.gif)
General Reports and Other Publications
Newswire – AC: Age Concern and Help the Aged has welcomed support from the Work and Pensions Select Committee for an urgent increase to the Personal Expenses Allowance (PEA) that 240‚000 pensioner care home residents will receive this year.
The Select Committee report - Tackling Pensioner Poverty - rightly agrees the level of PEA is far too low for care home residents to live dignified lives and calls for it to be increased to £40 a week. PEA is the allowance older care home residents with savings of less than £23‚000 get after they surrender their pensions and most of their assets to pay for care home fees.
Under national means-testing rules‚ older people are left with a ‘measly’ £21.90 to pay for essential personal items such as clothes‚ hairdressing‚ toiletries and reading materials. Even worse‚ all too often older residents have to make the money stretch to essential services such as toenail cutting & chiropody.
Earlier this year‚ ministers reneged on previous commitments to consult on the level of the PEA and failed to address the issue in the Care and Support Green Paper‚ published earlier this month.
Press release ~ Work & Pensions SC: Tackling Pensioner Poverty ~ Age Concern: Personal Expenses Allowance (PEA) ~ Care and Support Green Paper ~ Family Budget Unit ~ Help the Aged
Newswire – WWF: More than 350 new species, including a flying frog and the world’s smallest deer, have been discovered in the Eastern Himalayas, a WWF report has revealed. But this treasure trove of biological diversity is now threatened by climate change, it warns.
The report - The Eastern Himalayas – Where Worlds Collide - describes a host of new species found over the last decade in the remote mountain region spanning Bhutan, north-eastern India, northern Myanmar (Burma), Nepal and southern parts of Tibet.
They include 244 plants, 16 amphibians, 16 reptiles, 14 fish, 2 birds, 2 mammals and at least 60 invertebrates. Among the discoveries are a bright green frog which uses its long red webbed feet to glide in the air and the miniature muntjac or leaf deer. At just over 2 feet tall, the leaf deer is the world’s smallest deer species.
Unfortunately, this globally-important hotspot of biological diversity is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. WWF have therefore launched their Climate for Life campaign to bring the plight of the Himalayas to the attention of the world.
Press release ~ The Eastern Himalayas – Where Worlds Collide ~ Read Greg Armfield's photo diary ~ WWF – Eastern Himalayas ~ WWF global climate deal campaign
ESRC: High-growth & innovation are essential if the UK wants to successfully surface from the recession. Research has an important role to play in successfully introducing new improved services, products, processes and business models to support the business sector. In return this will give businesses more opportunities to effectively meet public demands & needs.
Following the successful implementation of phase one of the Innovation Research Initiative, the UK Innovation Research Centre (UK~IRC), and partners are pleased to announce phase two. This phase included applications in two research areas:
* substantive research projects
* exploratory research projects
Press release ~ UK Innovation Research Centre (UK~IRC) ~ Innovation Research Initiative ~ Economic and Social Research Council ~ NESTA ~ Technology Strategy Board
Newswire – CABE: New homes do not provide enough space for everyday activities such as preparing food easily, having friends round for dinner, or even recycling. CABE conducted the research with the owners of 2,500 private new homes, to explore views on the adequacy of internal space.
* 44% say they do not have enough space for small children to play safely in the kitchen while cooking
* 37% say they or their children do not have enough space to entertain guests privately.
* 72% do not have enough space for the 3 small bins required to recycle properly
* 35% do not have the kitchen space for basic cooking appliances such as a toaster or a microwave
* 57% do not have enough storage
* 47% cannot accommodate all the furniture they have, or would like to have.
Richard Simmons, CABE chief executive, says the research brings into question the argument that the market will meet the demands of people living in private housing developments; 'We need local planning authorities to ensure much higher space standards before giving developments the go-ahead.' The Homes and Communities Agency should seize the opportunity to produce new cross agency standards for space.
SE: Sport England and British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) have published a new partnership plan to capitalise on the potential of students to make a major contribution to SE’s goals, while improving their own life prospects.
SE’s target is to increase the number of people playing regular sport by 1m – and they believe students can account for almost a third of these participants. Their research shows that 819,000 students already play sport once or twice a week – which they aim to increase to at least 3 times a week.
FSA: Tim Smith, the Chief Executive of the Food Standards Agency, has written an open letter to interested parties about the independent organic review. The letter emphasises the validity of the independent study published recently that shows that there are no important differences in the nutrition content of organic food when compared with conventionally produced food.
