Consultations

ScotGov: Reading, writing and spelling are to be embedded in all aspects of the new modern Scottish Curriculum for Excellence skills to give young people the best start in the 21st century workplace. There will be renewed attention on spelling, comprehension, punctuation and debate in all their learning, whether it's in the classroom or through new technology outside.

Guidance on teaching literacy skills forms part of the English Literacy ‘draft outcomes’ which ScotGov have just published, along with Gaidhlig, as part of the Government's plans to introduce a more holistic approach to education for children aged three to 18. This is the start of a continuous process of review to ensure that the curriculum remains up to date.
Press release ~ Curriculum for Excellence – Draft experiences & outcomes ~ Feedback questionnaires ~ Learning Teaching Scotland ~ ScotGov – Education and Training
 
DfT: New proposals aimed at helping reduce disruption by ensuring that road works are carried out efficiently, safely and to the highest standards - ensuring more work is done correctly the first time round – have been published for consultation (closes 15 May 2008).  New proposals on training would mean that from 2010 those carrying out road works in England will have to pass a test at an approved assessment centre every five years.
 
Councils will also be able to impose conditions on works, such as a ban on rush hour working and will also be to operate a permit scheme which set out specific durations for the work and conditions of how & when it is carried out.
Press release ~ Consultation documents ~ Street Work Qualifications Register (SWQR) ~ The New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 (NRSWA) ~ Traffic Management Act 2004 (TMA) ~ HAUC(UK) ~ Department for Transport - Street works Regulations ~ The Traffic Management Permit Scheme (England) Regulations 2007
 
BERR: New draft guidance published for consultation (closes on 16 May 2008) sets out how clauses in the Energy Bill requiring operators of new nuclear power stations to meet the full cost of decommissioning and their full share of waste management costs would work.  Mr Hutton said:  “Funds will be sufficient, secure and independent, it will be a criminal offence not to comply with the approved arrangements and we are taking powers to guard against unforeseen shortfalls."
 
Companies would be required to:
* Demonstrate detailed & costed plans for decommissioning, waste management and disposal, before they even begin construction of a nuclear power station
* Set money aside into a secure & independent fund from day one of generating electricity, and
* Have additional security in place to supplement the Fund should it be insufficient, for example, if the power station closes early
Press release ~ Consultation on funded decommissioning programme guidance for new nuclear power stations - BERR ~ Nuclear Power - BERR ~ Decommissioning and Waste - BERR ~ White Paper on Nuclear Power ~ Ian Pearson's previous written Ministerial Statement on waste ~ Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) ~ Defra - High and intermediate waste ~ Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) ~ HSE: Joint regulatory guidance on radioactive waste management ~ Security regulation: Office from Civil Nuclear Security
 
WAG: The Welsh Assembly Government’s (WAG) has taken a major step on the path to making Wales a low carbon energy economy with the launch of its Renewable Energy Route Map, which sets out a programme aimed at transforming the way Wales produces & uses energy (consultation closes on 13 May 2008) - See ‘In the News’ section for details.
Facing the Future...find out more