Policy Statements and Initiatives
CLG: The Muslim Women's Advisory group have kicked off a project to get more Muslim women involved in politics. There are at least 800,000 Muslim women living in Britain today but they are under-represented in positions of influence in British civic society including roles such as school governors and local councillors.
The Muslim Women's Advisory Group therefore wants to provide the support to increase the skills, knowledge, and confidence, of Muslim women to enable more to seek positions in civic society and public office.
The project 'Play Your Part - Make Your Mark' will work with women that are already starting to get involved in public life in order to give them the extra support that they need to progress as far as possible; and it will also work with women who have not yet put themselves into the public sphere, but who want to do so.
Press release ~ Muslim Women's Advisory Group ~ 'Play Your Part - Make Your Mark' ~ Application form ~ Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Women Councillors Taskforce ~ Local Government Association ~ Operation Black Vote ~ Fawcett Society ~ Councillors Commission: Representing the future ~ Government response to report ~ Ethnic Minority Women: Routes to Power
Defra: Defra and the Welsh Assembly Government have published 'Healthy Bees', a plan to protect & improve the health of honey bees in England and Wales. The 10 year plan was drafted in consultation with beekeeping organisations and aims to sustain honey bee populations by supporting beekeepers to ensure effective biosecurity measures are adopted to minimise risk from pests and disease.
The first stage of the plan will attempt to identify & make contact with perhaps as many as 20,000 amateur beekeepers to make sure that they are aware of the need to alert the National Bee Unit (NBU) to bee health problems and encourage them to register on BeeBase, its beekeepers database. This will help ensure that any new or existing health problems are identified.
The last two years have seen recorded losses of between 10 to 15% in bee numbers although it is possible that real losses are significantly higher due to the number of beekeepers not in contact with the NBU.
Press release ~ Healthy Bees ~
DIUS: Plans to improve the numeracy and literacy skills of 1m adults to help them to get & keep jobs have been published by Sion Simon, Minister for Further Education. Skills for Life: Changing lives updates the Government's Skills for Life strategy launched in 2001 and it will be backed up with Government funding of £1bn+ over the coming year. All Skills for Life numeracy and literacy courses are free of charge to adult learners aged 16+ in England.
Press release ~ Get Confident and Get On ~ Skills for Life: a refreshed strategy for a world class ambition ~ NIACE ~ National Audit Office report on Skills for Life (June 2008) ~ Skills for Life National Needs and Impact Survey of Literacy, Numeracy and IT skills ~ Skills Strategy website
WAG: The Welsh Assembly Government has announced a new industry backed group to cut carbon emissions from buildings across the country. The ‘Zero Carbon Hub Wales’ is a coalition of key members of the building industry, housing and voluntary sectors who are committed to helping Wales achieve its carbon reduction targets. The new group will also co-ordinate the 53 organisations who have signed up to Wales’s Green Buildings Charter, the first of its kind in the UK.
WAG has an aspiration to achieve ‘zero carbon’ new build by 2011. It is also committed to reducing green house gases in Wales by 3% a year from 2011 in areas of devolved competence.
Press release ~ WAG – Climate Change ~ Wales’s Green Buildings Charter ~ Sustainable Development Commission Wales ~ Sustain Wales
Cabinet Office: The Government has set out its vision for the future shape of public services. Working Together - Public Services On Your Side details the steps the Government is taking to ‘give people, communities and frontline staff the information and real power they need to personalise public services. Reflecting their local and individual needs will create a richer, fairer and safer society’.
DH: A review to clarify the rules on organ transplants for NHS patients and non-UK EU residents has been announced by Health Secretary Alan Johnson. A number of organs from UK deceased donors are transplanted into non-UK resident EU nationals each year.
To help ensure public confidence in the fairness & transparency of the organ allocation system in the UK Elisabeth Buggins, the chair of the former Organ Donation Taskforce, has been asked to examine policy & practice (within the framework of European law) on the use of organs from UK deceased donors.
Press release ~ DH – Organ Donation ~ EU Organ Donation Action Plan ~ NHS boss angry at transplant organs for foreigners
CLG: Plans for delivering the new homes, jobs and infrastructure the East Midlands needs up to 2026 have been announced by Communities Minister Sadiq Khan. The East Midlands Regional Plan will ‘support the long-term economic performance in the region by encouraging the provision of new job opportunities and meeting the region's housing needs. It also deals with the key issues of tackling climate change, including flood risks, and protecting the region's natural and historic environment’.
The Plan focuses growth in the three cities of Nottingham, Derby and Leicester, where almost half of the region's population live, and Northampton & Lincoln. Significant levels of development should also be concentrated in the Growth Area towns of Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough.
DH: A panel of experts is to carry out an evidence review to determine whether women under the age of 25 should be routinely screened for cervical cancer. Cervical screening currently starts at age 25 years in England, in line with World Health Organisation recommendations and the advice of leading experts in this country, including the independent Advisory Committee on Cervical Screening (ACCS).
Health Minister, Ann Keen, has asked the ACCS to review the latest available evidence relating to the risks & benefits of cervical screening in women under 25 years. The evidence review will be presented to her later this year.
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