Sector In Northern Ireland Research Articles

Can You Hear Us? The Parent Consultation for the Review of Children’s Social Care in Northern Ireland Carried Out on Behalf of Children in Northern Ireland (CiNI) 2022–23

ABSTRACT This paper draws upon evidence captured from a parent consultation exercise conducted by Helen Dunn (author) and Paula Keenan on behalf of Children in Northern Ireland (CiNI) for the Department of Health as part of the Review of Children’s Social Care led by Professor Ray Jones during 2022–23. CiNI is the regional umbrella organisation for the children’s sector in Northern Ireland. This paper will be of interest to those who are keen to hear parents and carers views and their experiences of Social Work and Social Care in Northern Ireland. The Review also engaged Voice of Young People in Care (VOYPIC) a charity for children and young people with a lived experience of care in Northern Ireland. They formed an Experts by Experience Reference Group of young people who were currently in or had experience of the care system.

Barriers and Enablers of Long‐term Land Leasing: a Case Study of Northern Ireland

SummaryLong‐term land leasing offers a viable alternative to land ownership in relation to increasing efficiency of agricultural production, economies of scale, and delivering environmental improvements in terms of land management. However, with no significant tenanted sector in Northern Ireland, access to land via long‐term land leasing is limited. This study analysed the barriers and enablers of long‐term land leasing. To achieve our objective, we employed a mixed methods approach. The results show that the main barriers to long‐term land leasing were environmental concern (around how the land will be managed), inheritance tax implications and the potential effect of long‐term land leasing on future succession plans of the farm business. We also found that as much as 70 per cent of the farmers surveyed believe the inclusion of a ‘break clause’ and the introduction of income tax incentives will encourage the adoption of long‐term land leasing, while 61 per cent of the farmers stated that the environmental management of the land will encourage long‐term land leasing. The study concluded that any model designed to encourage long‐term land leasing in Northern Ireland should include clauses which cover the environmental management of the land and break clauses. Income tax incentives for landowners could also be considered.

Neoliberalism and the Voluntary and Community Sector in Northern Ireland by Ciaran Hughes and Marcus Ketola, 2021, Bristol: Policy Press. ISBN: 978-4473-5118-4 (Hardcover)

Neoliberalism and the Voluntary and Community Sector in Northern Ireland by Ciaran Hughes and Marcus Ketola, 2021, Bristol: Policy Press. ISBN: 978-4473-5118-4 (Hardcover)

BVA highlights challenges facing the veterinary sector in Northern Ireland

Helena Cotton, BVA public affairs manager, reflects on our recent visit to Stormont, during which we championed issues affecting members living and working in Northern Ireland.

Contextualising further education governance in Northern Ireland: history, policy and practice

ABSTRACT This paper examines how governance in the further education (FE) sector in Northern Ireland (NI) has been shaped by policy frameworks implemented at local, regional, national and UK levels. Despite the unique ways in which FE policy has developed alongside the other devolved nations, very little research has considered the NI context and its complexity. In this paper we first examine the history of FE provision in NI, and the development of FE in NI in relation to the rest of the United Kingdom (UK). Following this, we examine the impact of recent FE policy on governance structures and governing practices across the six regionalised colleges operating in NI today by presenting some insights gained from ethnographic observations of governing boards in action and interviews with key policy actors. Our analysis of the empirical data reveals key challenges facing FE governing bodies in NI in relation to financial and budgetary concerns, the multiple relationships between colleges and the various government departments, and the uncertainty presented by the suspension and subsequent reinstatement of Stormont and the EU Exit (Brexit). We conclude by offering reflection on these analyses in relation to FE governance in NI going forward.

Archaeology 2030: A Strategic Approach for Northern Ireland

In the Autumn of 2016, the archaeological sector in Northern Ireland came together in the first of a series of meetings and collaborations to consider how the sector needs to change to meet the challenges that it faces, especially in the context of development-led interventions. The products of that collaboration were published in December 2020 as Archaeology 2030: A Strategic Approach for Northern Ireland. The core vision of that document is this: that the heritage sector, and the archaeological sector in particular, wants archaeology to be accessed and valued by as many people as possible, led by a sector which is healthy, resilient and connected. This article is intended to give some context to how this coming together happened, how it has progressed, and to offer some perspective and reflections on where the journey may go in the future.

