WIREDGOV NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
The report examines the public value of providing complementary healthcare on the NHS and analyses it in the context of public health. It highlights the postcode lottery (which favours the South over the Midlands & North), in the use of acupuncture, chiropractic & osteopathy in tackling chronic health conditions, such as musculoskeletal disorders, within the NHS which condemns millions of people in lower socio-economic groups to years of misery & economic inactivity, as a result of the government’s failure to act. The report also shows how inequalities are growing because increasingly, people receiving complementary healthcare on the NHS, are having to pay for these services, jeopardising the ability of those most in need to get the treatment that they require to help them get back to work or to be fully productive, creating long-term costs for the economy as a whole. The report calls on the government to honour its commitment made in 2003 to create a national framework for the universal delivery of complementary healthcare as a means of eliminating current inequalities. Press release ~ Public Health, Private Wealth – complementary healthcare and the NHS (VLF) ~ Get Well UK ~ Does it work? - A pilot project investigating the integration of complementary medicine into primary care ~ Regulation of herbal medicine and acupuncture : Proposals for statutory regulation ~ Integrated healthcare network ~ Clinical Governance for Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Primary Care ~ Prince of Wales’s Foundation for Integrated Health and the University of Westminster’s Clinical Governance for Alternative and Complementary Medicine programme ~ Lower Back PainToolkits CG Toolkits ~ Regulating complementary medicine- implications for the nursing profession Cabinet Office: Ten Point Plan for Diversity - Sir Gus O’Donnell, Head of the Home Civil Service, has unveiled a 10-Point Plan to raise the pace towards a representative workforce. It is intended to reach further than previous work by embedding diversity as a key measure of performance for Permanent Secretaries. It commits to a programme of significant change in 10 key areas, including maximising use of positive action in recruitment practices, making all Senior Civil Service & feeder grade posts available on a flexible working pattern basis wherever possible and meaningful diversity objectives for all, linked to reward. Press release ~ Delivering a Diverse Civil Service - A 10 Point Plan ~ Civil Service Reform website ~ 2008 Diversity targets ~ The Diversity Champions’ Network ~ Civil Service Fast Stream diversity networks ~ Race equality impact assessment: a CRE step-by-step guide ~ Acas Equality & Diversity website ODPM: Excluded or Included? - A challenge to the traditional view that new technology will widen inequality in the future has come from the Government’s Social Exclusion Unit with the publication of a report that claims to show how technology is already improving life chances & public service delivery and is being embraced by excluded groups. The report Inclusion Through innovation: Tackling Social Exclusion Through New Technologies claims that excluded people already use technology extensively and that we need to build on this enthusiasm. The report shows examples of how modern technology can improve public service take-up, reconnect the isolated and provide a lifeline for those groups on the margins The report’s proposals & actions included setting out the action for Government to develop information sharing about excluded groups (while building protocols & safeguarding privacy) and proposing the expansion of access to ICT / Broadband facilities in hostels for the homeless and community centres in deprived areas. Press release ~ Inclusion Through innovation: Tackling Social Exclusion Through New Technologies (Scroll down for related docs) ~ ODPM’s Neighbourhood Renewal Unit ~ Reducing Youth Offending Generic National Solution (RYOGENS) ~ Knowsley Plus One Challenge ~ Crisis (the homelessness charity) ~ Citizens Online ~ Alliance for Digital Inclusion ~ Business in the community – Tackling the digital divide ~ E-petition on digital inclusion ~ Connecting the UK:the Digital Strategy ~ Digital Divide network ~ Enabling a digitally enabled United Kingdom: A framework for action Patient safety incidents are estimated to cost the NHS some £2 billion a year in extra bed days and a retrospective study of patient records in two English hospitals found that just over 10% of patients experienced an ‘adverse event’. Responses to an NAO survey showed that there is significant under-reporting of deaths and serious incidents and that reporting of near misses is also low, mainly owing to different perceptions of what constitutes a ‘near miss’. The roll-out of the National Patient Safety Agency’s National Reporting and Learning System has taken over two years longer than the December 2002 date originally envisaged and is still not fully complete yet. Press release ~ A Safer Place for Patients: learning to improve patient safety:- Full Report (1.4Mb) ~ Executive Summary ~ Incident Decision Tree ~ 7 Steps to Patients Safety ~ Building a safer NHS for patients ~ An organisation with a memory ~ National Patient Safety Agency ~ National Reporting and Learning System ~ Being open - communicating patient safety incidents with patients and their carers ~ National Programme for Information Technology in the NHS ~ DH patient safety website ~ Healthcare Commission Complaints webpage ~ Health Service Ombudsman MCA: Have You Been Drinking Sir? - Police and Coastguards could be forgiven for thinking that long-term binge drinking had become endemic among residents living in one part of the south coast of Press release ~ Receiver of Wreck ~ Report of Wreck form ~ Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) ~ Plastic Ducks track Ocean currents ~ See alsoNAO: A Safer Place for Patients: learning to improve patient safety - According to a report by the National Audit Office, around 52% of incidents in which NHS hospital patients are unintentionally harmed could have been avoided, if lessons from previous incidents had been learned.
