After two decades of relative calm, sustained political protests have returned to the streets of the United Kingdom (UK). The resurgence of political protest has seen transnational movements for global justice come together with more localised groups concerned with governmental responses to the economic downturn and their impact in different social policy arenas. This socio-political conflict presents a renewed challenge for the service-oriented and customer-focused Police Service. While the sustained social disorder and political protest of the 1980s was managed through paramilitarised responses, police reforms have encouraged new mode of public order policing which has been described as strategic facilitation (Waddington, 2010). The post-modern mix of multiple political agendas within organised political protests has made it more difficult for the Police Service to manage a multitude of increasingly flexible protest repertoires. This paper looks at recent policing responses to organised political protest in the UK and the broader context influencing changes in police strategy.

Women in prison are disproportionally likely to be poor, unemployed, mentally ill, socially excluded and the victims of abuse (Corston Report, 2007). These are risk factors for poor parenting skills/infant feeding choices, and are likely to result in impaired physical, social and emotional well-being as well as adverse short, medium and long term health outcomes.

The Public Health White Paper and key policy documents indicate the need to tackle such problems from the start of life, to prevent the intergenerational cycle of deprivation.

The government's recent Green Paper stresses the importance of addressing offender health needs as part of the rehabilitation revolution, and health is one of the reducing re-offending pathways within the criminal justice sector. However there is very limited research evidence around the specific health needs of child-bearing women in prison and ways of providing effective care. There are real opportunities to facilitate change to the health of women whilst in custody which would not be possible in the wider community. Thus it is essential to offer effective, evidence-based policy and practice to maximise the benefit and prevent harm at this time.

This paper presents the findings from a consultation project developed in partnership with the Mother and Infant Research Unit at the University of York to scope and map the health needs and health care of child-bearing women in prison in the Yorkshire and Humberside region. The methodology involved conducting focus groups with MBU staff at Mother and Baby Units at HMP New Hall and HMP Askham.

Janine Mulcany - The role of legal and social judgements in accessing reproductive treatment.

Section 13(5) of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (as amended), known as the welfare of the child principle, is a condition of all licences to provide assisted reproduction treatment services and states that, 'A woman shall not be provided with treatment services unless account has been taken of the welfare of any child born as a result of the treatment (including the need of that child for supportive parenting), and of any other child who may be affected by the birth.'

One of the amendments made to the 1990 Act by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 was the inclusion of 'supportive parenting' in place of 'a father'.

This paper is based on my PhD study, which aims to examine how the welfare of the child principle is implemented and interpreted in practice. An area of interest is whether staff members in licensed assisted reproduction treatment centres feel that practices in assisted reproduction treatment centres have changed following the changes in legislation and guidance and if so, in what way and to what extent.

The paper will focus on initial findings from the empirical study. The study consisted of a survey of licensed assisted reproduction treatment centres in the UK, followed by a small number of qualitative case studies in individual clinics. Within each case study semi-structured interviews with staff members have been conducted in order to explore staff perceptions and experiences of implementing the welfare of the child principle.

Dick Severns - Researching the transnational firearms intelligence network - how it works, what drives it and how much it focuses on OCG/terrorist nexuses

The public demand information and governance on global warming, misuse of drugs and child pornography. However, they accept direct action on terrorist activity without question. In recent years the response to terrorism has been militaristic and reactive and it has been fought as a real war (Findlay 2008). By ensuring the correct information is gathered on any threat (perceived or otherwise); that threat and the assessed risks can be fully understood and the expectations in respect of the security response can be managed. It will also allow for a proportionate pro-active international criminal justice policing response to prevent and disrupt terrorist crimes, preferably without having to resort to war (Findlay 2008).

International policing has been analysed by applying the Webarian theory of bureaucratisation. It was established that 'policeization' existed in the formation of transnational policing policy. Police officers from different nation states met together on a professional practical basis and created transnational processes. They then took these processes back to their respective nation state governments for the government to formalise the processes in law and policy (Deflem 2002). There has been a call for further research to understand what factors are shaping the reconstructing of policing (Bayley and Shearing 2001). With the ever increasing transnational threats from organised crime and terrorism this should also apply to transnational, as well as state policing

There is a current threat in the UK from the Real IRA (RIRA) and al-Qaeda terrorists using small arms and light weapons (SALW), in particular there is a threat of a Mumbai style combat attack by al-Qaeda (BBC 2010 and MI5 2011). So it is necessary for the UK police to gather intelligence to prevent such attacks. In particular they need to focus on gathering intelligence about the source of any SALW, whether that is inside or outside the UK. The gathering of that intelligence is obviously necessary but it must also be done ethically, be legitimate, be proportionate, and its integrity must be maintained. To act on the intelligence it must be shown to be reliable (Billingsley 2009). Therefore it is important that evidence based policy is in place to ensure the right people partake in the policy forming network and that they and any transnational policing structures that result are governed and held to account. Carrying out research on that policy network will lead to an understanding of how it works, whether it leads to any reconstruction of transnational policing and whether it is part of a communitarian, inclusive and accountable practice of international criminal justice.

No such specific research work has been undertaken before. Whilst the existence of Deflem's (2005) 'policeization' is acknowledged other factors have become established that could influence transnational policing reconstruction and policy networks, such as the United Nations (UN) Programme of Action (PoA) to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in SALW (Jojarth 2009). Therefore undertaking adaptive grounded theory research on how the policy network works will 'bring new evidence to bear on an old issue' (Phillips 1992).

This seminar will draw on empirical research to examine the capacity and capability of the voluntary and community sector to deliver offender management services as envisioned through the Coalition Government's policy and commissioning frameworks.