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Policy Statements and Initiatives
CLG: Funding to help those facing the real & frightening prospect of homelessness will continue to the end of this Parliament. Councils across the country are set to receive a share of £160m over the next 2 years. The Minister also confirmed that a new website and telephone line, where anyone anywhere looking to get help for someone sleeping on the streets can go to, is on track to be available by Christmas.
He also offered a first-look at a new campaign (StreetLink) aimed at encouraging people to seek help for rough sleepers in their area.
Ofsted: From now on all schools inspected by Ofsted must, at a minimum, be judged as ‘good’ to be good enough for our children. The revised inspection arrangements follow a comprehensive consultation ‘A Good Education For All’ which received more than 5,000 responses from teachers, headteachers, parents, carers & governors.
CLG: New planning rights will allow more flats to be created above shops without the need for planning permission. Two flats will be allowed to be created in office or storage space under new permitted development rights coming into force.
The change further streamlines the planning system, making it easier, quicker & cheaper for people to create new homes in existing underused space. It has the potential to help increase the amount of affordable housing and ensures better use is made of existing developed land.
ScotGov: Housing associations are being urged to sign up for a scheme that could deliver up to 1,500 new affordable homes for rent across Scotland. The National Housing Trust initiative (NHT) for Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) allows housing associations to fund homes through a scheme being underwritten by the Scottish Government.
Following the success of NHT for councils & developers, the initiative is being extended further with a new version that gives RSLs a leading role. The new financing model will see housing associations build homes or fund the purchase of newly-built homes so they can be made available for rent at below market rates for 5 to 10 years. And there will be flexibility on exit to enable RSLs to retain homes for rent indefinitely.
DH: Savings of over £1bn will be reinvested into the NHS following the Department of Health’s legally binding agreement with CSC, suppliers of the Lorenzo healthcare IT system. This agreement will give local hospitals and NHS organisations the power to make their own decisions about which IT systems they use. The money saved will go back into the NHS and would be enough to pay for 500,000 extra knee & hip operations, and almost 15,000 extra doctors.
WAG: The Welsh Government has established a new group to champion learning disability issues and provide specialist advice to ministers on matters affecting people with a learning disability. The Learning Disability Advisory Group will help the Welsh Government shape its learning disability policy on issues such as sustainable social services, tackling health inequalities and social integration & inclusion.
WAG: A feasibility study is to be carried out into proposals for a new sustainable urban village on a 100 hectare greenfield site owned by the Welsh Government at Felindre, Swansea. The proposed new village could provide a mix of affordable & private sector housing - with associated community facilities including schools & playing fields and also provide employment opportunities.
The proposed new village would complement plans for the adjoining 60 hectare brownfield site at Felindre – the former British Steel/Corus tinplate works which closed in 1989. Now owned by Swansea Council, it has undergone extensive remediation works to create a strategic employment site.
ScotGov: A united approach to ensure the wellbeing of Scotland’s service personnel & veterans was announced last week by Veterans Minister Keith Brown. The Armed Forces Commitments Paper sets out what the Scottish Government is doing to address the health, housing, education & justice needs of current and former service men & women. It also lays out how the government will work with partner organisations in the future to ensure consistent support for this group.
FCO: Foreign Office Minister, Alistair Burt, said that the UK is absolutely committed to securing a robust & effective Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), when he updated Parliament on the July negotiations.
HMT: The Government has published legislation which will enable the Government to guarantee up to £40bn of investment in infrastructure and up to £10bn in new homes. The Infrastructure (Financial Assistance) Bill gives statutory backing to the UK Guarantees programme announced in July and the housing guarantee schemes announced last week.
The UK Guarantees scheme has been established to ensure that where major infrastructure projects may struggle to access private finance because of adverse credit conditions they can proceed as planned. The Government also intends to issue debt guarantees to support the building of new private rented sector and affordable homes.
