Policy Statements and Initiatives
DCMS: More than 20m people aged 16 & under and over 60 will be able to swim for free April 2009 as Culture Secretary Andy Burnham has announced that 82% of local authorities in England have signed up to take part in a £140m Government scheme.
The local authorities that have ‘opted in’ to offer the scheme to both age groups have also received a share of a £10m capital fund to spend on modernising or improving pool provision in time for the start of the two-year scheme in 2009. Those local authorities that will offer free swimming to both age groups also stand to benefit from a further £25m capital challenge fund in both 2009/10 and 2010/11 to spend on improving pool provision.
Press Release ~
CLG: A new package of measures to ensure consumers receive improved information in the home buying & selling process has been announced by Housing Minister Margaret Beckett. A new Property Information Questionnaire (PIQ) in the Home Information Pack will provide a summary of information about their property in one place, helping buyers make decisions about whether to view a property and, ultimately, whether to make an offer.
Under the changes, from April 6 2009,sellers will need to have the basic HIP, which is expected to take 3 to 5 days to compile, before their home is marketed.
Press release ~ Draft Property Information Questionnaire (PIQ) ~ Home Information Pack ~ Energy Performance certificates
DH: NHS Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) are to receive £164bn funding for 2009/10 and 2010/11, Health Secretary Alan Johnson has announced. This includes an average increase of 5.5% over both years, continuing Government investment that has seen funding in the NHS treble since 1997.
PCTs will control a greater proportion of funding, with more than 80% of the total NHS budget now allocated directly, theoretically allowing them to tailor health services locally to meet local patient needs. Following an independent review by the Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation the allocations are based on what is claimed to be a ‘more technically robust formula’. A separate formula for health inequalities has also been developed which targets areas with the worst health outcomes.
Press release ~ NHS Operating Framework for 2009/10 ~ Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation ~ DH – Finance and Planning ~ Developing the NHS Performance Regime ~ DH – Financial Allocations and related documents
FCO: The Foreign Secretary has commented on Global Zero, the newly launched international campaign for nuclear disarmament, by setting out six key steps ‘we need to achieve in order to show them we are serious about multilateral nuclear disarmament’.
WAG: New plans to improve neonatal care for sick & premature babies in Wales have been announced by Health Minister Edwina Hart. Mrs Hart said that neonatal services will be provided through clinical networks, rather than the fragmented arrangements that exist at present in many areas, which can result in overstretched units and strain on parents.
Mrs Hart also announced that transport teams will be commissioned as an additional resource to inpatient services, so that when babies are moved to another unit the responsibility for organising the transfer does not fall on members of the clinical team. She added that longer term goals will include increasing staffing levels, including one nurse for every baby for infants requiring intensive care, and one nurse for every two babies requiring high dependency care.
Press release ~ WAG – Health and Social Care ~ Bliss’ Baby Report, Baby steps to better care/Camau bach at ofal
ScotGov: Environment Minister Michael Russell has announced that the Scottish Government is ready to transfer land & assets worth around £250,000 to the Isle of Rum community from Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) along with responsibility for the development of these assets.
The transfer of the community hall, village shop and tearoom, campsite and surrounding land will take place after February 2009 providing there is a positive vote from the community. The ballot will be held in early January and the transfer will allow the trust to develop visitor accommodation and designate land for crofting.
DECC: More government money has become available (until at least 30 April 2009) for industry, businesses and community organisations to help towards the cost of buying & installing biomass-fuelled heating and combined heat & power projects, including anaerobic digesters, in England.
Around £12m in funding is available in the latest round (Round 5) of the Bio-energy Capital Grants scheme. Grants of up to £500,000 are on offer to pay for up to 40% of the difference in cost between a biomass boiler and its fossil fuel alternative.
In addition, the Department of Energy and Climate Change has proposed changes to Phase 2 of the Low Carbon Buildings Programme. In order to ensure its continued success and to allow organisations such as schools, hospitals, charities and local authorities in the UK to carry on receiving funding for solar photovoltaic projects, a reallocation of £7m of LCBP2 funds has been proposed.
Press release ~ Bio-energy Capital Grants scheme ~ UK Environmental Transformation Fund (ETF) ~ UK Biomass Strategy
HO: Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and Communities Secretary Hazel Blears have stepped up the fight against extremism, ‘challenging the rhetoric of extremists, calling for a stronger civil response and pledging a further £13.8m to disrupt ‘radicalisers’ and support vulnerable individuals at a local level’.
The new money will fund a range of initiatives to help tackle extremism by strengthening public institutions and empowering community leaders to stop ‘radicalisers’ from taking advantage of vulnerable individuals.
A new report, 'Preventing Violent Extremism Pathfinder Fund: Mapping of Project Activities 2007/08', points to the wide range of projects currently underway that are estimated to have reached over 44,000 people.
