Western governments often attempt to regulate the use of privately owned urban land, while still relying on private landowners and developers to initiate development. This requires restrictions on the ways owners can develop their land, which restricts supply and increases land prices. The incentive of landowners to maximize the value of their land leads them to resist any restrictions on their right to develop.

Different countries have responded to these difficulties in achieving land use policy objectives in different ways. In the United States, and to a lesser degree Australia, the private market largely determines the way cities grow and land use planning has only a minor influence. In Sweden and the Netherlands most land for development is purchased by the municipalities who also initiate the development. Britain, with strong land use controls, still relies on private development initiatives. Those controls restrict the land available and contribute to high land prices.

From an examination of the available data it appears that the present Workmen's Compensation system in the United States is providing a deprivation livelihood for the work-injured and their survivors and is failing to meet its objectives as a service delivery system because it results in a gross misallocation of public costs. It is not providing coverage at all to many workers most exposed to industrial injury and is not getting benefits to an important proportion of those entitled to them. At the same time, it is providing dependable but undisclosed profits to private insurance carriers.

Tribunals, now recognized as key institutions of the Welfare State, are attracting a good deal of attention. Despite a growing volume of criticism little systematic research has been undertaken into the way they actually function. Since almost every British citizen has rights of appeal to national insurance local tribunals (NILTs) it would seem that they constitute a good starting point. An earlier article presented a general view of NILTs. This paper examines the way the appeal system works from several different perspectives. Difficulties encountered by ordinary citizens at various stages in the appeal process are discussed. The research findings on attendance, representation and success rates are analysed. Attendance by the appellant at the hearing of his appeal is shown to be of particular significance. It is also clear that expansion of facilities for providing advice and representation would be advantageous to appellants. Problems connected with expansion of these facilities are discussed, and an ‘ideal type’ representative is outlined. This leads to a discussion of different tribunal models and a ‘participation model’ is developed. Finally, some implications of the research findings for the development of social policy are considered.

To ask about a country's family policy is to ask how state action, government policies, are actually affecting families and the quality of family life – not just poor families, but all families in that country. French family policy is considered under three headings: (1) the political significance of the family in France, (2) the social security services designed to increase the economic viability of the family and to promote family welfare, and (3) the adjustment of French family policy to the changing economic situation and aspirations of ordinary families. Comparisons are drawn with British policies under each heading and the conclusion drawn that compared with Britain France has a more conscious, clearly defined concept of family policy, which finds expression firstly in statutory and voluntary institutions whose primary or even sole purpose is to promote the welfare of the family, and secondly, in a whole range of statutory benefits to which the parents of the nuclear family are entitled as of right.

This article describes current policies and practices in relation to English Gypsies and a study of Gypsies by participant observation. While governments in the past have always sought to prevent the Gypsies from travelling, local authorities have been equally concerned to prevent camping or settlement in their district. Despite the Caravan Sites Act 1968, which makes the provision of caravan sites mandatory, many authorities are reluctant to fulfil their obligations. By June 1974, pitches for little more than a quarter of Gypsy families had been provided. Harassment of travelling families who have no legal place to which to go persists.

The evidence suggests that the Gypsies are a cohesive ethnic group with membership based primarily on descent. They are not drop-outs from house-dwelling society and they maintain their separation by intent. They have a viable economy based mainly on scrap breaking and it seems likely that travelling, which facilitates their work, will persist. Though some Gypsies wish to settle, many do not.

Several short-term policy changes are proposed, requiring a more flexible and varied approach to accommodation for Gypsies. The hope is that Britain might ultimately become the first country to permit Gypsies their own separate way of life, travelling or settled by choice.

Social policy in Northern Ireland offers examples of social policies strongly influenced by ideological considerations. There are a number of factors which determine how susceptible services and policies are to ideological influences. Some services are particularly sensitive to ideological values and demands, for example, education. In certain areas the distribution of services and the allocation of resources has been significant in maintaining the political structure. The distribution of administrative responsibility, the absence of pressure from Britain for maintaining parity in social services, and the absence of non-secretarian pressures on the government are other significant factors. The process of analysing problems and formulating social policy reflects deep ideological divisions. This can be contrasted with the rational, empirical and pragmatic models of policy making, implicit in the development of social policy in Britain. With some minor modifications the British model of the Welfare State operates in Northern Ireland. In some areas it operates to serve ends other than those of redistribution or meeting social need. This provides insights into some of the assumptions made about social policy and the Welfare State in Britain.

The article contains the authors' evidence to the Royal Commission on Civil Liability. It discusses the main sources of compensation for industrial injury: the State's industrial injuries scheme, occupational sick pay and common law damages. Under each head the role of trade unions is assessed.

State benefits provide compensation for injury, disablement and death, but impose a narrow definition of accident and disease. The adequacy of the level of benefits is also questioned. The common law system, moreover, is criticized on several fundamental grounds including cost, uncertainty, delay, legalism and the adverse effect on industrial safety.

The authors propose the abolition of common law damages, provided the resources involved are used within a reformed State scheme. State benefit payable during absence from work is envisaged at 90 per cent of average post-tax earnings, with the employer legally obliged to pay no less than the equivalent amount for the initial period of absence. There would also be payments for loss of earnings after a man returns to employment, for non-pecuniary losses and to compensate the widows of those killed in industrial accidents.

