Consultations
DH: A draft Constitution that enshrines the principles and values of the NHS for the future has been published for consultation (closes on 17 October 2008). It is meant to ‘bring together in one place and clarify for staff and patients their rights and responsibilities to ensure the NHS operates fairly and effectively’.
The Government will be obliged by law to renew the NHS constitution every ten years so that any changes are the result of a full & transparent debate and cannot be changed by stealth. There will be a new legal duty on all NHS organisations to take account of the Constitution in decisions that are made.
Patient rights will include:
* The right to drugs and treatments approved by NICE for use in the NHS if clinically appropriate
* The right to make defined choices about your NHS care with clear options
* The right to complaint and redress
* The right to be treated with dignity & respect and given a professional standard of care, by appropriately qualified & experienced staff in a clean & safe environment
BERR: The four bidders that have pre-qualified in the Government's carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration competition have been named by Business Secretary John Hutton (BP Alternative Energy International Limited, EON UK Plc, Peel Power Limited and Scottish Power Generation Limited). Discussions in the next phase of the competition will cover technical, commercial, contractual and financial issues. The project continues to be on course to be operational by 2014.
He also announced publication of a consultation (closes on 22 September 2008) on the legislative framework for CCS, including carbon capture readiness. Proposals in the consultation document on carbon capture readiness are designed to create a more consistent understanding of what this means across the EU. The proposals mean that the carbon capture readiness of new combustion power stations will have to be addressed by developers in the design process and taken into account by the Government in deciding whether or not to consent to such stations.
Press release ~ BP Alternative Energy International Limited ~ EON UK Plc ~ Peel Power Limited ~ Scottish Power Generation Limited ~ UK CCS Consultation - Towards Carbon Capture and Storage ~ Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum ~ CCS Demonstration Competition - BERR ~ Storing CO2 under the North Sea Basin ~ CO2GeoNet Network of Excellence ~ Near Zero Emissions Coal (NZEC)
UK IPO: The UK Intellectual Property Office has launched a consultation (closes 22 September 2008) to assess the likely impact of Artist's Resale Right and the derogation for deceased artists on the UK art market.
The consultation will seek views from art market professionals, artists, representatives from collecting societies and successors in title to deceased artists on whether to maintain the existing derogation, which applies to works by a living artist for a further two years until 1 January 2012 or to allow the derogation to lapse.
If the derogation is allowed to lapse, works by deceased artists which are still in copyright will become eligible for resale right. If the Government decides it is necessary to extend the derogation it has to make a case to the European Commission by the end of this year.
UK IPO: The UK Intellectual Property Office has launched a consultation (closes 31 October 2008) on exemptions to copyright law for certain charitable and not-for-profit organisations.
The Music Licensing Review consultation will seek views from music rights holders, representative bodies of users and rights holders and users on two exemptions which allow charitable organisations to pay for only one of two licences normally required for playing music.
HM Treasury: Proposals for strengthening the framework for financial stability and protecting depositors have been published by HM Treasury, the Financial Services Authority and the Bank of England. The proposals build on a consultation document published in January and will now be the subject of a further period of consultation (closes 15 September 2008), prior to the introduction of legislation in the autumn.
They focus on five key objectives:
* strengthening the stability & resilience of the financial system
* reducing the likelihood of individual banks facing difficulties
* reducing the impact if a bank gets into difficulties
* providing effective compensation arrangements in which consumers have confidence
* strengthening the Bank of England, and ensuring effective coordinated actions by authorities
SE: Sport England recently launched a public consultation (closes on 16 September 2008) to make sure future sports projects can access up to £45m of sports lottery funding as quickly & simply as possible. They would like to hear from people who play sport, from clubs, voluntary groups, local authorities, National Governing Bodies of sport and other key stakeholders to get a view on how the process of applying for sports Lottery funding can be improved.
Defra: The Department for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) has launched a public consultation (closes 29 July 2008) on the implementation of new European laws concerning the marketing of meat from bovine animals aged 12 months or less.
The EU legislation provides the option of adding supplementary wording subject to the existing voluntary Beef Labelling Scheme approval procedures. The arrangements are intended to provide flexibility to allow industries in the UK to adapt to the new rules as easily as possible.
DH: The Department of Health is currently consulting on the future of tobacco control (closes 8 September 2008) – See ‘Annual reports’ section for more information.
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