Policy Statements and Initiatives
ScotGov: Energy Minister Fergus Ewing has announced a government taskforce to help the development of a successful offshore renewables industry in Scotland. The taskforce will help offshore renewable energy developers progress more quickly through the licensing & consenting system in Scotland.
BIS: The Deputy PM, Nick Clegg, has announced that a Government investment of £950m will help create & safeguard more than 200,000 jobs across England. The second round of the Government’s £1.4bn Regional Growth Fund (RGF) will support 119 bids from businesses & local partnerships with projects to expand their operations, create new jobs and attract private investment.
HMIC: The public are now able to compare crime, quality of service, cost & workforce data through police.uk. ‘Crime and Policing Comparator’ is HM Inspectorate of Constabulary’s (HMIC) online tool that brings together data from all 43 police forces across England and Wales for the past 3 years.
ScotGov: New figures show the Scottish Government's business rates relief scheme for renewable energy generators has saved the industry around £4m this year. The scheme, the only one of its kind in the UK, offers discounts on business rates of up to 100%. The relief, introduced in 2010, is stepped so that smaller renewables projects receive the highest level of discounts.
ScotGov: Three local authorities have been given approval by the Scottish Government to develop proposals under the Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) model. The scheme is worth hundreds of £ms and is expected to create over 17,000 new jobs across Scotland.
DEFRA: Householders will have more control to stop the tonnes of unwanted advertising mail that drops through peoples’ letter boxes each year, Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman announced last week. A new free-to-use website is being set-up as part of a joint Defra and Direct Marketing Industry deal so householders can opt-out of receiving all types of advertising mail.
DCMS: Government help to create & safeguard jobs as part of £950m Regional Growth Fund. Projects to market English tourist destinations, support creative & digital businesses, and manufacture luxury leather goods are among schemes that are to benefit from a cash injection as part of the Government’s plans to stimulate growth.
BIS: The Government has announced a partnership with 26 major organisations that will see them working together to deliver a new era of consumer empowerment.
The businesses, consumer bodies & regulators involved are all committed to working with Government to achieve its vision for midata, launched recently. And all are endorsing the key principle that data should be released back to consumers. Press release & links
The businesses, consumer bodies & regulators involved are all committed to working with Government to achieve its vision for midata, launched recently. And all are endorsing the key principle that data should be released back to consumers. Press release & links
ScotGov: New support for people with autism & their families was announced recently by Michael Matheson. The Public Health Minister said £13.4m would be invested in the Scottish Government and COSLA's new autism strategy over the next 4 years - £3.4m more than originally pledged - to build on improvements to autism services and access to these services.
ESRC: Politicians & local councillors are currently looking for the best way to control spending across services. At an event as part of the Economic and Social Research Council’s (ESRC) Festival of Social Science, researchers aim to find out how young people would shape youth services in Lincoln.
DWP: Over 1m people will be claiming Universal Credit by April 2014 Work & Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, announced as he set out the Government timetable to move 12m claimants onto the new benefit by 2017 .
Development of the Universal Credit IT programme is also progressing well with 30% of the new technology required to deliver it now complete on time and on budget.
Development of the Universal Credit IT programme is also progressing well with 30% of the new technology required to deliver it now complete on time and on budget.
ScotGov: The Minister for Community Safety, Roseanna Cunningham has said that the status quo which allows poisonous songs of hatred to be sung at Scottish football matches has gone unchallenged for too long and cannot be allowed to continue.
The Minister was speaking as the Scottish Government published its response to a Justice Committee report on the Offensive Behaviour at Football & Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill.
The Minister was speaking as the Scottish Government published its response to a Justice Committee report on the Offensive Behaviour at Football & Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill.
DCMS: Sports Minister Hugh Robertson has officially announced the commencement of the new Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA) that will help to ensure the safety of spectators at sports grounds across the country.
NHS: A new five year vision for the NHS, based around community services and placing prevention, quality & transparency at the heart of healthcare has been published by Health Minister, Lesley Griffiths. Together for Health outlines the challenges facing the health service and the actions necessary to ensure it is capable of world-class performance.
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