In the RAE 2001, widely differing proportions of staff were judged internationally excellent in different academic subjects. This has important financial and other implications, and in 2008 a hierarchical structure will aim to increase consistency. We look at those subjects that will be part of a super-unit with social policy in 2008, and consider what objective rationale may explain the wide differences in ratings in 2001. A quantitative analysis found no such rationale, indeed some variations appear perverse. This highlights the need for greater consistency of judgements, perhaps steered by a ‘super-panel’.

Under New Labour, policies designed to help families reconcile paid work and family life have increasingly become part of the UK's family-policy terrain. These policies are usually analysed from the perspective of mothers. In this paper, however, we examine how fathers have been situated within these developments. We argue that, while there is evidence of increased optimism on the part of New Labour about fathers' capacity as care-givers, the policies to have emerged since 1998 are only minimally facilitative of opportunities for fathers to reconfigure their paid work and care patterns. We suggest that the reason for this has much to do with the economistic rationale under which the reconciling work and family-life agenda has emerged.

Choice has become a central – and much debated – theme of New Labour's approach to the reform of public service. In this article we examine the conditions and consequences of the indeterminacy of choice in political discourse, policy development and organisational dynamics. We suggest that the under-specification of choice in political and policy settings risks devolving the stresses of indeterminacy to service organisations and their interactions with the public. We explore some of the public's ambivalence about choice and public services and conclude by offering two ways of thinking about the indeterminacy of choice – treating choice as a condensate and as a proxy.

This article aims to open up debate on the policy implications of ageing sexualities. The article begins by discussing the heteronormative perspective that frames current discourse on older people's needs and citizenship. It then presents data from an empirical study to highlight the concerns that older lesbians and gay men have about housing, health and social service provision, work and job security, and relationship recognition. The article illustrates how the heterosexual assumption that informs policy making can limit the development of effective strategies for supporting older lesbians and gay men; and raises broader questions about policy making, social inclusion and citizenship.

As a result of the new licensing regime introduced in England and Wales in November 2005, the nature of the town/city centre night-time economy and its future development has become a particularly pressing policy issue for local authorities. Among local authorities and local Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships, continental-style ‘diversity’ – in the sense of a broader mix of participants and forms of entertainment – has emerged as an ideal to be strived for. This article examines the problems faced by those attempting to create diversity and with it the ‘continentalisation’ of the night-time economy in this country.

Since coming to office, New Labour has made much of a ‘public philosophy’ that stresses the importance of equal access to opportunities. This article does not so much criticise this fairly modest understanding of social justice as ask whether the kind of social policies that New Labour has devised are capable of delivering ‘opportunity for all’. The suggestion is that, because ‘targeted’ policies – Labour's local regeneration initiatives are the example taken here – face intrinsic difficulties as vehicles for social inclusion and thus greater equality of access to opportunity, they need to be supported by a wider commitment to distributive justice.

Public and political attitudes towards lesbians have been slow to change in the UK. A number of recent legislative reforms, however, will alter the personal and political landscape for women who do not identify as heterosexual. This article explores the reported experiences of lesbians in the UK, concentrating on those who provide care for others, be this in a personal and/or professional context, and reviews the way in which legal and social changes look set to impact on them. Three distinct areas are examined by drawing on recent research: lesbian parents, lesbian carers and lesbians working in the care sector. Common themes and differences are identified and discussed.

The article concludes that the UK government is becoming more proactive in its response to lesbian lifestyles, particularly in respect of those who have, or intend to have children. The overall approach, though based upon sound principles of civil rights, is piecemeal. In all three of the areas covered, lesbians face continued discrimination and inequality. The discussion draws attention to the need to consider such issues across the life-course and for policy makers to recognise that lesbians may have multiple social roles as parents, carers and care workers.

The extent of children's and young people's participation activities has increased considerably among statutory, voluntary and community sector organisations across the UK in recent years. The Children's Fund, a major government initiative launched in 2000, represents a systematic drive towards promoting children and young people's participation in planning, implementing and evaluating preventative services within all 149 local authority areas in England. Based on research carried out by the National Evaluation of the Children's Fund, this paper explores the experience of Children's Fund partnerships of engaging children and young people in strategic processes.

The extent and nature of loneliness in later life does not show a consistent relationship with gender. Our study investigates whether there are differences in the nature and extent of loneliness amongst older men and women in contemporary Britain.

Loneliness was measured using a self-report four-point scale in a nationally representative survey of people aged 65+ living in the community.

Survey response rate was 77 per cent and the sample of 999 approximates to that of the general population. Approximately half of our sample 53 per cent were women. Compared with males in the sample women were significantly more likely to be widowed, live alone and have direct contact with friends and relatives. Preliminary analysis identified statistically significant differences between men and women in and self-reported loneliness (and changes over the previous decade). Ordered logistic regression, indicated that gender was no longer independently associated with loneliness once the confounding influences of marital status, age and living arrangement were excluded.

The overall self-reported prevalence of severe loneliness shows little difference between men and women, challenging the stereotype that loneliness is a specifically female experience.

Childcare provision in Britain has improved in terms of its quality, accessibility and affordability, but still much more has to be done, especially in meeting the needs of minority ethnic groups. Household research with Chinese and Bangladeshi families including grandparents, parents and children was conducted to account for their childcare needs. The findings indicate that, while there are a number of similarities between the two groups, there are also significant differences that influence household practices and preferences with regard to childcare. The qualitative data illustrate the diverse and dynamic nature of minority ethnic households, while also drawing out policy implications for socially inclusive childcare planning.

