General Reports and Other Publications
Ofsted: Religious education (RE) has improved overall in the past few years but there are still wide variations in the quality of provision and achievement by pupils remains very inconsistent, according to a new report published by the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).
The report - Making sense of religion: a report on religious education in schools and the impact of locally agreed syllabuses - calls for a review of the current statutory position of RE,as it questions whether the subject in non-faith maintained schools is best served by the current arrangements.
The publication by the government in 2004 of a non-statutory National Framework for RE was designed to promote greater consistency of provision and raise standards in RE. However, inspectors found that its impact is diminished by the current statutory arrangements.
Press release ~ Making sense of religion: a report on religious education in schools and the impact of locally agreed syllabuses ~ Ofsted: An evaluation of the work of Standing Advisory Councils for Religious Education ~ Non-statutory National Framework for RE (2004) ~ Religious Education Council for England and Wales ~ REC - RE Strategy and Commission Report
Defra: The Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB (ISG) has published its final report - Bovine TB: The Scientific Evidence. Natural England welcomes the Group’s report and will now examine it in depth before providing a comprehensive response to the recommendations. Natural England looks forward to Defra's announcement of its policy decision, at which point they will consider the implications for wildlife management.
Badgers and their setts are protected under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992, which makes it illegal to kill, injure or take badgers or to interfere with a badger sett. Interference with a sett includes blocking tunnels or damaging the sett in any way. The Hunting Act 2004 amended the above legislation.
Defra press release ~ NE press release ~ Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB (ISG) ~ ISG final report (2.5Mb) ~ Witten Ministerial Statement ~ Defra – Badgers (scroll down)
OFT: The Office of Fair Trading has published its report on Internet shopping which concludes that the rapid growth of internet shopping is a success story that benefits both consumers & businesses across a range of markets, but that both could do more to make the most of the opportunities it provides.
But the report also found that:
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some shoppers could find better deals by searching more effectively
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many could do more to protect themselves online, and
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most do not know that they have cancellation rights when shopping on the internet
Press release ~ OFT Internet Shopping Market Study ~ Annexes ~
ESRC: Whilst young people in Britain increasingly value education and stay on at school, the proportion gaining qualifications and going to college & university over the past 20 years has been 'consistently & substantially' greater in Scotland, according to a unique study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
Using carefully constructed sets of data drawn from ongoing surveys of thousands of young people aged 16-19, researchers were able for the first time to analyse the effects of social change on their experiences through & beyond the education system, and to map trends across Britain.
The report says that more than half of Britain’s 16-year olds in the mid-1980s felt that school had done little to prepare them for life, compared with just a third by 1999. Those feeling it had helped give them confidence to make decisions rose from 52 to 70%.
Press release ~ Education and youth transitions in England, Wales and Scotland 1984-2002’ ~ ESRC Society Today ~ Centre for Educational Sociology, University of Edinburgh
Scottish Executive: Audit Scotlandhas published a review of the Edinburgh Airport Rail Link and Trams projects. In response, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth John Swinney said:
"The report raises a number of serious concerns about governance and development issues which we would have expected to be in better shape than the Auditor General finds them, particularly in relation to EARL……
We are assessing the full range of transport projects we have inherited and I want to consider the findings of this report in the context of value for money and affordability. I have already committed to come back to parliament to present the outcome of our assessment of the projects and I will do that next Wednesday."
CRC: The Commission for Rural Communities has responded to the CLG’s proposals for unitary authorities in shire England and it argues the case for:
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powerful new unitary local authorities serving the communities of shire England, working closely with,
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a renewed structure of empowered & influential town and parish councils,
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as well as other strengthened neighbourhood level structures
Last year's discussion paper – Shire local government – time for a change? also outlined some of their views on the future shape & structure of shire local government.
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