Policy Statements and Initiatives
DfE: Fewer than 1 in 3 nurseries & early years providers take advantage of flexible arrangements allowing them to employ graduate leaders, a conference heard recently. Teachers can currently teach up to 13 children aged 3 & 3 years. But that ratio falls to 1:8 when teachers are not present.
Employing better qualified staff means young children get better quality early education that helps them to prepare for school.
Employing better qualified staff means young children get better quality early education that helps them to prepare for school.
The Government agrees with Ofsted that the way to raise quality within the current funding envelope is for more nurseries to hire graduates and use the larger group sizes and structured methods that this permits. This is what happens in France where salaries & qualifications are higher, but funding is the same as England.
Press release & links
ScotGov: Responding to the Fiscal Commission Working Group’s (FCWG) report on currency & operation of monetary policy, the Scottish Government has endorsed their views that ‘a Sterling zone monetary union is the best option for an independent Scotland’.
The Scottish Government’s currency paper, published last week, fully endorses the findings of the FCWG’s expert report that ‘as an independent country in a Sterling zone Scotland would have the powers needed to exploit areas of comparative advantage and also tackle those areas where we need to improve performance’.
WAG: Health Minister Mark Drakeford has set out a number of immediate actions to tackle pressures on emergency health services in Wales, along with longer-term plans to ensure future problems are prevented.
Short term measures focus on tackling lengthy patient handover delays at A&E departments and improving discharge arrangements to enable medically fit patients to leave hospital beds in a timely manner.
Short term measures focus on tackling lengthy patient handover delays at A&E departments and improving discharge arrangements to enable medically fit patients to leave hospital beds in a timely manner.
The Minister also announced action to change the policy which applies when the NHS & social services cannot agree financial responsibilities between them. In such circumstances the patient should be transferred to a suitable out of hospital setting rather than remain in hospital until the financial issue is resolved.
HMT: The Bank of England & HM Treasury have announced an extension to the Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS). This extension builds on the success of the FLS so far, and has 3 main objectives:
* to give banks & building societies confidence that funding for lending to the UK real economy will be available on reasonable terms until January 2015
* to increase the incentive for banks to lend to SMEs both this year & next
* to include lending involving certain non-bank providers of credit, which play an important role in providing finance to the real economy.
DWP: The Government has announced plans to help millions of savers take their workplace pension with them when they change job. Automatic enrolment means that by 2018 all employers will need to offer a workplace pension, but more savers means more dormant small pension pots. When people move job these pots could be stranded or lost completely over time.
The Department for Work and Pensions has estimated that people on average have 11 jobs over the course of their working lives. By 2050 this will result in around 50m dormant pension pots. The ‘pot follows member’ system will mean that over someone’s working life any pots accrued of less than £10,000 will automatically move with them.
Introducing automatic transfers is projected to reduce the proportion of people reaching retirement with 5 or more dormant pots from a quarter to 1 in 30. The proposal will be included in the forthcoming Pensions Bill.
Introducing automatic transfers is projected to reduce the proportion of people reaching retirement with 5 or more dormant pots from a quarter to 1 in 30. The proposal will be included in the forthcoming Pensions Bill.
Press release & links ~ TUC welcomes abolition of short service refunds for workplace pensions ~ CBI comments on automatic transfer system for small pension pots
DfE: Education Minister Elizabeth Truss has announced more than £2m of funding so the best computing teachers can help train thousands more to teach the rigorous new curriculum. The funding will allow, The Chartered Institute for IT, to recruit 400 master teachers in computer science over the next 2 years, by building on its existing network of excellence in teaching computer science.
Each master teacher will pass on their skills & subject knowledge to 40 schools - so that computing teachers in 16,000 primary & secondary schools will be in position to deliver the computer science element of the new computing curriculum and the new computer science GCSE.
WAG: A ‘major conversation’ on how Stamp Duty Land Tax could be reformed in Wales to meet the needs of businesses and to boost the Welsh economy has been launched by Wales’ Finance Minister, Jane Hutt. “I am now keen to discuss with businesses and others with an interest how we can design taxes that are fair, simple and effective, that support growth and jobs and, in turn, help tackle poverty”.
WAG: All dogs in Wales will be micro-chipped by March 2015, Minister for Natural Resources and Food, Alun Davies announced recently. The decision follows a public consultation in 2012 when the overwhelming majority of respondents were in favour of the move.
