General Reports and Other Publications
Cabinet Office: Baroness Julia Neuberger, the Government's independent volunteering champion, has published her report, Volunteering in the Public Services: Health and Social Care. The report is the first in a series examining the role of volunteers and volunteering in public services and through consultation with over 1,000 volunteers and organisations it found much potential to expand volunteering in health and social care to build more people centred services.
The report identifies a largely untapped source of volunteers in service-users. It argues that they could make an enormous contribution as volunteers in health and social care because no one understands what it is like to have a condition like a person who has it themselves.
Press release ~ Volunteering in the Public Services: Health and Social Care ~ The Office of the Third Sector (OTS) ~ 'Helping Out: A national survey of volunteering and charitable giving' ~ National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) ~ Voluntary Sector Studies Network (VSSN) ~ Get on Board campaign website ~ Charity Commission ~ TimeBank ~ Volunteering Engaland ~ Institute for Volunteering Research (IVR) ~ do-it.org.uk ~ volunteering-wales.net
Defra: Environment Secretary Hilary Benn has ‘welcomed’ a report into last summer's Foot & Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak. Foot and Mouth Disease 2007: A Review and Lessons Learned was written by Dr Iain Anderson, who carried out a review into the handling of the 2001 FMD outbreak.
It commends the Government's overall handling of the 2007 outbreak, stating that ‘many of the lessons identified in the 2002 report had been acted upon and performance, taken as a whole, was much improved." It concludes that "on balance, the positive easily outweighs the negative’, but it does identify deficiencies that need to be addressed.
In August 2007, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) asked Sir John Beringer to undertake a review of the governance, funding & risk management of the Institute for Animal Health. Sir John is due to report to the BBSRC in April 2008
Press release ~ Foot and Mouth Disease 2007: A Review and Lessons Learned ~ Institute for Animal Health ~ Sir Bill Callaghan's independent review ~ Related documents ~ Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)
IPCC: ‘Adherence to custody policies and procedures saves lives’ according to Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) Chair Nick Hardwick, on the publication of IPCC research that estimates there are around a thousand near misses in police custody in England and Wales every year. Of these 400 were likely to lead to death without prompt intervention by custody and medical staff.
Acute health needs and other risks are a strong feature among those people held in police custody and evidence from IPCC investigations, its work around learning the lessons and this study indicate that there are three areas that police forces need to focus on:
* The need for good quality risk assessment when a detainee enters custody
* Appropriate training for custody staff
* For the management of custody suites to reinforce to staff the importance of following procedures and training centring on the care of vulnerable detainees
The report makes 11 recommendations for all police forces.
Press release ~ Near Misses in Police custody: a collaborative study with Forensic Medical Examiners in London ~ Independent Police Complaints Commission
Ofgem: Energy suppliers have stepped up their efforts to offer fair prices to approximately 1,500 customers wanting to sell electricity generated from household microgeneration units, according to a new report by Ofgem to the Government.
A variety of units such as roof-top wind turbines or solar panels can be used to generate electricity in the home and the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act, which became law in 2006, requires suppliers to set up arrangements to buy back any surplus electricity that customers would want to sell. Nonetheless, Ofgem estimates that the payback on the costs of household electricity generation kits may take twenty years or more, given current market conditions.
Ofsted: Ofsted's new report, 'Developing financially capable young people' shows that delivering better teaching of personal finance education in schools and colleges can equip students with the right mix of skills & attitudes to help them manage their finances sensibly. It can also help prepare them for the world of bank accounts, credit cards, insurance and mortgages.
According to Ofsted's inspections, students in schools and colleges that are teaching personal finance skills successfully showed a good understanding of the issues. They were able to use financial terms correctly and apply their knowledge to making financial decisions. The programme worked because it was strongly supported by senior managers who gave it time in the curriculum.
The main barriers to developing personal finance education were pressures on curriculum time; teachers' lack of subject knowledge and expertise in the area; a lack of awareness of available resources or other forms of support for the subject and the very wide variation in the nature of post-16 provision.
Press release ~ Developing financially capable young people ~ Personal Finance Education Group (PFEG) ~ FSA - Building financial capability in the UK
TfL: Transport for London (TfL) has issued a report outlining the organisation's progress over 2006/07 towards reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions across the Capital, which claims to show how TfL is taking a world-leading role in successfully encouraging Londoners to travel in less polluting ways, by operating the transport system more efficiently, and by promoting the uptake of low-carbon vehicles and fuels.
Transport is responsible for 22% of London's emissions. The Mayor's climate change action plan sets out how annual transport emissions can be cut by 4.3 million tonnes as part of an overall target reduction of 60% by 2025.
Press release ~ 2006/07 Environment Report ~ Mayor's London Climate Change Action Plan ~ LCCA: London Climate Change Agency
NAO: In 2006-07, almost 800,000 incidents caused 14 million minutes of delay to rail journeys costing a minimum of £1bn in terms of time lost to passengers, according to a report released by the National Audit Office.
There was a sharp increase in delay minutes after the Hatfield derailment in October 2000 and the number of rail incidents also increased. Network Rail has succeeded in working with the Train Operating Companies to reduce the number of incidents on the passenger network to below the level recorded in 1999-00, whilst the number of delay minutes is almost back down to its pre-Hatfield level.
In 2006-07 faults were due to:
* Network Rail infrastructure faults such as problems with the track & signal failure - 42%
* Train Operating Companies - 38% and
* external events such as weather conditions or vandalism - 20%
