From the mid-2000’s, Hugh Bochel and Andrew Defty have undertaken interviews with MPs and Peers to explore their attitudes to social policy issues (such as the role of the state in providing welfare, how welfare provision should be financed, and more specific issues such as the NHS and the social security system), and also their views on the role of Parliament in scrutinising the actions of government This work has been published in a book, Welfare Policy Under New Labour (Policy Press, 2007), and in a series of articles in journals such as Journal of Social Policy, Parliamentary Affairs and Social Policy and Society.
University of Lincoln, College of Social Science Research
Prof Hugh Bochel, University of Lincoln, School of Social and Political Science
Dr Andrew Defty, University of Lincoln, School of Social and Political Science