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1 – 10 of over 7000Following a successful bid to the National Apprenticeship Service, the Peter Jones Foundation was awarded funding to develop a level 5 Higher Apprenticeship in Innovation and…
Abstract
Purpose
Following a successful bid to the National Apprenticeship Service, the Peter Jones Foundation was awarded funding to develop a level 5 Higher Apprenticeship in Innovation and Growth. The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of how the apprenticeship was developed and the impact it will have on future managers and leaders in the business sector.
Design/methodology/approach
Information presented in the paper is drawn from the organisation's own work in developing a higher apprenticeship (HA). It builds on information incorporated in the original bid and project plan, as well as on‐going evaluation of how the programme is progressing.
Findings
The development of a level 5 Higher Apprenticeship in Innovation and Growth provides a progression for those people who have already undertaken a level 3 Enterprise Apprenticeship and also offers young people a new and speedier route to a career in business. Responding to gaps in intrapreneurial skills in SMEs and larger companies, the HA builds and develops these and aims to identify and nurture entrepreneurial talent. The evolution of this apprenticeship and potential benefits are brought to light in this case study.
Originality/value
The paper is based on the author's own experience and employer consultation. It presents a case study of an apprenticeship programme specific to the author's organisation.
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Peter Jones, David Hillier and Daphne Comfort
The purpose of this commissioned paper is to offer some personal reflections on sustainability within the hospitality industry.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this commissioned paper is to offer some personal reflections on sustainability within the hospitality industry.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper opens by identifying sustainability as a teasing paradox for the hospitality industry and a short discussion of the characteristics of sustainability. It then explores the growing interest in corporate sustainability and offers a review of the range of academic research into sustainability within the hospitality industry literature. More generally, the authors suggest three fundamental sets of issues that currently face the industry, namely, defining sustainability within the industry, materiality and independent external assurance and sustainable consumption and the industry’s commitment to continuing economic growth.
Findings
In addressing these three sets of issues, the authors make a number of suggestions. First that definitions of sustainability within the hospitality industry can be interpreted as being constructed around business imperatives rather than an ongoing commitment to sustainability. Second that materiality and external assurance are not treated comprehensively within the industry, which undermines the credibility of the sustainability reporting process. Third that the concept of sustainable consumption and any critique of the industry’s commitment to economic growth are conspicuous by their absence in the both the research literature on sustainability and in sustainability reporting within the industry.
Practical implications
The paper suggests that the hospitality industry may need to examine how it defines sustainability, to extend its sustainability reporting to embrace materiality and external assurance and to address the issues of sustainable consumption and continuing economic growth if it is to demonstrate a worthwhile and enduring commitment to sustainability.
Originality/value
The paper provides some accessible personal reflections on sustainability within the hospitality industry and, as such, it will be of interest to academics, students and practitioners interested in the hospitality industry and more widely within the business and management community.
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Peter Jones and Daphne Comfort
This paper offers some reflections on changes in the relationships between sustainability and the hospitality industry following the onset of the Coronavirus Disease 2019…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper offers some reflections on changes in the relationships between sustainability and the hospitality industry following the onset of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis. (Covid-19 is officially a pandemic, but the term “COVID-19 crisis” is used throughout this paper because the authors feel that it captures the wider impacts of the crisis, rather than just focussing on the disease itself).
Design/methodology/approach
The paper describes the COVID-19 crisis, emphasises the role of hospitality in economic and social life and reviews how the crisis has changed the relationships between sustainability and the hospitality industry.
Findings
The paper reveals the dramatic effect the crisis has had on sustainability in the hospitality industry. That said, though the crisis has offered a vision of a more sustainable future, this vision may pose a major challenge for the industry and for many of its traditional customers.
Research limitations/implications
The paper outlines some of the theoretical, operational, strategic and research implications of the crisis for the hospitality industry and for hospitality scholars.
Originality/value
This paper provides a reflective review of changes in the relationships between sustainability and the hospitality industry following the onset of COVID-19.
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Peter Jones, David Hillier and Daphne Comfort
The purposes of this paper are to provide a preliminary examination of the extent to which Europe’s leading commercial property companies are embracing the concept of materiality…
Abstract
Purpose
The purposes of this paper are to provide a preliminary examination of the extent to which Europe’s leading commercial property companies are embracing the concept of materiality and commissioning independent external assurance as part of their sustainability reporting processes and to offer some wider reflections on materiality and external assurance in sustainability reporting.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper begins with an introduction to corporate sustainability, an outline of the European property market and of the drivers for, and challenges to, sustainability for property companies and a review of the characteristics of materiality and external assurance. The information on which the paper is based is drawn from the leading European commercial property companies’ corporate websites.