It appears that over two-thirds of frontline staff are still unsure what ’efficiency’ means and two-thirds of frontline managers do not see ICT as being integral to public service reforms.
The survey is published at an interesting time, as the Cabinet Office has just published its new e-Government strategy (Transformational Government - Enabled by Technolog) and the ODPM its Inclusion through innovation report (both featured in the full website version of this newsletter).
The Work Foundation has picked up on several crucial issues (including the requirement for an urgent need for a better debate about implications for data privacy), which have been given only minimal attention in the new strategy.
Full article ~ Public Services & ICT: How can ICT improve quality, choice and efficiency? can be obtained from Dhouston@theworkfoundation.com, but will shortly be published on the mini website, where the 3 previous reports in the series are already available ~ Transformational Government - Enabled by Technology ~ Gershon review ~ Inclusion Through innovation: Tackling Social Exclusion Through New Technologies
The December 2004 Innovate America report by the Council on Competitiveness epitomises the fundamental changes in current thinking on how to innovate & develop new products in the most effective way and the Royal Academy of Engineering will discuss this concept, dubbed ‘radical innovation’, at a conference in London, this Wednesday 9 November, on ‘Radical Innovation in Advanced Nanomaterials’.
The idea is to design new technologies into new families of products with a quantum leap of performance and cost-effectiveness to the consumer.
Further details ~ Royal Academy of Engineering ~ Council on Competitiveness ~ Innovate America: Thriving in a World of Challenge and Change. (only interim report appears to be available online) ~ Other National Innovation reports (scroll down) ~ Nanomaterials
General News
DTI: With winter approaching, vulnerable households will benefit from a new helpline. Funded by
Press release ~ Energy Retail Association ~ Warm Front scheme ~ essentia group ~ Keep Warm Keep Well: Winter guide 2005/06 ~ Help the Aged – Winter Deaths ~ Age Concern
Healthcare Commission: The number of people asking for their NHS complaint to be independently reviewed because it was not resolved by local health services has more than doubled from 3,700 to 8,000 in the past year.
The Healthcare Commission, which handles complaints that NHS trusts cannot resolve is producing a good practice guide on complaints management, including what the Commission would expect to see in a complaints file. The most frequent complaints coming through to the Healthcare Commission relate to poor communication & information for patients.
Press release ~ Healthcare Commission Complaints webpage ~ DH Complaints Policy web page ~ Health Service Ombudsman ~ Making things better? A report on reform of the NHS complaints procedure in England
This, the latest addition to the Women’s Workshop Training Centre, will house a dedicated team of staff to provide guidance to women who are considering, or are already, working in these sectors.
Press release ~ UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering, Construction and Technology ~ Women’s Workshop Training Centre ~ Useful & related Links ~ JIVE (Joint Interventions) Partners
ODPM: The Government has announced that it is introducing a new rule linking building control by Approved Inspectors on new homes with designated housing warranty schemes. The Warranty Link Rule (WLR) is intended to increase competition & choice in building control across the whole range of regulated building work, whilst providing residential owner-occupiers with appropriate safeguards.
