WGPlus Archive Newsletter Section

Big:  Not even Charities can afford to do everything for free - A guide to help third sector funders implement full cost recovery has been launched by the Big Lottery Fund and the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO).  The report, Mind the Gap: A funders’ guide to full cost recovery, provides an eight-step guide to help the organisations understand & implement the principle.

 

Meanwhile, over 330 development workers and staff from local infrastructure organisations have booked places on the BIG funded ACEVO/National Association for Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA) full cost recovery training course.  

 

All courses for the first year of the project are now fully booked, but Acevo and NAVCA are now considering bringing forward the courses scheduled for next Autumn, in order to meet demand.

 

HM Treasury's 2002 Cross Cutting Review imposed a deadline of April 2006 on Government funders to implement full cost recovery, reinforced by the Gershon Efficiency Review in 2004.  This has now passed, and most commentators agree that a large gap remains between national policy and practice on the ground.

Press release ~ Mind the Gap: A funders’ guide to full cost recovery ~ ACEVO ~ Full cost recovery website ~ National Association for Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA) ~ Big Lottery Fund ~ Future builders England  ~ Bridge House Trust ~ HM Treasury's 2002 Cross Cutting Review ~ Change Up ~ Capacity Builders ~ Active Communities Directorate (ACD) / Office of the Third Sector ~ Charities and Public Service Delivery (CC37) ~ Regulating for the future ~ Policy statement ‘Charities and public service delivery'

 

DTI:  Norway supplies a Christmas Tree and warmth this winter - Prime Minister Tony Blair has claimed that a new era of enhanced energy security for the UK has been ushered in with the official opening ceremony of the Norwegian Langeled pipeline, set to deliver up to 20% of the UK's average winter gas needs.

 

The Langeled pipeline is one of a number of important gas import projects being constructed by the energy industry to replace the UK's declining domestic production.  In two years' time there will be additional gas import capacity equivalent to 70% of Britain's annual gas consumption.

 

The Government has also begun consulting (closes 12 January 2007) on the effectiveness of current gas security of supply arrangements to ensure the UK market is as resilient as possible.

 

Such further steps could include:

·         a legal obligation on energy suppliers to have enough gas even for non-domestic users in a severe winter.

·         regulating gas storage to make sure gas held in storage is put to best use at the right times of the year.

·         ensuring new gas fired power stations have back up fuel sources such as oil distillate

·         ensuring the provision of centrally determined levels of gas supply capacity

Press release ~ The Effectiveness of Current Gas Security of Supply Arrangements: a Consultation ~ DTI Oil & Gas website ~ Energy Review, July 2006 ~ Storage in caverns ~ Pilot Taskforce ~ DTI – Security of Energy Supply ~ Chatham House – Renewing Energy Security ~ Foreign Policy Centre - Energy ~ Oxford Research Group - Secure Energy: Options for a Safer World ~ G8 energy security plan

 

DCA:  Verbose Ministers could hinder access to documents? - The Government has indicated how it might address the costs of dealing with FoI requests and also responded to the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee's report Freedom of Information-one year on.

 

The Committee's inquiry into the first year of FoI found that the significant amount of new information being released was often being used in a constructive and positive way by a range of different individuals & organisations.

 

The DCA has also published an independent review of the impact of FoI, which examined the cost of delivering FoI across central government and the wider public sector and options for changes to the fees regime.

 

Based on the report, the Government is considering changes that will allow the inclusion of reading time, consideration time & consultation time (with Ministers) in the calculation of the appropriate limit (£600) above which requests could be refused on cost grounds; and a greater ability to aggregate requests under Secondary legislation.

Press release ~ CASC report on FoI ~ Government's response to CASC report ~ Review of FoI fees ~ DCA FoI website ~ Information Commissioner ~ Scottish Information Commissioner ~ Campaign for FoI - charges ~ Early Day Motion ~ Briefing paper for the case against changes ~ Guardian articles on FoI issues ~ National Archives ~ Cilip website

 

Home Office:  ‘Candid camera’ could help in getting perpetrators of domestic violence ‘sent off’ - Victims of domestic violence will be better protected & supported by police using new techniques and good practice pioneered during the Government's first ever domestic violence enforcement campaign (DVEC).

 

Innovative tactics, such as the use of body-worn video cameras by police, the installation of a covert camera in an offender's home and other specialised investigation techniques, were deployed over eight weeks in February & March 2006  and during the FIFA World Cup to protect victims and bring more offenders to justice.

 

The resultant report highlights a number of 'lessons learned' and good practice aimed at strengthening current & future police enforcement work and informing wider Government work in reducing domestic abuse. 

 

Findings also support previous academic research linking large-scale sporting events & alcohol consumption with increases in domestic violence, which is why the Government has invited all football & sporting groups to join the 70 companies already tackling domestic abuse as part of the UK Corporate Alliance Against Domestic Violence.