Press release ~ 'Preventing Violent Extremism Pathfinder Fund: Mapping of Project Activities 2007/08' ~ CLG – Preventing Extremism ~ Prevent strategy ~ Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) Pathfinder Fund
Defra: Hilary Benn has called for global agreement to secure the future of our food. His call for action came as he announced the members of a new high level group to advise on all aspects of food policy, including UK food strategy.
Chaired by Dame Suzi Leather, the membership of the Council of Food Policy Advisors represents expertise in every aspect of our food system. The group will advise on issues ranging from production to retail, and from regulation & distribution to consumption, as well as on securing the UK's food supply, the affordability of food and the industry's environmental impact.
Press release ~ Council of Food Policy Advisors ~ United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation ~ Food security: Defra discussions ~ Chatham House - UK Food Supply in the 21st Century: The New Dynamic ~
CLG: Housing Minister Margaret Beckett has announced a £605m allocation to 163 local authorities with long-term plans to increase house building to meet the needs of their communities. Despite the current condition of the housing market, the long-term need to build more homes remains - the population is continuing to grow, people are living longer and there are more single households.
Over the next two years this money will enable local authorities with ambitious plans for growth to invest in the essential services that need to accompany the building of new homes, from transport links & schools to the regeneration of town centres and the provision of parks & other green spaces. The 163 local authorities with Growth Point or Growth Area status have signed up to deliver 1.3m new homes by 2016, 30% more than previously planned.
Press release ~ CLG – Housing Growth Areas ~ CLG - Homes and Communities Agency ~ Homes and Community Agency ~ Community Infrastructure Fund ~
CLG: Housing Minister Baroness Andrews has announced how much funding each local authority will get to help disabled & older people stay in their homes through the Disabled Facilities Grant Programme. The Government is making £157m available to local authorities in England for 2009-10 through the programme, with over 230 local authorities receiving an increase.
This year the Government also made changes to assist ex-service personnel with applying for a Disabled Facilities Grant, following the MOD command paper published in the summer. Amongst the commitments contained in the paper is that MOD compensation schemes for the most severely disabled personnel will be exempt from the Disabled Facilities Grant financial test. These changes will come into force on the 31 December 2008.
HM Treasury: The Government has announced further details of the Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme, intended to provide greater assurance to homeowners that they will be able to remain in their homes if they suffer a temporary fall in income, but are expected to recover at a later date.
The new scheme will provide a bridge, giving homeowners who are experiencing financial problems sufficient time to find new employment or recover income, without the added concern & stress of potentially losing their home in the interim. This complements the current framework of support, including the Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) scheme, which is aimed primarily at households where no one is in work.
MoD: The MoD has announced the outcome of its equipment examination - ‘reprioritising programmes to better support current operations’. Support to operations is claimed to be a key priority and it includes an increase in helicopter capacity in Afghanistan. Measures include a £70m investment to upgrade 12 Lynx Mark 9 helicopters with new engines, which will free up other aircraft for other tasks.
Secretary of State for Defence John Hutton also announced there would be a review to examine progress with implementing reforms through the MOD's Acquisition Change Programme and make any further recommendations to secure better value for money in the delivery of major acquisition programmes.
DWP: New measures that could make it easier to share the risk taken on by employers who run occupational pension schemes will be considered by the Government and industry in the New Year according to Lord McKenzie, following a consultation on risk sharing earlier in 2008.
Lord McKenzie said he would work with industry to take forward work on the following areas:
* what more could be done to share information on current risk sharing practices
* flexibility in the way pensions accrue for future service to reflect increasing longevity
* reviewing the burdens imposed by the arrangements for contracting out and
* whether the requirement to index pensions in payment is appropriate for cash balance schemes
The Government will also look further at how collective defined contribution schemes might work in practice but has decided not to pursue conditional indexation as the consultation did not provide sufficient evidence that it would have a significant impact on continuing defined benefits provision.
BERR: The Government and the Business & Enterprise Select Committee will work together to examine what additional services the Post Office can offer customers to help secure its long term future. The Committee is expected to report its findings to Parliament in early summer 2009.
BERR: The Government will run a new scheme to compensate trawlermen that lost their livelihoods following the `Cod Wars' of the 1970s. Announcing the scheme, Employment Relations Minister, Pat McFadden said:
"The Parliamentary Ombudsman found last year that the breaks rule in the previous scheme was unfair, and recommended that the Government review the eligibility criteria and scheme rules ……… Around 1,000 trawlermen who received less than they expected under the previous scheme should get extra payments."
The Government will consult on the details of the new scheme in the New Year. This should enable the new scheme to be launched by the middle of 2009. It is expected to cost less than £10m.
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