...Construction skills development in the UK: transitioning between the formal and informal Paul W Chan Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK paul.chan@unn.ac.uk ROBERT C MOEHLER Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK robert.moehler@unn.ac.uk RESEARCH REPORTED HERE IS PART OF A WIDER STUDY THAT SEEKS TO EXAMINE THE PRACTICES INVOLVED IN ENCOURAGING AND ENABLING EMPLOYERS TO ENGAGE WITH THE SKILLS DEVELOPMENT AGENDA. A SERIES OF EXPLORATORY INTERVIEWS AND ETHNOGRAPHIC OBSERVATIONS REVEAL POTENTIAL DISCONNECTIONS BETWEEN SKILLS POLICIES AT THE GOVERNMENTAL LEVEL AND WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS IN EMPLOYER PRACTICES REGARDING SKILLS DEVELOPMENT. ON THE ONE HAND, THE FORMAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING SYSTEM FOCUSES ON SUCH TARGETS AS THE ATTAINMENT OF NARROWLY-DEFINED OCCUPATIONAL STANDARDS, LEVELS OF COMPETENCE, AND QUANTITATIVE PERFORMANCE MEASURES LIKE COMPLETION RATES. ON THE OTHER HAND, THE SOCIALISED CONCEPT OF SKILLS DEVELOPMENT TAKES PLACE INFORMALLY AT THE WORKPLACE THROUGH ON-THE-JOB TRAINING AND MENTORING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SENIOR AND JUNIOR EMPLOYEES. BOTH THE FORMAL AND INFORMAL SYSTEMS APPEAR TO CO-EXIST ALONGSIDE EACH OTHER, ALTHOUGH TENSIONS ARE MOUNTING IN TERMS OF CONFIDENCE THAT EMPLOYERS AND THE WIDER INDUSTRY PLACE ON THE EFFICACY OF THE FORMAL SYSTEM. Keywords: informality, skills development practices, skills policy, training and education. INTRODUCTION The UK construction industry faces an enduring problem of skills shortages...
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...four major regulatory bodies. These bodies were created by the United States to help maintain accurate and proper reporting. The first is the Securities and Exchange Commission. This body helps protect investors by ensuring they have all the proper reports and data to make sound and precise investment decisions. If these reports are in any way false or misleading this accounting body can bring up civil charges against the company. The second major regulatory body is the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. This regulatory body was created to help represent accountants. This body helps provide education and knowledge to accounts and companies. They also make sure that all ethical and technical guidelines are followed. The third major regulatory body is Financial Accounting Standards Board. This body takes care of the nongovernmental establishments. They make sure companies are following the proper guidelines and rules. They enforce national accounting standards to create accurate and trust worthy reports and data. They were created to improve and maintain the current accounting standards. The fourth and final major regulatory body is the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. This regulatory body deals with government based companies and their accounting standards. They set the rules and established the guidelines that govern and maintain the accounting world in government. They do a lot of the same jobs as the other major regulatory bodies. They maintain...
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...Better Regulation for Growth Regulatory Quality and Competition Policy Investment Climate Advisory Services of the World Bank Group With funding from FIAS, the multi-donor investment climate advisory service in partnership with BETTER REGULATION FOR GROWTH GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORKS AND TOOLS FOR EFFECTIVE REGULATORY REFORM REGULATORY QUALITY AND COMPETITION POLICY INVESTMENT CLIMATE ADVISORY SERVICES WORLD BANK GROUP ©2010 The World Bank Group 1818 H Street NW Washington DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000 Internet: www.worldbank.org All rights reserved Rights and Permissions The material in this publication is copyrighted. Copying and/or transmitting portions or all of this work without permission may be a violation of applicable law. The World Bank encourages dissemination of its work and will normally grant permission to reproduce portions of the work promptly. For permission to photocopy or reprint any part of this work, please send a request with complete information to the Copyright Clearance Center Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA; telephone: 978-750-8400; fax: 978-750-4470; Internet: www.copyright.com. All other queries on rights and licenses, including subsidiary rights, should be addressed to the Office of the Publisher, The World Bank Group, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA; fax: 202-522-2422; e-mail: pubrights@worldbank.org. About the Investment Climate Advisory Services of the World Bank Group The Investment Climate...
