Policy Statements and Initiatives
HMT: The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, has recently announced a boost for engineering skills while opening a state of the art Rolls Royce apprenticeships academy in Derby. The development of new vocational qualifications in engineering will strengthen the value of the qualifications, and encourage more schools to offer engineering courses.
The Royal Academy of Engineering – backed by the Department for Education – will work with employers to re-design the Principal Learning element of the Engineering Diploma into 4 rigorous qualifications, each equivalent to one GCSE. The new qualifications are likely to be included in the Key Stage 4 performance tables from 2016 and the reformed courses are likely to be available to students from September 2014.
ONS: The Office for National Statistics has recently announced that a new additional measure of consumer price inflation will be launched which includes owner occupiers’ housing (OOH) costs. The new index, which will initially be known as CPIH, will measure OOH costs using the rental equivalence method.
This method uses changes in rental prices to measure the costs of owning, living in & maintaining a property. CPIH will be introduced in March 2013 at the same time as the annual CPI/RPI basket of goods & services review.
This method uses changes in rental prices to measure the costs of owning, living in & maintaining a property. CPIH will be introduced in March 2013 at the same time as the annual CPI/RPI basket of goods & services review.
WAG: The Welsh Government is taking a global lead on promoting the importance of children’s play and for the first time, legislating to place a duty on local authorities to assess the sufficiency of play & recreational opportunities for children in their areas.
Recently regulations & statutory guidance for play ‘sufficiency assessments’ have come into effect, setting out criteria for assessing play opportunities in each local authority area: audits of open spaces, play & recreation provision and other considerations including traffic, transport & community initiatives.
The assessments will be used to develop local authority action plans to improve play opportunities for all children across Wales. The deadline for the completion of assessments is 1 March 2013.
The assessments will be used to develop local authority action plans to improve play opportunities for all children across Wales. The deadline for the completion of assessments is 1 March 2013.
WAG: Environment Minister, John Griffiths, has announced a period of additional work as part of the consultation process into designating marine conservation zones (MCZ) in Wales. A cross-cutting ‘task & finish team’ with members from government agencies and the Welsh Government is being established to advise & make recommendations. The group will report to the Environment Minister by the end of April 2013.
CO: Making government services digital by default came a step closer to reality last week with the publication of the Government Digital Strategy and Digital Efficiency report. The publication of the Digital Strategy fulfils a commitment in June’s Civil Service Reform Plan. The Digital Strategy sets out how the Government can make up to £1.2bn worth of savings by 2015 simply by making everyday transactions digital.
The strategy also sets out plans to improve digital skills across the Civil Service, which have been lacking. All departments will now need to have a digital leader on their executive boards. The strategy also coincides with the publication of the latest figures on reducing the number of Government websites. Since June 2012, 27 more redundant websites have closed, with a reduction of 74 overall over the last year.
HO: Home Secretary's statement on historic allegations of child abuse in north Wales.
WAG: The Welsh Government supports the Mental Health First Aid (Wales) course, which is delivered by Mind Cymru. The programme began in 2007, and this month reached 10,000 participants. The course teaches people about mental health problems and gives them the skills they need to help people in crisis. It covers common mental health issues including alcohol, drugs & depression, crisis first aid for suicidal behaviour, first aid for anxiety & panic attacks, and other issues such as self-harm.
HMT: The Government has announced that it will appoint an interim advisory group to oversee the development of guidance on the new General Anti-Abuse Rule (GAAR). The GAAR is being introduced to deter & counter abusive tax avoidance, while providing certainty, retaining a tax regime that is attractive to businesses, and minimising costs for taxpayers & HMRC.
WAG: Environment Minister, John Griffiths has launched new planning policy aimed at ensuring the planning system supports the growth of the Welsh economy whilst also staying true to the principles of sustainable development.
WAG: The First Minister Carwyn Jones and Leader of Plaid Cymru Leanne Wood have recently announced an agreement on the Welsh Government's Draft Budget 2013-14.
CO: The Cabinet Office has responded to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report ‘Implementing the transparency agenda’.
DfE: Education & Childcare Minister Elizabeth Truss recently announced that calculators would be banned in maths tests for 11-year-olds from 2014. She warned that pupils were using calculators too much too soon at primary school – the current curriculum suggests introducing them at 7.
ScotGov: As set out in the Edinburgh Agreement, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has recently written to the Electoral Commission asking them to test the Scottish Government’s preferred question for the autumn 2014 referendum.
The Electoral Commission will now subject the proposed question ‘Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent country?’ to independent testing before advising on the results in a report to be published before the Referendum Bill is considered by the Scottish Parliament. The Parliament will then decide on the final wording of the question.
