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WGPlus provides an in-depth weekly briefing from the UK Government and Public Sector. To save your time, we research & validate the links to websites, documents and further background information. Click here for more about WGPlus

In the News

ScotGov:  If the vote is negative the whole of the UK will need to answer the West Lothian question before deciding what new Devo Max powers could be agreed - An historic accord that paves the way for a referendum on an independent Scotland was signed in Edinburgh last week. 

The 'Edinburgh Agreement', will see a Section 30 order laid in the Scottish Parliament and at Westminster to give Holyrood the power necessary for a single question referendum, 'ensuring that the 2014 vote will be designed and run by the people of Scotland'.

After the order has been agreed, the Scottish Government will bring forward legislation to Parliament to enable the referendum to be run. This will set out the proposed date, franchise, the wording of the question, rules on campaign finance and other rules governing the conduct of the campaign.
AUK:  What we need to see is a ‘Fall in Falls’ - The National Osteoporosis Society (NOS) and Age UK have launched the Falls & Fractures Declaration, a response to the changes & reforms within the NHS.  AUK and the NOS aim is to highlight the major burden falls & fragility fractures are having on health & social care in the UK.  The Declaration is a 5-year commitment to reduce the number of hip fractures & falls-related injuries in older people.

As Michelle Mitchell, Charity Director General of Age UK says: '1 in 3 people aged over 65 falls every year, often with devastating consequences for their quality of life and at very significant cost to the NHS.   But falls are not an inevitable part of ageing - many falls can be prevented and there is much that can be done to help people who have fallen not to fall again.'

The economic & human cost of falls:
* The combined cost of hospitalisation & social care for hip fractures is £2bn a year or £6m a day
* Falls account for 10–25% of ambulance call-outs for people aged 65+, costing £115 per call-out
* Half of those who sustain a hip fracture never regain their former level of function & 1 in 5 dies within 3 months
* A co-ordinated national falls strategy could reduce the number of falls between 15% & 30%
Ofsted:  Why are they running from a ‘Place of Safety’? - The Running away report published by Roger Morgan documents the views of children living in care and asks why they ran away.  

As well as this, children in care were asked what they thought the dangers of running away were and what could be done to prevent them running.
ICO:  Should the ICO investigate the police for not ensuring that personal data in the Downing Street security log & police notebooks were kept secure? - An Information Commissioners Office investigation into a data breach at Greater Manchester Police has concluded with the force being fined for failing to take appropriate measures against the loss of personal data. 

The action was prompted by the theft of a memory stick containing sensitive personal data from an officer’s home.  The device, which had no password protection, contained details of more than a thousand people with links to serious crime investigations.

The ICO found that a number of officers across the force regularly used unencrypted memory sticks, which may also have been used to copy data from police computers to access away from the office.  

Despite a similar security breach in September 2010, the force had not put restrictions on downloading information, and staff were not sufficiently trained in data protection.  The findings prompted the Information Commissioner to use his powers under the Data Protection Act 1998 to impose a Civil Monetary Penalty of £150,000.
CO:  A new home for the Online Government - GOV.UK, the new online home of government services & information, has been released.  This is the first phase in the creation of a single domain for government, addressing the needs of users previously served by the Directgov & Business Link websites.

The release of GOV.UK is a key element in the Government's Digital by Default agenda, which aims to transform public services online – making them better & cheaper for taxpayers and more effective & efficient for government.

The 17 October release of GOV.UK is about replacing the Directgov and Business Link sites, which have now closed in the first stage in an orderly 3-stage transition to consolidate all government websites on to a single domain. 

The 2nd & 3rd stages involve the transition of 24 government departments and a handful of agencies/non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) by March 2013 and then of the remaining agencies/NDPBs by March 2014.
NHS Confed:  Many older people are still taxpayers - Mike Farrar, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said recently; 'Access to NHS services should always be based first & foremost on clinical need, not on age' when commenting on the report 'Access all ages’ from the Royal College of Surgeons and Age UK.
CLG:  Time to save a life - A hard-hitting campaign offers a timely reminder that changing our clocks isn't the only important task to carry out over the weekend of 27/28 October - the clear Fire Kills message is that it's time to take life-saving action and test our smoke alarms too.
 