Three warranty schemes have been approved by the ODPM for the purpose of the Warranty Link Rule: NHBC’s "Buildmark",
Press release ~ ODPM circular letter dated 31 October 2005 ~ Construction Industry Council Approved Inspectors Register ~ NHBC’s "Buildmark"
Home Office: All adults who want to become a British citizen will now need to demonstrate their knowledge of life in the
Press release ~ Life in the UK test website ~ ABNI (Advisory Board on Naturalisation and Integration) ~ English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Skills for Life
DH: The Government is claiming that thousands of men will be more prostate cancer aware thanks to a new public awareness campaign. Prostate cancer accounts for around 4% of male deaths annually in England and Wales,
This pilot campaign, a collaboration between the DH and members of the Prostate Cancer Charter for Action, aims to educate people about the signs & symptoms of the condition and encourage men to speak more openly about it.
Press release ~ Prostate Cancer Charter for Action ~ UK Prostate Link ~ NHS Prostate Cancer Programme ~ Prostate Cancer Risk Management ~ Cancer UK – Useful Links ~ National Cancer Research Institute ~ Prostate Cancer Advisory Group
Acas: Acas is helping the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to reduce work-related stress in a pilot scheme involving 80 organizations from five key sectors health, education, local government, central government and financial services.
The plan is for these organisations to implement the HSE’s stress management standards by developing risk assessments and putting in place improvement plans
Press release ~ Stress Awareness Day ~ Acas booklet Stress at Work ~ Working together to reduce stress at work - A guide for employees ~ Acas stress website ~ HSE stress website (scroll down for ‘resources’ section) ~ Management standards for work-related stress ~ International Stress Management Association (ISMA)
OFT: Businesses involved in price-fixing, market-sharing, bid-rigging or other cartels can wipe the slate clean and remove the risk of severe penalties during Come Clean on Cartels Month says The Office of Fair Trading.
Press release ~ OFT cartels website
Policy Statements and Initiatives
Home Office: Voluntary organisations with a proven track record will be able to apply for unrestricted grants and have the opportunity to represent the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) at a national level. Voluntary sector and other organisations have until
The strategic funding round will make more than £10 million available to voluntary sector and other not-for-profit organisations who demonstrate the ability to use their practical experience to influence the national debate on volunteering. Successful applicants will work closely with the Home Office to provide a national voice for the VCS.
Press release ~ Active Communities Unit strategic funding
Cabinet Office: The Government has announcement that it is launching a ‘new drive’ to deliver major efficiencies for tax payers by merging back office functions in public services. Comments on its policy to be sent in by
However, analysis of the press release and keyword searches of the document seems to indicate that there is not much in the way of fresh detail or policy and there is only minimal reference to previous initiatives such as the Gershon review, Local Authority National Projects, etc. and related previous policy documents. Nor is there any mention of the ODPM’s Inclusion through innovation report also published last week and featured elsewhere in this newsletter.
Press release ~ Transformational Government - Enabled by Technology ~ Gershon review ~ Successful Delivery Skills programme and Skills Framework ~ OGC’s Gateway Process ~ e-Strategy Harnessing Technology: Transforming learning and childrens services ~ Connecting the UK: the Digital Strategy ~ Socitm ~ Local e-gov National Projects ~ Inclusion Through innovation: Tackling Social Exclusion Through New Technologies ~ Central sponsor for Information assurance ~ Geographical information panel ~ Professional skills for government
DfES: The government has announced ‘extra’ eLearning credits for schools to spend on educational software. The ring fenced £125m is on top of the £75m announced as part schools overall capital allocations in November last year and will only be available for spending on Curriculum Online approved products and services.
This will bring the DfES closer to realising its Curriculum Online aspiration of the public & private sectors working in harmony to support the needs of all learners - at school, at home and in the workplace. The first BBC JAM content is expected to come on stream in January 2006.