This paper was presented as background for discussion at the 8th Annual Conference of the Social Administration Association in Edinburgh in July 1974. The aim was to produce as comprehensive a review as possible within reasonable length and the rather awkward title is intended to convey that the paper covers activities, notably in the field of management, which somewhat stretch the normal meaning of ‘research’. An introduction briefly sketches as background the financial and physical scale of the Department's social security responsibilities. The remainder of the paper is laid out in four sections (corresponding to the way the Department is organized at headquarters); one dealing with social security research as the phrase would perhaps be most usually understood; one with statistics; one with the specialized work of the Economic Adviser's Office; and one with managerial research and allied activities. As indicated at the heading, this last section, which anyway did not claim to be comprehensive, has for present purposes been drastically curtailed, touching only on two topics which are, perhaps – especially the work of the Supplementary Benefit Commission's Inspectorate – of more general than specialized management interest. Otherwise the paper remains, apart from editorial changes, as presented to the Conference, and facts and figures do not take account of developments since then.

The objective of this paper is to take the published Mental Health Service objectives of the British Government and to assess the extent to which these objectives had been attained by 1970. Our measures are those of input and the criteria by which we judge the services are those which were set forth in the White papers, the Hospital Plan for England and Wales (1962), and Health and Welfare (1963). By and large we find that the objectives were not met. Simple linear extrapolation of some of the trends in the data make us pessimistic about their attainment prior to 1980. These lessons should condition any optimism about the inevitability of more recent objectives (Department of Health and Social Security [1971] - the Keith Joseph proposals) being attained in the prescribed time period.

Eleven years after the publication of Richard Titmuss's essay on Income Distribution and Social Change, the official statisticians are still drawing optimistic conclusions about the tendency of income inequality to decline in Britain. This article re-examines some of the critical questions raised by Titmuss concerning the accuracy and interpretation of the official statistics. It considers the definition of income, the implications of capital gains, fringe benefits and the benefits from owner-occupation, the role of life-cycle factors, and the measurement of inequality. It concludes with an assessment of the impact of Titmuss's study on the quality of statistical information and on attitudes and beliefs.

Social values are clearly an important influence on the development and administration of social policies. In discussions about social values, however, different political groupings use the same words but with different meanings. This article compares and contrasts ‘ideal-type’ liberal and socialist conceptions of the three social values of freedom, individualism and equality. It then goes on to discuss how far social policy reflects these differing conceptions. The conclusion drawn is that, so far as social policy is concerned, in the clashes between liberal and socialist conceptions of social values liberal values tend to emerge as dominant.

This paper relates the nature of planning thought to the administrative and legal context, and to possible welfare objectives. The question is raised as to whether town planners have become concerned with specific social benefits. An analysis of the preoccupations of planners is made, using data available in Royal Town Planning Institute literature. From branch meetings data, conclusions are drawn as to changing areas of interest. It is noted that planners did not develop a very strong preoccupation with specific social issues over the 1947–71 period. Factors that may have influenced the evolution of professional thought are then examined. In particular, a hypothesis is put forward that the nature of the planning machinery has been such as to deter discussion about specific welfare implications. Other factors have included traditions, alternative preoccupations, and a lack of coherent attempts to link theoretical analyses with implementation. The paper comments briefly upon the town planning approaches that would be necessary if a more definite welfare outcome were desired. Town and country planners have thought in terms of physical development standards mainly because of the character of the land use planning system.

Changes in the administrative structure of the National Health Service and in policy concerning the role of the psychiatric hospitals in the delivery of mental health care mean that local authorities have a growing responsibility for providing a range of supportive services for people who formerly would have lived for long periods in mental hospitals. Sheltered living environments will be an essential part of these services but there is little systematic information regarding the kind of care required in terms of the needs of the adult mentally ill. A pilot study is reported of the non-hospital residential care experienced by mentally ill adults who were financially assisted by three South London boroughs. The findings are related to a wider study of new long-stay patients in mental hospitals, some of whom could be discharged if alternative services were available. The appropriateness of short-term rehabilitation hostels as opposed to long-term maintenance environments of various kinds is discussed. The study is now being extended to include other forms of care including group homes, sheltered housing schemes and a wider range of local authority hostels than was encountered at the pilot stage.

The use of social indicators in the implementation of area-specific positive discrimination programmes is increasing and is likely to continue to do so. It is important in this context that some of the unintended consequences of their use be appreciated.

It is argued that the concentration on the statistical niceties and technical details of social indicators especially as they are applied to the identification of areas of urban deprivation has been misplaced, and the concern for the ‘arithmetic of woe’ has diverted attention away from some of the more fundamental assumptions underlying their use.

As predominantly used, social indicators have assumed both that a value consensus exists about the nature and parameters of urban deprivation, when in fact this is an issue of value (and political) conflict, and, more specifically, that urban deprivation springs from social pathology. By default, urban deprivation has been assumed to be that which the indicators measure, when in fact they often reflect no more than existing levels of service provision and current social policies.

There is a need for a clear (even if arbitrary) definition of deprivation, and the derivation of indicators from such a definition. In the latter part of the article the author outlines an attempt to do this.