Policy Statements and Initiatives

ScotGov: New building standards for homes and non-domestic buildings in Scotland will reduce carbon emissions by 30% beyond current standards. The moves, to be introduced in October 2010 by the Scottish Government, flow from the Sullivan Report which looked at ways to make homes & buildings more energy efficient. There will be a detailed consultation this summer on the best way to implement the new standards.
Press release ~ Sullivan Report ~ Scottish Property Federation
 
BERR: New measures to tackle criminals illegally lending money have been announced by Consumer Affairs Minister Gareth Thomas. The national hotline (0300 555 2222) - which is confidential - is now up & running and gives consumers one single point of contact. A new website has also been launched providing information on managing finances and how to borrow money safely.
Press release ~ Stop Loan Sharks website ~ Face to Face debt advice project ~ Financial Inclusion Fund ~ Welcome to Money Advice Trust ~ CAB ‘Debt’ publications ~ CAB: Credit and debt fact sheets ~ BERR - illegal lending ~ Over Indebtedness - BERR ~ Evaluation of the Financial Inclusion Fund - Face-to-Face Debt Advice Project - Final report for stage one of the evaluation ~ Dealing with loan sharks : Directgov
 
ScotGov: Public service reform must accelerate at a time of increasing pressure on public spending. Speaking at a conference in Edinburgh, Finance Secretary, John Swinney, said that public sector reform is 'inescapable' in a changing financial climate.  He added that ‘innovation & efficiency - and not restructuring local authority boundaries - are crucial to provide high quality public services in a recession’.
 
The Scottish Government is committed to simplifying the public sector landscape to ensure that it is simpler, sharper & easier to navigate by bringing together organisations with similar skills, expertise and processes. ScotGov has published a comprehensive baseline list of 199 (currently 165) national public sector organisations and set out proposals as part of the Simplification Programme to reduce this number by 25% by 2011.
Press release ~ Simplification Programme ~ Efficient Government Workstreams ~ Public Contracts Scotland ~ Improvement service
 
Defra: The fight against a deadly plant disease plaguing historic gardens, woodland & heathlands across England & Wales has received a boost with Environment Minister Jane Kennedy providing £25m to help eradicate the disease.
 
The new funding will support a 5-year programme to manage & contain the risks of two plant diseases Phytophthora ramorum and Phytophthora kernoviae from spreading further, following a scientific review and stakeholder consultation.
 
The work will be managed by a new agency, FERA - the Food and Environment Research Agency.  The new executive agency will bring together the expertise of the Central Science Laboratory, the Decontamination Service and Defra's plant health and seeds directorate.
Press release ~ FERA - the Food and Environment Research Agency ~ Phytophthora ramorum ~ Phytophthora kernoviae
 
HM Treasury: The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Yvette Cooper, has announced Government action to ensure vital PFI infrastructure projects will go forward as planned despite the current financial market conditions.
 
This action is intended to ensure that crucial & valuable public investment will not be disrupted by problems in the financial markets.  In total, £13bn of public investment in procurement will be safeguarded.  In addition, the Government will lend to those PFI projects that cannot raise sufficient debt finance on acceptable terms, lending alongside commercial lenders and the European Investment Bank.  
Press release ~ Private Finance Initiative (PFI)
 
ScotGov: The Scottish Government is spending £400,000 on 250 steam cleaners which will be distributed to health boards.  These are the most modern & efficient way of carrying out specialist cleaning and used in conjunction with micro-fibre cloths are particularly effective against Clostridium difficile.

ScotGov is investing £54m (over 3 years) in a range of initiatives designed to tackle HAIs.  These include a national MRSA screening programme, prudent prescribing of antibiotics, 100% single room provision in all new hospitals and a Care Environment Inspectorate to carry out unannounced inspections of hospitals.
Press release ~ Healthcare Associated Infection Monitoring ~ Action to reduce Healthcare Associated Infections ~ ScotGov - Healthcare Associated Infection (HAI) Task Force ~ National Hand Hygiene NHS Campaign Compliance with Hand Hygiene - 5th Audit Report ~ Independent Review of the Vale of Leven clostridium difficile outbreak ~ HAI Task Force Delivery Plan April 2008 - March 2011 ~ National Hand Hygiene NHS Campaign Compliance with Hand Hygiene - Audit Report ~ Related documents / links ~ The NHS Scotland National Cleaning Services Specification: Healthcare Associated Infection Task Force
 
ScotGov: A new initiative to convince young people that they'll 'have a better life without a knife' has been announced at the Scottish Government's national youth conference on violence & knife crime. The 'No Knives Better Lives' initiative is designed to make young people aware of the dangers & consequences of carrying a knife.  This will be done through a range of communications that will be delivered in schools, the community, on the internet and at conferences.
Press release ~ Violence Reduction Unit ~ ScotGov – Law, Order and Public safety ~ ScotGov – Knife Crime ~ Scottish Youth Parliament ~ Medics Against Violence
 
DfT: A centre to revolutionise the future of UK transport industry’has been announced by Transport Minister, Andrew Adonis.  The £7.75m programme will be based at Imperial College London as well as University College London and the University of Leeds, and will draw on scientific experts from across the country.
 
The UK Transport Research Centre (UKTRC) will undertake long and short-term research on some of the key big questions likely to face transport in the next decade & beyond, including:
* Economic competitiveness
* The environment
* Society
* Mobility & accessibility
* Technology
Press release ~ DfT: The Future of Transport - White Paper ~ Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) ~ Intelligent Transport Systems and Services ~ Transport Research Knowledge Centre ~ FREEFLOW ~ Foot-LITE ~ The User Innovation project
 
HO: Publishing the single national target for the police, Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith has challenged the police service to answer to the public - and not Government. From now on, the only national police target set from Whitehallis to increase public confidence by 15 percentage points so that the crime and anti-social behaviour issues that matter to them locally are being addressed.
 
Recent Home Office figures show that confidence levels currently vary across the country, with the latest national average at 46%.  The new national target announced today is 60%.
 
Police forces and authorities have also been set a level of confidence that they should reach by March 2011.  Both this, and their 2012 target, will be measured by questions asked in the regular British Crime Survey.
Press release ~ Policing Green Paper ~ British Crime Survey
 
DECC: New independent research by Innovas - 'Low Carbon and Environmental Goods and Services: an industry analysis' - shows:
* The UK is already the 6th largest low carbon and environmental goods & services (LCEGS) economy.
* In 2007/8 it was worth £107bn to the UK economy, and could grow by another £45bn over the next decade
* There are already over 880,000 jobs in the LCEGS sector when the supply chain is included
* If employment grows at projected rates, an additional 400,000 jobs could be created in the next decade
* 31% of overall activity is in manufacturing
* The global market for the LCEGS sector is estimated to be worth £3 trillion
 
A new pamphlet - 'Low Carbon Industrial Strategy: a Vision' - highlights a range of companies in the UK already taking advantage of low carbon opportunity and sets out the scope & ambition of the Government's plans.  Businesses and others with an interest are asked for their input through a new interactive website to inform a final Strategy to be published before the summer.
Press release ~ Interactive website ~ Strategy vision and industry analysis ~ DECC
Spotlight on women at Serco – Anita’s story