General Reports and Other Publications
DECC: More than 100 port operators, developers, investors and wind manufactures from across the UK met recently with the Government discuss a potential bottleneck in offshore wind farm development. The UK needs ports with the capacity to handle large vessels and with available space for wind turbine manufacturers and their supply chain.
QAA: The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) has published a new subject benchmark statement for youth & community work.
Subject benchmark statements are used for a variety of purposes. Primarily, they are an important external source of reference for higher education institutions (HEIs) when new programmes are being designed & developed in a subject area. They provide general guidance for articulating the learning outcomes associated with the programme but are not a specification of a detailed curriculum in the subject.
Press release ~ QAA's Subject benchmark statements (scroll down)
HC: Almost half of people needing specialist community mental healthcare still do not have a number to contact out-of-hours if they are in a crisis while 55% of people with schizophrenia have not been offered recommended psychological therapies.
The Healthcare Commission published a report detailing progress by all 68 NHS specialist community mental health trusts since it reviewed community adult mental health services in 2005/06. The Commission said there remained significant room for improvement before all trusts were meeting best practice & guidelines by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE).
NE: England’s most familiar landscapes, their wildlife & habitats, will experience wide-ranging changes in the face of climate change and significant changes to the way we manage our land are needed to allow our natural environment to adapt, says Natural England. The 4 reports form part of a wider project aiming to help identify local management responses that will better enable the natural environment, and our enjoyment of it, to adapt to changing climate conditions.
The Climate Change Character Area reports focus on 4 treasured, and very different, English landscapes, the:
* high fells of the Lake District
* woodland and chalk grassland of the Dorset Downs and Cranborne Chase
* varied, farmed landscape of the Shropshire Hills
* low-lying wetlands of the Norfolk Broads
RoCPFE: Sir Andrew Foster has published his report, following his independent review (The Review of the Capital Programme in Further Education) as requested on 28 January 2009 by the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills and the Chair of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC).
Sir Andrew has reviewed the circumstances that have led to the current position of the Building Colleges of the Future programme, managed by the LSC and reports on what lessons can be learned. Within this, he has assessed existing LSC processes, and considered how they can be enhanced to deliver more effective management of the programme in the current economic environment and beyond.
Toni Fazaeli, IfL's chief executive, said: "Further education college teachers and trainers have a vital role to play in tackling the economic downturn and minimising its impact on individuals, employers and local communities. It is essential that they should be given the kind of accommodation needed, in order to achieve this important economic mission”.
Press release ~ IfL press release ~ The Review of the Capital Programme in Further Education ~ Building Colleges of the Future programme ~ NAO: Renewing the physical infrastructure of English further education colleges
Ofsted: Ofsted’s report - Physical Education in Schools 2005/8: working towards 2012 and beyond - has a positive picture for PE and school sport. Mountain biking, dance, martial arts, and yoga are putting PE back in favour with pupils.
Pupils are taking part in a wider range of activities than previously associated with the subject. Creative approaches to PE have encouraged pupils not keen on traditional team activities and reduced disaffection & improved engagement.
LLUK: Lifelong Learning UK is delighted to announce the publication of ‘College Voices’, a collection of inspirational stories. These remarkable portraits, painted by author Janet Murray and originally published in the education section of The Guardian, are a clear testament to the power of lifelong learning in general, and further education in particular, and their ability to be a catalyst for positive change in people’s lives.
The stories in the book illustrate the transformational quality of lifelong learning: given the right support, people from all paths of life find the strength to overcome adversity & difficulties and find the confidence to pursue education again.
‘College Voices’ is available on Amazon.co.uk and proceeds from the sale go to Skill, a national charity promoting opportunities for young people & adults with any kind of impairment in post-16 education, training and employment.
CQC: The Care Quality Commission has commended the majority of NHS trusts for improving infection control.
In the latest measure to drive improvement, it registered for the first time 388 NHS trusts to provide care after carrying out an assessment of whether they meet government regulations for managing infection.
In the latest measure to drive improvement, it registered for the first time 388 NHS trusts to provide care after carrying out an assessment of whether they meet government regulations for managing infection.
While CQC registered all trusts, it made registration of 21 trusts subject to conditions, which are legally enforceable and must be met within agreed timescales or enforcement action will follow.
To register, trusts must meet government regulations aimed to ensure that patients, workers and others are protected against the identifiable risks of acquiring a healthcare-associated infection, so far as is reasonably practicable.
Next year, a wider registration system is being rolled out covering the regulation of the NHS, independent healthcare and adult social care. This single framework will cover the whole range of quality & safety issues and the system will be subject to a full consultation over the next year.
Press release ~ The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Registration of Regulated Activities) Regulations 2009 ~ CQC - Information about registration ~ Code of Practice for the NHS on the prevention and control of healthcare associated infections and related guidance
NAO: A National Audit Office report on UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) has found that, 3 years into its five-year strategy to deliver improved support to UK exporters, it is close to meeting most of its performance targets. UKTI lacks, however, sufficiently robust measures of the costs of delivering its individual services. Without such information it is hard to show that value for money is being optimised.
CRC: The Commission for Rural Communities has submitted the 5th of their regular reports to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the rural impacts of the recession, which help inform his contribution to the National Economic Council, which meets weekly to consider impacts of the recession and recovery measures. The latest report examines housing in rural areas.
Press release ~ 5th report ~ Find out how you can contribute to their reports ~ National Economic Council
Ofsted: Ofsted has published published a ‘good practice’ report on English & modern foreign languages for college courses. The survey looks at the best English & modern foreign language provision in colleges, placing an emphasis on effective teaching & team-working, study visits & cultural activities and overseas work placements through employer links.
