Policy Statements and Initiatives

HMT: The Government has invited experts, public service managers & providers of public services to submit their ideas for public service reform. Their views will help shape the Government's Public Service Reform White Paper (announced in the Spending Review), which will be published in 2011. Respondents can submit their views until Wednesday 5 January 2011.
Press release ~ Call for evidence on public service reform
 
CLG: Housing Minister, Grant Shapps, last week announced that the Government will not introduce a new set of building standards that were proposed for many of the homes built with Government funding or on public sector land, which would have cost developers an extra £8,000 for every home.
 
Work will now begin on a new Local Standards Framework that will be developed & maintained by industry & councils. The new local framework will be implemented through the National Planning Policy Framework, which will be introduced by April 2012.
Press release
 
HO: The Home Secretary has allocated more than £28m for specialist services to tackle violence against women & girls until 2015, as part of cross-government plans published last week. Services which support victims of sexual & domestic violence will continue to receive central Home Office funding, including local domestic & sexual violence advisors, services for high-risk domestic violence victims, national helplines and work to prevent forced marriage.
Press release ~ View the 'call to end violence against women and girls strategy'
 
DH: Each week 1,000 women are subjected to rape or attempted rape.  1 in 4 women have been affected by domestic violence. To help tackle the problem, Public Health Minister, Anne Milton, has launched an action plan to improve services for women & child victims of violence and announced up to £3.2m to improve & expand Sexual Assault Referral Centres.
Press release ~ DH Action Plan: Improving service for women and child victims of violence ~ DH: Violence against women and children ~ End Violence Against Women Coalition ~ VAWC communications campaign 2010 ~ Diploma in Forensic and Clinical Aspects of Sexual Violence ~ Help after rape and sexual assault
 
ScotGov: First Minister, Alex Salmond, has responded to claims by Michael Moore, the Scottish Secretary, regarding arrangements with payments to Revenue & Customs in a letter sent on Friday 19th.
Press release
 
MoD: An initiative by MOD Police at HM Naval Base Clyde has led to a more than 80% reduction in anti-social behaviour amongst youngsters in the local area over the last year. For around the last 3 years, MDP officers have been running their highly successful Blue Light Discos, creating a safe, alcohol-free environment where kids can dance, listen to music and enjoy themselves without the threat of trouble.
 
Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) officers have recently gone one step further in looking after the welfare of local children, teaming up with the NHS and other agencies to produce credit-card-style USBs, full of essential information, which were handed out at the latest 'Blue Light Disco'.
Press release ~ Photos and related links
 
ScotGov: First Minister Alex Salmond has launched the establishment of a high-level Commission to examine how Scotland's public services can be delivered in future to secure improved outcomes for communities across the country. The Commission is invited to report with recommendations by the end of June 2011.
Press release
 
ScotGov: The Youth Music Initiative, which offers young people opportunities to get involved in music projects, is to continue for another year with the Scottish Government investing a total of £10m in 2011/12. Delivered by Creative Scotland on behalf of ScotGov, it supports more than 300 projects each year covering all musical genres, age groups & teaching methods.
Press release ~ Arts, Culture and Creativity Action Plan ~ Creative Scotland ~ Youth Music Initiative
 
CLG: Housing Minister, Grant Shapps and Communities Minister, Andrew Stunell, last week announced plans for a radical reform of social housing, with a fundamental shift of power from Whitehall to councils & local housing associations. Ministers believe that the current rules to allocate social homes are unfair and, despite £17bn of spending on social housing over the last 13 years, have left nearly twice as many people on waiting lists. Details of the proposals, some of which will be subject to consultation (closes on 17 January 2011), are published in Local decisions: a fairer future for social housing.
Press release ~ Local decisions: a fairer future for social housing
 
WAG: Local Government Minister, Carl Sargeant, has pledged protection for schools & social services within the Assembly Government’s funding of local authorities across Wales. Announcing details of the Revenue Support Grant for the next 3 years, the Minister said that the funding of just over £4bn that local authorities will receive next year represents a decrease of 1.4% on what they received last year when transfers of grant are taken into account.  However, the plans for 2012-13 and 2013-14 will mean increases of 0.2% and 1.3% respectively.
Press release ~ Local government ~ Budget 2011/2012 ~ Finance and funding
 
ScotGov: A 10-year strategy to give people more control over how social care & support is provided to them has been launched. The Self-directed Support (SDS) strategy aims to ensure as many people as possible can choose how their funding for social care support is spent. SDS, encompassing direct payments, provides individual budgets for people to buy or arrange their own support packages to meet their assessed personal, social and healthcare needs.
Press release ~ Self-directed Support Strategy
 
HO: A raft of new measures will ‘strictly’ control the numbers that can come to the UK and work from outside Europe, the Home Secretary announced last week. As well as limiting the number of skilled non-EU workers businesses can bring into the country, the Home Office is tightening the intra-company transfer route which will sit outside the annual limit, and restricting Tier One of the Points Based System (PBS) to all but entrepreneurs, investors and people of exceptional talent.
Press release ~ Annual limit for Tier 1 and Tier 2 visa applications ~ Home Secretary's oral statement ~ Most recent annual immigration statistics
 
DWP: The organisations making the framework for the Government’s new Work Programme, which will see jobseekers given tailored support specific to their individual needs, have been announced by Employment Minister, Chris Grayling. The organisations will soon be invited to tender for the Work Programme contracts to deliver ‘back to work’ support from summer 2011. 
Press release ~ Framework for the Provision of Employment Related Support Services
 
DH: Up to £6m will be made available over the next 4 years to help GPs identify carers earlier, Care Services Minister, Paul Burstow has announced. Speaking at the Carers UK Summit, Mr Burstow outlined a series of measures to further support carers as he launched; 'Recognised, valued and supported: Next Steps for the Carers Strategy.'
 
The funding for GP practices to better identify carers will be part of a new training package for GPs.  It follows the additional £400m (announced last week) that will be available via the NHS to support carers' breaks over the next 4 years.
Press release ~ Recognised, valued and supported: Next Steps for the Carers Strategy
 
Defra: Food & Farming Minister, Jim Paice, has welcomed news that will make British consumers the best informed in Europe.  An agreement made amongst key organisations from the food industry will spread good practise throughout the industry when labelling food with the country of its origin.
Press release ~ Principles on Country of Origin Information
 
Newswire – EAC: The Government has responded to the previous Environmental Audit Committee’s report on air quality (published in March 2010), which highlighted how air pollution could be contributing to 50,000 deaths in the UK every year.  The Government response puts a figure on the harm pollution from vehicles & power stations is having on the average life-expectancy of people living in the UK – a reduction of 6 months.
Press release ~ Environmental Audit Committee Report: Air Quality ~ Government response to the Environmental Audit Committee on Air Quality
 
CO: Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, has announced that he has commissioned Matt Tee, Permanent Secretary Government Communications, to undertake a review of the Central Office of Information (COI) and the coordination of cross-department marketing & communications.  Matt Tee will deliver his recommendations to the Minister for the Cabinet Office in January 2011.
Press release
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