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Dear Member It has been pointed out to me that not everyone has access to the SPA newsletter so I've taken the time to type up the questions being addressed here- hopefully now everyone can respond. Thanks for your time. Tim Questions being addressed by the Working Party 1. The extent to which, alongside the considerable efforts the SPA is making to stimulate interest in social policy as an undergraduate degree subject, there may be a need to be realistic about the many ways the subject may be combined with others. Are there new strategies that can be adopted to promote social policy as an undergraduate subject? How can these be developed without losing some of the essential ingredients of the social policy perspective? 2. Similarly, are there new strategies that can be adopted to promote social policy as a post-graduate subject, and to ensure it is recognised as an important element in vocational and management courses? 3. Are there ways of encouraging consortia that can involve collaboration between departments to protect and promote social policy teaching? 4. In relation to the last point, and also in relation to research development, can the SPA do more to support and promote regional collaboration and to help isolated members to keep in touch with others? 5. Can the SPA do more to increase interest in the discipline amongst 'practicioners' and researchers in government, local government, the NHS etc? 6. Inasmuch as one of social policy's academic strengths is that it is multi-disciplinary what more can be done to make the case for that- in both teaching and research- in contradistinction to those who see academic activity in terms of unitary and exclusive disciplines? 7. On the international scene where social policy is largely absent as a distinct discipline there is nevertheless much work, heavily influenced by UK social policy analysis. Is there more the SPA can do to make links with de facto policy specialists in the rest of the world? So there are the questions- what do you think?