Tag Archive: legislation


Stakeholders

Filed Under: Businesses by Kirsty — Leave a comment
April 15, 2010

The definition of a stakeholder is people or groups who have legitimate interest in activities of businesses and other organisations in their society.
The stakeholder concept is important for 2 main reasons. Firstly it emphasises the fact that stakeholder groups have differing interests. Secondly it highlights the relationship between businesses and their external environment.
There are 4 points that also need to be kept in mind when thinking about stakeholders:

• All businesses have internal stakeholders. They also have external stakeholders these are usually either strongly linked or affected by the business.
• A pretty obvious fact considering that stakeholders are human beings is that they can have differing interests which may conflict
• Culture, structure and control systems within a business will determine how conflicts, or trade-offs, are resolved, and in practice the interests of one stakeholder group often have a dominant position.
• Some stakeholder interests are protected by law, but not all. The interests of other stakeholders are protected, if at all, only by regulation or management discretion whereas owners and shareholders are protected by property and company law.
All businesses have difficulty balancing the interests of their different stakeholders, mainly when the political reality is that different groups have varying amounts of power. Such as:

• Commercial businesses have structures that recognise the dominance of shareholders. However, the legislative and regulatory environment, over, for example CO2 emissions, is increasingly imposing constraints to protect the interests of the other stakeholder groups.
• Voluntary organisations are typically less tightly structured, and priorities may depend on the power of their management committees or trustees. Employees may exhibit greater dominance than those in the commercial sector.
• Government bodies are answerable to taxpayers and to service users, both of which are represented by elected representatives (politicians); in some instances, the reality is that the dominant stakeholder is the employee.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

STEEP Theory

Filed Under: Businesses by Kirsty — Leave a comment
March 30, 2010

The external environment is the world in which the business operates, it is a large ever changing place made up of:

• Organisations
• Employers
• Suppliers
• Customers
• Other Stakeholders

A business can’t operate with being influenced by and impacting upon the external environment. A key success factor for any business is an accurate understanding of the external environment. A long-term analysis of what is happening in all areas of a business can be monitored, anticipated and dealt with accordingly. The external environment can be defined & analysed using on of the following:

• STEEP – Sociological, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political
• STEP – Sociological, Technological, Economic, Political
• PEST – Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological
• PESTLE – Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Legal, Environmental
• STEEPLE – Sociological, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political, Legal, Ethical
The idea is the same for all of the models; that there are several main external influences on a business.
The STEEP model uses the 5 headings listed above.

Sociological Factors:

These include demographic changes in:
• Age
• Structure of the population
• Patterns of work
• Gender roles
• Patterns of consumption
• Changes in culture

Technological Factors:

• ICT is lowering the barriers of time and place
• ICT creates new industries
• Many individual jobs and internal service functions have been transformed and are now largely or solely based on ICT systems.

Economic Factors:

• Rate of economic growth
• Interest rates
• Inflation rates
• Energy prices
• Exchange rates
• Levels of employment

The state of a country’s economy pervades all aspects of business life as it affects demand for goods and services, the availability and cost of resources (land, labour, materials & buildings). Both individuals’ and businesses’ behaviour reflects their expectations of economic trends. Governments use changes in the interest rate to try to achieve short-term in levels of demand, investment and spending. Global communication technology has resulted in very high levels of currency trading, which leads to a great volatility in exchange rates.

Environmental Factors:

These are of growing importance as people all over the world are very concerned about the impact of businesses on the natural environment. The following are factors that businesses need to consider:

• Legalisation – Environmental Legalisation is increasing, with the emphasis on pollution control and waste disposal. However there are regulations affecting packaging, transport and distribution and sourcing materials.
• Information – Businesses report regularly on their environmental performance.
• Employees – Employees are interested &concerned about the environmental credentials of their employers.
• Shareholders – Most shareholders of larger businesses are financial institutions who are driven by financial performance. However in several countries a category of ethical investors is emerging.
• Pressure Groups –In the late 20th Century there was a massive growth in pressure groups, most of which were established to deal with particular issues. Many of them broadened their membership bases and became a permanent part of the political scene; these groups include groups such as Greenpeace and Stonewall.
• Customers – There are opportunities for businesses that are operating to high environmental standards to gain market advantage.

Political factors

Political influences affect/most of what we all do. Here are only a few political factors for businesses:
• Legislation – This affects a lot of different aspects of business life. The CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development).
• Trading Relationships – Examples of this are the World Trade Organisation and the European Union.
• Government- In many cases the Government is either the largest employer or purchaser of goods and services or in some cases the only customer.
• Public Services – Health Services, Education and the Police Force are all determined on political grounds.
• Taxation – This is a pretty big one for businesses.

The distinction between the factors defined in the STEEP model are rather artificial, this is because in reality the factors are often interlinked.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

More testing after sudden death

Filed Under: Healthcare News by Kirsty — Leave a comment
January 12, 2010

Senior doctors are calling for human tissue to be routinely kept for genetic testing in cases where young people die without explanation. It is thought that the DNA from such samples may reveal an unsuspected inherited condition and save relatives’ lives. One doctor said pathologists should be encouraged to take the tissue and ask for consent later if necessary.

