Anne E. Green

The incidence of inherited metabolic disorders in the West Midlands, UK

Background: Inherited metabolic disorders (IMDs) are a heterogeneous group of genetic conditions mostly occurring in childhood. They are individually rare but collectively numerous, causing substantial morbidity and mortality. Aims: To obtain up-to-date estimates of the birth prevalence of IMDs in an ethnically diverse British population and to compare these estimates with those of other published population-based studies. Methods: Retrospective data from the West Midlands Regional Diagnostic Laboratory for Inherited Metabolic Disorders (Birmingham, UK) for the 5 years (1999–2003) were examined. The West Midlands population of 5.2 million is approximately 10% of the UK population. Approximately 11% of the population of the region is from black and ethnic minority groups compared with approximately 8% for the the UK. Results: The overall birth prevalence was 1 in 784 live births (95% confidence interval (CI) 619 to 970), based on a total of 396 new cases. The most frequent diagnoses were mitochondrial disorders (1 in 4929; 95% CI 2776 to 8953), lysosomal storage disorders (1 in 5175; 95% CI 2874 to 9551), amino acid disorders excluding phenylketonuria (1 in 5354; 95% CI 2943 to 9990) and organic acid disorders (1 in 7962; 95% CI 3837 to 17 301). Most of the diagnoses (72%) were made by the age of 15 years and one-third by the age of 1 year. Conclusions: These results are similar to those of the comparison studies, although the overall birth prevalence is higher in this study. This is probably due to the effects of ethnicity and consanguinity and increasing ascertainment. This study provides useful epidemiological information for those planning and providing services for patients with IMDs, including newborn screening, in the UK and similar populations.

UK waste minimisation clubs: a contribution to sustainable waste management

The UK waste strategy is based upon the central concept of the hierarchy of preferable options for the treatment and disposal of waste. Minimisation is placed at the top of the hierarchy and the Government seeks to encourage its uptake by industry and commerce as well as householders. It has been accepted that previous waste management policy and practice have not delivered the hoped for movement up the hierarchy. Within the UK, landfill still predominates as the option most commonly used to deal with waste. Movement towards more sustainable waste management practice has been identified as a priority, in the UK, by the present Labour Government. To that end, they have recently produced a series of consultation papers on sustainable issues that set out their vision and confirm waste minimisation as a key strategy for the future. In an attempt to stimulate the uptake of minimisation methodology by industry, waste minimisation clubs have been developed across the UK. There have been around 60 such clubs and they receive support and guidance from a range of organisations, including the Environment Agency and the ETBPP. These clubs have demonstrated that a significant reduction in waste arisings can occur when minimisation methodology is applied. Minimisation strategies often lead to improved resource efficiency and this is reflected in clear financial savings, e.g. the Leicester Waste Minimisation Initiative recorded mean savings, at the end of year one, of 0.26% of joint turnover. The median, however, better reflects the actual savings and it is apparent that even within a successful club there can be a wide range of performance by companies. Not all clubs have been successful and there has been little attention to the causes of failure in the UK. There are marked regional variations in club distribution and the proposed Regional Development Agencies, working with the Environment Agency, need to quickly establish strategies for minimisation uptake.

The changing geography of producer services employment in Britain

GILLESPIE A. E. and GREEN A. E. (1987) The changing geography of producer services employment in Britain, Reg. Studies 21, 397–411. This paper examines the changing geography of producer services employment in Britain between 1971 and 1981 using data from the Census of Employment. The study begins with a review of alternative views on the service sector and its relationship to economic growth, and the place of producer services within the division of labour is described. It is shown that there is a pronounced urban and regional differentiation in producer services employment. Factors operating to increase the concentration of such employment are indentified, as are counteracting tendencies favouring deconcentration. Individual producer services industries are shown to display different locational logic, and varying trends of concentration and deconcentration during 1971–81. Overall the maintenance of the spatial concentration of producer services employment in southern Britain, coupled with relative decon...

Substantive Issues in the Definition of “Localities”: Evidence from Sub–Group Local Labour Market Areas in the West Midlands

COOMBES M. G., GREEN A. E. and OWEN D. W. (1988) Substantive issues in the definition of “localities”: evidence from sub-group local labour market areas in the West Midlands, Reg. Studies 22, 303–318. Local Labour Market Areas (LLMAs) are now widely accepted as the most appropriate areal units for analyses of spatial patterns of employment and unemployment. The most commonly used set of LLMAs in Britain are the Travel-To-Work Areas (TTWAs) of the Department of Employment. These areas are increasingly being used for locality studies that encompass not only labour and demand trends but also their social and political implications. However, TTWAs are defined on the basis of aggregate commuting patterns, which generalize substantial differences in the journey-to-work behaviour of different sections of the workforce. This paper compares the TTWAs, as revised in 1984, with LLMAs defined using the same methodology for four sub-groups of the labour force with differing skill levels, in the West Midlands. The numb...

