General Reports and Other Publications
Insolvency Service: The stigma attached to bankruptcy amongst the general public has reduced, but amongst businesses & bankrupts themselves it remains at a similar level to a previous study, according to a report published by The Insolvency Service.
The report - Attitudes to Bankruptcy Revisited - looks at the results of three surveys, carried out by The Insolvency Service in 2006 and 2007, which aimed to obtain a cross section of views regarding attitudes to bankruptcy and, in particular, to establish whether there is a stigma attached to bankruptcy and, if so, the reasons why.
The results of those surveys were compared to the results of similar surveys run in 2004 and form part of the evaluation of the insolvency provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002.
Press release ~ Insolvency Service ~ Attitudes to Bankruptcy Revisited ~ Attitudes to Bankruptcy ~ Enterprise Act 2002
ESRC: The most effective campaigns to encourage ethical consumption are those that take place at a collective level, such as the creation of Fairtrade cities, rather than those that target individual behaviour according to the findings of a new study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
The research suggests that ethical consumption is best understood as a political phenomenon rather than simply a market response to consumer demand.
The research team found that campaigns aimed at getting people to change what they buy often worked on the assumption that individuals lack the necessary information to make educated decisions about the consequences of what they buy and where they buy it from.
However the findings from the study suggest that people don't necessarily lack the information about Fairtrade, organic food, environmental sustainability, or third world sweatshops. They do, however, often lack effective pathways to acting on their concerns over these issues.
Press release ~ ESRC Society Today ~ 'Governing the subjects and spaces of ethical consumption' ~ Cultures of Consumption research programme ~ The Fairtrade Foundation ~ British Association for Fair Trade Shops ~ What is fair trade?
Defra: Defra has published an interim epidemiology report into the outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in Surrey, which sets out initial findings of the National Emergency Epidemiology Group who have been investigating the outbreak.
It concludes that it is very likely that the source of infection is the Pirbright site where Merial Animal Health Ltd and the Institute for Animal Health are located. The report goes on to identify the possible mechanisms for spread of the virus from the Pirbright site.
It concludes that the risk of spread of infection out of Surrey through movements of undisclosed infection in sheep during the risk period is very low.
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