Accredited G-Cloud Toolkit – Secure Collaborative Software as a Service (SaaS) for Government - Chosen by 80% of central UK government departments, Huddle is enabling public sector organisations to increase efficiency, improve productivity and reduce costs through better information management and secure cross-firewall collaboration.

What is Huddle? – A secure cloud-based content collaboration platform for UK government and the public sector. It enables government departments, stakeholders, agencies and consultants to store, discover, share and work on content together securely in the cloud.

Who uses it and what for? - Huddle is currently used by 80% of central government departments numerous local councils and NHS organisations. It supports collaboration on complex pan-government projects, enables the secure distribution of information internally and externally and provides granular audit trails for all actions against public sector documents.

The latest Government Cloud toolkit provides an overview of Huddle’s government-ready, secure content management and collaboration technology and demonstrates what has already been achieved with case studies from government organisations such as Cheltenham Borough Council, and the UK Liberal Democratic Party.

Click below to access and download the G-Cloud Toolkit.

 

Please note that previously published newsletters can be accessed from the Newsletter Archive

General News

RoSPA: A new campaign has been launched in Northern Ireland to raise awareness of the dangers hair straighteners can pose to children, causing burns which can require hospital admission & surgical intervention, including plastic surgery.  
 
MoD: A new type of laser eye protection (LEP) for pilots is being tested by the Ministry of Defence.   The LEPs can filter out different wavelengths of light from the spectrum, including those used in various laser weapons & laser pens, which are becoming increasingly available from the internet.
 
FSA: Brasserie de Saint-Omer has extended its recall of several brands of beer, which includes a number of supermarket own brands, because a limited number of bottles may contain small pieces of glass. The Food Standards Agency has issued a product recall information notice. .
 
FSA: The Food Standards Agency is reminding people across the UK of the importance of following good food hygiene practice, and what to do if they go down with food poisoning. The update is prompted by the current outbreak of E.coli O157 in Belfast. The FSA is working closely with the Public Health Agency and other authorities in Northern Ireland on the ongoing investigation into the outbreak.
 
IPCC: Deborah Glass, Deputy Chair of the Independent Police Complaints Commission has issued a statement regarding the report by the Hillsborough Independent Panel.
 
EH: English Heritage has launched the Heritage at Risk Register 2012 and announced an ambitious programme to find out how the one major element of our heritage not already covered by the Register - the nation's Grade II listed buildings  - can be assessed.
 
There are some 345,000 Grade II buildings in England, accounting for 92% of all listed buildings.  Beautiful, historic or architecturally special, they are the houses, cottages, shops, inns, offices, schools, town halls, libraries, farms, mills and other distinguished buildings that shape the character of our cities, towns and villages.
 
TfL: Since its launch, TfL's real time bus information service has dealt with more than 620m requests - an average of 1.6m requests via the internet & smart phones and 36,000 requests via text each day.   TfL has also recently completed the installation of 2,500 new and improved bus information roadside signs across the Capital.
 
MoD: HMS Caroline, the last surviving warship of the Battle of Jutland, will be preserved for the nation as a result of an agreement to gift the ship to the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN). The move will allow the museum to bid for external funding for her restoration & preservation.
 
MoD: A national memorial to commemorate all the members of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) who have died while serving on operations around the world has been officially unveiled at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.
 
DCMS: New playing fields will be created across the country thanks to grants from Sport England’s Protecting Playing Fields fund. More than 50 areas announced last week will share a £2.4m pot of National Lottery funding to create 165 high-quality sports pitches that will be protected from developers for at least 25 years.
 
STFC: European astronomers have discovered a planet with about the mass of the Earth orbiting a star in the Alpha Centauri system — the nearest to Earth at only 4.3 light-years away. This result represents a major step towards the detection of a twin Earth in the immediate vicinity of the Sun – the Holy Grail of astronomy. 
 
The planet, the lightest ever discovered around a star like the Sun, was detected using the HARPS instrument on the 3.6-metre telescope at European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) La Silla Observatory in Chile.  The Science & Technology Facilities Council manages the UK subscription to ESO.
 
NO: The Local Government Ombudsman has committed to transforming the organisation in response to the report of the House of Commons Communities and Local Government Committee on the work of the LGO, published in July 2012.
 
ACE: Arts Council England has announced the successful applicants to the 4th round of their Strategic touring programme.  A total of £2,647,109 has been awarded to 5 organisations.
 
