WIREDGOV NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
WAG: Wales will be ‘At One’ with the planet - Wales has the potential to produce nearly twice the amount of electricity it currently uses, through wholly renewable sources by 2025.
This was the message from Environment Minister, Jane Davidson, who was speaking at the launch of the Welsh Assembly Government’s new Energy Policy Statement: A Low Carbon Revolution.
This was the message from Environment Minister, Jane Davidson, who was speaking at the launch of the Welsh Assembly Government’s new Energy Policy Statement: A Low Carbon Revolution.
The strategy outlines the WAG’s ambitions to accelerate the transition to a low carbon energy economy in Wales. It sets out a 3-tiered approach which focuses on:
* maximising energy savings & efficiency.
* ensuring that the transition to low carbon energy maximises opportunities for practical green jobs & skills
* moving to resilient low carbon electricity production via secure indigenous renewable forms of energy (such as marine, wind, water & biomass)
Press release ~ Energy Policy Statement: A Low Carbon Revolution ~ Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) - Wales ~ WAG: Environment and countryside ~ WAG: Energy & fuel ~ National Assembly Sustainable Energy Group (NASEG) ~ Hydrogen - Wales ~ Centre for Alternative Technology ~ Sustainable Energy Alliance ~ Centre for Sustainable Energy ~ Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy ~ UK Business Council for Sustainable Energy ~ Consultation (closed) on a Bioenergy Action Plan for Wales ~ Funding to support the development of a Biosciences and Environment Alliance ~ Bio-energy Capital Grants scheme ~ UK Environmental Transformation Fund (ETF) ~ UK Biomass Strategy ~ Environmental Transformation Fund - Anaerobic Digestion ~ FoE Briefing document ~ The European Anaerobic Digestion Network ~ Renewable Energy Route Map for Wales ~ One Wales: One Planet, a new Sustainable Development Scheme for Wales ~ Sustain Wales ~ Gwynt y Mor Offshore Wind Farm ~ WWF Cymru’s One Planet Wales report ~ Severn Tidal Power ~ The economics of Onshore Wind Energy
DCSF: Will this lead to ‘Never again’? - Children's Secretary, Ed Balls, has confirmed that Local Safeguarding Children Boards will in future be required to:
* produce clear & comprehensive executive summaries of Serious Case Reviews
* set out in their annual reports what actions have been taken following SCRs
These requirements, made explicit in a template setting out a recommended format for SCR executive summaries, will build on the action which Government has already taken to further strengthen SCRs. The revised Working Together guidance also builds on responses from experts in child protection such as the NSPCC and Barnardo's.
Ministers have also announced that funding to support social work improvement in adult & children's services for 2010 - 11 will be more than £200m. A new 'Local Social Work Improvement Fund' of £23m will provide flexible funds to help reduce pressure on front line social workers. There will also be a grant of £15m to continue to improve IT systems in local areas. LAs will be expected to consult with social workers & local partners to decide how to use the additional money.
The Government will also invest up to an additional £10m to enable Cafcass to tackle backlogs through more efficient working practices. It will enable the service to meet the needs of children in care proceedings and ensure that their best interests remain at the heart of court proceedings.
The Government has also published the Chief Advisor for the Safety of Children, Sir Roger Singleton's first report to Parliament, plus the Government's response to Lord Laming - One Year On.
Press release ~ Local Safeguarding Children Boards ~ Cafcass ~ Lord Laming: The Protection of Children in England: A Progress Report ~ Working Together to Safeguard Children: A guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children ~ Government response to Working Together ~ Local Safeguarding Children Boards: Practice guidance for consultation (closes on 9 June 2010) ~ The Government's Response to Lord Laming - One Year On ~ The Chief Adviser on the Safety of Children: First annual report to Parliament – 2010 ~ Serious Case Reviews ~ Social Work Taskforce ~ Social work reform programme: Building a safe and confident future ~ Step Up to Social Work Programme for high quality graduates ~ Advanced Social Work Professional role ~ Social Work Practice pilots
DECC: A possible future replacement for fishing jobs? - Harnessing the full potential of marine energy could provide enough power for up to 15m homes & save up to 70m tonnes of C02 by 2050 according to the Government’s Marine Energy Action Plan, released last week. The document also highlights the potential for the marine energy sector to provide up to 16,000 jobs, with a quarter of these in exports.
