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Research And Policy News

Current research and policy news from Government departments, research centres, publishers, and relationships and family organisations, along with links to further information.

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September 2006

28 September 2006

Maternity pay boost for working mums

Working mothers are set to receive an increase in their paid maternity leave, as the first changes under the Government's Work and Families Act are introduced. Businesses will also benefit from a package of measures designed to make life easier for employers.

28 September 2006

Latest births and marriages in Ireland

The latest birth, death and marriage figures in Ireland have been published by the Central Statistics Office's Vital Statistics.These figures, contained in the Central Statistics Office's Vital Statistics First Quarter 2006 report, show that almost 3 in 5 births were to mothers over 30 and that there was an increase of 358 marriages form Quarter 1 2005 to Quarter 1 2006.

26 September 2006

Delaying motherhood in Italy

A new working paper, Socio-economic Differences in Postponement and Recuperation of Fertility in Italy: Results from a multi-spell random effect model, has been published by the Institure of Economic and Social Research. This paper considers the role of women’s socio-economic status on delaying motherhood and fertility in Italy.

26 September 2006

Myths surrounding single-sex schooling dispelled

A study by the Institute of Education’s Centre for Longitudinal Studies has revealed that those who went to single-sex schools were more likely to study subjects not traditionally associated with their gender than those who went to co-educational schools. Girls from single-sex schools also went on to earn more than those from co-educational schools.

20 September 2006

National inquiry into childhood

The Children's Society launched the UK’s first independent national inquiry into childhood with a call for evidence amid increasing concerns about the state of modern childhood. The Inquiry is chaired by Professor Judith Dunn, child development psychologist at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London.

20 September 2006

Family placed at the heart of the debate on welfare reform

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions John Hutton placed the family at the heart of the debate on welfare reform. Mr Hutton said the state had to support "strong and stable families" and that this was "absolutely critical to our prospects of making further progress".

20 September 2006

Children to benefit from new family disclosure protocol

A new national police protocol announced will put into place a system for police information to be shared with courts for use in family law proceedings.

20 September 2006

Economic exclusion and ethnic minority women

Minister for Women and Communities Ruth Kelly announced that the next phase of the Government's action plan in response to the Women and Work Commission will research economic exclusion and ethnic minority women as a key priority.The next phase of the action plan will look at the particular issues facing ethnic minority women in the workplace.

14 September 2006

Childless women risk poorer health in later life

Childless women, mothers of five or more children, teenage mothers and mothers who have children with less than an 18 month gap between births all have higher risks of death and poor health later in life. These are some of the findings of the research project, Partnership and parenthood history and health in mid and later life, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

14 September 2006

Children's deprived backgrounds and achivement

A new booklet, Capability and Resilience: Beating the Odds, published by the Economic and Social Research Council, aims to offer some answers as to why some people do better than others, despite coming from a poorer background or having a deprived childhood. The booklet shows that at any stage of life, someone in an adverse situation can 'turn things round' under certain conditions. However, the research also demonstrates that someone in an economically disadvantaged situation can only overcome this to a certain extent.

14 September 2006

Sexual and romantic relationships in the workplace

Psychologists are seeking answers to the questions surrounding relationships in the workplace, such as do employers have the right to know about intimate relationships between their staff, and whether sexual and romantic relationship at work really are the kiss of death for your career. The issue of relationships in the workplace is the focus of research currently being undertaken by occupational psychologist Dr Lisa Matthewman at the University of Westminster.

14 September 2006

Number of specialist domestic violence courts to double

The government plans to expand the number of courts specialising in domestic violence from 25 to more than 50, after research showed the courts are having a real impact on prosecutions and convictions.The new courts should be up and running by April 2007. They will join the existing specialist domestic violence courts as part of the government's effort to provide stronger legal protection for victims of domestic violence.

14 September 2006

Information sharing to protect the disadvantaged

The government set out its commitment to sharing information between public services to expand opportunities for the most disadvantaged, fight crime and provide better public services.The information-sharing statement, published by the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA), goes hand in hand with the Social Exclusion Action Plan launched by the Government earlier this week.

14 September 2006

Accelerating the strategy to reduce teenage pregnancy

Beverley Hughes, Minister for Children, Young People and Families, urged local authorities to come up to the standard of the best as she set out the Government’s plans to build on its success so far in bringing down teenage pregnancy rates. The variation in success between statistically similar areas shows that local delivery is important and a new report Teenage Pregnancy: Accelerating the Strategy to 2010 calls on areas that haven’t made progress to learn from those which have.

