Monitoring Poverty And Social Exclusion In Scotland 2004

Action to reduce poverty and promote social inclusion is a key long-term objective for the Scottish Executive. But how much progress has Scotland and its devolved government been able to make towards its declared goals? Monitoring poverty and social exclusion in Scotland 2004 updates the last Scotland report, published in 2002, and provides an independent record of relevant trends over the past seven years. Compiled by the team responsible for the annual series of studies covering Great Britain, the choice of subject areas in this report reflects the Scottish context. Data have been assembled for a range of different indicators covering low income, employment, education, health, quality of life and social cohesion. Each section uses graphs and maps to illustrate differences relating to social class, age, gender, ethnicity and local authority area.

The series of reports, Monitoring poverty and social exclusion, produced annually since 1998 by the New Policy Institute and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, has had a major impact on the debate about poverty and social exclusion in Britain, improving public understanding and holding government accountable for progress. Ever since the first report, however, there have been discussions about the need for a more Scottish-specific analysis, partly in response to a widespread view that some of the issues are somewhat different in Scotland (for example, in health and education) and partly reflecting the observation that much of the debate in Scotland takes place in a Scottish-specific context.

Social exclusion is a key problem for policy makers, researchers and professionals worldwide. Despite this, the debate lacks a dominant disciplinary focus. This innovative handbook covers evidence from key research and policy to offer cross-disciplinary perspectives on major areas of social exclusion. Focusing on central policy domains including education, healthcare and crime, it is structured so as to relate evidence to the state of social exclusion and the mechanisms by which it can be tackled. It book will be an unrivalled reference for academics and practitioners working across disciplines including housing, education, psychology, political science, healthcare, sociology and law.

This text integrates the description & analysis of social policy in Scotland since devolution in 1999. It has been designed to support the delivery of social policy & related courses in Scotland itself but also to appeal to students on social policy, politics, sociology, and regional studies courses.