Many countries around the world are currently trying to find new solutions to the growing problems related to household waste management. Landfilling is no longer being accepted as a sustainable method for waste disposal. Instead, the view has shifted to consider waste as a resource rather than rubbish. Simultaneously, all the environmental concerns related to landfilling have meant that an immediate response to the growing waste crisis needs to be urgently considered. In Europe, the EU has responded by launching a set of Directives which aim to limit the adverse impacts of land filling and increase diversion rates through recycling and responsible treatment of waste. These directives bound all EU countries and threaten significant fines against those which do not comply with the regulations. Performance wise, the UK is behind most of its other fellow EU countries, sending more than 75% of its municipal waste to landfill. As part of the UK, England is also burying most of its waste in landfill despite the concern over the availability of sufficient space for landfill in the future. Current statistics suggests that England's performance has improved since the implementation ofthe Waste Strategy for England and Wales in 2000. However, there continue to be growing fears that it might fail to achieve the 2013 and 2020 Landfill Directive targets. This study sought to evaluate the current household waste management system in the East of England which is one of the nine English regions. The evaluation aimed to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the system prior to recommending ways for further improvements. Three methods were applied in the evaluation; a statistical analysis, semi-structured face-to-face interviews with waste managers from local authorities and private waste contractors and a SWOT analysis. The outcomes indicated that several problems existed with the current household waste management system in the region. Some require immediate attention and need to be addressed before the system can be enhanced and future targets achieved. The study was also able to offer suggestions for alternative strategies which can be applied to improve the current system. Furthermore, suggestions made in this research can potentially be considered to improve the system in other regions provided that they share similar waste management, demographic and socio-economic characteristics with the East of England.

An accurate assessment of the value of imported goods by customs is an essential precondition of an accurate determination of an importer's tax liability. However, customs au thori ties in many developing coun trie s exp erie nce considera ble difficulty in discharging this function. Poor compliance of importers, weak administrative capacity in customs, and pervasive corruption are often identified as the major problems. Beginning in the 1980's neo-liberal approaches to customs modernization encouraged states to adopt "market solutions" to customs problems. As a result, core customs functions including revenue determination were contracted out to private inspection companies with the support of international financial institutions. These companies proposed to examine documents and carry out physical inspection of consignments (in exporting countries) and to provide information on quantity, quality, value, and tariff classification of the goods for the benefit of the importing jurisdiction before the actual shipment of the goods. Today some 30 governments have adopted this partial privatization, called Preshipment Inspection (PSI), to address the weakness of customs. Based on a realization that unregulated privatization did not bring about the expected efficiency enhancements, states have recently moved to re-regulate these private companies. This movement has been observed in assessment discussions held at the WTO and in other forums, as well as in improved contracts with PSI firms. States and international financial institutions have also become more focused on directly enhancing the capacity of customs authorities. The inspection industry has responded to this trend. It has begun to offer services that support the business model of customs, rather than replace customs functions. Case studies of four countries that have adopted the PSI service show that benefits have been mixed in terms of both their ability to enhance revenue and improve the integrity of customs administration. There is little evidence of transfer of skills and technology to customs authorities. In fact, the use of the private sector has often resulted in a long-term dependence on expensive PSI contracts. Only governments that made serious efforts in direct customs reform have demonstrated an ability to improve customs operations and exit from the PSI program.