Press release ~ Curriculum Online ~ eLearning Credits (eLCs) ~ Digital Curriculum ~ BBC JAM ~ Tessa Jowell Gives Approval To BBC Digital Curriculum
Consultations
Defra: Defra has launched a consultation (closes 24 January 2006) on how rare breeds of sheep should be treated under a genotype based compulsory breeding programme. All EU Member States have to introduce compulsory breeding programmes for scrapie resistance in flocks of high genetic merit.
However, because of the high levels of scrapie susceptible genotypes in some rare breeds and the Government’s commitment towards the conservation of biodiversity, Defra considers it appropriate to take advantage of a derogation to allow owners of some rare breed flocks to keep their most susceptible rams.
Press release ~ Consultation documents ~ National Scrapie Plan (NSP) ~ Article – Absurdity of NSP
ODPM: The government has published draft regulations for consultation (closes
At the moment more than 25% of all sales fall through after an offer has been accepted - nearly half because of the problems which emerge when surveys or valuations are carried out. £1m a day is wasted on failed transactions for which buyers have spent hundreds of pounds on valuations, legal advice and searches for homes.
Press release ~ Consultation documents - HIP Draft Regulations ~ ODPM Information packs website ~ National Home Energy Rating
DfES: Proposals to help schools provide every child with high quality, safe school trips - including residential experiences – have been published for consultation (closes 30 Jan 2006) with the publication of the framework for the Manifesto for Education Outside the Classroom.
Press release ~ Online consultation - Manifesto for Education Outside the Classroom ~ National Trust’s new Snuff Mill Environmental Education Centre at Morden Hall Park ~ Ofsted - Outdoor Education, Aspects of Good Practice ~ Institute for Outdoor Learning ~ European Institute of Outdoor Adventure Education and Experiential Learning ~ Schoolzone - Will my union back me up? ~ Managing school trips ~
Pensions Regulator: A consultation document (closes
Press release ~ Consultation document
HSE: The Health and Safety Commission has published a consultative document (closes
HSC is taking this opportunity to simplify and rationalise the legislative regime by combining the three sets of current asbestos regulations - on controls, licensing and prohibitions - into one. It is also proposing to align the criteria for notifying the enforcing authority of work with asbestos with the requirement to have an HSE asbestos licence. The regulations will adopt a risk-based approach to licensing, reflecting risk criteria in the directive.
Press release ~ Consultation documents ~ HSE Asbestos website ~ HSE COSHH website
DTI: The government is consulting (closes
BT currently handles about 160,000 complaints a month about nuisance calls, while the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) already has over 10.5 million numbers registered with them.
Press release ~ Consultation ~ Telephone Preference Service (TPS) ~ Premium rate services (PRS) ~ Fax Preference service
Guidance Notes and Best Practice Guides
DH: New measures to help people with alcohol problems have been outlined by the government in Programme of Improvement, which includes publication of an audit of treatment, giving a national picture of trends of alcohol misuse and the availability of alcohol treatment services throughout the country.
It is expected that by identifying the problem as early as possible, it will help avoid the serious damage that alcohol dependency has on the health of the individual, as well as its negative effects on their relatives and society as a whole
Press release ~ DH Alcohol Misuse website (includes Programme of Improvements guidance and ANARP) ~ Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy ~ Models of Care for Alcohol Misusers (MoCAM) being developed by the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA) ~ Alcohol Concern
DTI: The government has published the consent process for wave and tidal demonstration projects in
Press release ~ Consent process ~ Marine Renewables Deployment Fund (Scroll down) ~ Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA) ~ Wave and Tidal Stream Energy Demonstration Scheme ~ Marine Renewable Energy Links
Annual Reports
Schools Adjudicator: The Chief Schools Adjudicator has published the sixth annual report on the work of the schools adjudicators. There has been a slight decrease in the number of referrals this year with 140 objections to admission arrangements, 29 statutory proposals and 58 in-year variations.
