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Consultations
CO: The second wave of the National Survey of Charities & Social Enterprises was launched last week, giving charities, social enterprises and voluntary & community groups in every local authority area an opportunity to have their voices heard.
Over 110,000 organisations have been selected to take part and response from all sizes & types of organisations is essential to ensure the results build a representative picture. The Cabinet Office press release encourages all invited organisations to complete the survey by post or online at www.nscsesurvey.com by the 27 September 2010. Full results of the second wave will be published in early 2011.
EU News: The European Commission has launched a web-based consultation (closes on 22 October 2010) to gather input from a wide range of stakeholders on policy options for the European Union's post-2010 EU biodiversity strategy.
Opinions are sought on issues including the shortcomings of the existing biodiversity policy, the new approach that the Commission is proposing, farming & biodiversity, the economics of biodiversity and biodiversity governance inside & outside the EU. The results will feed into the new strategy which is under development.
Defra: Members of the public can have their say on how the country’s water supplies are managed in the future. Defra has launched an online survey(closes on 30 November 2010), asking people to give their ideas ahead of the Water White Paper, which is due to be published early summer 2011. Itwill set out the Government’s plans for the water industry and address challenges such as future resource needs, charging and affordability.
CSPL: The Committee on Standards in Public Life has published a consultation paper (closes on Friday 29 October 2010) setting out the key issues & questions on which it intends to focus during its inquiry into party political finance.
ScotGov: A consultation (closes on 9 December 2010) on plans for an autism strategy for Scotland has been launched by Minister for Public Health, Shona Robison. The strategy - Towards an Autism Strategy for Scotland - sets out what the Scottish Government in partnership with users, carers & professionals proposes to do to meet the needs of people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in response to growing concerns about available support.
EU News: The European Commission has launched a public consultation (closes on 30 November 2010) on the EU Directive on the re-use of public sector information (PSI). PSI covers all sorts of data generated by public sector bodies (e.g. maps, meteorological, legal, traffic, financial and economic information) that can be re-used by anyone else in innovative products such as car navigation systems, weather forecasts, and travel information applications ("apps") that can be downloaded on smart phones.
Public data that is reused (for free or for a fee) generates an estimated market turnover of at least € 27bn in the EU every year, according to a 2006 study. Contributions to this consultation will feed into the review of the PSI Directive, part of the Digital Agenda for Europe that aims to contribute to the EU goals of increasing competitiveness, innovation and job creation.
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