Policy Statements and Initiatives

DCMS: The Government's Culture, Olympics, media and sport programme is online & ‘commentable’. The Coalition: our programme for government sets out a programme for partnership government over the next 5 years.
Press release ~ Read the programme & leave your comments
 
WAG: The Minister for Heritage, Alun Ffred Jones, has welcomed a new Sport Wales campaign to inspire more people in Wales to take up coaching. From gold medal-winning Olympians & Paralympians to Welsh rugby & football stars; 11 of Wales’ sporting heroes of the moment have thrown their weight behind Sport Waleslatest campaign, Behind Every Star.
 
Last month, Mr Jones announced that the Welsh Assembly Government would be providing Sport Wales with an extra £1m a year to boost sports coaching in Wales. The money will help provide 1,500 extra coaches and to increase the standard of coaching across Wales in communities, clubs & elite sport.
Press release ~ Sport Wales: Behind Every Star ~ WAG: £1m boost for sports coaching in Wales
 
WAGUpdated national planning policy with an increased focus on tackling climate change has been unveiled by Environment Minister, Jane Davidson, at the Royal Town Planning Institute conference in City Hall, Cardiff.
 
The Minister launched the second edition of Planning Policy Wales, which highlights the important role the planning system has to play in ensuring a sustainable future for Wales. It includes all the policy updates that have been issued since 2002 in the form of Ministerial Interim Planning Policy Statements (MIPPS).  

It also reflects changes to facts, law, policies and other documents referred to in the original Planning Policy Wales and in the various MIPPS.
Press release ~ Planning Policy Wales (Edition 2, June 2010)
 
HMT: The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, and Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, last week announced details of how the next Spending Review (SR) will be conducted.  The SR, due to conclude in Autumn 2010, will set spending limits for every Government department for the period 2011-12 to 2014-15.
Press release ~ Spending Review Framework
 
WAG: Minister for Heritage, Alun Ffred Jones has announced changes to the popular free swimming scheme to make it more widely available. A change to the minimum criteria of the current scheme, means that local authorities will now offer free swimming sessions or other leisure centre activities for children aged 16 & under on weekends as well as school holidays.
 
The new agreement with local authorities also places more emphasis on delivery of structured sessions, which have greater participation and will help deliver the Assembly Government’s aim of every child learning to swim by the age of 11. Some local authorities in Wales have already started offering the new sessions and all are expected to be up and running by September 2010.
Press release ~ Free Swimming
 
DfE: The Government has lifted restrictions that stopped state schools offering iGCSE qualifications in key subjects.  It has also announced its intention to include iGCSE results in school performance tables as soon as possible.
 
Schools Minister, Nick Gibb, has also announced that development of the new Diplomas in science, humanities & languages (due to be introduced from September 2011) will cease immediately.  This means instant savings of around £1.77m, plus further savings in future years.
Press release
 
ScotGov: Scotland's first Zero Waste Plan was published last week. The plan sets out key actions, including new targets, to tackle the near 20m tonnes of waste produced by Scotland every year. It aims to drive change & inspire households, businesses, community groups, local authorities and the wider public sector to change the way they view and deal with waste.  It contains a broader approach to tackle all waste, not just waste collected by councils.
Press release ~ Zero Waste Plan ~ Zero Waste Scotland
 
CLG: Councils & communities are being given immediate powers to prevent the destructive practice of 'garden grabbing' and decide what types of homes are suitable for their area, Decentralisation Minister, Greg Clark, announced last week.
 
Recently published Government figures show that the proportion of new houses built on previously residential land such as gardens has risen dramatically, from 1 in 10 to 1 in 4 between 1997 & 2008 - robbing communities of green breathing space, safe places for children to play and havens for urban wildlife.  This is because planning guidance has classified gardens as 'previously residential land', in the same Brownfield category as derelict factories & disused railway sidings.
 
Mr Clark has also scrapped the minimum density target so town halls can work with the local community to decide what new homes are best for their area.  The target has contributed to the lack of family sized homes & flats that local people need.  
Press release ~ Proportion of new dwellings on previously residential land by local authority ~ Amended Planning Policy Statement 3 (PPS3) to remove the classification of 'previously developed land' ~ Garden developments: understanding the issues - An investigation into residential development on gardens in England
 
ScotGov: A review of ferry services in Scotland has been published by the Scottish Government. The Scottish Ferries Review examines current provision of ferry services.  It invites respondents to consider a range of changes & improvements suggested by people & communities across Scotland that could be made to meet future customer needs.
 
The review was a commitment within the 2006 National Transport Strategy (NTS) and will inform the preparation of a long-term ferries plan for lifeline services to 2022.
Press release ~ Details of Scottish Ferries Review ~ 2006 National Transport Strategy (NTS)
 
HEFCE: HEFCE has asked all higher education institutions and HEFCE- funded further education colleges to publish employability statements on the help they provide to students to improve their employability & transition into work.
 
The information will be published on the commentary section of the Unistats web-site by 31 August and institutions' own channels in time to help prospective students make informed choices about entry to higher education in 2011-12.
Press release ~ HEFCE Circular letter on employability statements (HEFCE Circular letter 12/2010) ~ David Willetts' speech (10/6/10) on the BIS web-site
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