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...he United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is a regulatory body vetted by the US Federal Government. It is responsible for securing the safety of its citizens and livestock in the realm of consumables like food, medicines, chemicals and all of their biological delivery methods. The FDA charter, by default, makes it intimately tied to various industrial and economic entities within the United States. Since the United States is the principal world leader in economics, the FDA is often viewed as the most efficient, thorough, and authoritative food and drug organization in the world. While the US FDA oversees the majority of food and medical innovation internationally, it is not the only world class regulatory department actively engaged in the safety of the world’s population. Comparable government committees throughout the industrialized world have matching, if not higher, standards than the US FDA. Without the “red tape” associated with...
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...Indian Financial Code Summary The Indian financial system is suffering from the problems of lack of financial inclusion, growth of unregulated shadow market, slow pace of innovation and the challenges of financial integration. It is felt that the present code of the financial sector need to be reviewed and altered, while keeping in mind the present needs of the economy. This is because most of the laws are very old, there are overlaps and inconsistencies, and there is lack of clarity in terms of regulations due to the presence of a number of regulators. It is also argued that the laws in India are traditionally evolved on a problem by problem basis. With the advent of the New Economic Policy in 1991, substantial economic liberalisation took place in India. Between 1991 and 2002, progress was made in four areas. Firstly, capital controls were substantially reduced to give Indian Firms access to foreign market. Also, a new pension system was evolved and the monopolies of the public sector in the insurance field were broken up. This led to the formation of the new Insurance regulator, Insurance regulator and Development Agency. Additionally, significant increase in the equity market as a mechanism to raise finance by firms led to the formation of the financial market regulator SEBI. Also infrastructure institutions, National stock exchange and National Security Depository were also set up. Although, these moves were taken up in the right direction but they were considered to be...
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...accounting regulatory bodies would include the Securities and Exchange Commission, American Institute of Certified Public, Financial Accounting Standards Board, and Government Accounting Board. Each regulatory body contributes to the ethical over watch of companies by keeping them transparent, follow GAAP, and other ethical practices that should be used by accountants and their companies. The Securities and Exchange Commission regulates companies in how they report their financial statements and to make sure that investors receive all necessary information that involves investment decisions. This commission helps ensure that investors are not deceived and allows them to make better investment decisions. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants sets guidelines and standards on how companies should be audited, and set standards in accounting practices that certified public accountants should follow. Like the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Financial Accounting Standards Board sets up standards for companies and how they should be reporting their financial reports. Companies that follow the FASB standards can provide more accurate financial information than those who do not. It is important to note that the FASB is for the private sector, the compliment to this regulatory body would be the Government Accounting Standards Board who sets standards for government agencies, programs, and bodies. The GASB is crucial for the federal government because...
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...3.3 UK Competition policy and Regulatory bodies Competition Policy The Competition policy covers the different ways in the competition of national governments and also the EU seeks to make markets work better & achieve higher level of the economic efficiency and economic welfare. The competition policy focus on the discourage of competitive behavior. This wills covers in which the competition of the national governments & EU seek to the better work of the markets to achieve higher level of economic efficiency. The main expectation of competition policy is to make the market contribute to increase efficiency and competitiveness of the UK economy within the single market of EU. There are main objective – * Technological innovation * Protect and secure the standards of anti-competitive behavior. * Effective price competition between suppliers. The coco green company should follow these objectives to gain the UK market. Main Aims of Competition Policy Main aim of competition policy is to promote competition & make markets work better & contribute towards to increased efficiency & competitiveness of the UK economy. within the EU single market. Competition policy is aims to ensure: * Wider consumer choice in the markets for goods & services. * Technological innovation in which promotes gains in the dynamic efficiency. * Effective price competition between the suppliers. * Investigating allegations of the anti-competitive...