But the Human Tissue Authority said it was “alarmed” about public calls for practitioners to break the law.
The Human Tissue Act requires that appropriate consent is in place before the tissue is removed from a deceased person. During the implementation of the Coroners and Justice Bill we will consider the additional procedures that might be required to enable families’ wishes in this respect to be achievedquote here
Ministry of Justice spolesperson

Dr Mary Sheppard, of the Royal Society of Medicine’s pathology section and a leading expert on Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD), said some coroners did ask relatives already but others felt it was not part of their remit. She said: “If coroners routinely requested consent from the family to retain material for DNA testing at autopsies we would be able to find out far more about how the person died and possibly prevent other deaths in the same family.” She estimates that every year roughly 800 young people under the age of 35, apparently fit and healthy, die suddenly from unsuspected heart disease or without explanation.

The government has recently set up a database operated by the NHS Information Centre to collect reliable data from pathologists on these deaths.

  • Inherited heart problems that can cause SCD:
  • Long QT syndrome – a disorder of the electrical activity of the heart
  • Brugada Syndrome- irregularities of the electrical activity of the heart
  • Inherited cardiomyopathies or heart muscle diseases

Coroners are in charge of inquests and post mortem examinations and overseen by the Ministry of Justice.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said: “We recognise that some families who lose their loved ones tragically early would want a more extensive post mortem than is usually required by a coroner whose duty is to establish the cause of death. “During the implementation of the Coroners and Justice Bill we will consider the additional procedures that might be required to enable families’ wishes in this respect to be achieved. More generally, and in relation to specific research projects, the new Chief Coroner is expected to issue guidance on the handling for all requests relating to research into the causes of deaths which coroners investigate, and to provide advice to coroners on how they may or may not be able to co-operate.”

Alison Cox, founder and chief executive of the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) said: “In the past two years we have seen the coroners taking huge steps to support families after the tragedy of a young sudden cardiac death. “DNA testing is clearly a potential resource for further information when it is possible to obtain it.”

Dr Paul Brennan, a clinical geneticist for the Northern Genetics Service, said there should be a change to coroners’ forms to deal specifically with consent for the pathologist to retain tissue for DNA extraction and storage. He said: “Until then, I would urge pathologists who have not had the opportunity to obtain consent, to think about taking these tiny tissue samples – usually a spoonful of blood or a cubic centimetre of spleen tissue – and then ask the relatives for consent. “If consent is not given, the tissue must, by law, be destroyed. But if it is not even taken in the first place, a huge potential benefit is lost.”

Adrian McNeil, chief executive of the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) said: “The HTA is alarmed about any public statement that urges practitioners to consider breaking the law governing consent and the taking of tissue for DNA testing. “We recognise Dr Brennan’s right, as a senior practitioner in the sector, to propose changes to the current law but cannot endorse what would be a clear breach of the legislation.”

Tags: , , , , ,
Comment

Help for working parents

Filed Under: Uncategorized by Kirsty — Leave a comment
March 2, 2009

As most parents know juggling your professional and personal life isn’t easy but here are a few things that may life a little easier.
All working parents have the right to work flexible hours in order to ensure that their children are properly looked after. Many working parents in the United Kingdom have to work long hours and indeed in some instances two jobs to be able to provide a stable financial back drop against which to bring up their children. So with this in mind the government have introduced legislation that enables both parents to work a set number of hours (agreeable with their employer) in a slightly less formal structure. This could allow a parent to work part-time hours during the course of a week starting at 9am and finishing at 3pm; alternatively flexible working arrangements may allow for a parent to come into work later on a morning to allow transporting their children to school or a child minder.

Maternity Leave also known as Statutory Maternity Pay can be paid for up to thirty nine weeks after the birth of the baby. As a working parent a mother is entitled to maternity leave and statutory maternity pay if she has been in constant employment with the same company or organisation for twenty six weeks prior to the fifteenth week of her pregnancy.

In the last few years the legislation controlling the rights of fathers has changed to ensure that fathers can have paid leave to spend with their children after they are born. This is referred to as paternity leave and is paid at the same rates as maternity pay although only for one to two weeks. A father can spend one to two weeks at home with his newborn child if he is the child’s biological father or married to the child’s mother.

Although adoptive leave is right of any parent it is not always paid for and will only be paid for if there are already arrangements and agreements in place with your employer. As with maternity and paternity leave you must be employed by your current employer for twenty six weeks prior to becoming the child’s adoptive parent. An adoptive parent is entitled to up to thirty nine weeks leave which is paid at a flat rate known as Statutory Adoptive Pay. In order to qualify for adoptive leave you must notify your employer well in advance that you are being matched to a child for adoption. This allows them to make the necessary arrangements but also if their terms and conditions state you are entitled to Statutory Adoptive Pay.

In addition to these laws if you are entitled to Working Tax Credits you can claim up to 80% of the childcare costs providing that your childcare provider is registered (most nurseries, playgroups and after school clubs are registered) if you are unsure if your daycare provider is registered just ask them.
All of the aforementioned rights are afforded to working parents in the United Kingdom and if you are an expectant mother or proud father-to-be then you should investigate the terms and conditions of your employment and enquire as to whether or not these working rights are supported by your employer.

If however you are not sure then you should contact your local Citizen’s Advice Bureau who will be able to help you find out what you are entitled to and will also be able to help with understanding the terms and conditions of your contract of employment.

Your local office of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will also be able to assist you with advice on benefits and additional monies for low income families.

Tags: , , , ,
Comment