Overview

This year's Social Policy Review (SPR) follows the tried and tested structure of previous years. It is divided into three distinct parts, each edited by one of the three co-editors who provide below an introduction to their section. Part One, commissioned and edited by Tony Maltby, provides a review of some of the significant developments in social policy during 2007; Part Two, edited by Patricia Kennett, is a selection of papers from those delivered to the annual international Social Policy Association (SPA) conference held at the University of Birmingham in July 2007; and the final part, edited by Kirstein Rummery, focuses upon the important issue of gender inequality within the policy process and provides a selection of papers from a SPA-sponsored workshop.

Part One: Current developments – Tony Maltby

The first part differs slightly from previous years. The aim, as in previous editions of the Review, is to provide the reader with a review and analysis of the key developments in UK social policy during the previous year. However, my aim as lead editor was to broaden the perspective away from what I regard as a rather dated and somewhat narrow ‘five giants’ framework.

Hence, the chapters comprising this section also reflect the areas of policy that are now pertinent to the key challenges and debates within social policy in the 21st century. My view is that the ‘five giants’ framework is now more relevant to the 1940s and 1950s than to 2008. To suggest that we continue to operate within Beveridge's ‘five giants’ framework, at least for this review, seems to suggest that the discipline has failed to reflect the rapidly changing agenda of social policy as a 21st-century discipline. We no longer have central government Departments for (of) Education or Social Security or, for that matter, Housing. Would anyone argue that we should ignore the debate on the impact of sexuality, sexism or racism (for example) upon policy, as Beveridge did? Let us celebrate the vibrancy of our discipline, and allow the exploration of new avenues by building upon Beveridge's legacy.

The current debate about global environmental change and its impact upon the ‘social’, and indeed social policy issues (for example, work, lifestyle, leisure, housing, transport, poverty), and the participation of adults in learning and training are two such examples of debates that should be included.