The North-South Divide in Great Britain: An Examination of the Evidence

Recently there has been a renewed interest in spatial inequalities and the North-South divide. Evidence on the geographical dimensions of selected inequalities in Britain is examined. The existence of a North-South divide, alongside other divisions is established but the exact location of the divide is shown to vary from one indicator to another. The claims of those refuting the existence of a North-South divide are investigated. It is contended that acceptance of the existence of a North-South divide does not necessarily imply that the North is uniformly poor and the South uniformly prosperous. Rather, it is claimed that the concept of a North-South divide in Britain is valid despite the existence of local variations because of the concentration and more entrenched nature of deprivation in the North than in the South and evidence that persons with otherwise similar characteristics fare better in the South than in the North. In the final section possible ways of breaking down and overcoming the North-South divide are reviewed.

Young People, Job Search and Local Labour Markets: The Example of Belfast

In debates about employability, the role of area perceptions in shaping the labour market behaviour of individuals has been neglected. This paper sets out to gain an understanding of what relatively disadvantaged young people in Belfast know about the geography of labour market opportunities in the city and the locations where they are prepared to work. Using secondary data analysis and primary research methods, it is shown that most young people have a highly localised outlook. Factors of limited mobility, lack of confidence and religion intertwine in complex ways to limit perceived opportunities. It is concluded that geography does play a role in shaping access to employment and training opportunities.

The Spatial Division of Information Labour in Great Britain

In this paper the prevailing geography of the information economy in Great Britain is examined. Attention is focused on the 1981 labour-force share of information occupations at the level of standard regions. This occupation approach, as developed by Porat, is interrelated with Singlemanns sectoral classification in order to provide a new view of the information-based service economy in a regional context. The spatial division of information labour in Great Britain is identified and its theoretical and policy implications are discussed. It is shown that, despite regional differences in industrial specialisation, job prospects in all parts of the country are increasingly dependent on information-based services. There is, however, clear evidence of Greater Londons dominance of the information economy, particularly in higher-order information occupations related to management and control functions and specialised producer-services activities. It is suggested that innovations in information technology (computer-communications networks) will reinforce this uneven geography of employment opportunities, particularly with the further integration of Britain into the global information economy. In this light, theoretical approaches to regional economic policy must embody an international dimension and address the transsectoral nature of information-based development in which the new technologies play a central role.

Gender-specific local labour market areas in England and Wales

Local labour market areas (LLMAs) are usually defined on the basis of total commuting flows between constituent ‘building block’ areas. Indeed the 1984 revision of Travel-To-Work Areas (TTWAs) was based on aggregate flows between 1981 Census wards. It is widely recognized, however, that various sub-groups of the population have distinctive commuting patterns. TTWAs therefore represent the outcome of an ‘averaging’ of the journey-to-work patterns of different gender, socio-economic and occupational groups. In this preliminary review, the self-containment of TTWAs in England and Wales, which have been generated using aggregate data, is assessed at the simplest level of disaggregation of the commuting data: disaggregation by gender. In accordance with expectations, it is found that TTWAs defined on the basis of total commuting flows are generally more self-contained for females than for males, and that those TTWAs which are insufficiently self-contained to be considered as LLMAs for males are overwhelmingly concentrated in the most urbanized regions. These findings are reinforced by the results of re-running the TTWA regionalization algorithm against 1981 flow data for males and females in order to create gender-specific TTWAs; disparities between Male and Female TTWAs are greatest in the most urbanized regions. Such differences are investigated in greater detail for two Metropolitan Regions (MRs): the combined Liverpool and Manchester MRs in the north-west and the London MR in the south-east.

The development of a classification of travel-to-work areas

Section headings: Abstract. Introduction. Methodology. Results. Synthesis of A Priori and Cluster Analysis Classification of TTWAs. Policy Perspectives. Using the Classification of TTWAs in an Analysis of Spatial Patterns of Employment Change, 1981-84. Summary. Appendices. Bibliography.

Opening up or closing down opportunities? : the role of social networks and attachment to place in informing young peoples' attitudes and access to training and employment

Drawing on case study evidence from three deprived urban neighbourhoods in England, this paper explores the influence of social networks and attachment to place on young people’s access to training and employment opportunities. The findings presented contribute to the emerging literature which highlights the importance that place-based social networks have in facilitating young people’s access to training and employment opportunities through provision of trusted information, references and role models. Moreover, the evidence also demonstrates how both social networks and attachment to place may constrain geographical and social horizons, and therefore limit the available opportunities in employment and training that young people perceive are open to them. The paper concludes by focusing on policy implications. In particular, it is argued that it is important that the influence of social networks, place attachment and associated subjective geographies is recognised by academics and policy-makers seeking a better understanding of the attitudes and perceptions of young people towards training and employment—especially in deprived areas.