General News
TNA: The National Archives has recently launched the Open Government Licence version 2.0 following consultation with users & other stakeholders in the open data community on how the Licence could be developed further to reflect new & emerging thinking on the licensing of public sector information.
The move to Open Government Licence version 2.0 applies to new users of information once the relevant website & publishing copyright notices have been updated.
HEFCE: A new higher education student engagement partnership unit, hosted by the National Union of Students (NUS), will work to involve students more fully as partners in their own higher education. It will work to support a vision of students and their representative bodies as partners in the educational experience. The unit is expected to be launched in autumn 2013.
DH/PHE: From 1 July 2013 around 675,000 babies a year in England will be offered a new vaccination to protect them against rotavirus infection, which is the most common cause of gastroenteritis (vomiting and diarrhoea) in children under 5. Nearly every child will develop rotavirus gastroenteritis by 5 years of age. Rotavirus gastroenteritis is responsible for 130,000 visits to the GP and 13,000 hospitalisations for dehydration every year.
ACE: The new Arts Council England structure came into operation on 1 July 2013, following an organisation review. As part of these changes, 5 areas have replaced the 9 Arts Council regions. Press release & links
TfL: If your child has a yellow & blue 11-15 Oyster photocard make sure you apply for a free replacement by 31 July 2013. The current cards have been discontinued and will not work after 31 July.
TfL: Transport for London has worked with NCP and Tech City company Adaptis Solutions to provide cashless payments, cheaper season tickets & multi ticketing options at all of its London Underground (LU) car parks from 1 July 2013.
DH/PHE: The next phase of the NHS Be Clear on Cancer campaign launched last week to drive awareness of the signs & symptoms of lung cancer and to encourage people with a persistent cough to see their GP early.
Almost 24,000 people a year in England receive a lung cancer diagnosis when the disease is at a late stage – only around 15% of cases are diagnosed at the earliest stage, when treatment is most likely to be successful.
Almost 24,000 people a year in England receive a lung cancer diagnosis when the disease is at a late stage – only around 15% of cases are diagnosed at the earliest stage, when treatment is most likely to be successful.
TfL: A cinema, radio & video-on-demand campaign will run over the next 6 weeks reminding riders - 'Think! Don't ride too fast'. It highlights the need to pay attention to their speed & surroundings. Posters reminding other road users to look out for motorcyclists will also be placed in petrol station forecourts.
Last month TfL published 'Safe Streets for London', a road safety plan designed to reduce fatalities & serious injuries, particularly among pedestrians, cyclists & other vulnerable road users. The ideas include the possible implementation of 20mph speed limits on residential roads and some other parts of the capital's road network.
NIO: The Rt Hon Theresa Villiers MP, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, represented the UK Government at the annual Somme commemoration in France last week. The events are held to pay tribute & respect to those who lost their lives during the Battle of the Somme, one of the bloodiest battles of the First World War and in the whole of British military history.
FSA: The Food Standards Agency is reminding those who eat or use fresh curry leaves in their dishes, to ensure that the leaves are washed thoroughly before use. Cooking provides further assurance that these leaves are safe to eat.
The use of uncooked fresh curry leaves, which were contaminated with several different bacteria including salmonella, was the cause of a food poisoning outbreak which affected more than 400 people at the Street Spice festival in Newcastle.
ACE: Libraries can now apply for funding to support local enterprise & entrepreneurship, and artists & organisations will benefit from a new streamlined application process for Arts Council England’s flagship Grants for the arts programme.
They have also announced a new Unlimited programme commissioning Deaf & disabled artists and a partnership with Visit England to increase engagement with the tourism sector.
They have also announced a new Unlimited programme commissioning Deaf & disabled artists and a partnership with Visit England to increase engagement with the tourism sector.
NE: A project which aims to ‘significantly increase the number of school-aged children experiencing the full range of benefits that come from learning outside the classroom in natural environments’ has been launched. The Natural Connections Demonstration Project is set to run for the next 3 years and aims to work with 40,000 children in 200 schools across the South West from Cornwall to Bristol.
Despite increasingly robust evidence demonstrating the benefits of childhood experiences taking place in nature, recent surveys show that the vast majority of our children are rapidly losing connection with their local natural environments.
Children from deprived communities are particularly disadvantaged, and the aim of Natural Connections is to support teachers working in schools which currently provide little or no learning in natural environments.
Children from deprived communities are particularly disadvantaged, and the aim of Natural Connections is to support teachers working in schools which currently provide little or no learning in natural environments.
CQC: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is inviting websites to share their reviews of care services, as a vital part of its monitoring & inspection activities. A new scheme will allow reviews, both good & bad, posted on care & health ratings sites to be fed into the picture that CQC holds on care services and ultimately inform decisions on whether or not to inspect. The scheme is open to health & care feedback websites and directories that gather & capture reviews of care services in England.
TUC: New DWP research published last week makes a compelling case for lifting the restrictions on NEST (the National Employment Savings Trust), the low-cost national pensions scheme set up by government, says the TUC. Legislation prevents NEST accepting most transfers in & out of the pension scheme and imposes an upper contributions limit how much anyone can put into NEST in any year.
The main effect of the restrictions is to make any employer with staff paid above the salary ranges of the target audience have an additional pension scheme on top of NEST for better paid staff.
HO: Victims of antisocial behaviour will now be able to force the police & councils to action if they feel they are being ignored. Leeds Council has launched a Community Trigger pilot which will give victims of persistent antisocial behaviour (ASB) a voice. If an individual reports the same incident of ASB 3 times this will activate the Community Trigger requiring local agencies to get together to find a solution to the problem.
The Community Trigger is just one of the measures which will overhaul the current ASB system which includes streamlining the current 19 powers available to the police to 6.
