Policy Statements and Initiatives
ScotGov: The Scottish Government is working hard to retain Scotland's position as the most supportive environment for business in the UK, with ‘the most generous package of reliefs available anywhere on these islands’, Finance Secretary John Swinney told delegates at the Cairngorms Business Partnership Conference last week.
HO: The government has announced funding to recruit & train an additional 10,000 volunteers to become business mentors. The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills along with the Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative will be delivering the Get Mentoring Project, which will recruit & train thousands of business mentors in the UK from the small, medium & micro business community.
This follows the government’s recent support package announcing 5,000 mentors for new & existing female entrepreneurs.
DfE: Children with special educational needs & disabilities (SEND) have made remarkable progress in attainment, behaviour & attendance under a Government-funded pilot, according to a new report published last week. The independent evaluation, carried out by the University of Manchester, also shows pupil attendance significantly improved – with an average reduction in persistent absence of 10%.
Results from the Achievement for All programme, which has been running in around 450 schools for the last two years, saw children make greater progress in English & maths than other SEND children across the country. A significant number even exceeded the progress of non-SEND children.
HMT: The Government is due to review the private finance initiative (PFI) and consider other delivery models.
ScotGov: Chancellor George Osborne has agreed to Scottish Government proposals to release surpluses generated from Scotland's energy industry which mean that over £200m is currently held by the energy regulator Ofgem.
BIS: Business Minister Mark Prisk has announced 2 new government initiatives to support young people gaining their first experiences of enterprise during the recent Global Entrepreneurship Week.
DCLG: Housing Minister Grant Shapps has recently set out his plans to ‘ensure that each of our country's service men and women get the housing help they need’.
DfE: Hundreds of thousands of pupils in England could be missing out on extra cash for their schools according to the Department for Education. This comes as the Department has written to schools across England to make sure that children entitled to Free School Meals (FSMs) are properly registered.
WAG: The Environment and Sustainable Development Minister, John Griffiths has launched Wales’ first National Strategy for Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management.
ScotGov: The UK Government and banks are being urged to do more to reward borrowers who want to do their bit for the environment. A summit will be held later this month with a number of developers & financiers to explore and test possibilities directly with relevant stakeholders.
BIS: Business Secretary Vince Cable and Business Minister Mark Prisk have formally launched the Make it in Great Britain campaign, which aims to transform outdated views of UK manufacturing and dispel the myth that Britain ‘doesn’t make anything anymore’.
DFID: The Government has announced a new joint venture with the BBC World Service Trust which will help over 200m people in poor, war-torn or unstable countries. Projects which use radio, TV, social networks and mobile technology will be scaled up to help people cope during disasters and drive social change.
DH: New measures to support the training standards of healthcare assistants have been unveiled by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley.
DCLG: £1.5m of additional Government funding to support the successful integration of retired Gurkha soldiers and their dependants has been announced.
DfE: The first ever special & alternative provision Free Schools have been approved to open from September 2012. The 8 new Free Schools – including 3 special schools and 5 alternative provision schools – join 79 others that are due to open from next year onwards.
ScotGov: Scotland's Rural Priorities funding scheme will be open for business again in 2012, Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead has confirmed.
BIS: Businesses will be given the power to design, develop & purchase the vocational training programme they need under a £250m plan recently announced by the Prime Minister.
ECC: DECC has put out a statement on global warming.
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