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The present range and character of child‐care services in Britain have evolved erratically over a long period of time. Structured by a succession of Acts of Parliament, shaped and re‐shaped by the changing pattern of social values, needs and expectations, current provision is both complex and comprehensive. Statutory and voluntary bodies now provide preventive services, shelter and treatment for both the deprived and the delinquent, for the able‐bodied and the handicapped, for infants and for adolescents. Often this care will be provided in the child's own home or in a foster home, but at any one time roughly 40 per cent of the 120,000 children and young persons that are today the responsibility of local authorities will be resident in a children's home.

This paper presents the process and outcomes of developing a national capability for strategic and portfolio planning within SBC Communications, Inc., a Fortune 100 company, and reviews the progress made and lessons learned since this initiative was implemented in October 2001. At this time SBC Corporate Real Estate standardised the planning approach used by its regionalised staff in order to achieve consistent business practices. This multidisciplinary effort involved process design, development of tools and templates, training and deployment, facilitation and mentoring, production of prototype plans, and ongoing coaching during implementation in 2002. The new approach, featuring scenario planning and economic modelling, has elevated planning services to an advisory level by emphasising shareholder value while satisfying business unit needs. Within the first year of implementation, the process has been fully endorsed by corporate leadership and adopted by business unit management. Refinements to the planning approach and enhancements to the methodology are being incorporated on an ongoing basis as part of a continuous improvement programme.

This register of current research in social economics has been compiled by the International Institute of Social Economics. The register does not claim to be comprehensive but is merely an aid for research workers and institutions interested in social economics. The register will be updated and made more comprehensive in the future but this is largely dependent on the inflow of information from researchers in social economics. In order to facilitate this process a standardised form is to be found on the last page of this register. Completed forms, with attached sheets as necessary, should be returned to the compiler: Dr Barrie O. Pettman, Director, International Institute of Social Economics, Enholmes Hall, Patrington, Hull, N. Humberside, England, HU12 OPR. Any other comments on the register will also be welcome.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the importance for real estate organizations to measure portfolio space in a meaningful way, allowing occupancy planners to make aggressive recommendations to reduce under utilized space within a portfolio.

This paper takes the form of an office space characteristics study of nine global occupiers in four different industries, focusing on vacancy rate, density, space usage and gross versus rentable/usable square footage.

There is a disconnect between where many corporate real estate executives think they need to be on these measurements, where they think they are, and where they truly are when metrics are based on actuals, and not on targets. Also, most US occupiers are above the BOMA international density recommendation of 225 square feet per person. Per person and per seat space occupancy is lower in Europe and especially in Asia.

The paper contains suggestions on how and what portfolio spaces to measure, as well as a base for comparing major space characteristics to corporate peers. This information is valuable for helping a corporation “right size” its portfolio in occupancy planning, and provides a meaningful way for real estate executives to demonstrate support for overall corporate objectives such as cost efficiency.

This study is possibly the first ever published detailing such a large amount of office space (almost 42 million s.f. total). It provides corporate occupiers a framework for measuring their own portfolios, and a yardstick for comparison of space characteristics to others once that has been completed.

The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the merits of occupancy planning as a means for improving strategic decisions regarding real estate portfolios and strengthening the credibility of corporate real estate (CRE) professionals.

The authors' extensive experience is combined with survey results and case examples of how two global companies are benefiting from occupancy planning.

Occupancy planning programs lead to better data and forecasting, which in turn create a more accurate portfolio‐wide view and improved space utilization.

This article demonstrates the link between effective occupancy planning and sound CRE decisions.

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.

Positive behavioural support has been considered as a valuable alternative to residential care for children and adolescents with learning disabilities and behaviour that challenges. While recent evidence suggests it has a positive impact on behaviour and carer ability to cope, there is little evidence of its economic costs or benefits. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

An exploratory cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate the cost of providing positive behavioural support to ten children and adolescents with learning disabilities and behaviour that challenges living in the community in Ealing, West London. Comparison was also made with the cost estimate of possible alternative support packages for children and adolescents with learning disabilities and behaviour that challenges in the UK, as obtained through a Delphi exercise.

Total cost of services per child was £1,454 per week for young people supported short-term, and £1,402 supported long-term. Children and adolescents were making use of a range of social care, education and health services. Over the full sample, half of the total cost was accounted for by education services. The Delphi exercise estimated the weekly cost of residential-based care as more expensive than the cost of community-based care for children and adolescents with learning disabilities and behaviour that challenges. At the end of the ITSBS, all ten children and adolescents initially at risk of imminent residential placement were living in the community with less service-intensive and less expensive support. This suggests that avoiding residential-based care could reduce costs in the long term.

Positive behavioural support has potential to support people with learning disabilities and behaviour that challenges in the community, leading to potential cost advantages. However, this is a small study and more robust research is needed.

This article identifies the broad reasons why costs in children's care services might vary, illustrating them with examples from research literature relating to England. An intentionally broad use of ‘costs’ is employed. The literature has been neither systematically nor comprehensively reviewed but does include most of the recent work in the social care field. Articles have been selected to illustrate particular cost associations. This article finds that there is as yet insufficient research into the costs, cost variations or cost‐effectiveness of children's services. However, the findings provide guidance for decision‐makers as they try to understand how resources are currently deployed and why this might be.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a peer-led self-management intervention for people with severe mental disorders.

This is a one-arm longitudinal study without control group. In all, 262 adults with (self-reported) severe mental disorders, who have used secondary mental health services and were living in the community were evaluated at three time points (baseline, six and 12 months). Socio-demographic data were collected at baseline. Wellbeing (Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale), functional living skills (Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II) and service use (Client Service Receipt Inventory) data were assessed over time.

Self-management for people with severe mental disorders improved wellbeing and health-promoting lifestyles. After an increase in the short term, costs appeared to decrease in the longer term, although this change was not statistically significant. Due to the lack of a control group, the authors are unable to attribute those changes to the intervention only. Nevertheless, the self-management intervention appears to warrant further attention on both wellbeing and economic grounds.

Self-management may facilitate recovery, helping to support people with severe mental disorders at no additional cost. Given recent emphasis on recovery, peer workers and self-management, this peer-led self-management approach for people with severe mental disorders appears to have potential.