Findings
The paper reveals that all of Europe’s leading property companies had either reported or provided information on sustainability but that only approximately half of these companies had embraced materiality or commissioned some form of independent external assurance as an integral part of their sustainability reporting processes. In many ways, this reduces the reliability and credibility of the leading property companies’ sustainability reports. Looking to the future, growing stakeholder pressure may force more of the leading European property companies to embrace materiality and commission external assurance as systematic and integral elements in the sustainability reporting process.
Originality/value
The paper provides an accessible review of the current status of materiality and external assurance among Europe’s leading commercial property companies’ sustainability reporting and as such it will interest professionals, practitioners, academics and students interested in the sustainability in the property industry.
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Sharon A.S. Neufeld, Peter B. Jones and Ian M. Goodyer
The purpose of this paper is to expand upon policy implications of a recent study assessing adolescent mental health service contact and subsequent depression.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to expand upon policy implications of a recent study assessing adolescent mental health service contact and subsequent depression.
Design/methodology/approach
Review of related evidence from academic and grey literature.
Findings
Studies assessing the role of mental health services in reducing mental disorder during adolescence are sparse, and even prevalence figures for adolescent mental disorders are out-of-date. Adolescent mental health service contact rates are shown to fall concurrent with budgetary decreases. School-based counselling is highlighted as an important source of help that may be at risk of being cut. Increased training of General Practitioners and school counsellors is needed to improve efficiency in specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).
Practical implications
Longitudinal studies of young people’s mental health should include mental health service usage and its relationship with subsequent mental health outcomes.
Social implications
Funding cuts to CAMHS must be avoided, school-based counselling must be protected, and service referrers should be better trained.
Originality/value
This paper highlights the need for increased CAMHS data, sustained funding, and improved training for this vital service.
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Peter joined local government following a career in nursing, specialising in psychiatric social work. Following qualification in social work, he worked in practice, including…
Abstract
Peter joined local government following a career in nursing, specialising in psychiatric social work. Following qualification in social work, he worked in practice, including attachments to primary health, in both the US and UK. His managerial career has taken him into both public and private sectors. He was Strategic Director of Social Services in Kent for eight years and during this time took the largest Social Services department in the country from ‘poor’ performance to ‘excellent’ before being appointed as Chief Executive of Kent County Council. Kent is one of the largest local authorities in the country and has been rated as one of the very best performing authorities. Peter also chairs the South East England Centre of Excellence which concentrates on sharing best practice and creating a smart environment with regard to efficiency and performance, and is working closely with the Government on Futures.Peter led nationally for ten years on asylum matters for the Association of Directors of Social Services (ADSS), chaired the National Taskforce and for five years until recently the National Register for Unaccompanied Children (NRUC). He also started a network of principal gateway authorities in the European Union to discuss common problems and develop a framework of best practice. Peter is now leading for the region on the national migration forum. He has also been invited by Lord Darzi to become a member of the Health Innovation Council. Peter has a national reputation for innovation and was nominated by The Guardian newspaper as one of the top 100 Innovators in the public sector in the UK and shortlisted for the 2006 Public Sector Power 100 Awards.Now in his fourth year as Chief Executive at Kent, Peter continues to pursue ‘innovation, effectiveness and an outcome‐based modern public service’.
Peter Jones, Daphne Comfort and David Hillier
The purpose of this paper is to outline the origins and nature of the pop up retail phenomenon, examine the development and characteristics of pop up shops within the UK and offer…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to outline the origins and nature of the pop up retail phenomenon, examine the development and characteristics of pop up shops within the UK and offer some reflections on the impact of pop up shops within the UK’s town and city centres and on the role of pop up shops within the wider retail economy.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper begins with a brief review of the pop up retail phenomenon and this is followed by an examination of the development and characteristics of pop up shops in the UK. The information on which the paper is based is drawn from the corporate websites of pop up shop operators and property management companies and agencies.