CEOP:  A new weapon to combat the threat of UK sex offenders travelling to other countries and gaining access to children through teaching, charity or volunteering roles has been launched. Analysis by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre of offender management cases undertaken in 2011 found that 1 in 5 were associated with roles that involved access to children.
 
CEOP has worked with the ACPO Criminal Records Office (ACRO) to launch the International Child Protection Certificate (ICPC), which CEOP believes is a vital new tool for schools & other overseas organisations in the prevention of harm to children under their care.
 
Similar to the UK’s CRB system, the ICPC is a police check for UK nationals who are travelling & working overseas. It will help identify & screen out those who have previous convictions that make them unsuitable to be working with children.
 
Monitor: The regulator Monitor is urging NHS foundation trusts to start delivering hospital cost savings earlier in the year in order to reduce their exposure to financial risk. The advice comes in the latest quarterly report on the health of the foundation trust sector, which now comprises two-thirds of all NHS secondary care providers running about 1,000 hospitals.

Policy Statements and Initiatives

Defra: Double Olympic gold medal-winning rower James Cracknell and Natural Environment Minister Richard Benyon have urged the public to show their support for the ‘Love Your River’ campaign, which encourages people to value their local river and shows the relationship between water in a river and the water used in the home.
 
CLG: Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles, recently joined Britain's leading Indian chefs & restaurateurs to launch a new scholarship programme for students to develop their careers in 'high-end' Asian cuisine & restaurant management.
 
Led by the University of West London - 1 of 5 Centres of Excellence in Asian & Oriental cuisine - with the backing of the Department for Communities and Local Government and the financial support of Lord Noon, the programme underlines the importance of South Asian cuisine to the British economy and the need to develop highly-skilled British talent in a sector that has depended traditionally on attracting chefs from abroad.
 
DCMS: Tens of thousands of students in further education are set to benefit from improved opportunities to play sport thanks to new National Lottery funding. Sport England has announced that £17m will be used to fund 150 new jobs for sports professionals to act as College Sport Makers, helping students get involved in sport.
 
HMT: The Government has re-affirmed its commitment to reforming the submission & administration of the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) benchmark by accepting the recommendations of Martin Wheatley’s independent review of LIBOR in full and the Government will amend the Financial Services Bill, which is currently before Parliament: 
 
WAG: The Welsh Government’s flagship Jobs Growth Wales programme is on course to meet its target of creating 4,000 job opportunities a year for unemployed young people in Wales.
 
FCO: The new Crisis Centre has been created to ‘ensure the Foreign Office continues to provide one of the most complete and advanced consular services in the world’.
 
During early 2011, the Foreign Office experienced a series of international incidents that required a crisis response, including the earthquake in New Zealand, tsunami in Japan and the events of the Arab Spring. Following the launch of the new Centre, the FCO is now better equipped to cope with the significant demands that such events place on it, and offer the best possible service to British nationals in trouble overseas.
 
MoD: Armed Forces personnel will ‘continue to receive one of the best and most valuable public service pensions’ under a new scheme announced last week.   In July 2012, the Ministry of Defence published an outline design of the new Armed Forces Pension Scheme and invited further comments.  The consultation has resulted in a key change - Service personnel will now have more flexibility over the money they receive if they qualify for an early payment at age 40.
 
HO: Statement by Home Secretary Theresa May on extradition made on 16 October 2012: 
“With permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to make a statement about the case of Gary McKinnon and the government's response to Sir Scott Baker's review of our extradition arrangements…….”
 
WAG: Credit unions are helping to tackle poverty by offering a low cost way to borrow money and ensuring that people have a convenient alternative to the extremely high interest rates of doorstep & payday lenders, Local Government & Communities Minister, Carl Sargeant said last week.
 
The Minister marked International Credit Union Day by highlighting research that showed growing awareness of the benefits of credit union membership in the South Wales Valleys – up from 14% to 45%.  
 
FCO: Foreign Office Minister Mark Simmonds has welcomed the launch of the new Overseas Territories Environment and Climate Fund, which brings together funds from the FCO, Defra and DFID. It will disburse around £2m per year dedicated to environmental & conservation projects in the UK’s Overseas Territories.
 
