Collaboration on the Front-Line
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Collaboration on the front-line: To what extent do organisations work together to provide housing services for military veterans in Scotland? Doctor of Philosophy ii DECLARATION I declare that none of the work contained within this thesis has been submitted for any other degree at any other university. The contents found within this thesis have been composed by the candidate Christine Robinson. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank staff both past and present from the housing studies group who have always supported me and treated my ideas with enthusiasm. To my supervisors Isobel Anderson, Kirstein Rummery and Douglas Robertson, I am very grateful for the encouragement and guidance received during my PhD. A special thanks to Isobel who not only supervised my MSc but inspired me to continue onto a PhD. To all my family and friends, who never showed their boredom when I obsessed over my PhD and the subject area of housing and military veterans. I acknowledge that it can’t always have been interesting for them and I will always feel grateful to them for their support. My deep appreciation goes to the military veterans who completed my online survey. Also to the people within organisations who gave up their valuable time, who allowed me access to their organisations, who understood my commitment to this area of research, who were open and honest with me and without whom the PhD would never have materialised. iv ABSTRACT This study examines collaborative working in the provision of housing services, explored by focusing on military veterans as the client group. Military veterans are recognised as being over represented in the homeless population and they are one of the few employment groups who usually have to give up their homes when they give up their employment. Therefore, access to services that assist them into housing are likely to be an important resource for them. This study adopted a case study approach and an online survey to obtain empirical evidence to explore the extent of organisations working together to provide housing services for military veterans in Scotland. The work was underpinned by theoretical frameworks in governance, networks and partnership working. Governance theory provides an understanding of how state control impacts on organisational relationships and the fragmentation of public service delivery, with the associated drivers for collaborative working to provide cohesion into the system. Studying governance focuses attention on the blurring of organisational boundaries, which both enable and restrict partnership working. It requires actors to be prepared to take risks beyond their institutional boundaries to work with others; this is a barrier for some practitioners who do not have the remit to take such risks. The findings suggest veterans experience problems at the points of interaction with generic public service providers. Also, there is a perception that this group v may have, or develop, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This perception may be over emphasised, however social housing providers are concerned about supporting this group in social housing tenancies. Three themes emerged from the study. Firstly, coherent, rational and strategic drivers for collaborative working exist and are clear. Secondly, the obstacles to this rational objective of collaborative working include differing organisational objectives and ethos and the effects of state control on different types of organisations. Actors have to overcome these barriers to work with others, in networks, in order to provide services resulting in messy and patchy delivery. Finally, service users are left to negotiate the resulting disjointed and chaotic service provision. The thesis concludes that organisational collaborations to house military veterans are relatively new, and the extent of this activity is likely to be low throughout Scotland. Whilst collaborative working does improve housing outcomes for some military veterans, as an overall strategy it fails to deliver for all. vi GLOSSARY OF TERMS Civilian Non-military person Discharge The day a service person leaves the Forces Enlistment The day a civilian joins the Forces Firm Base Initiative The MoD’s Firm base initiative operates throughout Scotland with thirteen branches divided into geographic areas, it is a vehicle to enable collaboration between differing sectors. Statutory homeless – Those homeless households that have fulfilled the statutory criteria and have been accepted as duty to house giving them the entitlement to permanent accommodation (Fitzpatrick et al, 2009 p:xiii). Veterans Veterans are anyone who has served for a least one day in HM Armed Forces – Navy, Army or RAF (Regular of Reserve) or Merchant Navy Seafarers and Fishermen who served in a vessel at a time when it was operated to facilitate military operation by HM Armed Forces. vii LIST OF ACRONYMS B&B Bed and Breakfast CHR Common Housing Register CTP Career Transition Partnership HB Housing Benefit JUG Joined-up government LA Local Authority MoD Ministry of Defence NPM New public management SLB Street Level Bureaucrat SVR Service Veterans Residences SSAFA Sailors, Soldiers, Airmen and Families Association viii RAF Royal Air Force RN Royal Navy RSL Registered Social Landlord ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 ................................................................................. 1 The dynamics of housing provision for military veterans .......................... 1 Background ............................................................................ 2 Figure 1.1: Housing trends in Scotland since 1981 ......................... 11 Research questions ................................................................. 15 Outline of chapters ................................................................. 17 Chapter 2 ............................................................................... 18 The complexity and contradictions of governance ............................... 18 Introduction .......................................................................... 18 The definition of governance ..................................................... 20 State and devolved powers ........................................................ 23 The third sector ..................................................................... 37 Conclusion............................................................................ 40 Chapter 3 ............................................................................... 43 The quest for Organisational collaboration ........................................ 43 Introduction .......................................................................... 43 Definitions of organisational collaboration and policy networks ............ 46 Barriers and enablers to collaboration ........................................... 51 Theories exploring organisational collaboration and networks .............. 57 x Conclusion .............................................................................. 78 Chapter 4 ............................................................................... 82 Housing as the essential precursor to military veterans’ welfare .............. 82 Introduction .......................................................................... 82 Meeting the housing needs for veterans ......................................... 91 Social Housing Provision ........................................................... 98 Conclusion ............................................................................. 103 Chapter 5 .............................................................................. 106 Methodology ........................................................................... 106 Introduction ......................................................................... 106 Theoretical framework ............................................................ 107 Methodological approach ......................................................... 110 The case study approach.......................................................... 116 Methods of data collection ....................................................... 127 Online survey with military veterans ........................................... 135 Methods of data analysis .......................................................... 137 Research validity ................................................................... 140 Ethics ................................................................................ 142 Conclusion ............................................................................. 149 Chapter 6 .............................................................................. 152 Governance as a framework for analysis .......................................... 152 xi Introduction ......................................................................... 152 Proposition 1 ........................................................................ 153 Proposition 2 ........................................................................ 158 Proposition 3 ........................................................................ 165 Proposition 4 ........................................................................ 175 Proposition 5 ........................................................................ 181 Conclusion ............................................................................. 185 Chapter 7 .............................................................................. 188 Challenges