Findings
The paper reveals that pop up shops have been developed in a variety of formats and locations within the UK and a number of factors driving pop up shop development are identified including high retail vacancy rates in shopping centres, relaxations in planning regulations, the opportunity for retailers and entrepreneurs to market test products and brands and changes in customer behaviour and consumer culture. Looking to the future pop up shops may make but a small physical contribution to increasing the number of retail units on the High Street but by enhancing the experiential environment for consumers, they may make an important contribution to the quality of shopping.
Originality/value
The paper provides an accessible review of the origins, development and possible impact of pop up shops within the UK and as such will interest property professionals, academics and students interested in changes in the retail environment.
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Peter Jones and Daphne Comfort
Modern slavery has been identified as a problem in the construction industry, but the issue has received very limited attention in the academic literature. This exploratory paper…
Abstract
Purpose
Modern slavery has been identified as a problem in the construction industry, but the issue has received very limited attention in the academic literature. This exploratory paper looks to explore one of the ways in which the United Kingdom (UK)'s largest housebuilding companies have publicly addressed the issue by reviewing their modern slavery statements.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts a simple methodological approach to review the modern slavery statements of the largest housebuilding companies within the UK and offers some reflections on these statements.
Findings
The findings identified a number of policy and practice responses, which characterised the selected housebuilding companies' approaches to modern slavery. The companies' approaches to modern slavery statements were seen as aspirational and perhaps best described as a work in progress.
Research limitations/implications
The authors recognise that the paper has a number of limitations. The empirical material for the review is drawn exclusively from the corporate websites of the selected housebuilding companies at a set point in time and does not include any primary information supplied by, or obtained from, the companies' executives, managers or employees or any information obtained from the companies' contractors, subcontractors or suppliers.
Originality/value
The paper offers an exploratory review of the modern slavery statements published by the largest housebuilding companies within the UK. As such, the review makes a small contribution to addressing a gap in the academic literature on modern slavery within the housebuilding industry and will hopefully stimulate future research in the field.
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This paper offers a review of national and local planning policies towards warehouse development within the UK.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper offers a review of national and local planning policies towards warehouse development within the UK.
Design/methodology/approach
The first sections of the paper provide a description of the simple method of enquiry and sources of information used in the paper, outlines of the main factors driving the demand for warehousing space in the UK, and of the nature, scale and operation of modern warehouses, and a short review into the limited literature published to date, on town planning and on how it has influenced warehouse development. This is followed by an examination of some of the planning issues associated with warehouse development, two mini-case studies of how these issues are perceived and played out, a discussion of some of the issues raised in this examination and the mini-case studies.
Findings
Town planning policies were traditionally seen as a restraint on the development of warehousing but while current national and local planning policies make little explicit reference to warehousing, they have often been cited in support of new warehouse development because such policies emphasise the importance of supporting economic growth and fostering the conditions in which businesses can invest and expand.
Research limitations/implications
The paper has a number of limitations, not least that its source material is drawn from the Internet, and in that no primary data were collected from warehouse developers, warehouse operators, local planning officers or local authority councillors, and that the geographical coverage was limited.
Originality/value
The paper offers an accessible review of the current town planning issues associated with warehouse development in the UK.
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Peter Jones and Daphne Comfort
The sustainable development goals (SDGs) agreed at a United Nations General Assembly in 2015 embrace an ambitious and wide ranging set of global environmental, social and economic…
Abstract
Purpose
The sustainable development goals (SDGs) agreed at a United Nations General Assembly in 2015 embrace an ambitious and wide ranging set of global environmental, social and economic issues designed to effect a transition to a more sustainable future. The United Nations called on all governments to pursue these ambitious goals but also acknowledged the important role of the private sector in addressing the SDGs. This paper offers an exploratory review of how some of the UK's largest volume housebuilders publicly claim to be committed to addressing the SDGs.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper provides an outline of the characteristics of sustainable development, of the SDGs and of the frame of reference and method of enquiry employed in the study, prior to reviewing the findings from the largest UK housebuilders.
Findings
The findings revealed that seven of the largest housebuilding companies claimed to be committed to contributing to the SDGs, though the scale and the extent of their claimed commitments varied. In reviewing the housebuilders approach to the SDGs, the authors drew attention to three challenges the housebuilders may face in pursuing their claimed commitment to the SDGs, namely, concentrating on specific goals, measurement and reporting.
Originality/value
The paper offers an accessible review of how seven of the UK's largest housebuilders claimed to be committed to addressing the SDGs.
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