WAG: A new Welsh Government publicity campaign aimed at highlighting the signs & symptoms of domestic abuse has been launched by Local Government & Communities Minister Carl Sargeant. The campaign builds on work undertaken in the 10,000 Safer Lives project which is about ensuring that all relevant service providers & organisations are able to identify the signs of domestic abuse and are able to effectively support individuals who experience domestic abuse.
 
DWP: 33,000 extra jobseekers will be given help to set up their own business under a scheme aimed at unlocking the potential of aspiring entrepreneurs, Prime Minister David Cameron announced last week. The New Enterprise Allowance scheme, which provides expert coaching & financial support, will be extended & made far easier, in a bid to get behind those who have the determination to start up their own business.
 
People will now have instant access to support when they claim Jobseekers Allowance, ending the 6 month long wait people have to currently spend on benefits before they qualify for start-up money. The scheme will be expanded so 70,000 people can now get help from a mentor, following a strong uptake in the first year that has seen more than 8,000 businesses set up by jobseekers across the country, including a mobile dog grooming business, a fine chocolate company and a tapas restaurant.
 
FCO: Foreign Secretary William Hague has launched a new drive to find & nurture the next generation of code-breakers and computer scientists.  Visiting the spiritual home of code-breaking, Bletchley Park, the Foreign Secretary announced a £480,000 donation to help secure the Park’s future and set out details of a new Apprenticeship scheme to recruit Britain’s most talented young people into GCHQ and the intelligence agencies. 
Press release & links
 
ScotGov: Funding has been awarded by the Scottish Government to 23 organisations working across Scotland to help break the cycle of re-offending. In a shift towards preventative spending, the Reducing Re-offending Change Fund was one of three change funds created by the Scottish Government to invest in prevention.

Consultations

DCMS: e-Books are transforming the way the nation reads.  But how should libraries respond to the challenges and opportunities that this new technology presents?
 
That’s the question being asked by an independent panel, appointed by Ed Vaizey, to look at the issue of ‘e-lending’.  The panel – headed by William Sieghart, and with representatives from all parties affected by e-lending – is issuing a call for evidence to inform their discussions.  Evidence should be submitted to the panel, by email before 5pm on Tuesday 6 November 2012.
 
NE: Proposals for an improved coastal access route between Sea Palling and Weybourne have been published for consultation, marking the first stages of the England Coast Path in Norfolk.  The scheme was set in motion by the Marine & Coastal Access Act 2009, which commits to creating a continuous & enhanced walking route around the entire English coastline.
 
Natural England has published draft proposals for the route to be created along 41km of coast to provide improved levels of access for local residents & visitors where they can walk, rest & admire the view. The consultation period closes on Friday 11 January 2013.
 
FRC: The Financial Reporting Council has published a discussion paper ‘Thinking about financial reporting disclosures in a broader context’.   The paper sets out a road map for a disclosure framework for financial reporting aimed at improving the quality of disclosure and their value to the users.  In particular, the paper covers the reduction of clutter in financial reports by avoiding duplication in disclosures and using tests of materiality more rigorously.  The consultation closes on 31 January 2013.
 
BIS: Measures to improve the quality of narrative reporting by Britain’s largest companies were published last week by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).  The draft regulations will help to increase corporate transparency and make it easier for shareholders to hold companies to account.  They will also remove outdated & duplicated requirements to cut the clutter from reports.
 
Following recommendations from Lord Davies' review of Women on Boards, quoted companies will also in future be required to report on the number of women & men within the organisation, both overall and in senior executive positions. This will allow investors to identify gender imbalances and help companies address talent blockages.  The consultation closes on 25 November 2012.
 
EU News: The European Commission has launched a public consultation with a view to updating the current list of relevant wholesale and retail telecoms markets subject to the Commission's ‘Article 7’ procedure under EU telecoms rules (see MEMO/10/226).  These markets include retail access to the public telephone network and wholesale broadband access.  The consultation closes on 8 January 2013.
 
Defra: Plans to modernise the agricultural labour market could create almost 1,000 new jobs while keeping workers well protected, Farming Minister David Heath announced last week. Defra plans to disband the Agricultural Wages Board (AWB) – a panel setting pay that was abolished in all other sectors almost 20 years ago – bringing the industry into line with what is normal in all other areas of the economy. The 4-week consultation will close on 12 November 2012.
 
