Wales Assembly Govt.: Framework for Children in Wales - First Minister Rhodri Morgan and Children’s Minister Jane Hutt have launched the National Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services in Wales, which sets out the quality of services that children, young people and their families have a right to expect & receive.
It includes - My Orange Book – which has been designed specifically for children with complex health needs who have regular contact with health professionals and is a record of the child’s needs & preferences so that they do not have to be repeated time after time to different health staff.
Press release ~ National Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services in Wales ~ My Orange Book ~ Are you listening? - What disabled children and young people in Wales think about the services they use (VL File 2.3Mb) ~ "What do children in special circumstances think of services" (VL File 2.4Mb)
Home Office: Freedom from Terror - Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, explains his shifting position on proposed new powers to tackle terrorism and extremism, including a consultation paper on dealing with places of worship which are being used by extremists to foment terror.
Mr Clarke seems to have retracted his previous possible agreement to a one month rather than three month detention period saying:
"I remain convinced that the maximum time limit for detention should be increased to three months, and the material I am publishing today makes that case clear. The police use their existing detention powers cautiously and in moderation, and I am confident that they would use an amended power in the same careful fashion”.
The consultation paper (closes
Press release ~ Previous proposals ~ Home Office Security website ~ Anti-Terror legislation ~ Consultation paper - Preventing Extremism Together: Places of Worship
DfES: Turning the Tables - The independent School Meals Review Panel has published its report "Turning the Tables: Transforming School Food". And there will now be a consultation (closes 31 December).
The Government has also launched a national audit of school food provision in order to assess the progress that is already being made by local authorities and schools. The survey will be carried out between 10 October and 24 October (this week), with a view to publishing the results in early November.
The Government says that it has asked the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority to consider how to put a greater emphasis on teaching pupils practical cooking skills in secondary schools for 11 to 14 year olds, because: ‘Preparing and cooking food is a key skill that will benefit them as they move into adulthood and independence’.
The Government says that it supports the recommendations on setting minimum food-based standards as mandatory for school lunches by September 2006, followed by the introduction of even more stringent nutrient-based standards required for school meals in primary schools by no later than 2008 and secondary schools by no later than 2009.
The School Food Trust is expected to launch in November and a dedicated ’toolkit’ will enable parents to work with schools and the School Food Trust to improve the quality of their child’s school meal.
Press release ~ Consultation: - Turning the Tables: Transforming School Food - Recommendations for the Development and Implementation of Revised School Lunch Standards ~ Guidance for caterers to school lunch standards ~ Qualifications and Curriculum Authority ~ Building Schools for the Future programme ~ Caroline Walker Trust guidelines ~ FSA - School meals research project ~ Feed me better ~ Scottish Executive – School meals ~ Welsh Network of Healthy School Schemes ~ Nutritional strategy for Wales ‘Food and Well Being’ ~ Health and Well Being for Children and Young People: Action in response to the issues raised by the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study 1986-2000 ~ ’Food in schools - a short guide for parents and carers’ ~ Food in Schools website ~ DH Food in schools website
Defra:
The newly opened Decontamination Service is intended to provide expert advice &
guidance and streamline ability to decontaminate buildings and the environment
after a chemical, biological,
radiological or nuclear (CBRN) incident.
Press release ~ Defra
CBRN guidance ~ Home Office CBRN Resilience Programme ~ UK
Resilience ~ ODPM – Building
Decontamination ~ The Fire and Rescue National
Framework ~ Royal Society Report On ’Making The Uk Safer:
Detecting And Decontaminating Chemical And Biological Agents’ (Scroll down for links to documents) ~
Defra - Response to Radiological
Emergencies ~ Department of Health - Deliberate
Release Guidance ~ Health Protection Agency - Deliberate
Release ~ UK Resilience - CBRN Guidance for LAs
Defra: Fisheries Minister, Ben Bradshaw, has
welcomed the launch of the Marine
Fisheries (executive) Agency, which will carry out fisheries inspection
& enforcement work previously done by the Sea Fisheries Inspectorate.
