Policy Statements and Initiatives
MoJ: A new claims process which will apply to road traffic accident personal injury claims is to be established. Road traffic accident cases comprise approximately 75% of personal injury claims and this new streamlined procedure will provide for early notification of claims valued between £1,000 and £10,000.
The new process is intended to promote early admissions of liability & early settlements and hopefully removes duplication of work from the process. It also introduces fixed time periods and fixed recoverable costs. The Government has also concluded that there should be no change to the small claims limits, including those for personal injury and housing disrepair claims, and that the fast track limit should be increased to £25,000.
Press release ~ Prior Consultation paper & responses: Case track limits and the claims process for personal injury claims
DIUS: A new partnership to foster academic cooperation through joint research programmes & academic exchange between the UK and Israel has been announced. The ‘Britain-Israel Research and Academic Exchange Partnership’ (BIRAX) will build on the strong links that already exist between universities in the UK and Israel.
The British Council is also working on proposals to support academic links between Britain and Palestine, which the UK Government will offer equal funding to support. A separate announcement is expected to be made in due course.
Press release ~ DIUS ~ ‘Britain-Israel Research and Academic Exchange Partnership’ (BIRAX) ~ Pears Foundation
CLG: A scheme to deliver more affordable homes for young families and first-time buyers has been set out by Housing Minister Iain Wright. Under a new amendment to the Housing and Regeneration Bill currently being debated in Parliament, new Community Land Trusts (CLT) will be able to cut the cost of getting on the housing ladder as buyers will only pay for the building, not the land, of a property.
A CLT is an independent trust which owns or controls the land and facilities, but not the property, for the benefit of the community. CLTs work by enabling occupiers to pay for the use of buildings & services at prices they can afford, while the value of land, subsidies and other equity benefits are permanently locked in, on behalf of them and future occupiers, by the Community Land Trust.
CLG: A new package of measures to improve skills & education in the Thames Gateway has been unveiled by the government. Improving the skills base of residents is at the heart of a £2.45bn programme to reinvigorate Thames Gateway.
With new jobs being created, and to meet the future skills required to fill those posts, a new Thames Gateway Skills Plan (delivered through the Learning and Skills Council) and Champion was also announced.
Press release ~ Learning and Skills Council Thames Gateway Skills Plan 2008/09 ~
BERR: Tougher controls on the trading and transportation of arms have been announced by the Government. The measures include an extension of extra-territorial controls to cover light weapons, plus a tightening of controls on the transport and UK transit of highly sensitive goods. The developments were outlined as part of a further response to a public consultation on the UK Strategic Export Controls.
Press release ~ Review of Export Control Legislation (2007) Government’s Further Response to the Public Consultation ~ BERR - UK's strategic export control
DH: The national vaccination programme against HPV is being extended to offer protection to an additional 300,000 girls aged 17-18, starting in September 2008. This is in addition to the routine vaccination of girls 12-13 years old which starts this September and it is claimed will save up to 400 lives for each year of girls receiving the vaccine. There will be an additional £10m for PCTs in the 2008/09 financial year to implement this extra programme.
A two year 'catch-up programme' will start in the school year 2009/10 to vaccinate girls aged between 15 - 18. This announcement means that girls, who would not otherwise have been included in this catch-up programme, will now be vaccinated this school year.
Press release ~ Introduction of routine HPV vaccination programme ~ Human papillomavirus vaccination (HPV) - immunisation research ~ DH Immunisation ~ NHS – Immunisation HPV
Defra: A wide-ranging audit of England's natural resources - its wildlife, habitats and ecosystems – has been launched by Environment Secretary Hilary Benn. The two year project will result in a comprehensive picture of our natural environment, the benefits it provides to society, and how it is changing. The results will be used by Government to prioritise work so that the natural environment is enhanced and damage to it, including biodiversity loss, is effectively tackled.
Mr Benn also confirmed that Natural England will, from 2010, enhance the Entry Level Stewardship Scheme to cover upland areas.
WAG: A £23.5m investment in world class research into some of the world’s major environmental challenges has been announced. The funding will support a £55m project to create a Biosciences and Environment Alliance between Aberystwyth and Bangor Universities bringing together the newly formed Institute for Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) at Aberystwyth and the College of Natural Sciences at BangorUniversity.
The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council is investing £14m for capital developments at IBERS, as well as ongoing research funding.
