Policy Statements and Initiatives

CLG: In response to a report from the Blackpool Taskforce, Ms Blears has confirmed a funding package of nearly £300m to support future development initiatives for the town. Projects in the pipeline include:
* Over £100m for new schools, a new further education college campus in the town centre and a higher education facility
* A £100m transport package, including funding to modernise the Blackpool & Fleetwood tram system and investment in Blackpool Airport
 * £82m to improve sea defences and invest in local events
 
The North West Development Agency has also pledged support for the regeneration of Blackpool town centre, while English Partnerships will allocate up to £35m towards housing in the North and South Beach areas.
Press release ~ Blackpool - An Action Plan for Sustainable Growth - Northwest Regional Development Agency ~ CLG response to the Blackpool Taskforce ~ A review of the alternative approaches to regional casino-led regeneration ~ English Partnerships
 
CLG: Communities Secretary Hazel Blears is joining forces with business to take a more active role in supporting local community enterprise by providing free expert advice in return for involvement in projects that transform disused buildings into vibrant community centres.
 
The community assets initiative encourages local councils to transfer assets into the ownership or management of local people if it will benefit the local community, but local groups often find the management & financial know-how needed to run and develop such projects is a real obstacle.
 
Community organisations will be able to work with & learn from experts in finances, project development and management, learning real business skills which will set their project, and their workforce, on strong foundations.
Press release ~ ProHelp ~ Business in the Community ~ Development Trust Association - Community Assets ~ Making Assets Work The report on Community Management and Ownership of Public Assets ~ Opening the Transfer Window: The Governments Response to the Quirk ReviewCLG – Community Empowerment ~ Community Call for Action ~ Public Request to Order Disposal (PROD) (scroll down) ~ Community Assets fund ~ Participatory Budgets
 
Defra: As part of the Rural Delivery Pathfinder programme eight Pathfinders were set up across England to build on improvements being made in response to local challenges in service delivery.  The results of the two year programme have now been published in the national report 'Rural challenges, local solutions'.
 
The report highlights the finding that partnership working is critical to success and that communities must be directly engaged in defining what they want and how to deliver it.  It also demonstrated that local authorities that show leadership and innovate play an important role in delivering solutions.
Press release ~ 'Rural challenges, local solutions' ~ Defra - Pathfinders ~ IDEA - Rural Delivery Pathfinder programme ~ Rural Strategy 2004 ~ CRC - Innovative ways to better rural delivery
 
ScotGov: No more students will have to pay the £2,289 graduate endowment fee, with 50,000 students benefiting immediately. The Scottish Parliament last week approved the Graduate Endowment Abolition (Scotland) Bill which restores free education and means that all current & future students, as well as those who graduated on or after April 1, 2007 will not have to pay the charge.

Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop said this was a down payment on tackling student debt, as two thirds of graduates could not afford to pay it and just added it to their student loan. The graduate endowment fee was introduced for Scottish domiciled students and EU students entering a Scottish university from 2001-02.
Press release ~ ScotGov – Universities & Colleges ~ Graduate Endowment (Abolition) Bill
 
DWP: Employment experts in the public, private and voluntary sectors will be paid to not just help the long-term unemployed into jobs - but to keep them there, Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell announced when publishing the DWP’s new 'Commissioning Strategy'.
 
An increasingly significant proportion of the rewards paid to these specialist providers will be paid when someone has been in work for at least 6 months in the first instance, rising potentially to 18 months further down the line. This compares to the current system where only the first three months of a person's employment are taken into account.
 
In return, providers will be rewarded with longer and larger contracts.  These contracts will last up to 5-7 years, instead of the current average of 3 years.
Press release ~ Commissioning Strategy ~ Freud report ~ DWP – Welfare reform
 
WAG: Education Minister Jane Hutt has recently launched Wales’ School Effectiveness Framework which will put children and young people at the heart of education policy & delivery in Wales.  The Framework has been under development for over a year and will be the focal point of four regional conferences taking place across Wales in the next four weeks.

The document is intended to act as a tool for all schools to apply in their own circumstances and it will be used to create consistency and improve the performance of all schools in Wales. WAG is working with the four education consortia of local authorities.  Each consortium will be asked to identify schools to pilot the Framework from September 2008.  Taking account of assessment of the pilot phase, the Framework will be rolled out to all schools from mid 2009.
Press release ~ WAG - School Effectiveness Framework ~ WAG – Education and Skills ~ Contact Sylvia Lindoe Tel: 029 2082 6094 for details of conferences
 
CRC: The Commission for Rural Communities (CRC) has welcomed the new powers to create new parish and town councils announced by Local Government Minister John Healey.  The findings and recommendations of their inquiry ‘Strengthening the role of local councillors’ made a powerful case for government to extend more trust & responsibility to local parish and town councils, particularly Quality Parish Councils
 
The CRC says that it wants to work with central and local government to take its recommendations forward, particularly the Councillors Commission which will reconvene later in the year to review progress and next steps on improving the role of locally elected councillors.
Press release ~ New powers to create new parish and town councils ~ 'Strengthening the role of local councillors' ~ CRC findings and recommendations ~ Quality Parish Councils ~ Councillors Commission
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