Modelling environmental technical efficiency and phosphorus pollution abatement cost in dairy farms

The dairy sector is an important sector in Northern Ireland being the single largest contributor to its agricultural economy. However, the sector contributes more to soil phosphorus (P) surplus compared to other agricultural sectors. Consequently, the goal of this research is to analyse the environmental technical efficiency of dairy farms making use of a novel parametric hyperbolic distance function approach. The model is able to internalise P surplus as undesirable output in the dairy production process by treating desirable and undesirable outputs asymmetrically. The stochastic production frontier model is analysed simultaneously with an inefficiency model to explain variability in efficiency scores assuming the existence of heteroskedasticity in the idiosyncratic error term. Additionally, we estimated the shadow price and pollution cost ratio of P surplus in dairy farms. This paper contributes to the existing literature as it provides the first attempt to empirically estimate the pollution abatement cost of P surplus in dairy farms. Besides, the hyperbolic environmental technology distance function methodology employed to achieve the study objectives is less restrictive compared to the radial output/input distance function approach employed in previous studies. This allows for the estimation of a more robust environmental efficiency measure and shadow price of P surplus that is consistent with public policy goals that seek to simultaneously reduce pollution and increase production of desirable outputs. Our results showed that the average environmental technical efficiency estimates for dairy farms in Northern Ireland is 0.93 and the shadow price (marginal abatement cost) of P surplus evaluated at the mean is £12.29/kg. Intensification resulting in increased use of concentrates feed was found to be negatively related to environmental technical efficiency. We also found that age of the farmer and share of milk output have a positive relationship with environmental technical efficiency.

Shared space in post-conflict Belfast

ABSTRACTThis paper explores the planned attempt to create 10 shared housing projects in the social rented sector in Northern Ireland. Although residential desegregation has increased since the Good Friday Agreement 1998, it remains stubbornly high in the public housing stock. The analysis draws on a series of stakeholder interviews to highlight the contradictory politics, sectarianism and resource competition embedded in the rollout of the initiative. It concludes by identifying the value of spatial encounter beyond binary identities in creating a deeper awareness of the relationship between both segregation and poverty and mixing and wealth in the post-conflict city.

Controlled schools in Northern Ireland – de facto Protestant or de facto secular?

The Controlled Schools’ sector in Northern Ireland is usually described as de facto Protestant. By examining its history and current context, this article considers the veracity of that statement. In many schools RE is often ‘squeezed out’ of an already overcrowded timetable. This results in the quantity and quality of RE teaching varying widely, unlike other areas of the curriculum. The article explores whether the sector's ethos is Protestant, secular, Christian or multi-faith. It concludes that, although perhaps unclear about their Protestant identity and uncomfortable about being deemed secular, schools are clear about their de facto Christian status.

Further education and skills in Northern Ireland: policy and practice in a post-conflict society

ABSTRACT This paper contextualises the Further Education (FE) sector in Northern Ireland (NI). It outlines the specific political, social and economic influences that have shaped its position as a major but understated educational provider in what remains a highly divided educational system that is slowly transitioning in a post-conflict environment. Key policy frameworks underpinning sectoral development are described, showing how many policy initiatives have been both ‘borrowed’ from the English context and adapted to local need. The article proceeds to highlight a number of curricular and institutional innovations that have contributed to the development of a small-scale, but distinctive educational, social and economic model. The piece concludes by suggesting that the NI FE experience has the potential to contribute not only to its own specific conditions but, through its ‘policy and practice’ adaptations’, to positively influence FE policy and practice in other parts of the United Kingdom (UK) that require interventions around skills development economic growth and social cohesion.

