Policy Statements and Initiatives

SE:  Sport England has challenged innovators – both within & beyond the sport sector – to come forward with ground-breaking concepts and solutions that will shape community sport over the next decade. This is the opportunity to unearth the ideas that will transform grassroots sport and help create a lasting sporting legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The best innovations, and the people who can turn them into reality, will benefit from expert support & investment through Sport England’s new Innovation Fund.  £5m of National Lottery funding is available each year, through a highly competitive process, with up to 20 projects expected to secure investment.
Press release ~ Sport England’s Innovation Fund
 
CLG: Communities Secretary Hazel Blears and Culture Secretary Andy Burnham are urging councils & developers to put good planning, local character and high quality design at the heart of development. A new cross-Government strategy stresses that good quality buildings and ample green infrastructure - parks, trees and waterways - are not a luxury that can be dropped during difficult economic circumstances.
 
In World Class Places, the Government pledges that all new public & private development will be built to the highest design standards.  All new government-funded building programmes, including social housing, schools and health centres, will include improved design standards.  Every significant public sector project could have the opportunity to be advised or reviewed by a team of design experts from the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE).
Press release ~ World Class Places: The Government's Strategy for Improving Quality of Space ~ Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) ~ Place Matters ~ Green Flag scheme ~ Towards an Urban Renaissance (Urban Task Force, 1999) ~ Our Towns and Cities: The Future - Delivering An Urban Renaissance (DETR, 2000)
 
HO: Local people will be able to choose how money from a £4m criminal assets fund is spent in their area, alongside further targeted work to tackle property-related crime and a tougher approach to dealing with prolific offenders. The PM has also unveiled the Government's updated crime strategy - Cutting Crime: Two Years On.
Press release ~ Cutting Crime: Two Years On ~ Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) ~ Engaging Communities in Criminal Justice Green Paper and consultation (closes on 31 July 2009) ~ Virtual Courts pilot ~ Community Payback ~ Serious acquisitive crime programme ~ Business and Retail Crime ~ Securing Homes initiative
 
LSC: The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) is committing to help parents from low-income families with a new £75m initiative.  The Free Childcare for Training and Learning for Work scheme offers 50,000 eligible parents help through childcare support (while they train or learn) to support them into employment.
 
The nationwide scheme is open to half a million families in England with:
* One partner in work
* An annual household income of £20,000 or less per year
* A child or children aged 14 or under
* A child or children aged 18 or under with disabilities
Press release ~ Free Childcare for Training and Learning for Work scheme ~ Learning and Skills Council (LSC)
 
HEFCE: David Lammy, Minister of State for Higher Education and Intellectual Property, has announced the national launch of the Aimhigher Associates programme, following a pilot last year. The scheme is now looking to recruit around 5,500 university students from September to mentor over 21,000 school pupils in a drive to widen participation in higher education (HE).
 
The national roll-out of the programme in September 2009 follows 17 pilot projects involving 77 higher education institutions (HEIs), 7,227 learners and 1,380 Associates.  Aimhigher Associates will provide support & encouragement to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds on both a one-to-one and group basis.  It is planned that these relationships will develop over time, typically involving 15-20 sessions per Associate p.a.
Press release ~ Aimhigher Associates programme ~ Guidance and planning for the national phase of the scheme
 
DH: Patients are a step closer to getting more say over their healthcare services as plans for a national pilot project reach the next stage. Following a call for expressions of interest for sites across England to take part in the first trials of personal health budgets, 68 projects, involving a total of 75 PCTs, have been awarded provisional pilot status.

All sites will now be subject to a robust assessment of their capability before gaining full pilot status later this year.  Applications indicate that pilot sites want to look at a wide variety of areas ranging from people who have long term conditions or use mental health services to areas such as obesity or substance misuse.
Press release ~ Personal health budgets: first steps ~ DH – Personal Health Budgets ~ ‘The impact of personal budgets on third sector providers of social care’ ~ Professor David Challis’s presentation ~ Professor Caroline Glendinning’s presentation ~ Research briefing 'Impact of personal budgets on third sector providers of social care' 
 
DIUS: Local authorities will have a bigger say to help determine who needs English language lessons in their local area, Skills Secretary John Denham claimed when he published plans to re-prioritise funding for ESOL classes to support community cohesion. He also announced the 21 local authorities who will take this approach forward.
 
