Select Committee Report Research Articles

Identifying service users' experience of the education, health and care plan process: A systematic literature review

AbstractEducation, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) were introduced in 2014 to improve provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Some service users have found this change positive, but there is also dissatisfaction among service users with the EHCP process. This was captured in the recent Education Select Committee report, which took evidence from a range of stakeholders, representatives and service users examining the context, support and barriers associated with SEND (House of Commons, 2019). This review identifies and appraises research concerning service users' experience of the EHCP process, to establish key barriers to improving SEND provision. Papers evaluating the experience of children, young people, parents and professionals with EHCPs were included to assess levels of user satisfaction. A total of 25 studies were reviewed in‐depth. Five key themes were revealed: lack of integration with health and social care; insufficient knowledge and understanding; involvement of children, young people and parents; increased expectations and demands for professionals; and need for greater parity and clarity. Most service users were dissatisfied with the process and expressed a need for greater funding and time spent disseminating knowledge of the EHCP process. This paper summarises key limitations of, and potential improvements to, the current EHCP process. Structural reform is required to ensure accountability of service failures. Further research is required focusing on the experience of additional professional groups, such as educational psychologists and social workers, whose experiences are under‐represented.

Co-Designing Change

Co-Designing Change

‘A lock so tallying in all its parts, that any part of one lock may fit another’: exploring the standardisation and interchangeable manufacturing of New Land Pattern Musket Locks

A Select Committee Report of 1817 states that the New Land Pattern Musket has ‘a lock so tallying in all its parts, that any part of one lock may fit another’. This is the earliest claim of interchangeability to have been found for Board of Ordnance firearms. It has focussed the authors’ attention on understanding the British efforts in the interchangeable manufacturing of firearms in the early 19th century, and more specifically on the manufacture of the lock of the New Land Pattern Muskets. This has also necessitated and included some work to unravel the story of the development of the New Land Pattern Musket and its variants, and to appreciate the contemporary use of lock jiggers by the East India Company (EIC) and others. Our approach has blended multiple iterations of archival research, object study, analysis of musket lock ‘Types’, and experimental evaluations of interchangeability. The methods used have allowed a comparison with contemporary American achievements at the Springfield and Harpers Ferry National Armories. This paper reports our results, including those of a close study of 35 New Land Pattern Muskets; the generation of a typology identifying three distinct variants of New Land Pattern Musket locks and a chronology of key aspects of their design, manufacture and supply; a five-lock component exchange experiment with 20 potential interchanges and other supplementary interchange tests; and an experimental evaluation of the use of two surviving EIC lock jiggers (i.e. gauges). These demonstrate that Great Britain had made significant strides in the interchangeable manufacturing of musket locks by 1817, but that these achievements, based upon the use of gauges and other similar tooling, were limited by their use of manual methods, chiefly filing by hand. They also show that Henry Nock, Ezekiel Baker and others contributed to the design of the variants of the musket, the lock and the tooling. The work also indicates that Britain was attempting interchangeable lock manufacturing in more than one geographical location, at the workshops of key suppliers in Birmingham and the Black Country (the metal working district to the West and North West of Birmingham), the London trade and the new Royal Manufactory in Lewisham. This multiple site approach would have been particularly challenging, and it is also important to note that much of this work was carried out in time of war. These British innovations may have influenced others through the transfer of technology by former Ordnance artificers, including at the Imperial Manufactory at Tula in Russia via John Jones, father and son. The experimental comparison with contemporary American achievements shows that the British were realising levels of interchangeability at least equivalent to those at US National Armories, but that whilst the dimensional control sought in Britain may have been less demanding it was being attempted at many more sites.

‘The most common form of child mortality in Australia’: a human rights analysis of Australia’s response to stillbirth in light of the Senate Select Committee Report on Stillbirth Research and Education

ABSTRACTStillbirth is the most common form of child mortality in Australia, but it has been largely neglected as a public health issue. The Senate Select Committee on Stillbirth Research and Education’s Report (the Report), released in December 2018, and the Australian Government’s Response, released in July 2019, have raised important questions about Australia’s approach to addressing the issue of stillbirth. This article considers that approach in the context of Australia’s health-related obligations under international human rights law, especially its obligation under Art. 12(2)(a) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to take steps to reduce its stillbirth rate. This analysis highlights a number of areas in which Australia is failing to meet these international obligations and suggests specific priorities for the Government as it attempts to respond to the challenges that the Report identifies. The article also considers whether, by taking a rights-based approach, the Government could respond more effectively to those challenges and to the tragedy of stillbirth generally.

