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Policy Statements and Initiatives
DCMS: A new approach to film education in British schools and financial incentives to encourage early collaboration between producers & distributors are among the recommendations of a report published recently.
Press release & links
DfE: Ministers have published new arrangements for teacher & head teacher appraisals in maintained schools in
Press release & links
CLG: Elected city mayors will have their own bespoke powers tailored to local needs, Minister for Cities Greg Clark announced last week. Rather than seeking to impose a 'one size fits all' approach, the Government will take advantage of the new power in the Localism Act to devolve power to mayors through negotiating a bespoke city deal with each city.
Press release & links
CLG: Housing Minister Grant Shapps and Communities Minister Andrew Stunell have called on councils to use every opportunity under the New Deal for Older People to give elderly people more choice & control over where they live, so they are not pressured to sell their home or move into residential care.
Mr Shapps said councils should learn from the Government-backed FreeSpace project piloted by the London Borough of Redbridge, where elderly homeowners will be helped to downsize to rented accommodation that better suits their needs, but without requiring them to sell their home.
Press release & links
Ofsted: Ahead of a government summit on ‘coasting schools’ to be held at Downing Street later, Ofsted’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, confirmed his intention to scrap the ‘satisfactory’ judgment for school inspections.
The proposals, which will be subject to consultation, would mean that any school that does not provide a good standard of education will be given a new ‘requires improvement’ grade. No schools will be allowed to remain in this new category for more than 3 years.
Press release & links
DWP: Local authority & housing association partnerships were named last week as the successful volunteers the Government plans to work with on pioneering demonstration projects that will see claimants in the social rented sector directly receiving monthly housing benefit payments and paying rent to landlords themselves for the first time.
The demonstration projects, which will take place from June 2012 until June 2013, will test how claimants can manage housing benefit monthly payments ahead of the introduction of Universal Credit from October 2013. The projects will also look at the appropriate level of safeguards needed to help secure landlord income streams if tenants fall behind on their rent.
Press release
ScotGov: Details of a £50m fund to promote sustainable transport over the next 4 years have been announced. Transport Minister Keith Brown recently met with pupils at
An announcement will be made early in 2013 about the allocation of an additional £18.75m in 2014/15 which will continue the development of these areas of low-carbon investment. The total budget available to the Fund will be £20.25 million in 2015/16.
Press release & links
DfE: Thousands of primary schools have already signed up to spend more than £7.7m on new phonics products & training to drive up their pupils’ standards of reading, new Department for Education figures show.
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