Press release ~ Institute for Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) ~ College of Natural Sciences ~ Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council ~ Wales Biodiversity Partnership
Cabinet Office: Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) women from across London have taken part in the first in a series of Government events, which aim to encourage them to become councillors in local government - ultimately making councils more representative of the communities they serve and enable more informed decision making. The number of BAME women councillors increased from 0.6% in 1997 to 0.9% in 2006, meaning it could take more than 130 years for councils to reflect society.
Press release ~ Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Women Councillors Taskforce ~ Register for roadshow events ~ Local Government Association ~ Operation Black Vote ~ Fawcett Society ~ Operation Black Vote: How To Achieve Better BME Political Representation ~ Rich Mix Cultural Foundation ~ Councillors Commission: Representing the future ~ Government response to report ~ Ethnic Minority Women: Routes to Power ~ Routes to Power: Summary of Research
WAG: A plan to extend the mandatory surveillance scheme for Clostridium difficile has been unveiled by the Chief Medical Officer for Wales. Currently only information on patients aged 65 & over is published, but this will now be extended to cover all confirmed cases of the infection in patients aged two and above.
The WAG will also issue a new protocol for testing for C.difficile to ensure consistency across Wales. The data will be published for the first time in September 2008 on the number of patients confirmed with C. difficile between January and the end of June 2008. Following an evaluation of the data, this will form part of the routine health associated infection publications in 2009.
Press release ~ Welsh Healthcare Associated Infection team ~ National Public Health Service for Wales ~ 1,000 Lives Campaign ~ NHS Wales ~ WAG – Healthcare associated infections
DfT: Plans to tackle the numbers of motorcyclists killed or injured on Britain's roads have been published by Road Safety Minister Jim Fitzpatrick, who said: "Motorcyclists are the single most vulnerable group on Britain's roads today. They account for just 1% of all road traffic, but for 20% of all those killed on the roads”.
The new Motorcycling Strategy Action Plan - agreed with the National Motorcycle Council - sets out what the Government will do to improve safety for motorcyclists and to continue to facilitate motorcycling as a choice of travel.
Press release ~ Revised Motorcycling Strategy Action Plan ~ IHIE Guidelines for motorcycling ~ National Motorcycle Council ~ Use of Bus Lanes by Motorcycles ~ SHARP - the Safety Helmet Assessment and Rating Programme ~ Motorcycle Instructor information ~ Bikesafe - Motorcycle Rider Safety
BERR: A list of 10 proposed projects that could provide clean, green energy from the tide in the Severn Estuary is being considered in a feasibility study, commissioned by Secretary of State for Energy John Hutton. A short list will be published later this year highlighting which preferred proposals could be taken forward for more extensive research.
The proposals gathered will now be assessed & used to develop the draft Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) scoping report. This will be a two phase process with two public consultations: - one on the scope towards the end of 2008 and one on the evidence and conclusions at the end of the feasibility study in late 2009 or early 2010.
Press release ~ SDC – Tidal Power ~ BERR – Tidal power in Severn Estuary ~ Severn Tidal Power Q&A (includes diagram) ~ WWF: Turning the tide - power from the sea and protection from nature: Executive Summary ~ RSPB view on the Severn Barrage - a submission to the Department for Trade and Industry ~ FoE - Cymru ~ A Severn barrage or tidal lagoons? – A comparison ~ Severn Estuary ~ Renewable Energy Route Map for Wales
CLG: Housing Minister Caroline Flint has set out the Government's latest proposals for green standards applying to new housing as she unveiled a ‘progress’ report on eco-towns. This progress report is also meant to clarify how the planning process for eco-towns will work, making it clear that in each case a planning application will have to be submitted and that it will be ‘for the local authority to consider that application’.
A final decision on up to ten potential locations will be made in early 2009, after which the individual schemes will each have to submit planning applications.
Press release ~ Eco-towns - Living A Greener Future: Progress Report ~ CLG: Eco-towns ~ Closed consultation ~ Town and Country Planning Association – Eco-towns ~ Building Sustainable Transport into New Developments: A Menu of Options for Growth Points and Eco-towns ~ Code for Sustainable Homes ~
Defra: Environment Secretary Hilary Benn has announced plans to explore how the environmental benefits previously provided by set-aside can be developed. Welcoming the latest report from Sir Don Curry's High Level Group on set aside and the environment, Mr Benn said that he accepted the Group's view that implementation in the 2008/09 year was not possible, but that there was a strong case for action, which needs to be implemented as soon as is practical.
He also agreed with the Group's preferred option that would require arable farmers to manage a small percentage of their land primarily for environmental purposes. Farmers would also be encouraged to make the most of this land for wildlife through proposed new 'top-up' options within the Environmental Stewardship scheme.
