Policy Statements and Initiatives

BIS: Business Minister Mark Prisk has announced that the Green Construction Board (GCB) has secured £1m to bolster its operations.
Press release & links ~ Green Construction Board
 
CLG: Housing Minister Grant Shapps has allocated a £1.8m fund to areas blighted by so-called 'beds in sheds', to ‘tackle the problem head-on and end this growing practice by ruthless landlords’ and appealed to councils who may have turned a blind eye in the past to use this funding & the range of powers at their disposal, to tackle the issue.
Press release & links
 
WAGLocal authorities across Wales will boost their capital spend this year by £60m thanks to the Welsh Government’s Local Government Borrowing Initiative (LGBI). £4m has been allocated from WAG to local authorities across Wales as the first tranche of the 3 year LGBI.  This new support will allow councils to address the pressures on road maintenance budgets and boost investment in local highway improvement schemes.
Press release & links
 
WAG: The Welsh Government has set an ambitious target of providing 12,500 homes during this term of Government.  The target is made up of 7,500 affordable homes - 1,000 more than the previous government's target - and 5,000 empty homes brought back into use through the Houses into Homes scheme launched earlier this year. The 7,500 affordable homes will be delivered with a combination of subsidy from WAG and other housing providers using their own finance.
Press release & links
 
DfE: Parents are to get a new legal right to buy-in specialist SEN & disabled care for their children, under plans set out last week by Children’s Minister Sarah Teather. The reform will also force education, health and social care services to plan services together by law – so when their children are assessed, parents will be assured they will get full provision to address their children’s needs. 
Press release & links
 
ACEThe Arts Council has welcomed the National Conservation Education and Skills Strategy, which sets out a vision for conservation education over the next 5 years.
Press release & links 
 
WAG: The Minister responsible for the Welsh language, Leighton Andrews, has announced funding of more than £5m to support Welsh-medium education across Wales. The money will be used to provide Welsh-language and Welsh-medium methodology training for teachers & practioners, follow-up support for those who have completed the Sabbaticals Scheme and for a range of Welsh language activities outside of school, such as Welsh books quizzes, events & residential courses.
Press release & links
 
CLG: Details of how thousands of new affordable homes will be built using the cash proceeds from the Government's reinvigorated Right to Buy scheme were recently unveiled by Housing Minister Grant Shapps. 
 
The Minister said he was responding to appeals by local authorities for more time to take advantage of the new scheme by allowing them 3 years to reinvest the funds they gain from additional sales into hew housing. He said councils now have a ‘prime opportunity’ to refresh their housing stock and help meet the housing needs of hard-working families currently languishing on the waiting list.
Press release & links
 
ScotGov: The increasing appetite for ‘grow your own’ was served up a cash boost last week by Environment Minister Stewart Stevenson, when he announced a £600,000 package of support to encourage the development of more community growing and support the growth of Scotland’s grow your own sector. 
Press release & links
 
WAG“Staff are key to the success of the NHS,” Health Minister, Lesley Griffiths said as she launched ‘Working Differently – Working Together’, the Workforce and Organisational Development Framework for NHS Wales.

This is the first framework published to support ‘Together for Health’ the Government's 5-year vision for the NHS in Wales, and it focuses on 4 main objectives.
Press release ~ Working Differently – Working Together
 
CLG: Government plans to allow councils to retain more of the money they raise from business rates could boost the economy by an estimated £10bn, Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles claimed last week. The local growth reforms are part of the Local Government Finance Bill that will have its third reading in the House of Commons this week.  The Bill was not directly mentioned in the Queen's Speech because it was 'carried over' from the previous legislative session.
 
The Bill seeks to create a new incentive for local government across England to support growth by directly linking a council's financial revenue to the decisions they take to back local firms and local jobs.  Councils will be able to keep 50% of their business rates, providing a strong incentive to go for growth.
Press release & links
 
ScotGov: The Scottish Government will produce a National Walking Strategy to maximise the number of people using walking as a mode of transport, to get active and to stay active. Physical inactivity contributes to nearly 2,500 deaths, costs the NHS £91m each year in Scotland and is the fourth leading health risk factor behind hypertension (high blood pressure), tobacco and high blood sugar (diabetes). 
Press release & links
 
WAG: A national programme to drive up literacy standards in Welsh schools has recently been published. The National Literacy Programme (NLP) sets out the actions the Welsh Government and its partners need to take to achieve a step change in literacy standards over the next 5 years.
Press release & links
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