The drive to reduce child poverty is of particular interest in southern Europe, where public assistance to low-income families with children is often meagre or not available at all. The paper examines the effect of income transfers to families in Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal using a benefit-tax model. The distributional impact of actual programmes is shown to be weak, hence the scope for reform great. As an illustration, the European benefit-tax model EUROMOD is used to simulate universal child benefits equivalent to those in Britain, Denmark and Sweden. The anti-poverty effect of such benefits is found to be in proportion to their fiscal cost.

Performance measurement in social care is now considerably more advanced than previously. However, measurement is criticised on the basis of its presentation as neutral when, in the UK, it is part of the government's regulatory regime. However, measurement is important, especially when alternative methods may bring about different rankings of authorities to those endorsed by the recent system. This paper explores this issue through analyses of cost efficiency in English social services authorities. It concludes that the picture of authorities' performance depends on the method chosen which, it is argued, should stem from the stated aims of performance monitoring.

This paper uses a unique national dataset to examine the attitudes and living standards of older people (aged 60 and over) living in urban areas of China, including their living arrangements and income levels, and their attitudes to family-based and other forms of support. The results indicate that although there have been substantial improvements in the overall living conditions of the majority of older people in China, marked differences remain in the economic circumstances of sub-groups classified by age and, more particularly, gender. Many of today's older people are also wedded to traditional attitudes and patterns of behaviour, and informal family support remains important – for men and women, as well as for younger and older groups among those aged 60 and over.

Across the industrialised nations, the labour market participation of older workers (i.e. those aged 50 and over) continues to attract considerable attention, as the numbers in employment decline and those who are inactive or retired increase (for a 21-country review see OECD, 2006). Against a background of concern over the economic and social implications of low employment rates among the over-50s, much public policy has come to focus on extending the average working life by encouraging people to work for longer and to delay retirement (see, for example, House of Lords, 2003; and on European policy, von Nordeim, 2004).

This paper is concerned with the extent to which the state offers potential for furthering farm women's status and rights. Using case studies of Australia and Northern Ireland, it examines the extent to which the state has intervened to address gender inequality in the agricultural sector. These two locations provide a particularly rich scope for analysis because while Australia has a long history of state feminism and an extensive legislative framework for pursing gender equity, this is not the case with Northern Ireland. At the same time, the restructuring of the state in Northern Ireland, following on from the Belfast Agreement of 1998 and the Northern Ireland Act of 1998, has generated new opportunities for state intervention regarding gender equality. Moreover, while gender is now for the first time being placed on the state agenda in Northern Ireland, gender reform is being wound back in Australia, as equity discourses are subsumed by the hegemonic discourses of neo-liberalism.

This paper examines social and demographic predictors of debt problems, whether debt problems tend to occur in combination with other problems and which people tend to experience long- rather than short-term debt. Data were extracted from a survey of 5,611 adults' experiences of civil justice problems, throughout England and Wales. Being in receipt of benefits and long-term illness or disability were the strongest predictors of debt, with long-term ill or disabled respondents also being more susceptible to long-term debt. We highlight the importance of advice interventions that recognise the link between civil justice problems and health, illness or disability.

Governments are seeking strategies to extend working life, but with limited evidence on the attitudes to work, and motivation of workers over 50. This paper reports the findings of two national surveys which aimed to increase understanding of the attitudes to work of older people in the UK. They found that older people generally view work very positively, but that the forces which divide the labour market as a whole have an increasingly polarising effect as people grow older. The paper suggests that successful implementation of ‘extending working life’ policies will depend on a better understanding of the quality of work, of the diversity of older workers, and of the role of training.

One of the most substantial additions made by the ‘three worlds of welfare’ thesis to the welfare state modelling business is that comparisons should examine what welfare states actually do rather than how much they are afforded or which services they provide. This paper extends this basic principle by comparing the health outcomes (measured in terms of infant mortality rates) of welfare states and welfare state regimes. It examines whether there are significant differences in health status between the ‘three worlds of welfare’ and to what extent a relationship exists between health and decommodification. It concludes by reflecting upon the implications for the ‘three worlds of welfare’.

Central to the Blair government's economic and social policies has been the promotion of a more ‘knowledge-based economy’. However, some commentators have suggested that the knowledge economy stretches income distributions and polarises skilled and unskilled workers. Drawing on empirical data about the UK case to explore such claims, this paper concludes that there is a significant positive correlation between the extent to which a region's economy has become ‘knowledge based’ and its level of income inequality. It argues this finding has important policy relevant implications.

The past decade has seen significant change within social policy and society in the Republic of Korea (South Korea – we will usually refer to South Korea simply as Korea in the following papers unless there is a need to distinguish between the North and South Koreas). From an economically driven welfare policy and limited democracy, through the introduction of a democratic state and the economic crisis of 1997, Korea is currently experiencing significant reform within its social policy and within society. This reform has been variously described as ‘productive welfare’, ‘transformational’ and ‘developmental’ (Kwon, 2003). Societal changes, including the increased involvement of women in the labour market and increased participation through democratic processes, challenge the family and the organisational hierarchies of the traditional Confucian society and globalisation and rapid developments in information technology and communications have brought western influences and ideas.