actors. New forms of subjectivity are remoulded in ways which extend the power of surveillance and regulation, despite multiple counter‐conduct, and discursive, resistance practices.

The co-occurrence of substance misuse, domestic abuse, and child maltreatment: Can Family Drug and Alcohol Courts play a part?

This review article focuses on the inter-relationship between substance misuse, domestic abuse, and child maltreatment, especially in the context of care (child protection) proceedings. It reviews what is known about the prevalence and impact of co-occurring domestic abuse and substance misuse on adult and child victims, and the response of criminal and family law and intervention programmes in supporting families to address these problems holistically. Special attention is paid to the role of Family Drug and Alcohol Courts (FDACs), a radical problem-solving approach to care proceedings, which provide integrated interventions to the range of co-occurring problems that trigger the proceedings. Despite clear evidence of the greater harm to children when exposed to these two parental difficulties, the review has found a lack of systematic information on the prevalence of co-occurrence and a lack of effective integrated interventions, including within care proceedings. It argues that the FDAC approach is well suited to respond to co-occurring substance misuse and domestic abuse in care proceedings and it has the potential to break down silos across sectors. However, in the absence of empirical evidence, this premise would need testing. A particular focus of the review has been on efforts to overcome silos in practice, law and policy. Promising initiatives are described in criminal and family law to improve the response to domestic abuse that build on the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, the first dedicated domestic abuse legislation in England and Wales. All of them are based on problem-solving approaches used in other jurisdictions. Despite these initiatives, the review concludes that there remain significant barriers to effectively align law, policy and practice to ensure that domestic abuse strategy recognizes and responds to the overlaps with substance misuse.

The Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015: Interrogating the guiding principles for a person with dementia

Healthcare decision-making can present challenges for the person with dementia as many of the skills needed to navigate the decision-making process may be diminished or lost as a result of dementia. Currently in Ireland the law responds to this difficult dilemma by providing for a system of adult guardianship - and outside of that, a great deal of uncertainty. This is set to change when the Assisted Decision-Making Capacity Act (ADMCA) 2015 comes into force in the summer of 2022. The ADMCA aims to provide a modern statutory framework that supports decision-making by adults and enables them to retain the greatest amount of autonomy possible in situations where they lack or may shortly lack legal capacity. The Act aims to do this both through creating a set of guiding principles for decision-making and by the creation of formal decision-making agreements.This article aims to examine the guiding principles of the Act as they affect the person with dementia, and to assess the degree to which they will support and guide people with dementia and their healthcare professionals in making decisions. The guiding principles are of singular importance because they will govern any treatment decision by or for a person which is not the subject of a formal agreement. In interrogating the guiding principles of the Act the article seeks to identify ways in which the ADMCA differs from the equivalent legislation in England and Wales, the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005. The MCA came into force in 2007 and therefore the discussion is informed by almost fifteen years operation of the MCA. The article will argue that not only is the ADMCA a huge step forward from the current position in Ireland but that a number of key differences between the MCA and the ADMCA mean that the ADMCA has the potential to be more empowering for the person with dementia.

Fixed Buffer Zone Legislation: A Proportionate Response to Demonstrations Outside Abortion Clinics in England and Wales?

There is concern that the recent increase in demonstrations outside abortion clinics in England and Wales may have a detrimental impact on clinic-users’ access to abortion services. Parliament could respond to this concern by passing legislation that implements fixed buffer zones around all clinics providing abortion services in England and Wales. This would make it an offence to engage in prohibited behaviour (as defined by the legislation) within a specified area around abortion clinics. Such legislation may be challenged, however, on the basis that it interferes with the rights afforded to demonstrators by Articles 9, 10, and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). This article examines the proportionality of fixed buffer zone legislation, which has not yet been considered by the European Court of Human Rights nor the UK Supreme Court. Two relationships are considered: first, the relationship between the aims of the measures and the means to achieve those aims; second, the relationship between the competing interests of demonstrators opposing abortion and clinic-users seeking an abortion. This article shows that fixed buffer zone legislation can be proportionate. Consequently, the ECHR is no impediment to the enactment of fixed buffer zone legislation in England and Wales.

The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017: furthering not fracturing marginalisation of those experiencing homelessness

AbstractThe Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 represents the most significant change to the rights of homeless people in England for decades. Through an analysis of the history of homelessness legislation in England, but focusing on the ‘ground-breaking’ 2017 Act, this paper explores how the homeless population is represented and ‘constructed’ in this new legislation and what this tells us about the place of homeless people in our society. In so doing, this paper exposes how the 2017 Act – a state instrument of apparent homelessness prevention – can be read and understood as contributing to rather than obviating the marginalisation and social exclusion of homeless people.

