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Consultations
Newswire – CIPD: Clear expected standards of ethics, integrity, behaviour & competence lie at the heart of a revised Code of Professional Conduct issued for consultation by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) recently. Responses to the consultation are invited by 15 July 2011. A revised Code of Conduct is due to be approved by the Board of the CIPD in the autumn of 2011.
BIS: The Government has launched a consultation (closes on 8 August 2011) on plans to introduce a new system of flexible parental leave from 2015 as part of its plans to create a modern workplace for the modern economy. Under the proposals, once the early weeks of maternity & paternity leave have ended, parents will be able to share the overall leave allowance between them.
Unlike the current system this leave could be taken in a number of different blocks and both parents could take leave at the same time. Crucially employers would have the ability to ensure that the leave must be taken in one continuous period if agreement can not be reached. They will be able to ask staff to return for short periods to meet peaks in demand or to require that leave is taken in one continuous block, depending on business needs.
The `Modern Workplaces’ consultation seeks to build a new consensus around greater flexibility and also includes plans to extend the right to request flexible working to all employees.
DCMS: Plans to put the UK communications sector firmly on the path to long-term economic growth are kick started by the Government this week, with a call for evidence (deadline of 30 June 2011) on how to reduce regulatory burdens and future-proof for the digital age. The review asks for views on how a communications regulatory framework can best keep pace with change, and establish UK communications & media markets as amongst the most dynamic and successful in the world.
In an open letter Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport Jeremy Hunt, has set out three key themes for consultation:
* growth, innovation & deregulation
* a communications infrastructure that provides the foundations for growth
* creating the right environment for the content industry to thrive
DWP: The Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) has been asked by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to consider proposals for the Housing Benefit (Amendment) Regulations 2011. These proposals would change the definition of a ‘young individual’ for Housing Benefit purposes, so that it would in future cover people under the age of 35, rather than 25 as now.
The effect would be to limit the award of Housing Benefit for single people up to age 35 to the shared accommodation rate. This rate reflects the cost of renting property where the tenant has sole use of a bedroom, but has shared use of other rooms such as a kitchen or bathroom. Before the Committee considers & reports on these proposals, it would like to hear from organisations & individuals who have views (to arrive no later than 17 June 2011).
EU News: The European Commission is seeking views from citizens, businesses, public administrations and other interested parties on how to fully benefit from 'cloud computing', which enables companies, public administrations & individuals, using networks such as the internet, to access their data & software on computers located somewhere else.
It can help businesses – especially SMEs – to drastically reduce information technology costs, help governments supply services at a lower cost and save energy by making more efficient use of hardware. Cloud computing is already used widely, for example for web-based e-mail services. This trend is growing and cloud services are expected to generate revenues of almost €35bn in Europe by 2014.
The online public consultation will run until the 31 August 2011. Responses will feed into the preparation of a European cloud computing strategy that the Commission will present in 2012.