DECC: Proposed changes to the consenting process for overhead power lines in England & Wales will ‘result in a fairer process for all parties, reduce burdens on developers and save money for the taxpayer’, Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker said last week. 3 consultations began last week and will close on 27 November 2012.

Guidance Notes and Best Practice Guides

OFT: The OFT has set out new decision-making processes & procedural enhancements to boost the speed and robustness of Competition Act 1998 (CA98) investigations and increase engagement with parties involved. The updated guidance on CA98 procedures follows a consultation process launched in March 2012. It updates the OFT's guidance originally published in March 2011.
 
NICE: A new interactive tool developed by NICE and Brunel University will help local authorities count the cost of tobacco-related harm in their communities.  The tool also models the longer-term cash savings that authorities can expect by putting tobacco control strategies in place.
 
Local authorities have a responsibility to address health inequalities, and smoking is the primary reason for the gap in healthy life-expectancy between rich & poor.  Tobacco use is also the single greatest cause of preventable deaths in England - killing over 80,000 people per year.
 
CLG: A Government review of planning practice guidance is being undertaken by former MP Lord Taylor, Planning Minister Nick Boles has announced. Lord Taylor of Goss Moor will lead an external group that will look to streamline some 6,000 pages of practice guidance that explains statutory provisions, planning and the planning system.
 
The review follows the National Planning Policy Framework which distilled around 1,000 pages of planning policy into a streamlined, easy to understand 47 page document.  This guidance review will not involve any changes to national policy set out in the Framework.
 
NE: The 4th edition of the Environmental Stewardship (ES) handbooks are now available on the Natural England website containing details of a suite of new options & updates aimed at increasing the environmental benefits and value for money of the schemes. The new handbooks are effective from 1 January 2013 .
 
FSA: The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has published the Journey to the FCA a paper that sets out how the UK’s new financial conduct regulator will operate.  The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will start work next year with a remit to make financial markets work well so consumers get a fair deal.
 
EU News: The Commission is issuing new guidelines on inland navigation & nature protection to assist this important sector in applying EU environmental legislation. The guidelines – ‘Inland waterway transport and Natura 2000 – sustainable inland waterway development and management in the context of the EU Birds and Habitats Directives’ – explain how best to ensure that activities related to inland navigation are compatible with EU environmental policy in general and nature legislation in particular.
 
The document also emphasizes the significance of the inland navigation for securing long-term sustainability of EU transport network and highlights the achievements of this sector in integrating nature protection into its activities to date.

Annual Reports

FSA: The level of man-made radioactivity, to which people in the UK are exposed, remained below the EU legal limit during 2011, concludes the 10th Radioactivity in Food and the Environment (RIFE) annual report, published last week by the Food Standards Agency (FSA).
 
DH: Department of Health figures published last week show the NHS is spending more on food than ever before.  The average amount spent per patient per day has increased by almost 10% over the last two years, to £8.77. However there is still significant regional variation on costs, with the biggest spending hospital spending £15.65 per patient on food – almost double the average and over £10 more than the lowest spending hospital. 
 
The new figures have been published just days after Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt launched a new drive to improve the quality of food which will address this variation – by seeking out those hospitals that are providing high quality food and examining how this can be replicated across the country.
 
TUC: Young black men have experienced the sharpest rise in unemployment since the coalition came to power, with more than one in four of all black 16-24 year olds (26%) currently out of work, according to a TUC report on youth unemployment published last week.
 
The report also finds that white & Asian youngsters are now twice as likely to be unemployed as those from the same ethnic group over the age of 24.
 
HO: Latest figures from the Crime Survey for England and Wales for the year ending June 2012 show a 6% decrease in overall crime against adults compared with the previous year's survey. Crimes recorded by the police also fell by 6% for the year ending June 2012 compared with the previous year.  This continues the downward trend in recorded crime seen since 2004/05.

General Reports and Other Publications

PC&PE: Ministers must recognise their responsibility, not just accountability, for the conduct of their special advisers (SpAds) so that SpAds, Ministers and Civil Servants work effectively together.  
 
In their report, the Commons Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) says SpAds should be ‘men & women of standing and experience’ with a legitimate & valuable function to play in government, but they need better training & support to prevent future problems & misunderstandings about their role and conduct.
 
