Policy Statements and Initiatives
HO: A debate with young people on identity cards has been ‘kick-started’ by the Home Secretary as part of preparations for offering cards to over-16s from 2010. A specially designed website - MyLifeMyId.org site- will survey the national identity scheme with young people by asking them a series of questions, over a 3 month period, on a variety of subjects including:
* when they are asked to prove their identity
* whether they worry about identity theft
* whether they have posted personal details on social networking sites and
* how much they trust the Government with their data
The first identity cards will be issued to foreign nationals in November followed by identity cards for workers in sensitive roles & locations like airports next year.
Press release ~ Consultation Website ~ Ipsos/Mori research around Proof of Age ~
Defra: The Cabinet Office has published the results of a ten-month Strategy Unit project looking at food policy across Government - and concludes that rising demand, climate change and trade & productivity restrictions must all be addressed.
Key findings include:
* The World Bank estimates that cereal production needs to increase by 50% and meat production 80% between 2000 & 2030 to meet demand.
* In the developing world up to 40% of food harvested can be lost due to problems with storage & distribution, and in the UK consumers waste £10bn worth of food each year
* A third of the food bought for home consumption is wasted - 6.7m tonnes
* If UK diets met nutritional guidelines, 70,000 premature deaths could be prevented each year
Hilary Benn has announced that the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser, will commission a new Foresight project on future global food production & farming and the implications for the UK.
Press release ~ Food Matters: Towards a Strategy for the 21st Century ~ Executive summary ~ Stern Review ~ Foresight project ~ World Agriculture 2030
Cabinet Office: In a letter to Compact Commissioner, Sir Bert Massie, Phil Hope, Minister for the Third Sector, asks the Commission for the Compact to conduct a wide & thorough debate across the third sector on whether the Commissioner should have legal powers to punish bodies that breach the Compact. This will form part of an ongoing review of the Compact and all its Codes of Practice.
The Minister's call comes after Sir Bert warned that the Compact cannot survive in its current form. Third sector organisations have complained that the Compact and the Commission 'lack teeth', leaving them unprotected in disputes with local authorities.
WAG: New ways to boost the availability of rural and more affordable housing for local people working & living in the countryside have been outlined by the Welsh Assembly Government. The proposals in the consultation (closes on 10 October 2008) aim to address the issues of providing homes for retiring farmers and for family members working on farms who have difficulty finding affordable housing.
The overall aim is to provide changes to the planning system that would make communities throughout Wales more sustainable.
Press release ~ WAG Consultation on Meeting Housing Needs in Rural Areas ~ WAG - Planning ~ TAN 6: Agricultural and Rural Development – 2000 ~ JRF Commission on Rural Housing in Wales ~ Sue Essex Report into affordable housing in Wales
CLG: Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has published a White Paper - Communities in control: Real people, real power - which sets out how the Government promises to give citizens & communities more rights and more power through:
* more information & greater influence over the local decisions that affect them
* new means of holding politicians & councils to account, and
* where they choose, more opportunity to get directly involved in managing & shaping how local services are delivered
Press release ~ Communities in control: Real people, real power ~
DH: A new framework for action on social marketing and public health - Ambitions for Health - has been published by the Department of Health. It sets out how the DH will use evidence of what motivates people to help them lead healthier lives through targeted action. This is intended to build on the achievements of programmes like Health Trainers, which provides one-to-one support to help individuals tackle health issues.
The new framework for social marketing is based on four key areas:
* Health Capacity
* Health Insight
* Health Innovations
* Health Partnerships
Press release ~ DH – Social marketing ~ Ambitions for Health: A strategic framework for maximising the potential of social marketing and health-related behaviour ~ National Social Marketing Centre ~ DH - Health Trainers Initiative ~ DH - Life Checks
DCMS: A publicity campaign aimed at women from all walks of life to get them to apply for positions on the boards of arts and sports bodies, has been launched by Culture Minister Margaret Hodge. At present only one in three of those filling the 600 or so governing posts on DCMS arts and sporting bodies are women and Margaret Hodge has set a target to raise this proportion to 50%.
The publicity campaign will see 130,000 leaflets distributed around the country and made available through public bodies in the sector and other professional associations. It will be supported by targeted PR activity, paid advertising and inserts placed in sector magazines.
Defra: The ABI (Association of British Insurers) and the Government have reached an agreement that might ensure flood insurance remains widely available now and in the long term. The agreement outlines the actions that both Government and the industry will take over the long term, including:
* Improving understanding of flood risk
* Government putting in place a long-term investment strategy
* Ensuring that the planning system prevents inappropriate development in flood-risk areas
* Raising awareness in areas where flood risks are significant & encouraging people to take precautions
* Promoting access to home insurance for low-income households
Implementing these steps should lead to a competitive flood insurance market, without the need for the Statement of Principles, which will therefore end in 2013. Until then, insurers will continue to:
* Make flood insurance for homes and small businesses available under household and commercial insurance, where the flood risk is no worse than a 1 in 75 1.3% annual risk
* Offer flood cover to existing domestic and small business customers at significant flood risk, providing there are plans to reduce the risk to an acceptable level within five years
Press release ~ ABI/Government Commitments on Flood Risk Management ~
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