‘Without fear or favour’ – MPs urge Ofsted chief to speak out

Select committee report says Amanda Spielman is ‘reluctant’ to comment on wider issues and calls for her to speak ‘more freely’

Our Cows and Whales

Our Cows and Whales

Vulnerable children bear burnt of school exclusion increases

An education select committee report concludes a factor in rising levels of school exclusions is that vulnerable pupils are not getting the support they need. The government is being urged to back inclusive school policies

All Brexiteers now? Brexit, the Conservatives and party change

The 2016 referendum vote to leave the European Union (EU) brought about significant change in the policy and strategy of the Conservative Party. Despite David Cameron’s resignation, these dramatic shifts have not been matched by changes in personnel or dominant faction as MPs who voted Remain continue to outnumber those who voted Leave at the top echelons of the party. 140 Conservative MPs, many with a record of rebellion on EU issues, voted Leave, but among Remain-voting MPs were many ‘reluctant Remainers’. All except Ken Clarke subsequently voted for the Bill triggering Article 50 but, in a party long divided over the EU issue, the institutional support mechanisms underpinning policy change are fragile. Conservative divisions have also changed as soft and hard Brexiteers disagree over the withdrawal process and the UK’s future relationship with the EU. With the Conservatives now a minority government, parliament offers various ways in which MPs can register dissent and influence policy, from amending core Brexit legislation to supporting critical Select Committee reports.

A major step forward?

The recent Select Committee report on mental health is welcome, but has one glaring omission and one worrying inclusion, says Dr Bernard Trafford

Offline: Is the NHS in crisis?

Offline: Is the NHS in crisis?

Extralegal Violence: The Ku Klux Klan In The Reconstruction Era

This article is a response to the Equal Justice Initiative’s 2015 report on lynching, which aimed to provide a comprehensive account of racial terror since 1877. Although the study encompassed three years before the commonly used beginning date of research on lynching, the author argues that it omitted a great number of cases from the Reconstruction era (1865-1877). In this essay, she evaluates testimonial evidence from the 13 volumes of the Report of the Joint Select Committee to Inquire into the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States published by the U.S. Congress in 1872, citing specific cases of atrocities committed by the Ku Klux Klan in the years following the Civil War. A close examination of these reports reveals that the level of extralegal violence inflicted on African Americans in the Reconstruction era has been severely underestimated. Researchers are called to extend their investigations of lynching to include this period of history in order to develop a more truthful account of racial terror in this country.

Learning from mistakes: What leagues won't do

British Journal of Healthcare ManagementVol. 22, No. 4 CommentLearning from mistakes: What leagues won't doPolly PascoePolly PascoeSearch for more papers by this authorPolly PascoePublished Online:20 Apr 2016https://doi.org/10.12968/bjhc.2016.22.4.206AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail View article References Department of Health (2015) Learning not blaming: The government response to the Freedom to Speak Up consultation, the Public Administration Select Committee report ‘Investigating Clinical Incidents in the NHS’, and the Morecambe Bay Investigation. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/445640/Learning_not_blaming_acc.pdf (accessed 5 April 2016) Google ScholarDepartment of Health (2016) Learning from mistakes league. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/learning-from-mistakes-league (accessed 31 March 2016) Google ScholarHewitt T, Chreim S, Forster A, Vanderloo S Backman C (2015) Fix and forget or fix and report: a qualitative study of tensions at the front line of incident reporting. BMJ Qual Saf 24(1): 303–10. doi:https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2014-003279 Crossref, Google ScholarMcIntosh B, Voyer, B (2012), A Perverse psychological contract. British Journal of Healthcare Management 18(6): 290–91 Link, Google ScholarReason J (1998) Achieving a safe culture: theory and practice. Work and Stress 12(3): 293–306 Crossref, Google ScholarVoyer B, McIntosh B (2013) The psychological consequences of power on the self-perception of leaders and followers—implications for leadership research. Leadership and Organization Development Journal 34(7): 639–60 Crossref, Google Scholar FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails 2 April 2016Volume 22Issue 4ISSN (print): 1358-0574ISSN (online): 1759-7382 Metrics History Published online 20 April 2016 Published in print 2 April 2016 Information© MA Healthcare LimitedPDF download

Defending Due Deference: Probing Procedural Propriety in Proportionality

Two problems plague the proportionality test under the Human Rights Act 1998. The first is the tension between substantive and process review. Another is potential judicial fallibility. This article aims to pull these seemingly unrelated issues together to provide the court with some useful guidance on calibrating a suitable intensity of review in the application of proportionality test and interpretation of the Human Rights Act. When the court is uncertain about the cogency of the substance of the case, judges are required to examine the second-order reasoning to determine the level of deference, if any, to be accorded to the government. The author argues that adoption of a thorough and conscientious legislative or policy-making procedure can increase the democratic and institutional legitimacy of the parliament or administration under the second order reasoning. In this premise, the author proposes a comprehensive process-oriented review whereby procedural evidence leading up to the consultation documents, select committee reports and Hansard should be admissible to prove the propriety of the decision-making process. The higher quality the procedure is, the more persuasive the second-order reasoning is. Courts should thus ascribe more weight to these types of evidence to strengthen the substantive merits of the case in applying the proportionality review under the Human Rights Act.