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...Submitted By : Santhosh Kumar Submitted to : Dr YogeshMaheshwari CCBMDO-09 Financial Management I Assignment I 31 Oct 2012 CORPORATE FINANCING ENVIRONMENT IN INDIA: A CRITICAL REVIEW S No | Topic | Page No | 1. | Executive Summary | 2 | 2. | Financial Instruments | 3 | 3. | Financial Markets | 4 | 4. | Financial Intermediaries | 5 | 5. | The Regulatory Environment | 6 | 6. | The Way Forward | 9 | Executive Summary 1. Corporate finance is used to collectively identify the various financial dealings undertaken by a corporation. Ideally, corporate finance is the division of the company that is mostly concerned with the financial operations of the company. In some businesses, corporate finance primarily focuses on raising money for ventures and projects. For other corporations and investment banks, corporate finance concentrates on analysis of corporate buyouts and other decisions. The core functions of corporate finance are making wise use of the financial resources available to the company. Corporate finance may also take on many different aspects of the overall management of the finances of the company. The functions may also include managing of investments like acquisition and selling stocks, bonds, and other investment ventures pertaining to other companies. It may also involve creating and managing the process for issuing shares of stock or offering corporate bonds to generate resources for expansion projects. 2. The pattern...
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...Soft law as defined by Timothy L Meyer is a body of legally non-binding instruments that are given legal effect through domestic law- laws of a state or a nation- or internationally binding agreements such as treaties. In the area of international law, it is known that ‘soft law’, in the sense of guidelines of conduct (such as those formulated by the United Nations concerning the operations of transnational companies) which are neither strictly binding norms of law, nor completely irrelevant political maxims, and operate in a grey zone between law and politics, is considered a special characteristic of international economic law and of international environmental law. According to Davis and Nachura, an administrative body is any governmental organ or authority, other than a court or legislative body, which affects the rights of private parties, through rule-making and adjudication. An administrative body is described as a department, bureau, office, commission, authority or officer of the National Government authorized by law or executive order to make rules, issue licenses, grant rights or privileges, and adjudicate cases; research institutions with respect to licensing functions; government corporations with respect to functions regulating private right, privilege, occupation or business; and officials in the exercise of disciplinary powers as provided by law. An example is the establishment of the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) by article...
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...especially the developed nations, signed a pact in Tokyo, Japan committing themselves to reducing the level of industrial activity. The aim of the pact was to reduce air pollution and global warming. With the events happening with China, the nation’s commitment to the pact is in doubt. Another ethical question is whether Beijing and China in general are concerned about the welfare of the city residents. The air pollution had caused low visibility on the streets and in the air, risking the lives of pedestrians, motorists and even air safety. The air in residential places is also polluted and even with air purifiers, the air was still polluted (Wong, 2013). Therefore, the ethical standards of the city administrations are appalling. The government and the relevant environmental protection agencies should have intervened to reverse the trend because it threatens the health and welfare of residents of the city. Failure of the free market The free market was unsuccessful in avoiding this eventuality because...
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...business. Another important area to be considered is about the regulations been captured. The theory of regulatory capture or capture theory argues that although regulations might be introduced to the aim of protecting the public interest, it will not be ultimately achieved because in the process of introducing regulations the organizations that are subjected to the regulation will finally come to control the regulators. There is ample evidence to prove that regulatory capture is taken place in a variety of forms. The scenario of Dr. Batterhams role is reviewed in this regard. Dr. Batterham was the chief scientist and mean while he held the position of chief technologist for Rio Tinto. This dual role made the senate committee to recommend the position of federal governments chief scientist should be full time after the found there was a conflict of interest between the two job roles. The role of chief scientist also included to assist in assuring the public interest in science and technology is converged to national priority issues . Every individual on earth applauds regulations immune to capture. It arguments the economy to the highest notch. It is crystal clear that there are economic benefits to an industry if it is able to capture the body that regulates it. There are at least five ways according to Mitnick (1980) in which a regulated industry could capture a regulatory body. They are: * Capture is said to occur if the regulated...