General Reports and other publications
ONS: The Office of National Statistics have launched the second of a continuing series of articles relating to the productivity of key public services. This one draws together a number of sources of information, from the National Accounts and more widely, to provide a range of measurements of the productivity of government expenditure on Education.
Further articles on other key public services, such as Social Services and the Criminal Justice System are planned for release next year.
Press release ~ Atkinson Review ~ ONS response to Atkinson Review ~UK Centre for the Measurement of Government Activity (UKCeMGA) ~ Productivity of Education Services ~ Productivity of Health Service
HSE: The Health and Safety Executive has published its final monthly Signals Passed at Danger report (SPAD) before moving to a quarterly reporting system. Overall SPAD risk has reduced by 70% since the introduction of improved driver training techniques and the fitment of the train protection and warning system (TPWS) and TPWS+ at key signals and sites on the network.
Press release ~ SPAD reports ~ Rail Safety and Standards Board SPAD Reports ~ Signals Passed at Danger
DWP: The Department for Work and Pensions has published the findings of an evaluation of the effectiveness of four different ways of providing pensions information and advice in the workplace. The pilot was implemented specifically with employers who are offering no contribution, or one of less than 3% of salary, for staff who join the Stakeholder Pension scheme set up by the company.
Press release ~ Providing pensions information and advice in the workplace where there is little or no employer contribution ~ Summary version
DWP: The Department for Work and Pensions has published new research on the effectiveness of the Combined Pension Forecast (CPF) scheme. DWP works with employers and pension providers, on a voluntary basis, to supply forecasts of an individual’s state pension alongside their annual personal/occupational statements to create a Combined Pension Forecast.
To measure the effectiveness of this initiative, this research investigates levels of CPF recall amongst recipients and the extent to which it has impacted their retirement planning activities.
Press release ~ Combined Pension Forecasts – a survey of their impact on recipients ~ Summary version
DWP: The Department for Work and Pensions has published research designed to evaluate how pension scheme joining techniques work in an
The study evaluated the impact of these techniques on pension scheme membership where there is an employer contribution and the effects for individuals who did, and did not, become scheme members.
Press release ~ An evaluation of scheme joining techniques in workplace pension schemes with an employer contribution ~ Summary version
NAO: The National Audit Office has reported that the University for Industry (Ufi) has done a good job establishing the learndirect service in a relatively short period and has pushed the boundaries of learning methods.
Press release ~ Full Report (1.4MB) ~ Executive Summary ~ Ufi ~ learndirect service ~ UK online centres ~ Review of the DfES’s relationship with UfI
Legislation / Legal
DfES: Children’s Minister Beverley Hughes has announced further details to the proposed Childcare Bill following a consultation on the plans. In particular she announced that the proposed Ofsted Childcare Register will be compulsory for providers for children from the end of the Foundation Stage to age 8.
The Bill will introduce a new legal framework for regulating & inspecting early education and childcare by 2008 and set down new duties for Local Authorities, which will ‘have implications for changing the terms that children and parents can expect from today’s welfare state’.
Press release ~ Report on Responses to Consultation on Legislative Proposals for the Future of Childcare and Early Years Provision in England ~ Daycare Trust ~ Ofsted ~ ChildcareLink website ~ Childcare Approval Scheme ~ Working Families ~ NHS Childcare Toolkit ~ DfES Care to Learn ~ JRF - Childcare services at atypical times
Home Office: New offences to deal with drivers who cause death on the roads have been announced as amendments to the Government’s Road Safety Bill. They will create a new offences of causing death by careless driving, with a penalty of up to five years’ imprisonment and of causing death when driving while unlicensed, disqualified or uninsured, with a penalty of up to two years’ imprisonment.
Other measures include defining careless driving in statute and putting beyond doubt that the courts can find defendants guilty of a statutory bad driving offence as an alternative to manslaughter.
Press release ~ Road Safety Bill ~ Home Office Bad Driving website ~ Brake road safety charity
DCA: The new Compensation Bill forms part of a package of measures intended to tackle practices that can give rise to unjustified claims which create unnecessary stress for individuals & burdens for the justice system and affect participation in routine activities.
