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General Reports and Other Publications
ScotGov: Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has welcomed the publication of 'Scotland's Choice', the independent Prisons Commission's report into the purpose & impact of imprisonment in contemporary Scotland.
The Commission, chaired by former First Minister Henry McLeish, has also been looking at the impact for the courts, prisons & community justice services of bringing an end to the current arbitrary system of early release.
Mr MacAskill said: “I am confident it will help us develop policies which will help end the arbitrary early release of prisoners…………………&helli p; The situation we find ourselves in is unacceptable. Overcrowding in our prisons has reached record levels and Audit Scotland predict our prison population could increase by a fifth within the next 10 years.
Press release ~ 'Scotland's Choice' ~ Scottish Prisons Commission ~ Community sentencing: Public Perceptions and Attitudes - Summary Research Report ~ ScotGov - Prisons ~ Audit Scotland: Managing increasing prisoner numbers in Scotland ~
LDA: Children with disabilities and special needs are missing out on high quality childcare due to a lack of funding for extra staff or suitably trained staff, according to a new report published by the London Development Agency. The report was commissioned by the LDA and produced by Daycare Trust following a first report looking at the perspective of parents called ‘Listening to parents of children with disabilities and special educational needs’.
The report explores the training & support needs required by London childcare settings in order to improve their capacity to take on children with additional needs.
Press release ~ London Development Agency ~ Listening to providers about childcare for children with disabilities and special educational needs ~ Listening to parents of children with disabilities and special educational needs ~ Daycare Trust ~ Mayor of London’s childcare strategy
Defra: The Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) has launched its ‘Report on the implications of castration and tail docking for the welfare of lambs’, which considers the implications of castration & tail docking for the welfare of lambs and reiterates. Lambs are castrated mainly for management purposes, whereas tail docking is done to help minimise the risk of flystrike which is a debilitating condition for sheep.
The report recommends that sheep farmers, the meat industry, operators of farm assurance schemes and retailers should implement the Welfare Code, which requires careful consideration of the need for castration and tail docking, and should introduce measures to avoid these mutilations.
In addition, the Report recommends that retailers & others in the food supply chain should not require castration of lambs and should reward farmers for adoption of a welfare-oriented policy on castration and tail docking.
Press release ~ Report on the implications of castration and tail docking for the welfare of lambs ~ Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) ~ Code of Recommendations for the Welfare of Livestock: Sheep Welfare Code
Defra: The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has published a report which identifies the CO2 emissions created by goods & services imported into the UK. In an increasingly global economy, imported goods & services have climate impacts in other countries and the key to reducing emissions across the international supply chain is knowing the scale & nature of the problem.
The main messages from the report include:
* Taking imports, exports and international transport into account, overall CO2 emissions associated with UK consumption of goods and services increased by nearly 115 mtCO2 between 1992 and 2004
* An increasing majority of the emissions embedded in UK imports are produced in countries outside the OECD (i.e. that region of the world that includes most of Asia)
Press release ~ Development of an Embedded Carbon Emissions Indicator ~ Defra – Climate & Energy ~
NAO: A new report by the National Audit Office has found programmes to improve household energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption cost taxpayers & householders around £2.6bn a year. In addition, there are signs that the long-term growth in household energy consumption is beginning to reverse, but greater efforts will be needed to maintain this recent improvement.
A typical UK household could save about 30% of their energy bills if they adopted available energy saving measures. The energy efficiency of households improved by 19% between 1990 and 2004, but this improvement has been offset by a rise in household energy consumption caused by trends such as more & smaller households and the growth in consumer electronics.
In order for government to meet economy-wide energy consumption targets, household consumption needs to fall by 11% by 2010 and a further 2% by 2016, compared with 2001-05 levels. Government has set a target to improve household energy efficiency by at least 20% by 2010 compared with levels in 2000.
Press release ~ Programmes to reduce household energy consumption ~ Executive Summary ~ Defra's Framework for Pro-environmental Behaviours ~ Survey of Public Attitudes and Behaviours toward the Environment: 2007 ~ Energy Saving Trust – Green Homes Service ~ Go Green in a Fortnight! ~ Green Guide online ~
DCMS: Treading the boards, crafting a short story or performing a show-stopping tune are just some of the ways that nearly 6m English people participate in the arts, according to new study - 'Our Creative Talent: the voluntary and amateur arts in England'. It shows music is one of people's biggest passions with more than 11,220 groups across England, followed by theatre with 5,380 groups and dance with 3,040 groups.
The report says:
* there are 49,140 groups across the country - ranging from orchestras and book clubs to lace-making and dance - with a total of 5.9m members
* an additional 3.5m people volunteer as extras or helpers - for example raising funds or rigging lighting
* voluntary arts generated a total income of £543m in 2006/07.
Press release ~ 'Our Creative Talent: the voluntary and amateur arts in England' ~ Arts Council England ~ Voluntary Arts Network
DfT: A report and supporting set of maps highlighting the key inland waterways suitable for freight have been published by the Department for Transport. The documents, published under the title - The Key Inland Waterways for Freight, highlight those areas where the UK's existing network of inland waterways has the greatest potential for freight services and can fit with the needs of modern freight businesses.
The report shows that the areas of greatest potential are the larger waterways and river navigations linked to our major estuaries. Additional support for inland water freight is provided by the Department for Transport, the Scottish Executive, and the Welsh Assembly Government through the Freight Facilities Grant scheme.
Press release ~
NE: The first study of its kind to provide detailed measurement of greenhouse gas emissions from farms in England has revealed big differences from one agricultural sector to another. Farmers are urged to go online and use the CALM (Carbon Accounting for Land Managers) calculator to measure their farms’ greenhouse gas emissions. They can then compare their results against the range found in this Natural England study.
Agriculture is responsible for the majority of the UK’s nitrous oxide emissions caused by microbial activity in soils as a result of the application of nitrogen fertilizers – both organic and inorganic – essential for healthy crop growth. Methane emissions come mainly from livestock and manures. Both gases have a proportionally higher global warming potency than carbon dioxide.
Press release ~ CALM (Carbon Accounting for Land Managers) calculator ~ Natural England Carbon Baseline Survey Project ~ Natural England ~ CRed
MPA: The findings of a three-month programme of public consultation on future development of the Metropolitan Police Estate in London was discussed by members of the Metropolitan Police Authority at a meeting of the Authority's Co-ordination and Policing Committee on Thursday 4 July 2008.
Plans to modernise police facilities were published for each of the capital's 32 boroughs last November followed by a three-month consultation period to enable local communities to comment on proposals to make the police estate more responsive to everyone's requirements.
