.gif)
Policy Statements and Initiatives
ScotGov: Scottish retailers will receive more help to promote healthier food options in convenience stores thanks to additional Scottish Government funding. The Healthy Living Programme, jointly funded by ScotGov and Scottish Grocers Federation, provides shops with the means to display & promote fresh, healthy produce.
The extra cash will now mean that the participating retailers will be able to expand the range of produce covered by the Programme, including bread, breakfast cereals and frozen vegetables.
The Programme will also now target expansion of membership in hospital shops & restaurants. Programme members will also be encouraged to engage more with young people, helping them make healthier choices and promoting healthier ‘meal deal’ choices.
The Programme will also now target expansion of membership in hospital shops & restaurants. Programme members will also be encouraged to engage more with young people, helping them make healthier choices and promoting healthier ‘meal deal’ choices.
ScotGov: More than 70 patients with rare conditions are already benefiting from the Scottish Government’s new medicines fund. The £21m fund, which was created in January 2013, is for medicines not available for routine prescription that treat very rare illnesses.
An independent review of the current systems for making new medicines available across NHS Scotland was published recently. The review recommendations together with those from the Health & Sport Committee will be open for consultation over the summer. The fund is in place to cover a time period until further recommendations from the review can be put in place.
DH: New measures, including financial checks on care providers, are intended to protect people receiving care if their provider fails. The first ever system of national oversight & co-ordination will give early warnings if a company is in trouble.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) will take on the responsibility of a system of checks on the largest care companies – including those that provide care in people’s own home as well as in care homes.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) will take on the responsibility of a system of checks on the largest care companies – including those that provide care in people’s own home as well as in care homes.
The fear & upset that the Southern Cross collapse caused to care home residents & families was unacceptable. This early warning system will ‘bring reassurance to people in care and will allow action to be taken to ensure care continues if a provider fails’.
CLG: Local Growth Minister, Mark Prisk, said recently that 7 towns will receive a share of the £1m High Street Renewal Award and that they are ‘an example to communities across the country of what can be done to breathe new life into their high streets’.
WAG: The Welsh Government is extending a support programme for disabled Remploy workers in Wales, it was announced last week. Last year Ministers in London announced that a number of Remploy plants were to close under ‘Phase 1’ of their plans. In response the Welsh Government launched the Employer Support Grant to help displaced Remploy workers find new work.
The UK Government is now considering the future of the remaining Remploy plants in Wales under ‘Phase 2’, including the future of the Porth & Baglan sites with a potential 200 workers affected. Communities & Tackling Poverty Minister, Huw Lewis, has announced those workers affected by ‘Phase 2’ will also receive the same level of Welsh Government support.
WAG: An additional £76.5m funding package for housing, schools, flood protection & transport will support around 1,400 jobs & boost economic growth, Finance Minister Jane Hutt said last week.
HMT: The government’s new tax capacity building programme, the Developing Countries Capacity Building Unit, is to set up the projects working in partnerships to strengthen tax administrations. The unit is funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) and run by HMRC.
Through the new programmes HMRC and the Tanzanian & Ethiopian authorities will work together to tailor HMRC best practice to the infrastructure & resources available to help these countries in order to strengthen their tax administrations and bring in the tax that they are due.
Since 2010 there has been an annual 40% increase in revenue collection in Ethiopia, supported by the first phase of HMRC’s partnership with the Ethiopian authorities.
Since 2010 there has been an annual 40% increase in revenue collection in Ethiopia, supported by the first phase of HMRC’s partnership with the Ethiopian authorities.
DH: The Department of Health, Public Health England and NHS England have announced a series of changes to the current vaccination schedule to include 3 new vaccination programmes, which protect against flu, shingles & rotavirus, as well as updating the current meningitis C vaccine schedule.
The rotavirus vaccination programme will start on 1 July 2013 when children under 4 months will be routinely vaccinated against this highly infectious illness, which is the most common cause of vomiting and diarrhoea (gastroenteritis) in infants and young children. Nearly every child will develop gastroenteritis caused by rotavirus by the time they are 5 years old.
There will also be a shingles vaccination programme introduced for people aged 70, with a catch-up programme for those aged up to, and including, 79 years. Shingles is an infection of a nerve that causes pain and a rash along a band of skin by the affected nerve.
DFID: Britain will support Somali plans to help address terrorism & piracy by tackling poverty & improving security. The UK, alongside other donors, committed international support for Somalia’s new federal government at last week’s Somalia conference.
WAG: Last week marked a key milestone in the delivery of the Education Minister’s Improving Schools plan, as reading & numeracy tests for pupils in years 2 to 9 began in Wales. The new national tests, which will be sat from 8 - 22 May 2013, will replace the commercially produced tests previously used by schools.
By tracking progress from the end of the Foundation Phase right the way through into secondary education, the tests are designed to give teachers a clearer insight into a learner’s development and progress. This will allow them to identify strengths & areas for improvement and to intervene at an earlier stage if learners are falling behind.
WAG: The Health Minister, Mark Drakeford, has launched Together for Health; A Heart Disease Delivery Plan – a framework challenging the NHS to continuously improve cardiac services in Wales. Heart Disease is a major killer in Wales, particularly affecting our poorer communities.
According to the latest figures available from the Welsh Health Survey, 20% of adults are being treated for high blood pressure and 9% for any heart condition, excluding high blood pressure. Although death rates in Wales have been falling over the last 3 decades, they remain around 15% higher than in England.
SFA: Traineeships will be available for young people aged 16-19 and for young people with Learning Difficulty Assessments up to an academic age of 25 from August 2013. The Government will look to extend traineeships to young people aged up to 24 in due course.
Traineeships are designed for young people who want to work, but need extra help to gain an Apprenticeship or employment. The programme is designed to fit individual learner needs, and will last for a maximum of 6 months. The core content of the programme will be a high quality work placement, work preparation training and English & maths.
CLG: A new 1-stop-shop service for planning consents will reduce the number of bodies infrastructure developers need to consult on applications. The service, now up & running will provide dedicated support for developers of nationally significant infrastructure projects at the pre-application stage of the planning application process.
HMRC: HM Revenue & Customs has confirmed that it is working with the US and Australian tax administrations (the IRS & ATO) on data which reveals extensive use of complex offshore structures to conceal assets by wealthy individuals & companies. The data also exposes information that may be shared with other tax administrations as part of the global fight against tax evasion.
So far HMRC has identified over 100 people who benefit from these structures and a number of those individuals had already been identified and are under investigation for offshore tax evasion. They have also identified more than 200 UK accountants, lawyers and other professional advisors who advise on setting up these structures who will also be scrutinised.
ScotGov: The Scottish Government recently published proposals that should form the foundation of a healthy, diverse & competitive banking sector in Scotland which puts the needs of its customers first.
Sustainable, Responsible Banking: A strategy for Scotland, developed in consultation with industry, consumer groups & others, outlines a range of measures that can be taken in the current environment to encourage diversity in the sector and enhance professional standards.
Sustainable, Responsible Banking: A strategy for Scotland, developed in consultation with industry, consumer groups & others, outlines a range of measures that can be taken in the current environment to encourage diversity in the sector and enhance professional standards.
DCMS: Bury beat competition from towns across England to secure the £1.8m of National Lottery funding from Sport England, to test what works in changing the sporting habits of women & girls. Though there has been an increase in females playing sport, men are still more active than women. As the pilot develops, Sport England hopes the lessons learnt in Bury will be rolled out across the country.
.gif)