14 September 2006

Dad advice service available by email and text

Work-life balance charity Working Families will launch a unique new email and text advice service on 2 October, 2006. Particularly aimed at dads, the service will allow 'callers' to email or text their questions about maternity and paternity leave and flexible working to the Working Families Helpline team.

11 September 2006

Action plan on social exclusion

“Reaching Out” the Action Plan on Social Exclusion was launched today by Social Exclusion Minister, Hilary Armstrong, when she visited Bromley–by–Bow Children’s Centre, in London. The Action Plan sets out the Government's renewed drive to improve the life chances and opportunities of the most disadvantaged and hard–to–reach in society.

11 September 2006

Plans to break down barriers to women's achievement

A major action plan to tackle barriers to women's achievement in the workplace and transform the culture in Britain 'from the playground to the boardroom' was launched today by Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly. The Government's action plan includes a raft of practical new measures addressing almost forty recommendations made by the Women and Work Commission in their 'Shaping a Fairer Future' report.

11 September 2006

Family breakdown in the UK

A new report from the Bristol Community Family Trust - The conflation of marriage and cohabitation in government statistics – a denial of difference rendered untenable by an analysis of outcomes - analyses data from the Millennium Cohort Study and finds that there are "substantial differences in family stability between married and unmarried couples in the early years of parenthood".

08 September 2006

Parents want support not parenting lessons

According to research from the Economic and Social Research Centre parents are more interested in concrete services than in parenting classes. The research found that in a survey of 1112 parents of 'middle aged' children, the majority did not feel that parents need professional advice and guidance to help them bring up their children.

04 September 2006

Poverty and social exclusion: a lecture by Tony Blair

Tony Blair will give the third of his Our Nation's Future lectures - on social exclusion - to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) on Tuesday September 5. You can watch it live at the JRF website.

04 September 2006

Children consulted on making family courts more child friendly

Constitutional Affairs Minister, Rt. Hon. Harriet Harman QC MP, launched an online discussion forum for young people to give their views on the proposals.Young people are going to be asked their views in a new online consultation about plans to make the courts more child friendly.

04 September 2006

Family carers at 'breaking point'

The charity Mencap has published a new report, Breaking Point - Families still need a break. The study reports on the continuing problem of caring without a break for children and adults with severe and profound learning disabilities. It suggests that 7 out of 10 families have reached or come close to breaking point because of a lack of short break services.

04 September 2006

Consultation on the new Family Procedure Rules

The Department of Constitutional Affairs has launched a consultation document which seeks views on the policy behind the new Family Procedure Rules. These rules will comprise a single unified code of practice and procedure and are intended to modernise the current language. The consultation ends 1 December.

04 September 2006

Speech on children's rights by Constitutional Affairs Secretary

he Constitutional Affairs Secretary and Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer of Thoroton, gave a speech on children's rights at the opening of the 17th World Congress of the International Association of Youth and Family Judges and Magistrates.

04 September 2006

New database of help agencies for parents and families

National charity One Parent Families launched a state-of-the-art, online database of 10,000 UK help agencies for parents and families. Designed for all professionals working with parents and families, the Signposter database has been developed using the expertise of a partnership of charities.

04 September 2006

Suicide rates in men continue to fall

Suicide rates in men has again fallen and the rate in 2004 was the lowest throughout the period 1991 to 2004, at 18.1 suicides per 100,000 population. Suicide rates for women in the UK were lower than those seen in men throughout 1991 to 2004, and a slight downward trend was observed up to 2003.

01 September 2006

Soldiers' wives are tougher than their husbands think

New research from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) discovers that the wives of British soldiers on active duty are more resilient then their husbands might imagine. The study included analysis of face-to-face interviews with 50 Army wives around the start of their husbands' six-month deployment to Iraq in 2004, and again after it ended, along with data from parallel research into the health and well-being of the soldiers. They found the wives, who were based in Germany, much more tolerant than the servicemen of the pressures that the military places on them.

01 September 2006

Divorce rates fall

Being a father has little effect on men's working patterns, in spite of the fact that they cut back their working hours for a short time after a new child is born, according to Economic and Social Research Council funded research at the University of Bristol.

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