DECC press release ~ Related ScotGov press release ~ Marine Energy Action Plan ~ Strangford Lough SeaGen turbine ~ Pelamis Wave Power ~ Vattenfall ~ Saltire Prize ~ ScotGov: Marine Energy ~ BWEA: Marine Renewable Energy ~ European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) ~ Carbon Trust: Marine Energy Accelerator ~ SuperGen Marine Consortium ~ Atlas of UK Marine Renewable Energy Resources ~ Renewables Grid Initiative ~ An offshore grid for wind power integration ~ European Commission's Second Strategic Energy Review (follow up) ~ Pre-Scoping Study to Determine Grid Requirements to Connect Renewable Energy off the Coasts of Northern Europe ~ Scottish Renewables ~ ScotGov: Marine Energy Roadmap ~ Office for Renewable Energy Deployment (ORED) ~ Energy Consents Unit ~ The Saltire Prize ~ Marine Scotland ~ Siadar wave energy station ~ Offshore Energy SEA ~ Marine Energy Challenge ~ Future Marine Energy ~ Institution of Mechanical Engineers – Marine Energy ~ University of Edinburgh – Marine energy ~ Pelamis wave energy converters ~ Related ScotGov press release - Grid links across the Irish Sea ~ Related DECC press release ~ SeaEnergy (EDP-SER) ~ Marine Estate at the Crown Estate ~ A Prevailing Wind: Advancing UK Offshore Wind Deployment ~ International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) ~ Carbon Trust Report: Offshore wind power: big challenge, big opportunity ~ Ofgem – Offshore transmission
BIS: Can we build it? Yes we can - Business Secretary, Lord Mandelson, has announced a package of measures to strengthen the UK’s civil nuclear supply chain, at the centre of which is an offer of a £80m loan to propel a successful UK manufacturer - Sheffield Forgemasters - to the forefront of civil nuclear power world markets.
The offer will enable SF to build a 15,000 tonne press & finishing facility, which can produce the ultra-large forgings, such as reactor pressure vessels that are integral to modern civil nuclear reactors. Currently these can only be produced in Japan for the global market and the company concerned has a full order book for some years ahead.
A report published by the Nuclear Industry Association estimates that the UK supply chain currently has the capability to supply around 50% of the plant & equipment for a new nuclear programme in the UK. With some investment in facilities & training, the UK could supply around 70% of the different components needed.
Press release ~ Sheffield Forgemasters ~ Nuclear Industry Association ~ NIA’s Nuclear Supply Chain Website (click on ‘Useful Links’ for access to Market Reports & Practical Guides) ~ Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Centre (NAMRC) ~ Cogent - Nuclear ~ National Skills Academy for Nuclear ~ Nuclear Skills Passport scheme ~ Cogent’s Nuclear Career Pathways ~ Energy Foresight ~ Nuclear Community Apprenticeship Scheme ~ Nuclear Industry Training Framework (NITF)
ESRC: Least to blame, but will suffer the most - Those most vulnerable to the effects of climate change in the UK may be those who have contributed least to the problem, according to climate change experts. The social justice implications of climate change for those living in the UK are outlined in ‘How will climate change affect people in the UK and how can we best develop an equitable response?’.
As yet, understanding the likely consequences of climate change for people living in the UK is at an early stage and, in this booklet, academic & policy experts consider the social impacts and the social justice implications of climate change in a UK context and how society needs to respond.
Press release ~ ESRC/JRF/LGA Public Policy Seminar booklet: How will climate change affect people in the UK and how can we best develop an equitable response? ~ UK Climate Projections UKCP09
NAO: 'Re-organisation' is too often a tool used by managers to avoid examination of their failure to deliver - Between May 2005 & June 2009, there were over 90 reorganisations to central government. But a report released by the National Audit Office has found that these cannot demonstrate value for money, given that most had vague objectives and that costs & benefits were not tracked.
Forthcoming Event: SPRINT Mid-Year Mini-Conference – ‘You can't streamline 30%’ - Ramada Park Hall Hotel, Wolverhampton (21 April 21 2010). On BBC television's Question Time on Thursday 4 March - an estimate of between 14% & 24% public sector budget cut was unchallenged by the Government representative on stage (Lord Adonis), but levels of savings of up to 24% cannot be squeezed from existing budgets - dramatic & radical re-engineering may well be the only solution.
Many organisations have undertaken streamlining activity in a highly effective way over the last few years - but in doing so have failed to challenge the fundamental issues. In this respect they may well have made the achievement of further substantial savings almost impossible.
Positive change requires the design of innovative forms of work organisation, emphasizing local autonomy and user-centred design enabled by technological innovation. Senior managers in particular, must lead the way in building the capacity for design & innovation at all levels in their organisations.
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