Children's exposure to second-hand smoke 10 years on from smoke-free legislation in England: Cotinine data from the Health Survey for England 1998-2018

SummaryBackgroundWe aimed to investigate trends in children's exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke in England from 1998 to 2018.MethodsWe used twenty-one years of data from the Health Survey for England, a yearly repeated cross-sectional population study. A total of 49,460 children participated between 1998 and 2018, of whom 17,463 were biochemically confirmed non-smokers aged 4-15. We examined changes in (i) the proportion of children living in reported smoke-free homes and (ii) second-hand smoke uptake, measured quantitatively using saliva cotinine concentration.FindingsThe percentage of children living in a home reported to be smoke-free increased from 63.0% (95% CI 60.5%-65.2%) in 1998 to 93.3% (91.8%-94.6%) in 2018. This increase was most pronounced among children with a smoker parent, rising from 17.1% (14.7%-19.8%) to 75.9% (70.8%-80.4%). Segmented regression showed that the rate of adoption of smoke-free homes accelerated leading up to the 2007 ban on smoking in public places, growing most rapidly in the four years after its entry into law. Between 1998 and 2018, there was a ten-fold decline in geometric mean cotinine among non-smoking children, from 0.50 ng/ml (0.46-0.56) to 0.05 ng/ml (0.04-0.06). A total of 65.0% (61.2%-68.6%) of children had undetectable cotinine in 2018, up from 14.3% (12.7%-16.0%) in 1998. Children living in rented accommodation were more exposed than those from owner-occupied households, but they experienced similar relative declines across years.InterpretationCotinine data show that children's exposure to second-hand smoke has fallen by some 90% since 1998, with an apparent acceleration in adoption of smoke-free homes since the 2007 ban on smoking in public places. A norm has emerged that sees smoking in the home as inappropriate, almost universally where parents are non-smokers, but also increasingly among smoking parents.FundingPublic Health England, now the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, and Cancer Research UK.

Formulating the legislative structure of a hate crime

Whilst hate crime legislation is well established in the three jurisdictions of the United Kingdom, Ireland has failed to address the issue of hate crime on a statutory basis. This article will seek to explore what legislative structure is most appropriate for such legislation in an Irish context, drawing on a comparative analysis of both the form and operation of such legislation in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and Canada.

Was the implementation of standardised tobacco packaging legislation in England associated with changes in smoking prevalence? A segmented regression analysis between 2006 and 2019

Background and aimIn 2016, England initiated the implementation of standardised tobacco packaging, introduced in conjunction with minimum pack sizes and other measures included in the 2014 European Tobacco Products Directive,...

Autistic young people’s experiences of transitioning to adulthood following the Children and Families Act 2014

Changes to special educational needs and disability (SEND) legislation in England were implemented in 2014. Here, we evaluate the impact of these changes from the perspective of 80 autistic young people aged 16–25 years. Using an online survey and/or interviews, we examined young people’s views on three key principles of the SEND reforms: the help and support provided to them; whether they were given a say in the choices and support that they were offered; and their satisfaction with their educational journeys and outcomes. The results paint a mixed picture. Our sample of young people reported varied experiences regarding the help and support they received, and how much of a say they had regarding the choices and support available to them. The types of schooling they accessed played a role here: young people in mainstream schools highlighted particular challenges in accessing appropriate support, while many young people in special schools said they felt well supported. Parental advocacy was crucial for all young people, as was having key ‘champions’ in the form of teachers who really knew them well. The need for the development of general life and self‐advocacy skills was apparent, however, especially in preparing the young people for life after school. Encouragingly, most of our participants were generally happy with their current situation, despite identifying several areas for further improvement. Overall, the results highlight the importance of listening to—and learning from—autistic young people, throughout their educational journeys and especially as they transition to adulthood.

Reconceptualising Homelessness Legislation in England

AbstractThis article has two central aims. First, it problematises the long‐held consensus that homelessness legislation in England operates according to the concept of need and, secondly, it advances an alternative reading and reconceptualisation of homelessness legislation according to the notion of risk. Through examination of the two major sources of current homelessness law, the Housing Act 1996 and the recently enacted Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, this article locates and explores how risk is operationalised, the precise conceptions of risk engaged and the implications and potentiality of this risk reconceptualisation. In so doing, it is argued that risk exhibits a stronger explanatory power of the current homelessness legislation than need and presents opportunities for how we understand local authority decision‐making and the shape of future reform.

Implications for mental health workforce strategy, professional training and supervision of more widespread adoption of the multi-professional Responsible Clinician role: Results of a qualitative inquiry

Within mental health legislation in England and Wales the Responsible Clinician for specific patients should be the Approved Clinician with the most appropriate expertise to meet their primary assessment and treatment needs. The study aimed to explore nurse and psychologist perspectives on becoming a Responsible Clinician in the context of their limited uptake of the role and calls for an increase in advanced practice roles within mental health. It comprised a qualitative inquiry in the form of a thematic analysis of 12 semi-structured interviews. Four sub-themes emerged under the theme of ‘becoming a Responsible Clinician’. They were: (i) the Responsible Clinician amongst other roles; (ii) developing in the role; (iii) working with psychiatrist colleagues; and (iv) organisational context. Responsible Clinicians were juggling the role with other senior clinical responsibilities, often without a coherent programme of ongoing educational development or organisational support structures. If mental health service provider organisations adopt this extended role more widely then role-specific support and supervision arrangements should be in place as part of a coherent workforce strategy. This is particularly important given the legal and ethical responsibilities of the Responsible Clinician.

Views of disability rights organisations on assisted dying legislation in England, Wales and Scotland: an analysis of position statements

Assisted dying is a divisive and controversial topic and it is therefore desirable that a broad range of interests inform any proposed policy changes. The purpose of this study is...