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Policy Statements and Initiatives
DfE: The Government has recently published the findings from the review of the Vetting & Barring Scheme. A parallel review of the criminal records regime led by Mrs Sunita Mason, the Government’s independent advisor on criminality information management, has also completed its first phase and the findings of that review are available from the Home Office website.
Press release ~ The Vetting & Barring Scheme Remodelling Review – Report & Recommendations ~ Review of the criminal records regime
DH: Teams of clinicians in the South East Coast region went head to head last week in pitching their innovative ideas to a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style panel, as part of the Transforming Community Services Multi Professional Leadership Challenge. Up to 13 different teams from each Strategic Health Authority, made up of GPs, allied health professionals & nurses, will compete for a regional prize of £50,000 to implement their idea.
The challenges are open to all clinicians within the NHS who have a local idea which could improve primary or community care services within their area. Each event brings together the skills of clinicians in how best to design & deliver high quality, seamless care, including child & family centred public health from the beginning of life to end of life care.
CLG: Housing Minister Grant Shapps has launched a new scheme to deliver affordable homes for those in need, providing a potential lifeline to some 4.5m people on social housing waiting lists. A new Affordable Rent programme will ‘give landlords greater flexibility to meet the individual needs of tenants in their area’.
Under the new scheme landlords will be able to offer homes to tenants on fixed tenancies charging a rent of up to 80% of local market rate - one of a number of efforts being made to move away from the 'one size fits all' system of social housing to one where a range of options are available to meet local housing needs. The extra revenue raised from rents would then be invested in building new homes.
Housing Minister Grant Shapps has also published a consultation (closes on 11 April 2011) to include the definition of Affordable Rent as part of Planning Policy Statement (PPS) 3 - Affordable housing.
Press release ~ Framework for the Affordable Homes Programme 2011-15 ~ Planning Policy Statement 3: Planning for Housing - Technical change to Annex B, Affordable Housing definition: Consultation
ScotGov: More than £300m will be ploughed back into frontline services through efficiency savings over the next year, Health Secretary, Nicola Sturgeon has announced. The revised NHS Efficiency & Productivity Framework sets out how NHS boards will make savings. A target of 3% has been set for this financial year.
It identifies priority areas to improve quality & efficiency by reducing unwarranted variation, waste & harm, with 7 cost reduction workstreams being set up to identify where further cost savings & quality improvements can be made.
CO: Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude and Minister for Civil Society, Nick Hurd have unveiled a new strategy to grow the social investment market giving charities & social enterprises access to new, potentially £ms in capital.
The strategy explains the role of the Big Society Bank as a cornerstone of the social investment market attracting more investment from wealthy individuals, charitable foundations and ultimately socially responsible everyday savers in social ISAs & pension funds.
It will ultimately be financed by an estimated £400m from dormant bank accounts, accessing up to £100m in its first year, as well as an additional £200m given by the UK’s largest banks. It will act as a wholesaler and use its balance sheet to co-invest, underwrite or guarantee investments along with private sources of capital.
Press release ~ The Social Investment Strategy ~ Big Society Bank ~ www.nesta.org.uk ~ PM sets out commitment to Big Society
HMT: Lord Sassoon, Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, has launched a pilot project to identify the scope for achieving savings in operational Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contracts. The public sector will spend over £8bn on PFI contracts in 2011-12, so PFI must be examined for savings.
The contract for the Queen's Hospital in Romford will be examined by an experienced team of commercial, legal & technical advisors to identify ways of reducing ongoing costs in this contract on behalf of the local NHS Trust. The lessons will then be used to drive savings across the full portfolio of PFI contracts.
WAG: 80% of households in Wales can now see how much food they throw away thanks to separate collections of food or food & green waste. All 22 Welsh councils provide the service to at least some of their residents and the number of households covered continues to grow.
Food waste is a priority in Wales’ waste strategy Towards Zero Waste. Throwing it away in the general rubbish means sending it to landfill where it produces methane, which is 23 times more dangerous as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. By collecting food waste separately, local authorities can the send it to processing plants that turn it into valuable compost, that then can be used to grow more food.
WAG: New plans to put social services on a sustainable footing have been announced by the Deputy Minister for Social Services, Gwenda Thomas. Sustainable Social Services for Wales – A Framework for Action sets out the Assembly Government’s plans to ‘renew social services & social care for the next decade’.
Press release ~ Sustainable Social Services for Wales: A Framework for Action ~ Social Services & Social Care
Defra: The consultation on the future management of the PublicForest Estate has been halted and all forestry clauses in the Public Bodies Bill will be removed, Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman confirmed last Thursday. Mrs Spelman also announced that an independent panel of experts will examine forestry policy in England and report back to her in the autumn.
CLG: Housing Minister, Grant Shapps has ‘kicked off a local house-building revolution where communities who go for growth by building new homes reap the benefits and at the same time deliver a much needed economic boost to their local area’.
Through the New Homes Bonus the Government will match the council tax raised from new homes for the first 6 years. The bonus available for an affordable home will be up to 36% more than for a similar market home, equivalent to an extra £350 per house premium every year. Empty properties brought back into use will also receive the cash bonus for 6 years.
Press release ~
WAG: A new strategy for managing the growing number of deer in the woodlands of Wales has been launched. As numbers of wild deer increase, their impacts on agriculture, forestry & vulnerable habitats can become problematic and the Welsh Assembly Government has published its approach to keeping deer numbers in check. An action plan is being developed in order to deliver the strategy.
