Policy Statements and Initiatives
CO: The Minister for the Cabinet Office, Liam Byrne, has announced a new Innovators Council made up of creative thinkers from public services, charities and businesses to help drive public service reform. The public are being asked to submit their ideas by e-mail, post or online (where they can comment on other ideas).
Two pilot schemes currently being run by the Government show how simple innovative ideas can make a real difference to peoples' lives:
* The Tell Us Once initiative will mean people only have to contact the Government once when their circumstances change - the idea developed from a project that helped people cope with bereavement, where frontline workers discovered how distressing it was to have to contact dozens of agencies when a loved-one died.
* Online Free School Meals is joining up central government with local authorities to cut the time it takes to process an application from 6 weeks to just a few hours, making sure people get the help they need quicker and cutting administration costs too.
Press release ~ Working Together - Public services on your side ~ Share your front-line experience of public services
WAG: A new Welsh Assembly Government campaign is underway to get people in Wales to cut the number of single use carrier bags. The bi-lingual campaign – ‘Get Carried Away’ - aims to encourage people to re-use their single use carrier bags and help them remember to take their bags with them when they go shopping. In February 2009, the Welsh Assembly Government became the first administration in the UK to start work on legislation to end the use of free single use plastic bags.
Alongside radio adverts, there is a website aimed at consumers & retailers. The first 1,000 people who register with the site will receive a re-usable bag. Hundreds of people have registered their support for the campaign in the first week, with more coming in each day.
Press release ~ ‘Get Carried Away’ ~ British Retail Consortium – Carrier Bags ~ Keep Wales Tidy ~ The Sustainability Committees report into the Banning of Plastic Bags
ScotGov: 26 projects across Scotland have been awarded a share of £1.6m under the Scottish Biomass Heat Scheme to install biomass heating systems and district heating systems in small businesses like hotels and offices. In total, the projects will install approximately 7 Megawatts of renewable heat energy.
The news comes as a new round of the Scottish Biomass Heat Scheme opens for applications (closing date for applications 4 September 2009). The scheme is managed in partnership between Scottish Government and Forestry Commission Scotland. It is targeted at businesses (specifically SMEs) and will also encourage the development of district heating demonstrators from private developers.
Press release ~ Scottish Biomass Heat Scheme ~ Energy Saving Trust ~ Biomass Energy Centre ~ Carbon Trust - Biomass Heat Accelerator
WAG: Andrew Davies, Minister for Finance and Public Service Delivery has unveiled details of a £60m investment fund to support the delivery of more effective and efficient public services. The new fund, administered by Value Wales, is intended to support new ways of working in which services can be delivered more effectively & efficiently.
Andrew Davies said: “I am inviting public sector organisations, including local authorities, the NHS, education institutions etc to bring forward their project proposals and to discuss with us how these, with support from the fund, might deliver real benefits in public service delivery.”
Press release ~ Invest-to-save fund ~ Improving public services ~ Value Wales ~ Wales Audit Office ~ Making the Connections Improvement Fund ~ Strategic Capital Investment Fund
ScotGov: Teachers with specialist skills in early childhood education are to be created in Scotland by new courses which begin after the summer. The courses will provide specific training in early education so that graduate teachers can best meet the needs of younger children in nursery and early primary.
The Scottish Government is committing over £150,000 to pilot a postgraduate degree in early education for teachers at the University of Aberdeen and over £60,000 to the University of Stirling to develop a primary teaching degree with an early years specialism.
The Scottish Government has increased nursery entitlement to 475 hours per year for every child with a further increase to 570 hours coming in 2010.
Press release ~ Early Years Framework ~ BA Childhood Practice qualification ~ ScotGov: Early Education & Childcare
WAG: First Minister Rhodri Morgan has said all parts of Welsh society will have to play their part to fashion a sustainable future and a Wales fit for generations to come. He made his comments as he launched a major new policy to mainstream the sustainability agenda that will affect every aspect of life in Wales.
The Sustainable Development Scheme sets out a number of targets & actions for WAG to take, including:
*The need to reduce our reliance on carbon based energy by 80 – 90%
*A move towards becoming a zero waste nation & achieving 70% recycling of municipal waste by 2025
* The introduction of a grant scheme to extend the use of ecological foot-printing in Wales
* Investing £190m in public health to improve equity in health
* Giving further support to Sustainable Development education initiatives
* Incorporating sustainability into all tourism promotion & development
Press release ~ One Wales: One Planet, a new Sustainable Development Scheme for Wales ~ WAG – Climate Change ~ Wales’s Green Buildings Charter ~ Sustainable Development Commission Wales ~ Sustain Wales
DFID: The UK has given an additional £10m to help over 2m people displaced by the fighting in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. This is in immediate response to an urgent UN Appeal for humanitarian assistance for those fleeing the unrest in Pakistan.
The new commitment brings the UK's contribution to addressing the humanitarian situation in Pakistan to £22m. The £10mk will be distributed through the UN to aid agencies working in NWFP. They will provide food, water emergency shelter and other critical humanitarian help to those most in need.
