Policy Statements and Initiatives

DWP: Some heroin or crack cocaine users claiming benefits in England are now able to access advice & referral from their Jobcentre to a drug treatment service so that they can get better and take steps to return to work. The Welfare Reform Bill, currently before Parliament, includes provisions to pilot a new mandatory employment-support programme for problem drug users.
 
They will be required to attend discussions about treatment and agree a rehabilitation plan.  The plan will set out the steps they will take to address both their drug problem and any other barriers to work that they face.  Failing to comply with the plan could result in benefit sanctions.
Press release ~ Getting help with drug problems that prevent you working ~ Welfare Reform Bill ~ Government's 10 year drug strategy - Drugs: protecting families and communities ~ DWP – Welfare reform ~ National Treatment Agency
 
ScotGov: A new initiative in teacher training - the National Framework for Inclusion - aims to ensure better classroom support for pupils with additional needs, such as dyslexia, by offering advice to encourage student teachers & qualified teachers to be inclusive in their teaching.
 
The Framework was funded by the Scottish Government and developed by the Scottish Teacher Education Committee (STEC), the body for the seven Scottish universities who provide teacher training. A web-based resource will give support by providing relevant, high quality materials & documentation.
Press release ~ National Framework for Inclusion ~ ScotGov – Education and training
 
ScotGov: Stopping the revolving door of re-offending is not just a job for government, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said last week when sharing a platform with Cosla spokesman Harry McGuigan: "Our proposals in the Criminal Justice Bill will deliver flexible new Community Payback Orders to tackle the causes of offending behaviour as well as responding to its effect…………  
 
But this is not just a matter for criminal justice agencies.  This is about partnership working with Cosla and ensuring the strategies to redress inequalities in income, health or access to services take into account the needs of offenders.  Helping offenders play a positive role in their communities benefits them, their families and everyone around them."
 
‘Protecting Scotland's Communities - Fair, Fast and Flexible Justice’ is the Scottish Government's response to the Scottish Prisons Commissions report published last year.  It outlines how the government plans to take forward the issues of offender management including plans to improve the immediacy of community sentences and reducing the number of short prison sentences.
Press release ~ ‘Protecting Scotland's Communities - Fair, Fast and Flexible Justice’ ~ ScotGov – Offender Management ~ COSLA ~ Scotland's Choice - Report of the Scottish Prisons Commission
 
DIUS: Businesses & training providers are being encouraged to bid for funding from a pot of £7m to take on apprentices in the downturn, Apprenticeships Minister Lord Young has announced. The additional funding is available to pay for new & innovative approaches to make it easier for small businesses to take on apprentices.
 
Details of the new approach are outlined in the prospectus 'Testing Alternative Delivery Models: Group Training Associations and Apprenticeships Training Agencies. The £7m will fund up to 10 new Apprenticeship Training Agencies (ATAs) to be set up this year which together will have the potential to deliver up to 15,000 apprenticeship places per year by 2014/15.
Press release ~ 'Testing Alternative Delivery Models: Group Training Associations and Apprenticeships Training Agencies ~ National Apprenticeship Service ~ New Opportunities White Paper ~ London Apprenticeship Company (LAC)
 
DH: England's ten Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs) will each receive £2m this year and £5m in each of the following 4 years to support frontline NHS staff in developing innovative ideas.  The cash will be invested directly into a combination of projects on the ground and at regional level. Each SHA will establish its own systems for making this money available to frontline staff, details of which will be published locally.
 
The Government has also announced that alongside this funding, it has put in a place a support structure on innovation for SHAs, with NESTA (the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts) and the Young Foundation acting as advisers to SHAs in bringing about a true innovation culture.
 
