Annual Reports

PC&PE: The Public Accounts Committee haspublished its Report, which examined the response to change in jobcentres.
Press release & links
 
LGABuilding homes from nappies, running tracks from old shoes & sleeping bags from garden furniture could soon be widespread practices as councils across the country trial a range of recycling innovations

Over the last decade the amount of tin cans, glass bottles & waste paper recycled in the UK has more than tripled.  Joining this list of recyclables are now disposable nappies, old mattresses and even old cassette tapes.  Thanks largely to the efforts of residents taking the time to sort through their rubbish, the UK recycled 43% of household waste in 2011/12, compared to 13% in 2001/2. 

To mark the 10th annual National Recycling Week (17 - 23 June), the Local Government Association pulled together a list of 10 common but previously unrecyclable household items which we could all easily be recycling over the next decade thanks to new council-run initiatives.
Press release & links
 
HMT: The government has published the second annual report of the 3-year Infrastructure Cost Review programme launched in March 2011 to radically transform the way the UK delivers infrastructure. Building on the success of last year, which identified examples of savings of £1.5bn, there has been further progress towards embedding good practice & reducing the cost of delivering the infrastructure the UK needs to compete in the global race.
Press release & links
 
PC&PE: The Environmental Audit Committee has recently published reports on the Outcomes of the UN Rio+20 Earth Summit, and Embedding sustainable development: An update.
Press release & links
 
Ofsted: The Chief Inspector of Ofsted has put forward a series recommendations to make a lasting difference to the prospects of thousands of ‘unseen children’ from low income backgrounds who are being let down by the education system.
 
The recommendations, aimed at closing the attainment gap between England’s poorest children & those from better off backgrounds, were contained in a recent lecture by Sir Michael Wilshaw and an accompanying report, entitled Unseen children, and marked 20 years since Ofsted first published a report into the achievements of the poorest children in the education system and 10 years since a follow-up study in 2003.
Press release & links
 
IPPRImproving school performance through academy & free schools status is important, but it will not be enough to close the attainment gap between rich & poor pupils in England’s schools, according to a new collection of essays published by the think tank IPPR.
 
The report argues that the additional £1.25bn over the next 2 years from the pupil premium should be focused on primary schools, while the pupil premium in secondary schools would be held at its current level. 

The report shows that around 1 in 5 children left primary school without having reached a sufficient standard in reading & writing.  It shows that these children then struggle to catch-up and fall further behind at secondary school.
Press release & links
Spotlight on women at Serco – Anita’s story