Resisting or enabling? The roll-out of neoliberal values through the voluntary and community sector in Northern Ireland

ABSTRACTThe efforts of political and economic elites to instill in wider society cooperative dispositions that will value ‘partnerships’ across gradients of power are an important aspect of the neoliberal project. Neoliberalism must embed a benign cooperativeness in society in order to deliver the social stability necessary for a deregulated market economy to function. A central part of the neoliberal project is the creation of the conditions whereby subordinate groups will reject conflict for ‘the virtues’ of partnership, cooperativeness, pragmatism and consensus. Using Northern Ireland (NI) as a case study, this paper will illustrate how the voluntary and community sector has been both an object of elite policies aimed at regulating civil society activity and an instrument of that policy. Through a historical sketch of the repeated ‘turns to civil society’ of successive administrations in the UK and NI, and through interviews with voluntary and community sector staff and government officials, this paper demonstrates how the voluntary and community sector came to eschew conflict for compromise and pragmatism. The end result of government’s partnership policies, and the sector’s embrace of these policies, is a sector that would struggle to act as an agent in the development of counter-hegemonic narratives.

Assessing the significance of the economic impact of Marine Conservation Zones in the Irish Sea upon the fisheries sector and regional economy in Northern Ireland

This paper highlights the tension between advocacy for ‘Blue growth’ in maritime policy and efforts to safeguard future economic growth via the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. In 2015, policy-makers withdrew three of four proposed Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) in the Irish Sea from consideration for designation, due to concerns that they could significantly impact on the fisheries sector in Northern Ireland because they overlap with prawn fishing grounds in the Irish Sea. Although research has quantified the potential impact upon fishing vessels, none has quantified the impact upon the fisheries sector nor assessed the significance of this impact. Arguably, MCZ designations (or lack thereof) based on the ‘significance’ of an impact require robust underpinning evidence. This paper reports the findings of an Economic Impact Assessment, which has quantified the impact of a decline in landings upon the Northern Ireland fisheries sector and regional economy (data which is currently absent from the evidence base for the MCZ designation process in England). It finds that this will incur job losses in three fishing ports in Northern Ireland, but is unlikely to have a significant impact upon Northern Ireland's fisheries sector and regional economy in terms of jobs and Gross Value Added (GVA). In the worst case, the resulting economic impact is a decrease of £1.05–1.12m/year GVA in Northern Ireland, which is 1.1% of the contribution of fishing and fish processing to the regional economy. Economic significance assessments, using this methodology, may be useful in supporting the evidence base underpinning MCZ designation and other aspects of marine planning.

Understanding delays in housing construction: evidence from Northern Ireland

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate delay factors within private housing construction in Northern Ireland. Delays are inherent throughout the construction industry and create major difficulties in terms of project performance and client satisfaction. Whilst a voluminous body of international literature has investigated pertinent delay factors within construction projects, there is a relative paucity of research which offers a more delineated exploration of delay factors affecting private housing development schemes, particularly in the UK context.Design/methodology/approach– This study applies questionnaire survey research to examine the relative importance of 75 delay attribute factors for housing construction projects in Northern Ireland. The approach applies both a relative rank and principal component analysis to distil the key factors impinging upon the delay process in housing construction.Findings– The key finding from this research is that delays within the housing construction sector in Northern Ireland can be attributed to deficiencies in site management, ineffective communication strategies and a lack of coordination between key stakeholders involved in the construction process.Originality/value– The study adds to the existing knowledge base and provides stakeholders with information on factors, which, if properly risk assessed and understood, can improve housing construction performance. The findings are of relevance to construction industry practitioners, policy makers and researchers with lessons learned serving as a basis for future policy development as well as affording an information platform for improving the efficiency and expediency of housing provision internationally.

Community Transport in Northern Ireland - a policy review

There has been a recent rejuvenation of community transport following the UK Government's new transport policy of 1998, and Northern Ireland's new Rural Transport Fund. The latter offers for the first time specific funding and integrated planning for community transport and public transport, at least in rural areas. Prior to this, the voluntary transport sector in Northern Ireland had been lagging behind that in Great Britain for various reasons. This paper discusses the nature of voluntary transport at community level, and reviews the wider UK policy background, before focusing on the situation in Northern Ireland, summarising the types of services available and the rapid rate of progress in rural areas between 1998 and 2000. There is now a prospect of some form of supplementary transport across the Province, but the potential demand is so great that much remains to be done.Key index words: community transport, Northern Ireland, mobility, disabled

How far can the residualisation of council housing debate be applied to the private-rental sector in Northern Ireland?

