The urban and national governance of active labour market policies in the UK

Fuertes, Vanesa

Authors

Vanesa Fuertes

Abstract

This paper is part of the development of my PhD thesis. The paper is at an early stage; therefore, it is work in progress and it is incomplete, especially with regards to the theoretical framework to be used in the PhD. I would very much welcome comments and suggestions in that respect especially and in the paper in general. The empirical part is based on data collected as part of the Seventh Framework European Commission programme LOCALISE (Local Worlds of Social Cohesion) under grant agreement no. 266768 (FP7/2007−2013). The paper focuses on the achievement of labour market activation policy coordination amongst different political levels, policy dimensions, and stakeholders (multi-level, multi-dimensional and multi-stakeholder coordination respectively) in three different UK localities: Cardiff, Edinburgh, and Newcastle. It presents the barriers and enablers of coordination during policy development and implementation. The outcomes of that coordination (either of the process or substance) are not the focus of the paper. The three localities have a similar labour market governance arrangements since the UK labour market policy is a UK central government responsibility. However, multi-dimensional, multi-level and multi-stakeholder coordination of labour market policies vary locally. It is argued that local specificities with regards to coordination are the result of local actors’ agency and the usage of institutional constrains and facilitators of local discretion. At a later stage, the theoretical framework will be applied to the findings.

Citation

Fuertes, V. (2014, May). The urban and national governance of active labour market policies in the UK. Paper presented at Early-career Researchers Conference

Presentation Conference Type	Conference Paper (unpublished)
Conference Name	Early-career Researchers Conference
Start Date	May 1, 2014
End Date	May 1, 2014
Publication Date	2014
Deposit Date	Oct 3, 2014
Peer Reviewed	Not Peer Reviewed
Keywords	LOCALISE; labour market activation policy; local governance;
Public URL	http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/7198