Ministers must recognise that they have responsibility, not just accountability, for the conduct of their special advisers, and actively ensure that they are fully aware of what their advisers are doing in their name.
Press release & links
 
TPA: A new report published by The Patients Association is calling for a renewed focus on infection prevention & control services (IPS) across the NHS.  The survey of NHS staff found that almost all felt improvements in safety & outcomes had been delivered in recent years as a result of the high profile rise in infections such as MRSA, but that more needs to be done to address new risks.
 
The report (Rolling the Dice), produced in partnership with the Royal College of Nursing and the Infection Prevention Society, is being published to coincide with International Infection Prevention Week which runs from 14 October to 20 October 2012 .  
 
WWF: A new report published by Green Alliance and WWF-UK argues that the ‘upcoming Energy Bill must incentivise energy efficiency and create a ‘market’ for electricity savings’. The report highlights research commissioned by the Government, which found that effective measures to reduce electricity use could mean that 40% of electricity demand might be avoided by 2030 – equivalent to the output of 15 nuclear power plants - saving in excess of £10bn per year.
 
NO: The Parliamentary Ombudsman has cautioned government organisations against refusing to pay compensation when their mistakes have left individual members of the public footing the bill. In a new report, the Ombudsman looks at how the Planning Inspectorate had handled 4 individual complaints about errors it had made.  In each case, the Planning Inspectorate had failed to compensate individuals or organisations for mistakes which had caused them to incur extra costs.
 
The Planning Inspectorate closed its ex gratia payment scheme in March 2011 as part of its plans to reduce spending, forcing people to escalate their complaints to the Ombudsman to seek compensation.
 
NO: Birmingham City Council wrongly started an adult protection investigation into the affairs of a man’s elderly aunt, finds Local Government Ombudsman, Anne Seex. In her report, she says the Council failed to treat the woman’s nephew “fairly and within the rules of natural justice… It caused him the considerable injustice of being the suspected perpetrator in an unnecessarily and unreasonably prolonged adult protection investigation.”  He was deeply hurt and upset by what occurred.
 
NO: London Borough of Bromley delayed in issuing a boy’s statement of special educational needs and failed to make the full provision specified in that statement, finds Local Government Ombudsman, Dr Jane Martin.
 
In her report, she recommends the Council to pay a total of £7,000 to recognise that its failures caused the boy unnecessary uncertainty, anxiety & stress, and a loss of opportunity to reintegrate into school, while his mother was caused justifiable outrage as well as unnecessary uncertainty & stress.
 
CIPD: To truly deliver for their organisations, HR professionals need to be ‘business savvy’, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).  In response to new research by the Economist Intelligence Unit, commissioned by KPMG International, which found that HR is viewed as a non-essential department within some organisations, the CIPD highlights the unique position and value of HR.
 
NAO: The Government’s ability to show that its spending decisions represent the best value for money is being hindered by the patchy availability of good information. Last week’s report by the National Audit Office shows that many aspects of government budgeting compare well with good budgeting practice – particularly in support of the Treasury’s objective to control spending.   The system is less effective at addressing objectives for prioritization of public spending and delivery of value for money across government.
 
HO: Gangs that lure victims to the UK and then exploit them for sex, labour & domestic slavery are being targeted following action by the government. A report published by the Inter-Departmental Ministerial Group (IDMG) on Human Trafficking shows that more work than ever before is being carried out both in the UK and internationally to prosecute criminals and stop trafficking gangs in their tracks.
 
Ofsted: Deaf children’s entitlement to communicate & be communicated with is fundamental to their development and progress.  This commitment, along with early diagnosis & timely access to well-coordinated support, helps deaf children’s well-being and life chances according to an Ofsted report published last week.

Legislation / Legal

CO: New laws enabling government departments to share information on people & businesses that owe them money will be introduced.  In February, the Cabinet Office’s Fraud, Error and Debt Taskforce, published the first ever review of debt owed to central government which found that over £20bn was owed to government and that more than £7bn was lost through unpaid debt being written off each year – that's equivalent to over £400 per working household every single year.
 
The plan to legislate comes after a study revealed that debtors owed money to multiple departments.  The new law will make it easier for departments to share appropriate & proportionate information, allowing them to understand debtors’ circumstances so that more effective and intelligent action can be taken to recover money & reduce losses.  Debtors who try to beat the system will find it much harder while those in genuine hardship will get the support they need to clear their debt.
 