Press release ~ Marine Fisheries Agency
website ~ Review of Marine Fisheries and Environmental
Enforcement. ~ Defra
Fisheries website
DH:
’If you knew about flu you’d get the jab’ is the
message of this
year’s flu campaign aimed at the over 65s and parents of children
aged over six months with asthma, diabetes or weakened immunity due to disease
or treatment.
If you have a serious allergy to hens’
eggs or if you have ever had a serious allergic reaction to the flu vaccine,
you shouldn’t get the flu jab vaccination.
Press release ~ DH Flu website ~ Health Protection Agency: Influenza ~ Influenza at the World Health Organisation ~ Pension Service: Winter Fuel payments ~ Royal College of General
Practitioners: Flu charts ~ Outbreak
plans
CRE: Trevor Phillips, CRE chair, spoke recently at the Conservative Party Conference Muslim
Forum in
"Globalisation means that the rules of multi-ethnic
Press release ~ Read the full text of Trevor
Phillips’s speech ~ Times Online article ~ ‘Sleepwalking’ speech
Ofwat: The Consumer Council for Water (CCWater) (which has replaced WaterVoice) has started work for water
consumers in
It will
publish (for consultation) its draft forward work programme (2005-06 to
2007-08) on
Press release ~ CCWater
website
Press release ~ Rhondda Cynon Taf Safety Zone ~ Child Accident
Prevention Trust ~ HSE –
Child Safety in Agriculture ~ HSE Stay Safe Railway
Safety ~ HSE Stay
Safe Building Site Safety ~ RoSPA website
DCMS:
In a
speech to the recent Creative
Economy conference in London, Ms Jowell announced the publication of the
Government response to recommendations from the Creative Industries Forum on Intellectual
Property.
Press release ~ Creative Economy Conference ~
Government response to the Creative Industries Forum on
Intellectual Property’s recommendations ~ Creative Industries website
National Archives: The National Archives is to
distribute £200,000 worth of grants to tackle cataloguing backlogs in local
archives. Typically about 25% of
archived items are unlisted and, in the
Press release ~ National
Advisory Services ~ Logjam: an audit of
uncatalogued archival collections in the North
West ~ Esmée
Fairbairn Trust ~ The
Pilgrim Trust ~ Listening to the Past, Speaking to the Future (VL File
3Mb)
English Nature: English Nature claims that wildlife
crime will be dealt with quickly & simply following a Joint Statement of Intent between English Nature and the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) and the Association of Chief Police
Officers.
DCA: People plagued with personal debt
problems will receive help from a new national scheme that encourages early
contact between debtors and creditors. The introduction of Pre-Action Notices (PAN) is intended to
help many people resolve debt difficulties without the stress and added cost of
going to court.
Press release ~ Tackling Over-Indebtedness Annual Report 2005 ~ DTI over-indebtedness website ~ DCA
position paper (March 2005) ~ Proportionate
Dispute Resolution (PDR) ~ A Choice
of Paths: better options to manage over-indebtedness and multiple
debt ~ National Debtline
Home Office: Immigration Minister Andy Burnham has launched six new
schemes aimed at helping
refugees fully integrate into
Press release ~ Time Together Project ~ and HERE ~ Sunrise (Strategic Upgrade
of National Refugee Integration Services) pilots ~ Controlling our borders: making migration work for
Britain ~ TimeBank ~ Integration Matters strategy (VL File 2.4Mb)
DfES: The Department for Education and Skills
has announced that the Tribal Group plc will run the National Centre for Excellence in the
Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) with Government funding of £15 million over
the next three years. The National
Centre, the launch of which is due to take place in summer 2006, is intended help to ‘enthuse learners and enable them to achieve
greater progress in mathematics by improving skills and teaching knowledge’.
Press release ~ Professor Adrian Smiths report Making Mathematics Count
(180 pages) ~ DfES response to MMC ~ Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education (ACME) ~
Centre for
Innovation in Mathematics Teaching at the University of Plymouth ~
Training and Development Agency ~ Teachernet Maths website ~ Teaching Maths to visually
impaired students
DfES: Schools Minister Andrew Adonis has
announced a scheme – the Black
Pupils Achievement Programme - to boost achievement amongst Black pupils. The aim is to increase success among Black pupils
through a tailored leadership and management strategy.