The new approach follows a decision to refocus the £300m of ESOL spending on long-term UK residents and away from short-term migrants to the UK.  Local authorities are best placed to help identify those groups whose poor English language skills currently act as a barrier to full integration into the economy & society.
Press release ~ A New Approach to English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) ~ Our Shared Future and Government response ~ Guidance on Duty to Promote Community Cohesion - DCSF (2007) ~ Focusing English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) on Community Cohesion - Consultation Report 
 
BERR: A joint statement setting out the positive contribution that modern union reps can make to the workplace has been launched by the Department for Business, the Trades Union Congress and the CBI.
 
Featuring real life examples, 'Reps in Action’ shows how modern union representatives and company managers have worked together to deal with situations that can occur in any workplace and as a result have, for example, improved working practices, enhanced workplace training provision or lead to a greener workplaces.
Press release ~ ‘Reps in Action’ – how workplaces can gain from modern union representatives~ Trades Union Congress ~ CBI
 
CLG: Ministers have asked councils to lead their communities through the downturn & spearhead bids for the £1bn Future Jobs Fund to create 150,000 new jobs. The 'application form' for bids has been published in DWP's Future Jobs Fund website.  It sets out how councils should submit innovative bids for the new Fund.
 
As recommended by the Councillor Stephen Houghton's report, Ministers are also announcing that councils should now commit to create unemployment profiles of their communities so they can design jobs & skills programmes to fit local labour markets and future demand partners.  Guidance will be published shortly.
Press release ~ Cllr Houghton's report, Tackling Worklessness: A Review of the contribution and role of local authorities and partnerships - Final Report ~ Government response to the Houghton report ~ Future Jobs Fund
 
ScotGov: A major push to get consumers eating more Scottish fish has been launched. Fish will be promoted to shoppers as great value for money - delivering major health benefits, as well as giving a much-needed boost to Scotland's fishing & fish-farming sectors.  A new web portal will give consumers a single source of advice on buying & eating Scottish fish, including recipe ideas
 
Despite being one of Europe's primary fishing nations, Scotland consumes much less fish than other countries.  On average, consumers in Spain, Portugal and Norway eat twice as much fish as Scots. Recent figures also show a dip in fish consumption and that consumers are eating considerably less than their recommended two portions of fish a week.
Press release ~ Seafish ~ Seafood Scotland ~ ScotGov – Eat more Fish ~ 'Fishing 2009' Expo
 
WAG: Minister for Rural Affairs, Elin Jones has launched a new over-arching strategy for farming in Wales.  ‘Farming, Food & Countryside – Building a Secure Future’ outlines how the Welsh Assembly Government will work to secure a sustainable future for the farming, food and land based production industries and the Welsh countryside environment through to 2020.
 
The five key aims of the strategy are:
* Connecting to the marketplace
* Producing sustainably and profitably
* Safeguarding animal health and welfare, plant health and food safety
* Sustaining our countryside
* Encouraging innovation
Press release ~ Farming, Food & Countryside – Building a Secure Future ~ WAG – Farming and Countryside ~ WAG – Food and Fisheries ~ WAG – Conservation and Management
 
ScotGov: A group of experts advising the Scottish Government has concluded an in-depth study and recommended a number of improvements to the way neonatal services are organised - which have been accepted by the Government in full.
 
Work starts immediately to ensure more flexible care & co-operation between units for the benefit of parents and babies, including possible transport improvements - which should ultimately mean even fewer babies being transferred away from their mothers.
Press release ~ Maternity Services Action Group (MSAG): Neonatal Services Sub Group: Review of Neonatal Services in Scotland
Spotlight on women at Serco – Anita’s story