Innovative teaching in situational awareness.

In the UK the publication of the Health Select Committee Report highlighted the need to incorporate human factors training in health care education. In response there has been a rise in health care professional training in human factors, focusing on non-technical skills, such as teamwork, leadership and situational awareness. Using simulation and contextualised learning, we have developed a non-technical skills programme for undergraduate medical students that introduces situational awareness training in the first year. Early integration of human factors into the undergraduate programme can be built upon in a constructivist approach throughout the undergraduate curriculum. Initially no formal ethical approval was required as this was an integral part of the undergraduate teaching programme and did not involve patients; however, ethical approval was gained for the analyses of this session from the local University Research Ethics Committee. Approval included the information sheets and consent forms provided to students, which permitted use of data 'in future posters/publications/presentations'. Students were introduced to hazards and cues that they may find in clinical areas, encouraged to explore the simulated clinical areas gathering information, interpret their findings and then consider future states. There has been a rise in health care professional training in human factors, focusing on non-technical skills Initial feedback from both the students and the tutors involved has been positive. In addition, the opportunity for linking this to other non-technical skills developments in different clinical settings and in interprofessional settings is being considered. The next stage is to explore students' perceptions of this session and their learning through questionnaires and focus-group interviews before developing further.

Investigating clinical incidents in the NHS: a future road map.

In the first of a two-part article, John Tingle discusses the House of Commons’ Public Administration Select Committee report on investigating clinical incidents in the NHS.

Indigenous Dispossession in the 21st Century

Northern Australia, that 39 per cent of landmass north of the Tropic of Capricorn, remains at the frontier of colonial expansionism. The most recent policy contribution to this imperative is the report of the Joint Select Committee on Northern Australia, Pivot North ('Report'). The Report is part of the latest process to develop a white paper aimed at defining policy for 'realising the full economic potential of the north.' It follows decades of similar unfulfilled reports, but supports an invigorated government platform expressed in the Coalition's 2030 Vision for Developing Northern Australia.

Supported Decision-making in the United Kingdom: Lessons for Future Success

This article summarises key aspects of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) in England and Wales. In particular, it focuses on the implementation of this Act and the lessons that can be drawn from the situation in the United Kingdom by those currently developing legislation around supported decision-making. The Mental Capacity Act (2005) has five core principles: (i) a presumption of capacity; (ii) individuals being supported to make their own decisions; (iii) unwise decisions; (iv) best interests; and (v) the least restrictive option. Although some good practice of supported decision-making is available, the House of Lords Select Committee Report (2014) identified that the Mental Capacity Act was currently very poorly implemented, with core issues including: a lack of understanding of the Act's principles, in particular, by health and social care professionals; a continuing prevalence of paternalistic substitute decision-making rather than the intended supported decision-making; and a general lack of change in the attitudes and culture from a caring and protective to an enabling and empowering approach. They also found perversion of the principles of the Mental Capacity Act, with the assumption of capacity being used to justify not providing services. The article concludes with a suggestion of a system for facilitating supported decision-making, as well as consideration of what is needed to change the culture.

Determining Capacity to Make Medical Treatment Decisions: Problems Implementing the Mental Capacity Act 2005

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 sets out a ground-breaking statutory framework to empower and protect vulnerable people who are incapable of making their own decisions. The Act incorporates empowering and safeguarding measures, but the balance between the two is precarious. The Act was scrutinized in a House of Lords Select Committee report in 2014, which concluded that, while the principles of the Act are well supported, a raft of measures is urgently needed to improve poor understanding and implementation of the empowering ethos of the Act. Some people who are capable of supported decision making are instead subjected to the decisions of others. This paper highlights an additional issue. The Act is one of a number of laws governing decisions to consent to and refuse medical treatment. As problematic as the failure to comply with the terms of the Act is the exclusion of some groups from its remit. Implementation of the Act, and compliance of our laws with human rights (and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in particular), is dependant upon a broader commitment to empowerment. This article considers how this might be achieved.

The Mental Capacity Act 2005: riding the storm of criticism.

John Tingle discusses the Government's response to the House of Lords Select Committee report on the Mental Capacity Act 2005 .

An Uncertain Future for the BBC World Service

AbstractIn recent years, the BBC World Service has undergone the most radical overhaul of its governance, finance and working practices since the Second World War. In examining these changes, the Foreign Affairs Select Committee report on The Future of the BBC World Service articulates ‘clear differences’ between it and the BBC about how the World Service should be governed, and ‘serious reservations’ about the transfer of funding in April this year from government grant‐in‐aid to the licence fee. With a new BBC Charter due in 2017, will the distinct ethos and culture of the World Service survive this major reorganisation?