The roll out
goes ahead despite the fact that the final evaluation of data has not taken
place, but that is perhaps to be expected as the government made a similar
decision on timing with regards to City Academies.
Press release ~ Statistical First Release "National Curriculum Assessment, GCSE
and equivalent attainment and Post-16 attainment by pupil characteristics, in
England, 2004" ~ Black Pupils Achievement
Programme ~ African-Caribbean Achievement
Project ~ Report on Secondary Education Fifth Report
of Session 2004-05
Defra: The
government hopes that households across
Press release ~ Statutory recycling targets &BVPI ~ Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme ~ Defra Recycling Reward website ~ 16 pain-free ways to help save the
planet,
Defra:
Defra is seeking views (closes
Press release ~ Consultation documents ~ Defra
Pollution prevention and control website ~ Atkins report Action Plan ~ Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999 ~ Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC)
Directive ~ Environment Agency Responsibilities in Relation to Air Quality
Management Areas ~ Health Protection agency ~ Risk based methodology ~ Local Air Pollution Control - Risk-Based
Regulation
Defra: Now that
several projects are up & running, Defra is consulting (closes Friday 6 January 2006) on proposed changes to the criteria used to assess proposed waste PFI
projects, in time for the start of the
next financial year in April 2006.
Press release ~ Consultation documents ~ Guidance on MWMS ~ Planning Policy Statement 10
(PPS10)
Defra: The
Affordable Rural Housing Commission (ARHC) is calling for evidence to gather the views
of those with knowledge & experience on the issue of affordable rural
housing. The ‘call’
ends 14
November and intends to focus on those involved in the issue of
affordable housing in rural areas, including local authorities, housing
associations, environmental groups, and the private
sector.
Evidence from individuals, rural communities and
local businesses about their experiences arising from a lack of affordable
housing in rural areas is the subject of a separate complementary inquiry by
the Commission for Rural
Communities.
Press release ~ Evidence gathering questionnaire ~ CRC Thematic Inquiry into Affordable Housing ~ Rural Housing
Trust ~ Affordable Rural
Housing: An opportunity for business ~ Shelter’s Housing Action with Rural Communities
(SHARC) ~ Local Housing Assessment Guide ~ Affordable housing toolkit ~ ODPM -
’Supporting the Delivery of New Housing’ and ’Planning for Sustainable
Communities in Rural Areas’ can be found HERE.
DTI:
Speaking at the launch of
the consultation (12 January 2006) document ’Advancing Equality for Men and Women’
Meg Munn, Deputy Minister for Women & Equality said that the public
sector needs to ensure that it leads the way in rights & attitudes when it
comes to gender equality.
Press release ~ ’Advancing Equality for Men and Women’ ~ Women &
Equality Unit website ~ Equality Bill website with easy read guide ~
EQUAL Programme
Home Office: -
Freedom from Terror - See ‘In
the news’
DfES:
Turning the
Tables –
See ‘In the news’
Acas: Acas has helped to launch a new DVD -
The Essential Guide to Employment
Tribunals - which is designed
to guide employers and individuals through the employment tribunal
process. It offers viewers
advice on whether they should be going to tribunal at all and, if they decide
to go ahead, comprehensive guidance on how to prepare and what to expect once
they get there.
Press release ~ Acas Tribunal website ~ Order HERE ~ Capital Law
HSE: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published updated
guidance on organising public firework displays safely. Giving your own firework display: How to run and fire it safely has
been revised to reflect significant changes in the laws governing the supply,
possession, transport, storage & use of fireworks that may now have an
effect on the way displays are organised.
Press release ~ HSE Fireworks website ~ DTI Fireworks
website ~ Fact
Sheet on Fireworks Legislation covering safety and anti-social use ~
Fact Sheet on the Sale and Use of
Fireworks
Defra: The EUs top wildlife
policy-makers have been challenged to "find innovative ways" to help wildlife
adapt to the pressures of climate change.
A Defra-funded report shows that migratory species and animals living in arctic & mountain
habitats were already experiencing serious problems due to warmer
temperatures.