The letter goes on to say: ‘Pesticides were specifically excluded from the scope of this work. This is because our position on the safety of pesticides is already clear: pesticides are rigorously assessed and their residues are closely monitored. Because of this the use of pesticides in either organic or conventional food production does not pose an unacceptable risk to human health and helps to ensure a plentiful supply of food all year round’……….
‘The important message from this report is not that people should avoid organic food but that they should eat a healthy balanced diet and, in terms of nutrition, it doesn’t matter if this is made up of organic or conventionally produced food’.
Press release ~ FSA: Organic food ~ FSA: Organic review published ~ LSHTM’s Nutrition and Public Health Intervention Research Unit ~ BBC – Organic food ~
BIS: Most college learners believe their course played an important role in getting a job, a Government report has claimed. In a survey of over 4,800 people who had completed a further education course and were out of work when they began their studies, 41% had secured a job 2 years after they had ‘graduated’, up from 34% the previous year.
L62% of learners now in work said their course was either vital or helpful to getting a new or different job after college. Among those seeking employment, 64% believed their college course improved their chances of finding work. College courses were also seen by many to boost promotion prospects & job security.
Going to college has also influenced many learners’ decision to continue education, with 73% likely to undertake further learning or training within the next two years. 26% have already gained a further qualification since they completed their course in 2005/6.
Press release ~
ESRC: Young people working on conservation projects are often coerced into ‘grunt’ activities like digging holes or picking up litter and gain little from environmental volunteering, according to research at the University of Exeter.
The project, which was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), found that many young volunteers travelled long distances from cities to short-term projects in rural areas and felt they were being punished for being disruptive or naughty at school. They saw the conservation work as having no relevance to their future employment, or educating them on green issues.
Dr Michael Leyshon, who led the project, said:
“The problem lies in the mismatch between youth services and environmental education. 'Environmental conservation is largely organised by people with a background in environmental science, but no training in youth work and youth workers have no training in conservation. The result is that young people and the environment both lose out. We need more coordination in the voluntary sector and an effective interface with youth services”.
Press release ~ 'Environmental Skills and Knowledge for sustainable rural communities: problems and prospects for the inclusion of young people' ~ ESRC/Academy for Sustainable Communities (ASC) ~ ESRC Social Sciences Repository
LDA: The Mayor of London has published London’s tourism vision for taking full advantage of the opportunities for the capital’s economy arising from the 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games. It aims to strengthen the capital's position as the world’s most popular destination for visitors.
The London Tourism Action Plan 2009-13, produced by the London Development Agency, sets out how it will deliver the Mayor’s key priority of ensuring the capital remains the number one choice for international travellers and that the city provides an inspirational experience for everyone in the capital during the 2012 Games.
Newswire – AC: Local & national government have made a positive initial response to the recession says an Audit Commission (AC) report, but it warns that councils should prepare for worsening social impact as unemployment rises. Demand for benefits, welfare & help with debt are growing and social problems such as domestic violence & mental ill-health are expected to follow as the recession deepens.
The new national report When it comes to the crunch... also describes a longer-term 'third wave' of recession, which would see most areas bounce back while others continue to flounder.
This is the second in a series of national reports on how local authorities are responding to the recession. The first Crunch Time?, published December 2008, looked at the impact on local government finances. This latest report exposes the broader impact on councils, on their services and on the communities they serve.
In addition to Crunch Time? the AC has produced other relevant reports including A Mine of Opportunities(a study of the regeneration of the former English coalfields - December 08) and Room for Improvement(how councils can manage their assets better - June 09), and will soon publish Building Better Lives (strategic housing management).
Defra: The Food Matters report published in July 2008 by the Cabinet Office included 2 parallel action points for the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Defra on genetically modified (GM) food & animal feed. The action points were as follows:
* Defra, working with the FSA, will publish an analysis of the potential impacts on the livestock sector arising from global food trends in GM production and the current operation of the GM approval system in the EU.
* In parallel, the FSA, working with Defra, will publish an analysis of the extent to which changes in the market are putting a strain on the regulatory system for GM products (including animal feed) and the implications for UK consumers.
A progress report updating all of the Food Matters actions, including the 2 action points above, has been published - ‘Food Matters: One year on’.
.gif)
