Policy Statements and Initiatives
ScotGov: The crime campus which will bring together on one site the key law enforcement agencies is on track for occupation in late 2011. It will include the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA), the Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA) Forensic Services (Glasgow), Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
The strategic aim of the project is to improve the efficiency & effectiveness of partner organisations in combating crime and supporting other organisations to do so. Key project aims focus on building a new facility that will enable the stakeholder agencies to maximise their combined operational effectiveness and efficiency and which demonstrates value for money in terms of quality, cost and time.
Press release ~ Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA) ~ Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA) Forensic Services (Glasgow) ~ Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) ~ Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
WAG: New funding to develop a directory of services that support veterans has been announced by the Welsh Assembly Government. Cymorth Cymru, the body that represents providers of housing related support & homelessness services, has been awarded £15,000 to develop the directory that will improve access to support for war veterans.
The money will be used to set up a database of services available to veterans to help prevent homelessness, or quickly respond to it when it happens. Supported by the Veterans Agency, the database will map services available across Wales (such as hostels & helplines) and make this information available to organisations working with veterans in Wales.
HO: New measures to improve the investigation & prosecution of rape and to provide support to victims have been announced by Home Office Minister, Vernon Coaker. The new measures follow discussions with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) to ensure the best possible support for victims of rape and include up to £1.8m of new funding for Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) and Independent Sexual Violence Advisers (ISVAs).
The current consultation - Together We Can End Violence Against Women And Girls (closes 29 May 2009) - sets out the action the Government has taken to tackle all forms of violence against women and girls. It looks at what more can be done to challenge the attitudes that uphold it in order to help women and girls feel safer.
Press release ~ Bid for Funding (Deadline 3 June 2009) ~ National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA) ~ Together we can end violence against women ~ Sexual assault referral centres
DFID: World Trade Week, the first event of its kind in the UK, will take place this year from 8 to 12 June and will help highlight the importance of global trade in creating jobs & growth in the current economic climate. Through events in the UK & worldwide, starting with an international trade conference in London, the week will help showcase the UK as a trading nation and the importance of global trade to international development.
DfT: Ministers have launched the Government's vision to promote ultra low carbon transport over the next 5 years. Central to the strategy is an initiative to help put electric cars into the reach of ordinary motorists by providing help worth £2,000 - £5,000 towards buying the first electric & plug in hybrid cars when they hit the showrooms (expected from 2011 onwards).
The announcement is intended to promote infrastructure & support technology development and encourage manufacture in the UK, whilst incentivising consumers. The strategy also includes plans to provide £20m for charging points & related infrastructure to help develop a network of 'electric car cities' throughout the UK and an expansion of an electric and ultra-low carbon car demonstration project on the UK's roads.
Press release ~ Ultra-Low Carbon Vehicles in the UK ~ Low Carbon Industrial Strategy ~ New Automotive Innovation and Growth Team (NAIGT) ~ TSB - Low Carbon Vehicles Innovation ~ Cenex ~ Energy Technologies Institute
WAG: The National Library of Wales has been successful in their funding bid to create a new digital resource - Welsh Newspapers and Magazines Online - providing an insight into Wales’ past and available to all at the click of the mouse. £2m will be allocated from the Welsh Assembly Government’s Strategic Capital Investment Fund specifically to digitise 2m pages (by 2012) of newspapers & magazines relating to Wales.
The publications date as far back as the eighteenth century and cover up to 300 titles from children’s magazines like Cymru’r Plant to popular newspapers such as the Star of Gwent, Tarian y Gweithiwr and Herald y Rhos. The site will help to address the shortage of on-line learning materials relating to the culture, history & identity of Wales and will create the largest body of Welsh language material yet published on-line.
Press release ~ National Library of Wales ~ Welsh Assembly Government’s Strategic Capital Investment Fund
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