HMT: The Government has published draft legislation to implement key elements of the Independent Commission on Banking’s recommendations.  The draft Banking Reform Bill, which will now be scrutinised by the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, prior to its formal introduction into Parliament, delivers on the Government’s timetable for implementation of the ICB’s recommendations, as set out in the June 2012 White Paper.
 
The Government remains on track to have all legislation in place by the end of this Parliament.  Banks will be required to comply with all aspects of the ICB’s recommendations from 2019.
 
No. 10: The new Growth & Infrastructure Bill brings together a range of measures that are expected unlock billions of pounds worth of investment and create thousands of jobs.

EU Legislation, Initiatives, etc.

EU News: The Single European Sky, the flagship project to create a single European airspace – tripling capacity and halving air traffic costs – is ‘not delivering’.  Vice-President Siim Kallas, European Commissioner for transport, recently announced his intention to take all enforcement actions possible, including infringements where necessary and to present new legislative proposals in Spring 2013.
 
EU News: The European Ombudsman has criticised the Commission's refusal to publish public consultations in all 23 EU languages. This follows a complaint from a Spanish lawyer about many public consultation documents only being available in English or in a limited number of EU languages, even if they are intended for the general public.
 
EU News: A start on future economic & monetary union can be made now, by finalising laws already in the pipeline and making the most of what the current EU system already allows, said Economic & Monetary Affairs Committee MEPs on last week.  Their resolution sets out many measures to improve democratic accountability & legitimacy, so as to match transfers of powers to EU level.
 
EU News: Commissioner John Dalli last week announced his resignation as a member of the Commission, with immediate effect, following an investigation by OLAF, the EU's antifraud office, into a complaint made in May 2012 by the tobacco producer, Swedish Match.
 
EU News: The European Commission and UN Women recently launched Spring Forward for Women, a new joint regional programme for the South Mediterranean Region.  The programme aims to support national & regional stakeholders to empower women economically & politically in the context of the progress that has followed the Arab Spring.
 
EU News: Recently, the Commission published a proposal to limit global land conversion for biofuel production, and raise the climate benefits of biofuels used in the EU.  The use of food-based biofuels to meet the 10% renewable energy target of the Renewable Energy Directive will be limited to 5%.
 
This is to stimulate the development of alternative, so-called second generation biofuels from non-food feedstock, like waste or straw, which emit substantially less greenhouse gases than fossil fuels and do not directly interfere with global food production.  For the first time, the estimated global land conversion impacts – Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC) – will be considered when assessing the greenhouse gas performance of biofuels.
 
EU News: The European Commission has proposed to update the Radio Equipment Directive.  The proposal aims to make sure all market players comply with the rules regarding the avoidance of interference, so that consumers do not have problems when opening car doors, monitoring their babies or listening to radio.
 
The Commission also proposes to clarify & simplify the Directive, to facilitate its application and to eliminate unnecessary burden ultimately increasing all stakeholders' confidence in the regulatory framework.
 
EU News: The European Commission has concluded that public funding of £3bn granted by the UK for the creation of a bank investing in environmentally friendly projects, is in line with EU state aid rules. The Green Investment Bank (GIB) will invest only in projects that could not obtain sufficient funding from the markets. The set-up of the GIB is expected to further the UK's 2020 target in reducing carbon emissions and accelerate the development of a "green economy".
 
EU News: The European Commission has launched a public consultation with a view to updating the current list of relevant wholesale and retail telecoms markets subject to the Commission's ‘Article 7’ procedure under EU telecoms rules (see MEMO/10/226) – See ‘Consultations’ section for more information.
 
EU News: The Commission is issuing new guidelines on inland navigation & nature protection to assist this important sector in applying EU environmental legislation explain how best to ensure that activities related to inland navigation are compatible with EU environmental policy in general and nature legislation in particular  – See ‘Guidance Notes & Best Practice Guides’ section for more information

Charity and Voluntary Sector

DUK: Sitting for long periods of time can increase your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and death, a new study has found. The researchers are the first to analyse the association between all sedentary behaviour and long-term health, rather than focusing on time spent watching television. According to the study, those who sit for long periods of time on a daily basis double their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, even if they take regular exercise.
 