This thesis examines the emergence, use and future potential of community based partnership working in the field of community safety. Based on a case study of partnership working in Bristol in South West England, it examines the ongoing process of institutional change through which partnership working and community safety have become central features ofUK public policy. Drawing attention to the ways in which community groups and organizatio~ are being drawn . into the policy-making process in order to find solutions to the problems excluded communities face, it argues that community safety has become a central feature of New Labour's wider attempt to reconfigure the state apparatus in its own terms. Highlighting the ways in which managerial pressures emerging from the Government's wider governance agenda compel mainstream agencies to change the ways they operate in order to improve the provision of public services, ~he thesis highlights the emergence of an approach to community safety that prioritizes short-term reductions in crime and disorder over and above long-term community concerns. This approach is seen to be problematical for a nurriber of reasons and it is argued that partnerships'will only be successful in the long-term if they direct resources towards initiatives that allow mainstream agencies and community groups to articulate their experiences and expectations of each other in an open and inclusive way. Building on the governmentality account ,of developments in governance it makes use of insights from the work of Norbert Elias and argues that figurational sociology provides compelling insights into the nature of contemporary change processes. The thesis leans strongly towards theory and places partnership working in a long term socio-historical perspective that illustrates the extent to which, how, and why mainstream resources are being realigned through partnership working. Although it draws attention to the current limitations of community based partnership working under New Labour, the thesis concludes that the community governance model is laying the institutional foundations on which a more civilized approach to community safety may one day stand.

This thesis investigates whether the Health Promoting Hospital (HPH) is the way forward in the promotion of health. To address this, a number of key areas are considered. Firstly, the thesis places the HPH into historical context, as it is from a long the tradition of efforts to promote health and prevent disease that the HPH emerges. In order to understand the complex field of health promotion, the thesis examines the legacy of health promotion and its impact on contemporary health promotion and therefore on the potential of the HPH. The answers to this provide the immediate context from within which the HPH would be implemented. There is a need not only to understand the HPH as a theoretical concept but also to understand how it has been translated into practice. Thus how the HPH has been adopted as a basis for modelling practice is examined. If the HPH is to be a way forward for health promotion, then it will need to be adopted widely by hospitals that have had little previous interest in, or experience of, promoting health. To investigate the prospect of such widespread adoption, a study was carried out of the attitudes, perceptions and practices of nurses and patients at a typical UK teaching hospital outside the HPH movement. The findings of this study, which drew on Communication of Innovation Theory as a conceptual framework, are reported. For effective health promotion, there is also need to address the legacy of weaknesses that have hitherto hampered progress. Thus the thesis examines the extent to which the HPH can address the contemporary weaknesses of health promotion and, broadening out from this, it suggests other initiatives that might be taken to advance the effective promotion of health and the effectiveness of the HPH. The thesis argues that the Health Promoting Hospital is a useful vehicle to support the development of health promotion in the hospital setting but that effectiveness is hampered by the fundamental weaknesses of health promotion that it is insufficient, on its own, to counter. Initiatives are suggested that can begin to redress this.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to explore the processes involved in the dissemination of a suicide prevention training programme (STORM) and, to add context to these processes in terms of its Workability, its ability to become Normalized (sustained) into practice. In addition, this study was interested in the part policy played in the dissemination of suicide prevention training. Background: The National Health Service needs to build capacity and capability to deliver high quality equitable care. Learning and professional development are key to this endeavour and yet there is a lack of apparent support within healthcare organizations to facilitate this. Programme evaluation is also needed to ensure that the training delivered is of good quality, applicable to practice and is sustainable. Whilst dissemination studies tell us that certain processes are important to the successful adoption of innovations, what is less clear is how these innovations are then sustained and routinized into practice. Method: Facilitators within three study sites were trained by the researcher to deliver the STORM programme. Participants directly involved in the dissemination of the STORM programme, or with policy implementation, were recruited to a multiple case study. Semistructured telephone interviews were conducted over a 12-month penoo. Findings: A culture of training was found that understood the processes needed to support a training programme. Suicide prevention policy was found to influence suicide prevention training to some degree. The Normalization Process Theory was found to have practical utility when applied to the work of training. Reflexive evaluation informed decisions to continue, adapt or cease the work of training. The work was fluid and dynamic with the ability to project itself into future work; it was normalized into practice. Conclusions: A culture of training can be identified that supports training. The Normalization Process Theory can identify the processes involved that help normalize (sustain) training into practice, and it can provide an evaluative tool. However, if organizations are to benefit from this research they must integrate sustainability and programme evaluation into their systems as continuing processes and not as outcomes. Further research is needed to explore how well organizations can benefit from this work.

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