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A great deal has already been written about payments to people in day centres and sheltered workshops, but most writers just discuss what can be done within the law. This paper takes a different approach by considering what the authors think is right rather than just what is allowed.The National Development Team (NDT) has been offering training, evaluation and support for organisational development since the 1970s.

The author, who is Chair of Norfolk’s Safeguarding Adults’ Board (SAB) reflects on the impact of a Safeguarding Adults Review (SAR) and the actions that resulted. The purpose of the paper is to provide an insight into a significant SAR and the resulting actions desinged to change practice.

The actions illuminate the power of hospitals and politicians over people’s lives. It took the deaths of three young adults with learning disabilities, in a hospital, to move beyond the status quo and organise some very different service responses.

“Progress summits” have considered local and national actions. There have been important gains and setbacks, including the delayed reform of the Mental Health Act. Despite uncertainties, SAB can be detonators to listening and taking action.

This is a unique insight into the impact of a Safeguarding Adults Review and the actions that resulted from this.

Valuing People presents a range of challenges for managers and other stakeholders. Partnership boards are charged with leading the change process. The paper sets out the steps that the West Sussex Board has taken to meet these challenges and describes in particular a ‘framework for frameworks’ that the Board has adopted to produce truly person‐centred and inclusive plans. The paper concludes that stakeholders can be empowered to find their voice where planners commit to an inclusive process.

Parenting programmes are seen as feasible and cost-effective in preventing early behavioural problems in children and adolescents. A number of studies have concluded that such programmes are effective in reducing child problem behaviours and improving the skills and well-being of parents. Nevertheless, less is known about long-term programme effects. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

A non-meta-analytic discussion.

Long-term evaluations of parenting programmes suffer from a number of methodological weaknesses resulting in an inability to make robust causal inferences about child and parent outcomes in the longer term. The current evidence is favourable but is likely to be biased by methodological weaknesses. There is a need for more studies of greater methodological strength to obtain conclusive evidence that would guide empirical research, practice and policy.

The paper discusses weaknesses in long-term evaluations of parenting programmes and highlights concrete future directions towards improving the quality of study design, evaluation and data analysis.

A case which because of its far‐reaching implications attracted considerable interest (see report on p. 91) was recently heard at Highgate. It was alleged that ice lollies were “unfit for human consumption” because of the temperature at which they were sold. Because the lollies were too cold, one stuck to a boy's lips and chin and another to a boy's tongue, peeling off skin when they were removed. The prosecution's case was that on the evidence, the vendors should be convicted of selling food unfit for human consumption, but the magistrates did not accept this contention and dismissed the case. The mishap was an unfortunate one, and Counsel's submissions for the defence notwith‐standing, it is difficult to see how the case could have been decided otherwise. There was never any suggestion of inferior ingredients being used in the manufacture of the lollies.

MR. SNOWDEN'S economy speech last month has had its effect on local authorities generally and will not be without reactions upon libraries. We have already heard of several instances where a raid has been made upon public library estimates, in one or two cases quite drastic ones. The danger is that the generally economical past working of libraries will be ignored and retrenchments be made which do real injury. At a time such as this the enemies of libraries—there are still a few of them—become righteously articulate in the interests of what they call economy, which is generally to cut down the other fellow's expenditure.