Making the Case for the Social Sciences
New report demonstrates ageing research has significant role to play in policy making
Click here to download the pdf report.
With pensions, dementia and care for the elderly all headline news, praise for a new report showcasing research on ageing by social scientists was given by MPs, senior civil servants and researchers attending its launch at Portcullis House in London on Tuesday 20 July.
The report, Making the Case for the Social Sciences No.2 Ageing, published by the Academy of Social Sciences, is the second in a series which aims to support the government’s agenda for evidence-based policy making, providing real world examples of where social science research has contributed to policy decisions.
Speaking at the event Baroness Sally Greengross, Commissioner for the Equality and Human Rights Commission and a former Director of Age Concern, congratulated the Academy for its role in bringing together a broad collection of social research. The report contains some 14 case studies examining ageing research on pensions, long term care, family care, relationships and wellbeing. “Modelling is absolutely essential if we’re going to get policy right,” she added, referring to presentations on modelling future social 
care costs given by Dr Jose-Luis Fernandez of the LSE, and on the best method of providing extra care housing by Professor Anthea Tinker of King’s College, London, whose works both feature in the report. Hugh Pullinger of the DWP supported the call for a proper evidence and analytical base for why an ageing population is an urgent issue.
The need to plan strategically for an ageing population and the value of access to research evidence in making policy decisions were key themes throughout the panel discussion. Angela Eagle MP, Shadow Spokesperson on Pensions and former Minister for Pen
sions and the Ageing Society, addressed the need to tackle ageism, the need for a greater empowerment of older people and the importance of improving the training and working conditions of those caring for them. She also stressed the importance of representing older people in our culture and our politics.
Other studies praised by the panellists and attendees at the event were attitudes to ageism, dementia care mapping, and the importance of promoting wellbeing in an ageing population. Dr Daniel Poulter MP, Conservative MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich and an active NHS doctor, emphasised the need to enable older people to lead independent lives, noting the value of keeping older people contributing to society. Angela Eagle considered that it was important not to be sidetracked from making real improvements in the lives of older people by (still important) hunt for cures for conditions such as dementia.
Baroness Greengross drew attention to the role 
social science research would play in a forthcoming enquiry into human rights for older people. She also emphasised the critical role of social science research in the national plan for dementia, enabling early diagnosis through providing adequate training for people working with older people.
And while the challenges were no doubt formidable, Angela Eagle MP reminded the audience that the problem was nevertheless a good one to have: living longer shouldn’t be seen as a burden or a problem but should be valued, with a shift away from a youth-focussed culture. The report, published in association with the British Society for Gerontology and Age UK, will act as a key foundation document for those helping to improve the lives of older people.
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For further details of the launch of the first in the new Academy series of booklets on the topic of Wellbeing, click here. To view a video of the launch presentations and panel discussion, visit: http://vimeo.com/9377129.
To download the Wellbeing report as a pdf click here.
To read the report in THE click here.
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Work and Wellbeing Conference 20th October 2010 Unilever House, 100 Victoria Embankment, London EC4Y 0DY (directions)
Sponsored by SAGE and Unilever PLC, a major day conference for employers, operations managers, HR professionals and the academic community on current issues in work and wellbeing, viewed over the course of the traditional working life, from both employer and employee perspectives. Good health enables human flourishing and fulfilment. Given the amount of time spent at work, the workplace is central to physical and psychological health, as well as life satisfaction. As the costs of ill health continue to rise, workplace health has become an issue that employers can no longer afford to ignore. This conference brings together all the latest thinking on current issues in work and wellbeing, from both academic and practioner perspectives. Details are also available at: www.sagepub.co.uk/press/acsswellbeing.sp Programme Chair for the day: Professor Philip Dewe, Birkbeck, University of London 10.00 Registration and Coffee 10.30 Welcome to the conference - Stephen Anderson, Executive Director, Academy of Social Sciences 10:40 The importance of the Health and Well Being Agenda – An Overview of the link between Work and Health - Professor Cary L Cooper CBE AcSS, Chair of Council, Academy of Social Sciences and Pro Vice Chancellor (External Relations) and Distinguished Professor of Organizational Psychology and Health, Lancaster University 11.10 Workplace Health and the Law – Current Issues: Simon Ost, Partner, Employment Practice, Hammonds LLP, Manchester 11.40 Refreshment Break 12.00 The Organisational Costs of Mental Ill-Health: Mike Parsonage, Senior Policy Advisor, Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, London 12.30 The Issue of Bullying in the Workplace: Professor Charlotte Rayner, Professor of Human Resource Management Portsmouth Business School, University of Portsmouth 13.00 Lunch 14.00 What people want from work – the changing needs and attitudes to work at different life stages: Professor Susan Cartwright, Professor of Organizational Psychology and Well Being, Director of Centre for Organizational Health and Well-Being, Lancaster University 14.30 The Value of Older Workers: Mr David Fairhurst, Senior Vice President, Chief People Officer, McDonald's UK & Northern Europe 15.00 Health Promotion in the Workplace: Dr John Cooper, Head of Corporate Occupational Health, Unilever PLC 15.30 Health and Worklessness: Professor Dame Carol Black DBE, FRCP, FMedSci. Director for Health and Work, DWP, Chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and Chair of the Nuffield Trust 16.00 Discussion 16:30 Close & Tea
Click Here to download a booking form or visit the Events page to book online. Rates:£195 (£125 for Academy members) For further information contact Vicky McGuinness on: adminstrator@acss.org.uk or 020 7330 0897 |
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Subscriptions
Details of how to pay your subscription, including by Direct Debit, are now available from the Members' Area (Update your Details). If you have forgotten your login details, please contact the Communications Officer Madeleine Barrows on: m.barrows@acss.org.uk
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Accessing Publicly Funded Data
The Statistics User Forum in association with the Social Research Association and the Academy of Social Sciences held a workshop on 21 April to discuss various problems that the social research community, and wider statistics user community, were having in accessing government and other publicly funded survey data. This was generously supported by the Nuffield Foundation
The workshop was attending by representatives from the Government Social Research Service, the National Statistician’s Office and the Office for National Statistics as well as representatives from other statistical user groups, social research organisations and academia.