Press release ~ Climate
Change and Migratory Species ~ British Trust for
Ornithology ~ Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment
(IEMA) ~ European Platform for Biodiversity Research Strategy
(EPBRS) ~ Centre
for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) ~ European Platform for
Biodiversity
DTI: The
government is claiming that fresh evidence of the way that
Press release ~ Centre for Economic
Performance at the London School of Economics ~ Office for National Statistics ~ The role of IT in firm productivity ~ It aint what you do its the way that you do
IT ~ IT use by firms and
Employees
DCA: A new guide has been produced for the Technology and Construction Court
(TCC), which is designed to help lawyers & parties in resolving
disputes and minimise costs & management time
for the parties to cases in seeking resolution of their
disputes.
Press release ~ T&CC Guide and
Users guide ~ Practice Direction – Technology &
Construction Court claims
Scottish Executive: The Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (
Press release ~ Mental Health (Care
and Treatment) (Scotland) Act ~ Code of Practice ~ Scotlands
Mental Health First Aid (SMHFA)
DCMS: Nine national
This means that they can respond to claims for the
return of human remains by indigenous communities. Guidance on issues surrounding the holding and return of
human remains held in museums has also being published jointly by the UK
Government, the Welsh Assembly and the museum sector.
Press release ~ Working Group on Human Remains report 2003
~ Summary Paper - Response to Human Remains consultation
~ Guidance for the Care of Human Remains in
Museums
Defra: A new
European Regulation applying to detergents came into force on
Press release ~ Pesticides Safety
Directorate (PSD) ~ Regulation (EC) NO 648/2004 ~ PSD
Guidance on the Regulation ~ EU Chemicals – Detergents
website
HMRC:
Following the unprecedented number of telephone donations to charity
during and since the tsunami appeal, the Government has declared its intention
to ‘make it easier’ for charities to claim Gift Aid
on those donations.
From
Press release ~ HMRC Charities
website ~ Scottish Catholic International Aid
Fund
See below in
Business
Briefs:
HMRC:
VAT Business Brief 19/05 – VAT: High Court decision -
DTI: With changes
to the Small Firms Loan Guarantee
(SFLG) being introduced later this year, businesses are being urged to
examine the new eligibility criteria of the scheme, following government
acceptance of the recommendations set out in the Graham Review of the
SFLG.
Press release ~ Small Firms Loan Guarantee (SFLG) ~ Graham Review of the SFLG and government
response ~ Small Business Service (SBS)
DWP / Pensions Regulator: New scheme funding requirements will come into force on
In light of
the DWP’s announcement of the revised timetable for scheme funding regulations,
the Pensions Regulator has announced
he will publish the Funding
defined benefits code of practice when the regulations are published,
together with specimen funding documents designed to assist trustees and their
advisers.
The Pensions
Regulator intends to publish its consultation document describing how it will operate in
relation to the new requirements and how it will use its powers at the
end of October 2005.
DWP press release ~ PR press release ~ Pensions
Regulator
HMRC: VAT Business Brief 19/05
Contents:
Press release ~ Business Briefs 2005
(it sometimes takes time to appear here)
For further information on the
events listed below (and subsequent events) please click HERE
Date:
Venue:
Organiser:
Enhancing individual, team
and organisational performance is the theme of a one-day National School of
Government training and development conference. Designed for public sector senior managers, HR and training
professionals and anyone looking to introduce new approaches, ‘Hitting the
Right Note’ features a presentation on passionate & memorable oral
communication from Russell Wardop, followed by a workshop on developing the
high-performance team led by the City of London Sinfonia.
Date:
Venue: Radisson SAS Portman Hotel,
Organiser: Economist
Conferences - Third
Annual Public Sector Conference
Building on results for
next-generation public services - Government today is engaged in complex
business transformation programmes. A wave of efficiency drives in recent years
has seen public sector organisations make real efforts to streamline operations
and cut costs. Can leaders fulfil the public’s increased expectation of
effective service provision? Is there a handle on developing an effective
service delivery culture? Help shape the answers at this strategic one-day
conference.
Date: March - July
2006
Venue: Pinewood Studios
Organiser: Defence Science and Technology Laboratory -
£10,000 Up for grabs
underwater
In the first competition of its kind in the
Five Universities
have already signed up for the challenge, including
For further information on the above (and
subsequent) events please click HERE
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