Policy Statements and Initiatives
WAG: Environment Minister, John Griffiths, has announced that the Welsh Government is pushing forward work to research how the consenting process for renewable energy projects in Wales is currently working. The research will seek to establish an evidence base and uncover any factors that might be delaying consents for renewable energy projects.
DH: As part of the Government’s pledge to carry on listening to NHS staff, patients & the public, the independent NHS Future Forum was asked in the summer to listen to views on education & training, information, integrated care, and public health. The Government has now responded & accepted the recommendations following the Future Forum’s report.
WAG: CAFCASS Cymru, the Children and Family Court Advisory & Support Service in Wales, has launched its Strategic Plan for the next 3 years, which outlines CAFCASS Cymru’s strategic goals for the period 2012-2015 and defines the values at the heart of its work. The plan also sets out a number of challenges that will shape the organisation in the coming years.
CLG: The Homes and Communities Agency have completed their assessment of bids and have recommended offers from successful councils & other organisations that will deliver over 750 new & improved pitches for travellers at a cost of £47m. New bids for the remaining £13m of the £60m budget will continue to be considered and the Agency will help those who had their bids rejected to improve & resubmit their offers so that further pitches can be delivered over the next 3 years.
This new support for official traveller pitches goes hand in hand with action against unauthorised traveller sites. Through the Localism Act, the Government is introducing stronger powers for councils to tackle the abuse of retrospective planning permission.
WAG: Almost 2,000 non-medical healthcare students, including nurses, midwives, paramedics & pharmacists will be funded by the Welsh Government in 2012-13, Health Minister Lesley Griffiths has announced.
CLG: Housing Minister Grant Shapps has recently made proposals to ‘help ensure tenancy cheats who deny social homes to families in need will face justice’. Some estimates suggest that between 50,000 and 160,000 social homes are currently being unlawfully occupied across the country.
The Minister set out proposals to criminalise the abuse of social homes - such as unlawful subletting & key-selling - with a possible 2 year jail sentence. Tenancy cheats can earn thousands of pounds a year renting their social homes out to private tenants - but if caught, may currently face no greater penalty than losing their tenancy.
CO: Savings from introducing strict property controls and getting a better grip on the property estate are already more than £100m this financial year, with 3 months yet to go, Minister for Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, announced last week. This exceeds the £90m saved in 2010/11.
The savings come as the Cabinet Office publishes new data on property as part of the Government’s transparency drive. This information shows the sheer breadth of the central civil estate and includes information on the number, location and size of properties as well as detailed usage statistics – such as space, cost and water and energy consumption per employee.
CO: More than 100 of the biggest hitters in British business have signed the Government’s Business Compact on social mobility and are opening their doors to people from all walks of life, ending the ‘who you know, not what you know’ culture, the Deputy Prime Minister announced last week.
The Business Compact forms a key part of the Deputy Prime Minister’s Social Mobility Strategy, launched in April 2011, which sets out the Government’s determination to ensure every individual is free to achieve, regardless of the circumstances of their birth.