Press release ~ Lessons Learned from the Domestic Violence Enforcement Campaigns 2006 ~ National Domestic Violence Delivery Plan Report and Guidance (scroll down) ~ Corporate Alliance Against Domestic Violence (CAADV) ~ ACPO Guidance on Investigating Domestic Violence ~ Domestic Violence National Plan ~ Investigative Report: Violence-related injury related to alcohol in England and Wales 2006 ~ National Domestic Violence hotline ~ Women’s aid ~ Home Office - Domestic violence ~ Women & Equality Unit - Domestic Violence ~ Responding to domestic abuse: A handbook for health professionals ~ Cost of Domestic violence ~
Tackling Domestic Violence: Providing support to survivors from Black Minority Ethnic communities ~
Tackling domestic violence: Providing support for children who have witnessed domestic violence ~ Developing Domestic Violence Strategies - A Guide for Partnerships ~ Violence at Home

 

CEOP:  Virtual inquiries assist police to achieve joined-up results - Microsoft has joined together with the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre to deliver a new technology that allows police forces to share & analyse information for investigating child sex offences in the UK.

 

The Child Exploitation Tracking System (CETS) has been running at the CEOP centre since the launch of the centre in April 2006 and is now being offered as a ‘proof of concept’ to police forces across the country, with Essex, West Midlands, South Wales police forces and the Hi-tech Crime Unit of Scotland all undertaking a pilot programme.

 

The technology allows the creation of a virtual investigation team, where police officers across the country can share & analyse information on suspected offenders, avoiding duplication and coordinating a national approach that will reduce the risk of offenders moving across geographic borders to avoid detection.

 

CETS was developed following a personal e-mail plea from Toronto Police Detective Sergeant Paul Gillespie to Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates.  Microsoft has donated more than $7 million (USD) to date for the system's development and to assist in its global deployment.

 

In one recent UK case, an individual's activities online was reported to the CEOP website on four separate occasions.  By using CETS the CEOP centre investigators were able to identify a number of online identities used by various paedophiles who were attempting to contact the individual and the investigators were able to pass these to a single force for investigation.

Press release ~ Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre ~ Stay safe online ~ Child Exploitation Tracking System (CETS) ~ Hi-tech Crime Unit of Scotland ~ Virtual Global Taskforce ~ Microsoft – Protect your family ~ Consultation paper On the possession of extreme pornographic material - summary of responses and next steps ~ NSPCC inform ~ Child Protection Policing - Home Office ~ Child Protection on the Internet – Home Office ~ Childnet International

 

DCA:  Four options for party political funding - Sir Hayden Phillips has published an interim assessment of the work his Review has done so far on the funding of political parties.  The assessment contains four broad scenarios, which cover most of the key issues and illustrate the nature of the choices and the arguments involved:

·         Scenario 1: Minimal change: including some small changes to make the current system work more effectively

·         Scenario 2: Increased transparency and greater expenditure control: whether to provide more information about who funds parties and reducing the amount parties can spend on campaigning at general elections or more widely

·         Scenario 3: Cap on donations: whether to set a limit on the amount people can donate to political parties

·         Scenario 4: Greater levels of public funding: whether to provide more support for political parties through public funding, whether through a general subsidy, a targeted subsidy, or an incentive scheme such as matched funding.

Press release ~ The review of the funding of political parties – Interim assessment ~ Party Funding Forum  ~  Public Perspectives: The future of party funding in the UK Interim report - Research Study Conducted for The Electoral Commission/COI 2006 ~ Electoral Commission - Loans ~ Electoral Commission - Donors ~ Hansard – Principles of party funding ~ Constitutional Affairs Select Committee ~ July 1999 Report ~ The Government's proposals for legislation in response to the Fifth Report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life (1999) ~ EC paper from 2004

 

OFT:  OFT takes some of the risk out of flying - Ryanair has agreed to change its contract terms to give air travellers a fairer deal, following action by the OFT, who had expressed a number of concerns with Ryanair's terms, in particular:

·         Ryanair's liability for damage or delay to sporting equipment, infant equipment, medical/mobility equipment and musical instruments - Ryanair's terms excluded liability for damage or delay to the above items and stated that they were carried on a 'limited release basis' - in other words, at the passenger's own risk.  

·         Ryanair's liability for baggage claims - Ryanair required that if an item of baggage was reported as lost and not found within 21 days, consumers would have to make a further claim within a further 21 days, otherwise Ryanair excluded liability for the lost baggage.  In the OFT's view this relieved the airline of liability to a greater extent than permitted by the Montreal Convention.  

·         Ryanair's liability in the event that flights are delayed or cancelled, or passengers are denied boarding on a flight - The OFT was concerned about the options that Ryanair offered to consumers in these situations, and considered that Ryanair's terms did not reflect consumers' full rights under the relevant EU Regulation.  Press release ~ OFT – Unfair Terms in Contracts ~ Air Transport Users Council - Montreal Convention ~ FAQs on passenger rights under EC Regulation 261/2004 ~ Ryanair Terms & conditions

 

 

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