Policy Statements and Initiatives
DCSF: A newly launched government careers information, advice & guidance (IAG) strategy is intended to modernise careers education to ‘make it accessible for today’s generation of young people and to keep pace with a rapidly changing economy - and make sure every young person, whatever their background, can aim for the top’.
It is vital that parents & schools are setting out the options for children & young people whether they are academic and are looking to go to university, or are more practical and want to do an apprenticeship.
The department is trialing career related learning in 38 primary schools this year to encourage pupils & parents to have the conversations about careers & education choices early - during the final years of primary school. This will help prepare young people to choose the right subject options at 14. Parents will be given help, support & resources to do this.
Press release ~ Quality, Choice and Aspiration - A strategy for young people's information, advice and guidance ~ Aim Higher: How young people formulate their views about the future ~ Careers Co-ordinators in Schools
WAG: Deputy Minister for Regeneration Leighton Andrews has paid a visit to Abergele Youth Action to see how a Welsh Assembly Government Community Facilities and Activities Programme grant has helped the organisation create successful community IT centre.
Abergele Youth Action (AYA) was established by a group of volunteers in 2001 after a rise in incidents of anti-social behaviour amongst young people in the community. The group offers activities & opportunities for young people aged 10-25 to keep them off the streets and encourage more socially acceptable behaviour.
The project provides training, both in IT and catering skills at the internet café, which also provides a meeting point for the community. The group also works with stroke victims and people with dysphasia (using IT to stimulate their co-ordination) and provides counselling and career & healthy living advice to the community.
ScotGov: Community Safety Minister Fergus Ewing recently went to see the work going on in Fife to tackle & prevent alcohol & drug related antisocial behaviour. Mr Ewing visited the Fife Equally Well 'Clued Up' project in Kirkcaldy, which is part of a pioneering partnership involving Fife Police, NHS Fife, Fife Council and local voluntary sector organisations.
Press release ~ Antisocial behaviour ~ Drugs ~ Alcohol ~ Equally Well ~ Fife Equally Well 'Clued Up' project in Kirkcaldy
MoJ: A fresh search for sites on which to build new 1,500 place prisons is set to begin, Justice Minister Maria Eagle has announced. The National Offender Management Service, which runs prisons in England & Wales for the Ministry of Justice, will look across the country for sites to serve areas with greatest demand for prison places. The search will be focused on London, the North West, North Wales and West Yorkshire.
So far, plans for two new 1,500 place prisons have been announced – one on the site of the former Runwell Secure Psychiatric Hospital in Essex and one at Beam Park West, Dagenham.
The outcome of the site search will be a published shortlist of potential sites. Once a site is identified, consultation with local MPs, local authorities and residents will be undertaken ‘in order to achieve the most open & transparent process possible’.
Press release ~ Views sought on site for new prison at Runwell Hospital site ~ Seven firms to compete for new prisons contracts ~ National Offender Management Service ~ MoJ - Prisons ~ HM Prison Service
DCSF: The first ever myplace project, which was launched last week (in the new state of the art building in Norwich called OPEN) marks a milestone in the Government’s £270m programme to deliver world-class youth facilities across the country.
At myplace facilities, young people will have the chance to take part in exciting activities, offering a real alternative to hanging around on the street. It will mean young people can socialise with each other in a safe environment, to gain new skills, and to get any support & advice they need on issues that are important to them.
ScotGov: Householders have been urged to consider how they can reduce their winter fuel bills with the help of a new advice service. A £60m Energy Assistance Package has been set up, offering advice on combating rising fuel bills and how to become more energy efficient.
The free service provides energy savings advice, tax & benefit entitlement help & advice on how to get cheaper energy tariffs. It also offers eligible households, a range of energy efficiency measures including free loft or cavity wall insulations and grants for central heating systems.
DWP: From last week, lone parents with children aged 10 & over will move onto Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) if they are able work, rather than Income Support. On JSA they will ‘benefit from a range of support including training opportunities, job application advice, interviews with specialist advisers and other financial grants to help them return to work’.
They will also receive advice on childcare, benefits and part-time or family friendly working from specialist advisers through the New Deal for Lone Parents. Lone parents with a health condition, or disability which limits their capability for work, will be able to claim Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).
Press release ~ Changes to Income Support for lone parents ~ New Deal for Lone Parents ~ DWP – Lone Parents ~ Jobcentre Plus - Lone Parents ~ Green Paper, A New Deal for Welfare: Empowering people to work
ScotGov: Schools are being supported to build stronger links with local employers through a new online resource from Determined to Succeed, the Scottish Government strategy for enterprise in education. Partnership with Employers shares best practice from around the country and includes interactive training modules for teachers.
Meanwhile Skills for Learning, Life and Work - the fourth stage of the 'building the curriculum' documents - will encourage moving away from categorising learning as either academic or vocational. Focusing instead on the knowledge & skills all young people need, teachers will be supported to deliver creative, engaging & work-relevant learning.
Press release ~ Partnership with Employers resource ~ Determined to Succeed ~ Building the Curriculum 4: Skills for Learning, Skills
BIS: Lord Mandelson has called for a 3-pronged approach to tackle unlawful peer-to-peer file-sharing. He wants ISPs and the creative industries to work with Government to ensure a package is put in place which ‘balances education, enforcement and new business models to discourage unlawful downloading’.
CLG: Communities Secretary John Denham claims that he is ‘putting councils in the driving seat when it comes to dealing with issues that local residents clearly say they want tackled’. Mr Denham is to change the rules that require councils to get Whitehall permission if they want to create local byelaws or revoke ones not needed.
Mr Denham has also announced plans to publish a consultation on proposals to either repeal or dramatically streamline more than half of the 52 so-called 'consent regimes' - relating to, for example, housing & land use, which currently require councils to get Government approval before acting.
BIS: Robust scientific & engineering advice are heralded as the foundation of good government underpinning economic success & social justice, according to a new document - Science and Engineering in Government: An Overview of the Government’s Approach - published by the Government Office for Science, which sets out the Government’s approach to the management of such advice in the face of the great global challenges of the 21st century.
Defra: The government is urging us to rethink our approach to waste, in a new campaign launched by Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs). The new campaign, part of the Government’s Act On CO2 campaign, looks at everything from food waste to furniture recycling and encourages consumers to ‘Remember. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.’
A new website offering tips & advice to consumers on making better use of the things we all too often put straight in the bin or take to the dump has also been launched.
DfT: Rail passengers travelling between Watford and St Albans are in line for more regular & more frequent services thanks to plans to create a new tram service, which would replace the existing train service link that currently operates on an irregular schedule with just one train every 45 minutes, providing a better service (2 – 3 times an hour) for around 450,000 passengers a year who currently use it.
Depending on the outcome of the consultation and the completion of legal & contractual issues, the new service could be up & running in 2011. The new service is also dependant on Network Rail agreeing to transfer control of the line and stations to Hertfordshire County Council on a long-term lease.
DfT: More than 70 major public & private sector employers have pledged to implement a new ‘cycle to work’ guarantee in a bid to transform the numbers cycling to work. They committed to provide their staff with safe bike storage, changing facilities and access to the Government’s generous tax break scheme - 'Cycle to Work' - for new bikes & cycling equipment.
Typically, a third or more of staff of large urban employers live within a 30 minute bike ride of their place of work, but only about 3% currently cycle to work.
