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The purchasing role of health authorities has been in existence for two years and public health physicians are expected to play a central part within this role. While the first year was dedicated to maintaining a “steady state”, differences are now appearing between authorities in the way in which purchasing is managed. Based on the views of senior managers and public health physicians working in purchasing authorities, considers how the purchasing process is developing and reports how public health medicine is perceived to be contributing to it. Identifies sub‐regional resource allocation as a major factor influencing the purchasing process. Conflicting views were found on the purchasing role of public health medicine, in particular with respect to health needs assessment. As purchasing evolves it remains unclear whether public health medicine will come to fulfil a largely technical role, or a more wider one in which it acts as advocate for the population′s health.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential biases in research designs used to assess the efficacy of sex offender treatment.

In all, 50 treatment studies (n=13,886) were examined using a random effects meta-analysis model.

Results indicated a positive effect of treatment for both sexual (OR=0.58, 95%, CI 0.45-0.74, p < 0.0001), and general recidivism (OR=0.54, 95%, CI 0.42-0.69, p < 0.0001), indicating that the likelihood of being reconvicted after treatment was around half compared to no treatment. RCTs showed no significant effect for sexual or general, recidivism. Significant effects were found for non-RCT designs (i.e. incidental cohort, completers vs non-completers designs). Assignment based on need (i.e. giving treatment to those who were high-risk) indicated a negative effect of treatment.

The results highlight the importance of considering study design when considering treatment efficacy.

The current research reports studies identified up until 2009, and examined both published, and unpublished, research originating from a variety of samples employing a random effects model. Consequently, it can be argued that the results are both original and are reflective not only of identified studies, but are also representative of a random set of observations drawn from the common population distribution (Fleiss, 1993). The results of the study suggest that what is required in future research is methodological rigour, and consistency, in the way in which researchers measure the effectiveness of sexual offender treatment.

Rural populations have traditionally received less attention in Britain than their urban counterparts, and little research into their problems has been undertaken. Identifies and discusses potential problems in the provision of quality health care in rural areas, based on interviews with five senior NHS managers and supported by information from relevant published literature. Identifies trade‐offs between the various dimensions of quality which can occur in rural areas, and argues that they should be based on objective information and be undertaken explicitly.

Excessive alcohol consumption is a major cause of health and social problems in the UK. Research has shown that alcohol‐related problems are responsive to early identification and brief intervention in primary health care. However, primary health care professionals have generally been reluctant to implement alcohol screening and brief intervention into routine practice. Addressing this issue has been the latest focus of an ongoing World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborative Project. The present study (Phase IV) is concerned with the implementation of screening and brief intervention materials and procedures for widespread and routine use in primary health care.

In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.

This paper aims to explore the impact discourse has on decision making practices within the boardroom and considers how personal proficiency in micro-language use can enhance an individual’s personal efficacy in influencing boardroom decisions. The work uses Habermas’ theory of communicative action to critique board talk, highlighting the need for greater understanding of the power of everyday taken for granted talk in strategy shaping. It illuminates the contribution that human resource development (HRD) professionals can make to the management of such behaviour and minimising dysfunctional behaviour and enabling effective boardroom practices.

Traditional governance theory from a business and organisational perspectives are provided before considering the boardroom environment and HRD’s role. The authors undertake ethnographic research supported by conversation analysis to explore how directors use talk-based interpersonal routines to influence boardroom processes and enact collective decision making. The authors provide one extract of directors’ talk to illustrate the process and demonstrate what the data “looks like” and the insights it holds.

The analysis suggests that the established underlying assumptions and rationale ideologies of corporate governance are misplaced and to understand the workings of corporate governance HRD academics and professionals need to gain deeper insight into the employment of talk within boards. Armed with such insights HRD professionals can become more effective in developing strategies to address dysfunctional leadership and promote good governance practice throughout their organisation.

The work raises a call for HRD to embrace a societal mediation role to help boards to become a catalyst for setting good practice which is strategically aligned throughout the organisation. Such roles require a more dialogical, strategic and critical approach to HRD, and professionals and academics take a more holistic approach to leadership development.

The paper considers the role of the development of HRD interventions that both help individuals to work more effectively within a boardroom environment and support development to shape a boardroom culture that promotes effective governance practice by influencing boardroom practice thereby promoting strong governance and broad social compliance throughout the organisation.

This paper seeks to highlight a poorly‐understood dimension of digital exclusion that is not related to access to information and communication technologies (ICTs), but rather to the reduction in flexibility for providing and administering public services following the implementation of an integrated e‐government system.

A case study of a project focused on reducing barriers to the delivery of driver licensing services to a remote indigenous community in Australia was undertaken and the data were analysed using Kling et al.'s socio‐technical interaction network (STIN) modelling approach.

The paper makes four recommendations to improve the licensing situation for the community that are induced from the findings. In particular the paper draws attention to the need to carefully analyse possible negative impacts of any e‐government initiative for those at the margins of society.

The paper aims to analyse the current situation as the foundation for recommending future actions. These can form the basis for subsequent interventions in the licensing situation.

This research provides an outsiders' overview of the licensing situation and recommendations for change that take account of a diversity of viewpoints and interests.

The paper contributes to our understanding of the relationship between ICTs and social exclusion in three ways. It provides a rich narrative describing the secondary impacts of integrated e‐government systems, a theoretically grounded analysis of the situation and some recommendations for addressing some of the implications at both the community level as well as calling for more careful evaluation of possible negative consequences about shifting service provision to integrated systems.