Policy Statements and Initiatives
DWP: New benefit rules to help lone parents into work by helping them find additional training, prepare for the workplace and find suitable childcare, have been laid in Parliament. As a result of these changes, from 24 November 2008 those lone parents, whose children are aged 12 & over, will move off Income Support and onto Jobseeker's Allowance if they are capable of work, or Employment and Support Allowance if they cannot work because they have a disability or health condition.
The Government plans to further extend this support to lone parents whose youngest child is:
* 10 from 2009 and
* 7 from 2010
A new benefit, Employment and Support Allowance will be introduced on 27 October 2008 and also this month the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission will take over from the Child Support Agency.
Press release ~ Green Paper: A New Deal for Welfare: Empowering people to work (2006) ~ In-work Credit ~ Local Employment Partnerships ~ Employment and Support Allowance ~ Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission
CLG: Communities Secretary Hazel Blears and Children and Families Secretary Ed Balls have launched a new Young Muslim Advisory Group (YMAG) and unveiled the names of the 22 young people who will act as advisors.
Ranging in age from 16-25 this unique group is comprised of individuals from across England & across denominations. It includes students, undergraduates as well as a trainee lawyer, youth leaders, a speech & language therapist.
The YMAG will have direct access to senior cabinet ministers and will work with Government departments to find solutions to a range of challenges including:
* tackling discrimination
* increasing employment levels
* preventing extremism
* boosting civic participation
Press release ~ Young Muslim Advisory Group (YMAG) ~ Improving Opportunity, Strengthening Society (IOSS) strategy ~ Ethnic Minorities Innovation Fund ~ 'Race for Health' programme ~ Ethnic minorities in the labour market: Dynamics and diversity ~ The role of higher education in providing opportunities for South Asian women ~ Poverty and ethnicity in the UK ~ Long-term ill health, poverty and ethnicity ~ Poverty among ethnic groups: How and why does it differ? ~ Ethnic Minority Employment Task Force ~ EOC Interim Report - Moving on Up ~ Ethnic Minority Advisory Group (EMAG)
DIUS: More than £50m in Government funding will be made available over the next 5 years to encourage researchers to work together, producing faster diagnostic tests to detect & identify infections in humans and animals more quickly.
The project - the Detection and Identification of Infectious Agents (DIIA) Innovation Platform - will be funded through the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) with up to an additional £5m coming from the Department of Health. It is hoped that the research will help reduce the number of deaths and illnesses caused by infectious diseases and reduce NHS expenditure on treating such diseases
DWP: Increased funding for the Access to Work programme will be used to test new ways of helping people with mental health issues stay in work rather than move onto benefits. Support will be made available for people with mental health conditions either already in work and experiencing difficulty, or those about to enter employment, as well as for their employers. From the autumn a programme will be piloted in London to test the demand and monitor the effects.
Announcing the pilot in a speech to the Social Market Foundation (SMF), James Purnell, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, also welcomed a report the think tank has issued looking at how more people with mental health issues can be helped back into work.
Press release ~ Social Market Foundation (SMF) ~ Shifting Responsibilities, Sharing Costs: The Mental Health Challenge for Welfare Reform ~ Green paper - No one written off: reforming welfare to reward responsibility ~ Mental Health, The Last Workplace Taboo ~ Depression Alliance – Depression Awareness Week ~ Advice leaflet – Stress at work ~ Depression in the workplace ~ Stress at work is a risk factor for depression ~ More Support, higher expectations - the role of conditionality in improving employment outcomes ~ DWP – Welfare reform ~ Access to Work ~ Consultation Toolkit ~ Experiences and Expectations of Disabled People ~ Evidence on the effect of Pathways to Work on existing claimants ~ The Pathways Advisory Service: Placing employment advisers in GP surgeries ~ Pathways to Work ~ Employ ability ~ DWP – Employ ability ~ Employers' Forum on Disability
ScotGov: The Scottish Government and COSLA have reached agreement on the extra funding needed to offset the pressures on the police service and the fire & rescue service caused by a record numbers of retirals.
Under the deal, which has been worked through & agreed under the partnership arrangement in place since the Concordat, the ScotGov will provide an extra £20m and the Local Government family will also provide an extra £20m to meet the additional pressures expected next year.
In addition to making available additional resources, COSLA and ScotGov have agreed to address the longer term pensions issues by reforming the management of police and fire pensions. They plan to move to a system whereby police forces and fire & rescue service pension costs will be a fixed proportion of salary costs from 20010-11, with transitional arrangements to pool the risk for 2009-10.
CRC: Dr Stuart Burgess, the Government's Rural Advocate and Chairman of the Commission for Rural Communities (CRC,) has launched an inquiry into the future for England's upland communities. England's uplands correspond to 'less favoured areas' and can be found in the north & south west and in areas along the Welsh border.
The English uplands occupy 18% of the country's land area and have special significance, not just for their contribution to rural economies, but also their key role nationally in; landscape conservation, recreational activities, biodiversity, heritage and water management.
Press release ~ North West Rural Affairs Forum ~ Defra - English upland ~ Commission for Rural Communities ~ Rural Advocate
DfT: Secretary of State for Transport, Mr Geoff Hoon, has issued a Written Ministerial Statement regarding the granting of planning permission to change 2 planning conditions attached to the Stansted airport 2003 permission.
The decision allows for an increase in the number of flights to & from the airport in a year from 241,000 to 264,000 air traffic movements and an increase in the maximum number of passengers using the airport from 25 million to 35 million per annum.
ScotGov: A strategy for the economic development of the broadcasting sector in Scotland is to be produced. This will be published by Scottish Enterprise and will build on the analysis & recommendations of the Scottish Broadcasting Commission report – Platform for Success.
First Minister Alex Salmond has outlined the Scottish Government's response to the report, which will focus on three central aspects:
* Delivering a fair share of network production for Scotland
* Creating a new Scottish public service network, as a focal point for the long-term development of Scottish broadcasting
* Strengthening accountability & diversity in broadcasting, to ensure that Scottish interests are fully represented
Press release ~ Scottish Broadcasting Commission ~ SBC report: Platform for Success ~ First Minister’s statement ~ Scottish Enterprise
CLG: Urban parks, marshlands, waterways and green spaces will be as integral as housing, jobs & commerce in the Thames Gateway of the future, Housing Minister Iain Wright has announced. The Parklands Vision of the Gateway was launched by Sir Terry Farrell, award winning architect, urban designer and the Government's Parklands Design Champion at the Thames Gateway Green Forum.
The Vision will guide the development of green & open spaces in the Gateway and has eight elements developed by Sir Terry, in partnership with a wide range of partners (including local authorities and community groups) and the Government.
Press release ~ Parklands Vision of the Gateway ~ Thames Gateway Forum ~ Thames Estuary Path ~ Thames Gateway Delivery Plan ~ Thames Gateway ~ The Thames Gateway: Laying the Foundations ~ Thames Gateway Landmark Map ~ London Thames Gateway Housing Sites Database ~ London Thames Gateway Development Corporation ~ Thames Gateway London Partnership
