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The purpose of this paper is to examine the form, content and reporting arrangements of “statements of assurance” required from Fire and Rescue Authorities in England since their introduction in 2012 and identify potential improvements for future implementation.

A multi-method approach was adopted which commenced with an analysis of the current official guidance, an exploration of the accessibility and structure of the current statements produced; followed by a review of those statements through a desk based analysis complemented by a series of elite interviews.

The current guidance was found to be too broad and open to interpretation to be fit for purpose. This has led to some significant variations in reporting, limiting the statements’ usefulness to key users and stakeholders. Most authorities provided some form of report on their website but inconsistencies in respect of length, structure, name and content, limit their value. The research found that 30 per cent of authorities did not have an up to date statement available online. These findings were supported by the series of interviews. The result has led to confusion amongst authorities as to the statement’s role and the risk of it being perceived as a “box ticking” exercise rather than a real contribution to public assurance.

This paper provides potential lessons which could be adopted to inform future guidance in respect of the preparation and publication of the statement of assurance and its role within the wider public assurance regime for fire and rescue authorities. If adopted, these would improve the accountability, transparency and public assurance of Fire and Rescue Authorities which is a key objective of their governance arrangements.

The statement of assurance has only been a requirement of authorities since the current National Framework for Fire and Rescue was published in July 2012 and has not been subject to independent research since its inception. The government have recently issued a consultation on a new national framework, but this proposes changes to the statements of assurance. The findings will therefore be of value to the government, the fire and rescue sector and the recently appointed regulators for the service Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a response to a recent government-commissioned review of residential care (Narey, 2016), and the subsequent government response (Department of Education (DfE), 2016), which minimises the correlation between the experience of being looked after and becoming involved in the youth justice system. The Narey review emphasises on the role of early adversity in looked after children’s offending behaviour but minimises the significance of experiences during and after care, and downplays the effect of policies and practices that may exacerbate looked after children’s involvement in the youth justice system.

The paper builds upon a systematic literature review conducted for the Prison Reform Trust (Staines, 2016) to demonstrate the extent of current knowledge about how risk factors, adverse experiences during and after care and the criminalisation of looked after children combine to increase the likelihood of involvement in criminal proceedings. The paper also highlights gaps in the research evidence, particularly in relation to gender and ethnicity.

The findings suggest that the Narey review (2016) and the government response (DfE, 2016), are misguided in their attempts to minimise the role of care in looked after children’s disproportionate representation within the youth justice system. The paper cautions against the over-simplification of a complex relationship and emphasises on the importance of recognising the intersection between different factors.

The paper uses secondary sources to develop an original argument to rebut claims within a recently published review.

Servant leadership suggests that leaders should focus on the betterment and psychological needs of their followers at work. However, little is known about the relationships among servant leadership, leader–member exchange (LMX) and psychological capital (PsyCap) in the field of education. The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework on the mediating role of LMX in the relationship between servant leadership and followers' PsyCap based on theory and previous empirical research, particularly in the context of higher education.

To achieve the purpose of the study, a review of literature was conducted to develop a conceptual framework.

Findings suggested that servant leadership can positively influence followers' PsyCap via the mediating effect of LMX.

By positing that servant leadership affects followers' PsyCap via LMX in the context of higher education, this paper's framework lays a strong foundation for the expansion of the servant leadership knowledge base as well as for future theory development and debate.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the impact of loan concentration on the returns of Indonesian banks and examines whether bank ownership types affect the relationship between concentration and returns.

This research uses heuristic measures of concentration: The Hirschman–Herfindahl index and Deviation from Aggregated Averages are applied to Indonesian banks across all sectors. The data covers the pre and post global financial crises periods from 2003-2011 for 109 commercial banks in Indonesia. Panel feasible generalised least squares analysis was applied.

The findings show that loan concentration increases bank returns. The positive effect of concentration on returns tends to be more significant for domestic-owned banks. In addition, the interaction effect shows that the positive effect of concentration on returns is less for foreign-owned banks.

The Indonesian central bank changes to the reporting format of sectoral loan allocation by banks since 2012 in terms of the Indonesian Banking Statistics Details of Enhancement matrix requires separate data analysis for 2012 onwards. The findings of this paper could be enhanced by more detailed data like interest rate expenses and bank level sectoral non-performing loans data.

The findings suggest that a focus strategy provides better returns. Moreover, bank ownership types is an important factor to consider when setting a bank lending policy.

This paper is among the few studies where different measures of loan concentration in combination with measures of return are applied in Indonesia as an emerging Asian country. The research also provides evidence of the impact of concentration on the interest earnings of the loan portfolios of banks in addition to return on assets and return on equity that are generally applied as measures of return in previous research.

Film provides an alternative medium for assessing our interpretations of cultural icons. This selective list looks at the film and video sources for information on and interpretations of the life of Woody Guthrie.

This paper reviews the NHS Plan from the perspective of the Government’s wider programme of “modernising” public services. Although broadly focussed, particularly highlights older people. Two dimensions of modernisation are identified. The NHS Plan is seen to be patient‐cited – rather than citizen‐centred. Argues further, that, if the economic, social and environmental causes of ill health are to be addressed more generally and if citizens are to be enabled to live in healthy, sustainable communities, planning for health services should logically be subordinate to planning for health. Health improvement plans should, therefore, be integrated within the wider community strategies for which local authorities are to have lead responsibility. Similarly, as ill health is recognised to be an important aspect of poverty, inequality and social exclusion, there is a strong case for the integration of the regional offices of the NHSE within the wider structure of regional governance. Finally, the personal social services should ensure that the values of social work and social care are not displaced by medical and nursing models which, historically, have shown little understanding of community development processes.

Since the first Volume of this Bibliography there has been an explosion of literature in all the main areas of business. The researcher and librarian have to be able to uncover specific articles devoted to certain topics. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume III, in addition to the annotated list of articles as the two previous volumes, contains further features to help the reader. Each entry within has been indexed according to the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus and thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid information retrieval. Each article has its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. The first Volume of the Bibliography covered seven journals published by MCB University Press. This Volume now indexes 25 journals, indicating the greater depth, coverage and expansion of the subject areas concerned.

The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains features to help the reader to retrieve relevant literature from MCB University Press' considerable output. Each entry within has been indexed according to author(s) and the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus. The latter thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid retrieval. Each article or book is assigned its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. This Volume indexes 29 journals indicating the depth, coverage and expansion of MCB's portfolio.