General Reports and Other Publications
Newswire - PAC: Edward Leigh MP, Chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts, said upon the publication of the Committee's 3rd Report, Session 2008-09: "The Skills for Life strategy was launched in 2001 with the aim of improving adult literacy and numeracy in England. By 2007, despite expenditure of some £5 billion, the evidence was that a large proportion of the adult population still could not read, write and count adequately………………. This is a dismal picture, both for the many who face diminished prospects in what they can achieve in life and for the competitiveness of our country in the world economy.
There is an immediate need to gather up to date information on where we are at present. The Department must follow up its 2003 Skills for Life survey to find out just how effective its programme has been in improving the basic skills of our population”.
Many hard-to-reach people with poor literacy and numeracy skills come into contact with other government services, such as Jobcentre Plus, the Prison Service and the Probation Service. More of these people are being encouraged to take up courses to improve their literacy and numeracy skills, but the percentage who participate is still relatively small.
For example, only one in five offenders with an identified literacy or numeracy need enrol on a course. The Department's biggest challenges are reaching people in the workplace who lack skills and getting employers to recognise the benefits of raising the skills of their workforce.
Press release ~ Skills for Life: Progress in Improving Adult Literacy and Numeracy ~ Reducing Re-Offending through Skills and Employment: Next Steps ~ Offender Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) ~ EDM - Communication Difficulties and Young Offenders ~ BBC NEWS - Communication skills 'cut re-offending' ~ Former Chief Inspector of Prisons, Lord Ramsbotham’s, statement to the House of Lords on the value of speech and language therapy in prisons (scroll down to column 1447)
P&HSO: The Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) is to re-open its inquiry into Equitable Life. This follows the Government’s response earlier this month to a report (Equitable Life: a decade of regulatory failure, initial observations) from the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
Following the publication of the government’s response, the Ombudsman has published a Memorandum which sets out her initial observations on the Government’s response to her July 2008 report. In it she says: ‘However, the Government’s published response raises a number of issues, many of them fundamental, which are of concern to me – and which I believe should also concern the Committee and Parliament more generally’.
Press release ~ Memorandum ~ Statement to the House of Commons on Equitable life ~ Parliamentary Ombudsman's Report ~ Equitable Life ~ Equitable Life writes to Treasury Minister following the Governments response to the Parliamentary Ombudsman report ~ At-a-glance: Penrose report ~ The Penrose report in full ~ Public Administration Select Committee (PASC)
DH: Around a third of people don't know how hepatitis C can be passed from person to person, according to new research commissioned & published by the Department of Health. The findings come as a major hepatitis C awareness campaign is launched to reach out to the estimated 100,000 people in England who are unaware they have the infection and stop others getting it. Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus that can cause chronic infection and lead to serious liver damage - even premature death.
Press release ~ NHS Choices - Hepatitis C Awareness ~ Hepatitis C Action Plan for England ~ Hepatitis C Trust ~ DH - Hepatitis C
NAO: The New Asylum Model, introduced by the Home Office in 2006 to achieve faster conclusions to asylum applications, has strengthened aspects of the asylum process, according to a report by the National Audit Office.
The case ownership approach, in which a single individual manages an application from start to finish, has created a strong incentive to conclude cases and applications are being concluded more quickly. But the new process is not yet working to its optimum efficiency & effectiveness.
There are signs that the quality of decision-making is improving, but the backlog of decisions to be made has however more than doubled in over a year, to 8,700 in the second quarter of 2008. Few removals of failed applicants are being achieved under the New Asylum Model, hampered by a lack of detention space and problems obtaining emergency travel documents.
Press release ~
DECC: A new study of the UK's shores recommends (subject to a consultation which closes on 22 April 2009) there's scope for between 5,000 and 7,000 more offshore wind turbines, enough to power the equivalent of almost all the homes in the UK and make a massive contribution to renewable energy targets.
Experts have spent more than a year surveying the environment of the UK's seas to assess the potential for further development in offshore wind, oil & gas licensing and natural gas storage. The work included the surveying of bird populations, studying the geology of the seabed, tagging marine mammals like grey & harbour seals, as well as charting how shipping, fishing and other industries use the seas around the UK.
Press release ~ Current Consultation ~ DECC’s Strategic Environmental Assessment ~ Marine Estate at The Crown Estate ~ NaREC's technology innovation centre ~ Vestas ~
ScotGov: All forces should work to implement the National Police Firearms Training Curriculum and get to at least provisional status within 6 months - that's the main recommendations from a report from HM Inspectorate of Constabulary - which provides an update on the implementation of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland's (ACPOS) Capability and Capacity Review on the Police Use of Firearms. It also finds that some progress has been made, but in certain areas is too slow.
Press release ~ HM Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland: Thematic Inspection: Police use of firearms in Scotland ~
HEFCE: The Higher Education Funding Council for England is committed to reducing avoidable burdens on institutions and it commissioned PA Consulting to carry out 3 studies on the costs, impacts & burdens of accountability in English higher education in 2000, 2004 and 2008.