The private-rented sector (PRS) in Northern Ireland has witnessed a decline for most of the twentieth century. At the beginning of the last century approximately 90% of households rented privately, but by 1991 only 5% of the total stock was privately rented, representing 28,600 dwellings. However, since 1991 the sector has steadily increased, and by 2004 the PRS represented 9.2% (62,500 dwellings) of the total dwelling stock, an increase of 120%. In Britain, there has been much debate about the residualisation of council housing with a focus on how lower-income households have been increasingly located in council housing with the more affluent being encouraged into owner-occupation, changing the social profile of council housing. This article, however, will seek to examine the impact the recent growth of the PRS has had on the socio-economic profile of housing estates in Northern Ireland and the tenure transfer that has taken place within these estates. The article examines current trends in the more ‘settled’ housing estates in Northern Ireland, and argues that a process of residualisation is emerging within these areas as a result of the changing nature of the PRS.

Using behavioural and motivational thinking in food segmentation

PurposeEmerging consumer trends within the food industry have increased the need to create market‐oriented products. In order to do so, a future strategy focusing on consumer behaviour and segmentation should be utilised. By identifying how a consumer behaves throughout the purchasing process a company can determine whether what they are offering translates into what a consumer actually needs. This paper seeks to propose that the utilisation of consumer purchase motivation and decision‐making models can help identify specific customer clusters to improve marketing strategy.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed methodology is a combined study of both qualitative and quantitative methods consisting of interviews, focus groups and a consumer questionnaire.FindingsA new conceptual model, which integrates motivation, and decision‐making models in a food context are proposed.Practical implicationsBy potentially gaining an intimate knowledge of the consumer, such models can optimise food‐marketing effectiveness by assisting the industry in predicting future consumer purchasing behaviour in a more systematic and informed manner. For the purposes of this paper, the research is applied to liquid milk category within the dairy sector in Northern Ireland. The commodity sector of liquid milk has been identified as the research context in recognition of its economic importance within the food industry in Northern Ireland.Originality/valueThe paper applies a new theoretical perspective of segmentation techniques to predict consumer purchase behaviour through the development of a conceptual model within a food industry context.

Equality in Higher Education in Northern Ireland

The higher education sector in Northern Ireland has been fully involved in the public policies designed to enhance equality. Starting with measures designed to secure greater employment between Catholics and Protestants, known as fair employment, the policies are now designed to promote equality of opportunity across nine designated groups together with the promotion of ‘good relations’ on the grounds of religion and race. The paper examines the implementation of this new policy framework in the universities and suggests that progress to date has been fairly limited.

The In-Service Training Experiences of Teachers in the Irish–Medium Sector in Northern Ireland

The In-Service Training Experiences of Teachers in the Irish–Medium Sector in Northern Ireland

The In-Service Training Experiences of Teachers in the Irish–Medium Sector in Northern Ireland

The focus of this article is on the professional development of teachers in Irish–medium education in Northern Ireland, with attitudinal information collected from staff in Irish–medium schools on the range and quality of the professional in–service education and training (INSET) and support opportunities they have experienced. Fieldwork for the research was carried out between October and November 2002. In total, 74% of teachers from Irish–medium primary schools, and 77% of teachers from Irish–medium post–primary schools completed and returned questionnaires. The questionnaire looked primarily at demographic details, such as gender, age, year of class, years teaching, responsibilities held, qualifications, etc., with an emphasis on determining: the in-service courses attended and their relevance, benefits and quality; in-service courses which should be offered; in-service courses to be delivered in the Irish language; support offered for attending in-service courses; and problems experienced when wishing to attend in-service courses.

Graduate Employment and Training in SMEs in Northern Ireland

Using the UK Labour Force Survey, this paper considers whether graduate employment is more important in the small and medium-size enterprise (SME) sector in Northern Ireland than in other regions of the UK. The authors disaggregate their analysis by gender, occupation and industry to provide a detailed breakdown. The issue of whether graduates are more or less likely to receive on-the-job training is also considered, both by comparison with non-graduates (matched by industry and occupation groups) and graduates in other UK regions. Finally, given that company size, firm location, industry and occupation groups are all related to the proportion of graduates employed in the labour market, the authors use a multivariate approach to disentangle the extent to which there are differences associated with graduate employment in the Northern Ireland SME sector (having controlled for other factors). The policy implications of their findings for graduate employment are then considered.