I would like to support Paul's proposal. I would also like to see a
solid strand that looks at not just the delivery of social services
derived from policy, but delivery from the receiver's viewpoint. For
too long policy makers have imposed a policy, frequently with little
piloting and with even less volume or stress testing (my background is
in IT software development and delivery). Whether or not the delivery
form meets the demands of the consumer, and how it matches the value
placed on it by the consumer are hardly considered. But an examination
of the change in delivery of, for example, domestic housing benefits
caused by policy changes in turn caused by adoption of
front-office/back-office or the use of electronic document management
systems will illustrate well that these changes have hardly benefited
the customer, nor have they done much to reduce costs of delivery.
Roy Greenhalgh
University of Bath
Paul Spicker wrote:
> There is scope for rather more emphasis on the analysis of social
> administration. The title of the paper is "Social Policy and
> Administration". In relation to the detailed description of content,
> however, there is only one mention of "administration", in the line
> referring to the "Organisation, administration, governance and
> management of welfare institutions." There should be reference to
>
> * public sector management,
> * service delivery, and
> * Social Administration, as the study of the institutions,
> mechanisms and processes by which social services are provided.
>
> I've argued elsewhere that the benchmarks, and our current
> presentation of the subject, makes too little of the vocational
> aspects of Social Policy and Administration, which was initially
> conceived as a preparation for work in public service and the
> voluntary sector. It's in our interests to re-assert that position.
>
> Paul Spicker
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