The meeting discussed a number of specific problems, such as:
Changes to accessibility criteria for certain survey data.
Discussions here covered examples of government departments restricting the criteria by which access to data would be granted or removing access that had previously been allowed. There was a feeling that some of this tightening up was a result of restrictions put in place following the loss of sensitive personal data that happened a couple of years back and lead to the government report into data handling. In addition there was concern that some of the surveys jointly funded by research councils were also becoming more restrictive
Developments in accessibility of datasets
The UK Data Forum is concerned with, inter alia, ‘enhancing access to and sharing of existing datasets’. They have been working with others to develop clear access routes for government datasets. Three possible routes have been established, each dependent on the potential level of disclosure of personal information from the dataset in question. The routes are the End User License, Approved Researcher License and the Secure Data Service. At each level there in an increase in the confidentiality risks from the data. EUL are for non-disclosive datasets only, where as datasets with personal information will only be accessible through the Secure Data Service. In the security conscious and technologically enabled world we are now in, traditional methods of accessing data are not considered fit for purpose.
Delays in getting access
There were examples of the new structures causing severe delays in access. Previous requests that had taken weeks were now taking months. The procedures put in place to safeguard the data were seen as cumbersome. For some smaller research projects the timetable for access the data could negate the benefit of doing the research. There were real costs to these delays
Discussions were wide ranging, touching on non-government funders of data, burden on archiving, poor documentation leading to a reluctance to make data accessible and the difficulties of getting wider access to administrative data. It was noted that there are difficulties faced by government departments when looking to access data from other departments too. This appeared to be a popular misconception across the user community.
A full report of the meeting will follow in due course. Specific issues raised at the meeting will be discussed at the next Statistics Users and Suppliers (StatSUG) meeting on 23 June. This meeting is between the Statistics User Executive and the National Statistician and her Heads of Profession steering group. The final paper will then go to the UK Data Forum meeting in November this year.
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/65934/data_handling.pdf http://www.esrc.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/NDS/ukdf/default.aspx
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Myths and Realities: Series of Public Lectures and Discussions The most recent lecture in this highly successful series (held jointly with the British Library and the Social Research Association) took place on 9 March on the topic: Are we what we eat? Podcasts and slide presentations from the first three in the series are available on the British Library website. Click Here to access the links. Crime and Punishment in the 21st Century On 8 February,the third event in the Myths and Realities joint series at the British Library attracted a large audience to hear Professors Mike Hough and Ian Loader challenge some of the everyday thinking and lurid headlines we have come to see so frequently and which make developing a sensible and effective crime policy increasingly difficult.
Professor Jon Silverman of the University of Bedfordshire chaired a lively debate, which opened when Professor Hough from the Institute for Criminal Policy Research at King’s College, London asked why there is a mismatch between the public perception and actual crime trends. Despite the downward trend over the last twenty years in crime that people report in the British Crime Survey, many think that crime in on the rise nationally - whilst simultaneously feeling that it is going down in their locality. Both the media and politicians foster this misunderstanding by their reporting of events and responses to them. This distrust in justice needs to be tackled.
Professor Loader of the Centre for Criminology at the University of Oxford took this further by showing how the political consensus of twenty-five years ago had been destroyed. “Liberal elitism” was characterised by a wish to balance order and decency, to forge expert consensus on criminological policy and to manage public opinion when it challenged this. However, since Mrs Thatcher’s premiership, crime had become a key battleground of electoral politics; it had “hotted up” as it had taken an emotive and populist turn. He suggested we need to see a cooling down – was a NICE for criminal justice a way forward? Certainly we needed to build a deliberative politics of crime.
The third speaker, Lindsey Poole spoke from the experience of running the Thames Valley Partnership. She contrasted the policy approach which tended to be ‘top down’ with the reality of delivering many very different and frequently changing programmes on the ground - often with limited resources. Like Alice in Wonderland the same people kept appearing in different meetings wearing different hats as local groups aimed to engage different sections of the community and public sector in delivering diverse services.
The lively discussion showed that the power of the media is indeed strong and much of the politicians’ rhetoric leaves the public uncertain who or what to believe - which cannot be a good basis to develop the rational and effective policy on crime that many of us want. |
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The Academy Welcomes New Societies
The Academy has recently welcomed into membership the Scottish Economic Society (SES), the British Accounting Association (BAA) and the Society for the Advancement of Management Studies (SAMS). The addition of these two new members increases the Academy's representation of the whole spectrum of the social sciences still further. The SES aims to promote the study and teaching of economics on the widest basis, in accordance with the Scottish tradition of political economy inspired by Adam Smith, and to provide a forum for the discussion of Scottish economic problems and their relationship to the political and social life of Scotland.The BAA, which was established in 1947, is a UK organisation which brings together those interested in teaching and research in accounting and finance.SAMS was established in 1963 for the advancement of management education.
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