In deep water

Sample

the Comptroller and Auditor General

This NAO report (HC 1035, session 2007-08, ISBN 9780102954371) focuses on the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) investigation of complaints against the police. The IPCC has responsibility for the performance of the whole police complaints system and has a remit to investigate complaints and conduct matters involving police officers. It can recommend appropriate action by the police force concerned and forward information to the Crown Prosecution Service. It employs just under 400 staff and has a net expenditure for 2007-08 of £32.2 million, with £30.1 million financed from the Home Office. In 2007-08 nearly 29,000 complaints were made against the police. Most were dealt with locally by the relevant police force, and did not involve the IPCC. The NAO findings include: supervised investigations are not the most effective use of IPCC resources; the IPCC is facing an increasing workload when its funding is being reduced; the IPCC is not yet providing full guidance and training for its staff; there was a number of investigations where there was no auditable record that an IPCC Commissioner had reviewed and approved an investigation report; the review functioning of the IPCC is not operating as intended; there is no formal review of cases after they have been completed; the work carried out by the IPCC is not subject to external scrutiny; there is significant inconsistency across the IPCC regions in the way recommendations arising from investigations are being followed up; no single organisation has responsibility for monitoring the implementation of recommendations by police forces; the IPCC should undertake regular surveys to obtain feedback and identify actions that need to be taken to improve client satisfaction.

Sample

Bassem Kamar

Le rôle de la politique de change dans la gestion macroéconomique prend toute son importance dans la situation de crises récurrentes dans les pays en développement. L'auteur pense que le choix d'une politique de change doit être en concordance avec l'ensemble des politiques économiques de chaque pays, et qu'il n'existe pas de politique universelle prédéfinie. Après avoir identifié la politique adéquate pour le cas de l'Egypte, l'auteur propose plusieurs politiques d'accompagnement.

Sample

Alberto Alesina and Edward L. Glaeser

As events highlight deep divisions in attitudes between America and Europe, this is a very timely study of different approaches to the problems of domestic inequality and poverty. Based on careful and systematic analysis of national data, the authors describe just how different the two continents are in the level of their State engagement in the redistribution of income. They go through various possible economic explanations for the difference, including different levels of pre-tax income, openness, and social mobility; they survey politico-historical differences such as the varying physical size of nations, their electoral and legal systems, and the character of their political parties, as well as their experiences of war; and they examine sociological explanations which include different attitudes to the poor and notions of social responsibility, as well as, most importantly, attitudes to race. They calculate that attitudes to race explain half the observed difference in levels of public redistribution of income.

Sample

Gérard Deshays

Qu'est-ce que l'illettrisme ? Comment le repérer et y remédier ? Quelle différence y a-t-il avec l'analphabétisme ? Cet ouvrage, fruit de vingt ans d'enseignement, renvoie à l'analyse des transformations qui ont conduit à parler d'illettrisme au moment où la massification de l'enseignement diffusait des connaissances demeurées jusqu'alors l'apanage d'une élite. L'histoire de l'alphabétisation est une des clefs qui permet de comprendre celle des politiques de lutte contre l'illettrisme.