Policy Statements and Initiatives

CLG:  The Department for Communities and Local Government has provided further details following the Prime Minister's announcement on Right to Buy.  'Right to Buy - Questions and Answers' covers the key points on plans to raise RtB discounts to a level intended to make the scheme attractive again, and to rejuvenate the housing stock.

Press release & links

MoD:  Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox has, for the first time, announced that a major ongoing defence project is considered to be underperforming and has been placed on the Projects of Concern list.  The Valiant Jetty project, awarded to AMEC plc in 2003, is nearly 4 years late, and some estimates put it running at £92m over cost – See also RUSI item in ‘In the News’ section.

Press release & links

MoJ:  A prison in Bristol is piloting increasing the number of hours inmates work in its workshops by 50%.  30 prisoners working at HMP Bristol's Waste Management Unit now do 33.25 hours per week instead of 22, in a move towards lengthening their working day & eventually introducing full working weeks.  A similar pilot is also being trialled at the prison's laundry unit, with a group of 15 prisoners.

Press release & links

HMT:  The Government will invest up to £150m to improve mobile coverage in the , the Chancellor announced last week.  This investment will improve the coverage & quality of mobile services for the 5 to 10% of consumers & businesses that live & work in areas of the where existing mobile coverage is poor or non-existent.  The Government will aim to extend mobile service coverage to 99% of the population.  The procurement of additional mobile phone mast sites to increase coverage will begin in 2012.

Press release & links

DH:  All doctors who want to practise in the NHS in will have to prove they can speak a good standard of English before they are allowed to work under strict new rules. The new proposals will ensure that patients are treated by doctors who they can understand, and who can understand them. 

The Department of Health will give the GMC explicit new powers to be able to take action against doctors when there are concerns about their ability to speak English.  In addition, the DH will introduce new powers so doctors can be vetted for their language skills at local level.  

Press release & links

WAG:   6 inspirational entrepreneurs who have all built up highly successful companies in have been appointed as Business Entrepreneurship Champions to the Welsh Government.  Business Minister Edwina Hart said their role is to ‘proactively promote entrepreneurship and provide guidance on entrepreneurship policy to the Welsh Government’. 
Press release & links

DH:  People receiving continuing healthcare support from the NHS will have the right to ask for a personal health budget, by April 2014.  It will give the tens of thousands of people who receive NHS Continuing Healthcare - those assessed to have complex health & care needs - more choice & control over their care.

Press release ~ NHS Continuing Healthcare ~ NHS Confederation comment ~ NAO:  Oversight of user choice and provider competition in care markets ~ More from NHS Confederation ~ 5 tests for successful implementation of personal health budgets

ScotGov:  The Climate Challenge Fund (CCF) which supports community-led action to reduce emissions, along with a Junior CCF for under-18s, officially opened for business last week.  The Scottish Government has confirmed the commitment to CCF at £10.3m each year over the Spending Review period.  Junior CCF will aim to award 10% of the CCF towards carbon reducing projects working with young people (18 and under).  This is the ninth round of CCF funding.

Press release & links

CLG:  Housing Minister Grant Shapps has hailed the rapid progress of Government plans to release formerly-used public land with enough capacity to build up to 100,000 new homes by 2015.  At the same time the Minister announced fresh steps to help communities across the country reclaim & develop hundreds of acres of unused public sector land & buildings, which could be used to deliver the schemes communities want to see in their areas.

Members of the public will now be able to request a sale of public land & buildings by filling in a simple & user friendly form.  It will replace a system that is so obscure & restrictive that it has hardly ever been used, with only one successful application in the past 13 years.

Press release & links ~ Community Right to Reclaim Land

ScotGov:  Scottish Government Ministers have called for the revenue from tax on alcohol to be devolved to , as a final piece in the jigsaw of additions to the Scotland Bill.  A Scottish Government paper sets out the case for devolving the revenue from excise duty to .  The paper highlights that as already meets the public spending costs associated with alcohol consumption, it should also receive control over the revenue benefit.

Press release & links

ScotGov:  The process of devolving responsibility towards schools & headteachers is to be revised after the publication recently of the Devolved School Management Review carried out by David Cameron.  The main recommendation of the report is that existing guidelines on Devolved School Management should be revised & implemented to provide more opportunities to give headteachers meaningful control.  The process of revising the guidance will be led by COSLA and is expected to be completed in spring 2012.

Press release & links

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