BIG: Highlighting abuse in vulnerable teenage relationships and ensuring young people know how to stay safe will be at the heart of an initiative receiving almost £300,000 from Big Lottery Fund (BIG). AVA (Against Violence and Abuse) will raise awareness about domestic & sexual violence with around 400 young people across England and encourage them to be advocates for their needs across social care and education.  It is one of 74 innovative initiatives sharing a total of £17.6m from BIG’s Reaching Communities programme this month.
 
CO: Fledgling & existing mutuals will be given a vital helping hand from 15 inspiring individuals, Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude announced last week at the SOLACE Summit 2012.  These leaders in their fields, part of the Mutuals Ambassadors Programme, will work free of charge to drive forward the public service mutuals movement.
 
CEOP:   A new weapon to combat the threat of UK sex offenders travelling to other countries and gaining access to children through teaching, charity or volunteering roles has been launched - the International Child Protection Certificate (ICPC). It will help identify & screen out those who have previous convictions that make them unsuitable to be working with children – See ‘General News’ section for more information.

Business and Other Briefings

BIS: Official figures released last week show that the number of private sector businesses in the UK increased significantly to 4.8m at the start of 2012 – a record high.  This is an increase on last year’s figures, which showed there were 4.5m businesses in the UK at the start of 2011.

The statistics also show:
* The 4.8m PSBs employed an estimated 23.9m people and had an estimated turnover of £3,100bn
* 99.9% of PSBs were SMEs, which also account for 59.2% of PS employment and 48.8% of PS turnover
 
BIS: Low carbon business opportunities in Brazil and South Korea stretch into £bns, 2 reports published by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) reveal.
 
DECC: Ed Davey has assured businesses that the Government will provide the certainty investors are looking for in its forthcoming Energy Bill, which will unlock billions in energy infrastructure investment vital for keeping the lights on, emissions down and bills affordable.
 
This brief sets out the conditions for NICs refunds following the repeal of the Social Security (Categorisation of Earners) Regulations 1978 in relation to lecturers, teachers, instructors or those in a similar capacity.

Industry News

ScotGov: The vibrancy of Scotland’s creativity was in the spotlight as the recipients of this year’s Starter for 6 investment were announced recently by Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop.
 
Among the successful companies are a former Hip Hop dancer whose global network is enabling dancers from the USA to Australia to share moves via an app on both the Apple and Android platforms; an innovative, high-tech fashion designer; and a product designer whose drum kit won’t upset the neighbours.
 
OS: Ordnance Survey, Great Britain’s national mapping agency, is reminding land & property professionals to ensure that they are not risking their professional reputation by using unlicensed mapping data. 

Over the last 10 years the use of digital location-based information has changed significantly, from being used by only a small number of organisations to becoming an essential business decision-making tool. . Over the last 10 years the use of digital location-based information has changed significantly, from being used by only a small number of organisations to becoming an essential business decision-making tool.
 
This increased reliance on, and recognition of, digital mapping data has also resulted in customers demanding the most up-to-date information available.  Ordnance Survey makes up to 10,000 changes to the master map database of Great Britain every day, reflecting the rapid developments in the nation’s environment. The use of older, unlicensed data not, only has legal & cost implications, but also risks damaging professional reputations, which may have taken many years to build.
 
TWF: The government needs a plan for the arrival of 3D printing, to ensure that the UK can reap the full economic benefits of this revolutionary technology and to address risks such as illegal gun production.  3D printing will put major strains on the UK’s legal framework, and the government must move quickly to adopt supportive policies so that the UK does not get left behind.
 
This is according to a report published by the business-backed Big Innovation Centre, which sets out the first comprehensive policy framework for 3D printing.

Forthcoming Event

TNA: The National Archives are holding a series of FREE public talks to highlight the diversity of our collections, from 12 to 16 November 2012.
 
This is as part of an annual 'Diversity week' event at TNA, where there will be exhibitions & activities for you to get involved in.  The event launches a variety of campaigns over the year to bring greater awareness and understanding of equality and diversity issues.
Come along to 'Diversity week' at The National Archives, Kew to listen to our talks that include:
* Ugandan Asians in Britain: journeys across 3 continents to find a home
* The scandalous case of John Vassall: sexuality, spying and the Civil Service
*The strange journey of 'Edward Swarthye', an African in Elizabethan England: from the Spanish Caribbean to rural Gloucestershire

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