Consultations

Newswire – LC: The Law Commission (LC) regularly consult on projects to be included in their programmes of law reform.  They are now looking for suggestions for their Eleventh Programme (by Friday 15 October 2010). Anyone can propose any area of the law in need of reform for them to consider for the Programme. Projects they might consider will, of course, relate to the law and are likely to focus on issues that:
* are systemic
* are caused by laws or policies that are complex or hard to understand
* have widespread discriminatory impact or cause disproportionate costs, or
* arise from laws or policies that are inconsistent with modern standards
 
In view of the current economic situation, they would be particularly interested in projects that support the drive to reduce waste & inefficiency.
Press release ~ Law Reform projects ~ Respond: Here, online ~ By postal questionnaire ~ Email questionnaire
 
CQC: The Care Quality Commission have revised their current enforcement policy because some of their enforcement powers are different to those they anticipated when they published their first policy in March 2009.
There are changes to Warning Notice arrangements and they have added ‘Compliance Actions’ and ‘Improvement Actions’ to their possible regulatory responses.
 
Their basic approach and the principles they will follow when responding to failure to comply with the essential standards remains unchanged from their existing policy, but they are consulting (closes on Tuesday 31 August 2010) on the changes prior to publishing their final enforcement policy on 1 October 2010.
Press release ~ Download the draft revised enforcement policy ~ Download the consultation document ~ Send feedback using online form ~ Download the feedback form 
 
CLG: Housing Minister, Grant Shapps, has said that the Government is committed to giving councils more financial freedom to deliver a better deal for the 4m people living in council housing. Describing the current system of council house finance as ‘a mess’, Mr Shapps said the Coalition Government would review the unfair Housing Revenue Account subsidy system.
 
As a first step he pledged to continue the consultation (closes on 6 July 2010) on changes to a self-financing system already under way and urged councils & other partners to respond to this, so he could get a comprehensive assessment of the options currently on the table.
Press release ~ Council housing: A real future (Prospectus) (scroll down for additional links)
 
FSA: Working with the UK food industry to tackle campylobacter has been identified by the Food Standards Agency as its key food safety priority for the next 5 years in proposals published for consultation (closes on 2 September 2010). The draft Foodborne Disease Strategy, a roadmap for reducing all types of food poisoning in the UK by 2015, says that the increased prevalence of the bug campylobacter — found on raw chicken — is the biggest challenge for food safety in the UK.
 
The most recent study by the Agency showed that 65% of raw shop-bought chicken was contaminated with campylobacter.  An estimated 300,000 cases of food poisoning are attributed to the bug every year in England & Wales alone.
Press release ~ The FSA Foodborne Disease Strategy 2010-15 (England) ~ The FSA Foodborne Disease Strategy 2010-15 (Scotland) ~ The FSA Foodborne Disease Strategy 2010-15 (Wales) ~ The FSA Foodborne Disease Strategy 2010-15 (Northern Ireland)
 
CRC: The Commission for Rural Communities and Durham County Council have collaborated to introduce a new guide - Targeting Fuel Poverty - setting out how local authorities can tackle fuel poverty, reduce carbon emissions and improve health & well-being at the local level.
 
Using the database to target resources has led to an improvement of 86% in the average energy performance rating of housing in East Durham between 1997 & 2009, reduced carbon emissions by 162,183 tonnes and improved take-up of energy efficiency measures by householders by 40%.  It also helped Durham lever in £6.75m external energy efficiency funding in 2009/10.
Press release ~ Targeting Fuel Poverty: How to use a local energy housing database to target fuel poverty − a practical guide for Local Authorities
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