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...information systems, financial services and energy. The objective of the Act is to modernize competition regulation inorder to support the local market economy and consequently deepen consumers’ benefits. The Competition Authority is mandated to promote and safeguard competition in the national economy and to protect consumers from unfair market conduct. The Act applies to all persons including the Government, State Corporation and devolved government in so far as they engage in trade. The mandate is comprehensive and clear as Section 9 defines the tasks as follows: To promote and enforce compliance with the Act; To receive and investigate complaints from legal or natural persons and consumer bodies; To promote public knowledge, awareness and understanding of the obligations, rights and remedies under the Act and the duties, functions and activities of the Authority; To promote the creation of consumer bodies and the establishment of good and proper standards and rules to be followed by such bodies in protecting competition and consumer welfare; To recognize consumer bodies duly registered under the appropriate national...
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...requirements, restrictions and guidelines, aiming to maintain the integrity of the financial system. The regulatory body may be handled by either a government or non-government organization”. The Jamaican financial landscape consists of various financial institutions. These include banks, security brokers, pension schemes and insurance companies. The main objectives of the financial regulator are usually: • Market confidence – to maintain confidence in the financial system • Financial stability – contributing to the protection and enhancement of stability of the financial system • Consumers’ protection – securing the appropriate degree of protection for consumers. • Reduction of financial crime – reducing the extent to which it is possible for a regulated business to be used for a purpose connected with financial crime. With the objectives being outlined, the Bank of Jamaica is the Central Bank of Jamaica that carries out the government’s financial regulation and supervision pertaining to all banks’ operations. The Bank of Jamaica, established by the Bank of Jamaica Law (1960), began operations in May 1961. The establishment of the Central Bank was in recognition of the need for an appropriately regulated financial structure to encourage the economy’s development process after independence. Although the Bank of Jamaica carries out the financial regulation of the Jamaican government; the Jamaican economy started having grave financial challenges in the mid-80s through to the mid...
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...Regulatory Bodies The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is probably the most known regulatory body in the United States. The IRS main purpose is the management and enforcement of all internal revenue laws and for the collection of taxes. The next regulatory body is the Securities Exchange commission (SEC). The SEC main goal is to observe public companies to ensure these public companies are following the generally accepted accounting principles when reporting their company’s financial data. The administration and finances of several regulatory boards and councils such as the financial accounting standards board, the financial accounting standards advisory council, governmental accounting standards advisory council, and the governmental accounting standards board is the responsibility of Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) (Weygandt, Kimmel, & Kieso, 2008). The Financial Accounting Standards Board (GASB) main purpose is the developing, enforcing the standards in accounting and reporting for all non-governmental entities. The formulation of Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) was because of the need for all government levels to have standard accounting principles. The GASB created and implemented the generally accepted accounting principles. This board mirrored the financial accounting standard board on state and local levels. The Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) is a regulatory body whose main purpose is to distribute the federal...
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...Contents Q 2.1 Explain the role of government, government sponsored bodies and international agencies on the travel and tourism sector 2 Role of the Government in Tourism 2 Role of the government bodies 4 Roles of International Agencies 5 United Nations (UN) 6 United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) 6 World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) 6 Driving the Agenda - raising awareness of travel and tourism industry as a revenue generator. 7 The Facilitator: educating industry participants. 7 The Networking Forum 7 Q 2.2 Illustrate how local and national economic policy has an effect on the success of the travel and tourism sector 8 GOVERNMENT ECONOMIC POLICY AND TOURISM 8 • Direct Influence 8 Taxation (remove money) 8 Infrastructure investment and maintenance (inject money) Government spending on tourism 8 Tourism development 9 • Indirect Influence 9 Q 2.3 Analyse the implications of political change on the travel and tourism sector in various countries 10 Impact of political change on the travel and tourism industry 10 IRAN 10 CHINA 11 Reference and Bibliography 12 Q 2.1 Explain the role of government, government sponsored bodies and international agencies on the travel and tourism sector Role of the Government in Tourism The role of the government, according to traditional political theory, is concerned with maintaining law and order, defence, internal communication and transport infrastructure, and economic redistribution. All of...
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