In addition, Lord Darzi announced further details of the 'Innovation Challenge Prizes' which will engage with innovators globally and invite them to devise new ways to address key health challenges. Research has shown that where prizes have been offered in other sectors for innovation, the resultant value of the research work undertaken has eclipsed the value of the prize by up to 16 times the value of the prize.
Press release ~ Creating an innovative culture ~ NESTA (the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts) ~ Young Foundation ~ Impact assessment of innovation challenge prizes ~ Innovation Expo (18 – 19 June 2009) ~ High Quality Care for All, the NHS Next Stage Review Final Report ~ Strategic Health Authorities
 
DWP: The Government has challenged councils, charities and other organisations to submit innovative bids for funding for new jobs from the £1bn Future Jobs Fund which it hopes will create 150,000 new jobs. National sports organisations have already pledged to bid for at least 5,000 jobs for young people, including sports coaches, swimming and fitness instructors, and other active leisure posts.
Press release ~ Future Jobs Fund
 
ScotGov: More than 100 individuals in Scotland are to be offered a place in a new Home Energy Apprenticeship Programme. The Scottish Government will support Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) in a Home Energy Apprenticeship Pilot Programme which will build a framework of energy professionals to support the company's long term ability to contribute to energy efficiency goals.
 
 SSE also intends to deliver a programme of upskilling existing staff to increase its capacity to assist customers with energy efficiency advice and solutions. SSE intends to pilot the upskilling programme later this year in parallel with the Modern Apprenticeship Programme.
Press release ~ Modern Apprenticeship Programme - Scotland ~ ScotGov – Help through the Downturn
 
DIUS: Graduates who want to boost their skills for employment will get help through the new 'Graduate Talent Pool', the next stage in the government’s graduate internship initiative. The scheme is intended to help create & match people to internships, so assisting more graduates to kick-start their careers by gaining the skills & experience they need to get-on and will offer companies a great way to inject fresh talent into the workplace.
 
A new dedicated website, which will match employers with suitable graduates, will be launched over the summer, although interested organisations can register their interest now.
Press release ~ Graduate Talent Pool ~ Vinspired
 
DH: The Government has published its response to Lord Bradley's report on people with mental health problems and learning difficulties in the Criminal Justice System. In December 2007 the Secretary of State for Justice, Jack Straw, invited Lord Keith Bradley to lead an independent inquiry into diversion of offenders with mental health problems or learning disabilities away from prison into other more appropriate services.
 
The report has made 82 recommendations, the overwhelming majority of which the government either fully accepts, or accepts in principle.  However, Lord Bradley's report itself recognises many recommendations are longer term and will need further work to ensure that all implications are considered.
 
A Health and Criminal Justice National Programme Board will be set up by the end of May to bring together the relevant departments covering health, social care and criminal justice for children and adults.  The first priority for the Board will be to consider the recommendations and develop a national delivery plan by October 2009.  A National Advisory Board will also be established to ensure wider involvement from interested organisations.
Press release ~ 'The Bradley Report - Lord Bradley's review of people with mental health problems or learning disabilities in the Criminal Justice System' ~ Offender Health ~ Written ministerial statement ~ Lord Carter's Review of Prisons
 
DfT: The Department for Transport (DfT) has issued Safeguarding Directions to protect a potential extension of Crossrail from Maidenhead Station to Reading West Junction.  No decision or commitment to extend it further west to Reading has been made.  However, DfT believes it sensible to safeguard this corridor for a potential extension of Crossrail to Reading.  Safeguarding will also allow them to carry out alternative works, such as electrification, that could enable future operational requirements to be met.
 
Crossrail will run 118 km from Maidenhead & Heathrow in the west, through new twin-bore 21 km tunnels under central London to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east.  It will bring an additional 1.5m people within 60 minutes commuting distance of London's key business districts.  
 
Preparatory works will continue throughout 2009 and main Crossrail construction starts in 2010. When Crossrail opens in 2017 it will increase London's public transport network capacity by 10%.
Press release ~ Crossrail ~ Office of Rail Regulation - Crossrail access ~ Crossrail Act 2008
Spotlight on women at Serco – Anita’s story