The latest report, 'Positive accountability' has found that costs to institutions continued to fall between 2004 and 2008 by 21%, which is broadly in line with HEFCE's stated objective in its strategic plan. HEFCE is looking for a further 10% reduction by 2010-11. The progress made in 2004-2008 follows a reported 25% reduction in administrative burden between 2000 and 2004.
Press release ~ Positive accountability: review of the costs, benefits and burdens of accountability in English higher education ~ Universities UK
CRC: The Commission for Rural Communities has submitted the 3rd of its regular reports to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the rural impacts of the recession. They help inform his contribution to the National Economic Council, which meets weekly to consider impacts of the recession and recovery measures.
Press release ~ 3rd report to the Secretary of State ~ National Economic Council ~ Contribute to future reports
ScotGov: The first ever audit of current provision for the Scots language has been published. Commissioned by the Scottish Government, the audit identifies where provision currently exists, who the providers are, where there are gaps, and what opportunities may exist to expand provision in Scotland.
The audit findings will be discussed with members of the Scots language community at a conference in Stirling (9 February 2009). The event will be led by the broadcaster & advocate for the Scots language, Billy Kay.
DIUS: Presenting the Government's response to the National Student Forum (NSF) report, Lord Young and Ministers from the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills will look to develop more innovative and immediate ways of listening & talking to students.
Measures will include developing online discussions and a blog which will allow students to keep up with what students are saying when Ministers visit campuses across the country, as well as linking to the issues being discussed at the National Student Forum.
Press release ~ National Student Forum ~ NSF's Annual Report for 2008 ~ Government response to the 2008 NSF report ~ Equality Challenge Unit ~ The true cost of college ~ Student Listening Programme ~ Student juries ~ National Union of Students ~ National Postgraduate Committee ~ Mature Students Union ~ Open University Students' Association ~ Skill: the national bureau for students with disabilities
ScotGov: The criteria for admission to the Open Estate have been tightened considerably in the past year and the number of absconds has reduced, according to the latest report by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons.
Although the inspection was not carried out as a direct result of the Robert Foye case last year, some of the comments in the report reflect the changes made to the Open Prison Estate by the Scottish Prison Service following this case.
DWP: Older people are living longer, healthier lives than they did 10 years ago, according to a new report – ‘Opportunity Age Indicators’ - which looks at progress made since the Government published their strategy for an ageing society in 2005.
The new strategy will build on this and address four key areas: creating an age friendly society, preparing for later life, living well in later life and providing stronger protection and support. Other research published today also shows that a little bit of help can make a big difference to older people.
Press release ~ Opportunity Age Indicators ~ Summary of the LinkAge Plus report ~ Full report ~ LinkAge Plus pilots ~ Preparing for our ageing society – a discussion paper
BERR/DCMS: The Government has published a plan to secure Britain's place at the forefront of the global digital economy. The interim report contains more than 20 recommendations, including specific proposals on:
* next generation networks
* universal access to broadband
* the creation of a second public service provider of scale
In addition to specific commitments, the Interim Report outlines Britain's progress in building a digital market-place, while also setting priorities for industry engagement ahead of the publication of the final Digital Britain Report, due before the summer.
UK OC: The need to boost engagement in new technologies is gathering momentum within government and is seen as a way to unite isolated communities and involve local people in the control of local issues.
Hazel Blears’ Empowerment White Paper last July announced the creation of Digital Mentors to support digital content creation in deprived communities. The UK online centre’s Community Media Beacons will kick-start that work across the 6,000 strong UK online centres network.
HC: A report released by the Healthcare Commission and the National Treatment Agency (NTA) shows how well local areas are meeting the needs of diverse communities and people who require inpatient or residential drug treatment. But improvements are required in the monitoring & support of patients discharged from detoxification, to minimise overdose risk.
Findings reveal widespread good practice with 15% of local drug partnerships rated as ‘excellent’ and 72% ‘’good’ overall. 13% were rated ‘fair’ and no partnerships had an overall score of ‘weak’.
DH: A new Centre of Excellence, that will help local NHS organisations deliver better & more efficient workforce planning, has been announced by the Department of Health. Following a consultation with the service and a report by the The King's Fund, it is expected that this centre will ‘provide the NHS with high quality intelligence that informs their workforce planning and strengthens decision making at every level in the health and social care system’.
Local service providers and commissioners will hopefully be better informed & supported to plan their workforce and make key decisions around their education, deployment and development.
CLG: The impact of the credit crunch on regeneration is serious but with the right sort of long term leadership and resources it can come through the downturn, according to the recently published Parkinson report. The report is clear that regeneration is a long run game and it must continue to have that outlook.
The independent report ‘The Credit Crunch and Regeneration: Impact and Implications’ found that the financial crisis is impacting on a financial model that has underpinned regeneration in recent years and pressure on the sector is likely to get more intense.