The Bill also sets out that courts considering a negligence claim should be able to take into account the wider social value of the activity, in the context of which the injury or damage occurred, when considering what standard of care is reasonable.
Press release ~ Better Routes to Redress ~ Claims Standards Council (CSC) ~ National Forum for Risk Management in the Public Sector ~ Gratuitous Care claims
DTI: The government claims that ‘deregulation’ is at the heart of its new Company Law Reform Bill, in which company law will be ‘substantially rewritten to make it easier to understand and more flexible - especially for small businesses’.
EU legislation, initiatives, etc.
Defra: Freshly painted rooms may never smell the same again as chemical fumes in paints and varnishes are to be restricted under the Paints Directive, which will affect paints & varnishes used by professionals, as well as do-it-yourself decorators. It includes emulsions for walls and gloss paint for wood.
The new regulations, which came into force on
Press release ~ Defra Paints Directive website ~ Previous consultation on Directive ~Air quality information ~ Regulations for Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) ~ VOCs exposure assessment ~ Pollution Prevention and Control Regulations
Charity and Voluntary Sector
British Red Cross: The first 1,500 winter tents from the British Red Cross have begun to arrive in Pakistan and flights carrying the desperately needed tents will continue to leave every two days with the last consignment arriving on 15th November 2005. At £121.43 per tent, the British Red Cross has spent more than £720,000 on the tents.
The tents are designed to withstand the harsh winter as they are made from a heavier material and contain a chimney and stove. Immediately after the earthquake the
Press release ~ British Red Cross Asia Earthquake Appeal ~ Family links website
Charity Commission: The Charity Commission has published research into what makes people trust charity. It shows how few people realise they have received money, support or help from a charity, when in fact three in four people actually benefit from their services.
Press release ~ Public trust and confidence in charities survey ~ Commissions website
Business and other briefings
HMRC: The government claims that a major change in the way Working Tax Credit (WTC) is paid will reduce the burden on business. Payment by employers is being phased out and claimants - currently around 580,000 - will receive their claims directly from HM Revenue & Customs.
From 7 November, HMRC will pay all new WTC claims directly into employees bank, building society or Post Office card accounts without involving their employer, reducing costs for business and improving privacy for claimants.
Existing claimants gradually be switched to direct payment between December and February 2006.
Press release ~ Mailshot to employers who pay Working Tax Credit with wages ~ HMRC WTC website
Industry News
CMI / CIPD Managers in the
Age discrimination is widespread in
In a survey, 59% reported that they have been personally disadvantaged at work because of their age and 22% of those surveyed admitted that age has an impact on their own recruitment decisions.
29% of organisations already have no mandatory retirement age, which suggests that both individuals & organisations need to consider a step-change in how they perceive age & careers so that changes in demographics are met with a more flexible approach to career planning.
The research also shows that the majority of employers do not believe that older workers are more costly – shattering a myth that is often used to defend mandatory retirement ages.
Approximately 80% of the workforce for 2020 is already in employment and, as such, organisations will need to focus on upskilling & reskilling their current workforce. This is reflected by the finding that the need to retain skills is the key driver of retirement policy. It also means that individuals must now plan their careers in a new light.
Full article ~ Tackling age discrimination at work: creating a new age for all ~ CMI web site ~ CIPD website ~ Age Partnership Group (APG) ~ Age Positive - 20 key facts and Draft legislation ~ Practical Guide to Age Diversity at Work ~ DTI Coming of Age Consultation ~ Acas – Employing older workers
For other articles please click HERE
Forthcoming Events
Date: 01 – 02/12/2005
Venue: Hilton Hotel, North Promenade,
Organiser: Association for Public Service Excellence - APSE Performance Networks Working Seminar 2005
Performance Networks: Moving on up! aims to set out a clear strategy for developing Performance Networks and to equip delegates with the skills & techniques to implement a modern performance management system.
Full Details ~ Association for Public Service Excellence ~ APSE Performance networks ~ Regional centres of excellence ~ Best Value indicators
For information other events please click HERE
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