Guidance on interviewing child witnesses in Scotland

The guidance was commissioned from Dr Amina Memon and Lynn Hulse at Aberdeen University. Their work was overseen by a steering group with representatives from the Scottish Executive Justice Department, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, NCH Scotland, the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, the Association of Directors of Social Work, the Law Society for Scotland, the Scottish Association of Community Child Health and the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration. A full list of those involved is given in the Appendix C. pt. 1. Guidance on interviewing child witnesses in Scotland -- pt. 2. Guidance on the questioning of children in court -- pt. 3. Lord Justice-General's memorandum on child witnesses: appendix to Guidance on the questioning of children in court -- pt. 4. Guidance on child witness court familiarisation visits -- pt. 5. Information about child, young and vulnerable adult witnesses to inform decision-making in the legal process: good practice guide -- pt. 6. Code of practice to facilitate the provision of therapeutic support to child witnesses in court proceedings -- pt. 7. Guidance on the conduct of identity parades with child witnesses.

Socialising young literacy learners into a discourse of failure: Dominant discourses in literacy teaching and assessment and their impact on the progression of young literacy learners into employment

This paper argues that contemporary literacy programmes are a mismatch for the expectations of both the government and employers as well as the goals of learners. It submits that the dominant discourses in literacy provision have led to the emergence of a learning culture which not only fails the learners but is also incapable of meeting the aspirations of both the government and employers. To support this argument, the paper reports a small scale research project that analyses the perceptions of learners, teachers and employers who were involved in a work placement scheme for young literacy learners in a college of further education. Data for the study were collected through focus group and face to face interviews and analysed using the framework of discourse analysis provided by Gill (2000) with findings codified and analysed thematically. The study found that teachers were aware that their learners were not adequately prepared for the world of work because of the demands of the dominant discourses of quality and performance measurement which were most obviously manifested in their assessment, teaching methods and the attitudes of learners. It found that employers perceive young learners as inadequate in terms of the workplace expectations. Learners in the study revealed that their workplace culture and expectations were totally different from the culture to which they had been socialised in their studies. The study concludes that unless the dominance of these discourses is ameliorated, young literacy learners will continue to be socialised into a discourse of failure.

Private equity and employment - the Davos/WEF/Harvard study

The World Economic Forum at Davos has published a major study showing that workplaces of firms taken over by private equity have 10% less employees 5 years after the takeover, than other similar workplaces. The rate of plant closures, opening, acquisitions and disposals is twice as high as in other firms, and the net effect is still a job loss of 3.6%-4.5% after only 2 years, compared with other firms. Firms taken over by private equity are also more likely to go bankrupt than publicly quoted firms.

Private equity: financial investors, public services, and employment

The report surveys the activity of private equity and other financial investors in the water, waste and healthcare sectors in Europe. It includes the appraisal of a WEF study on employment effects.