February 5th, 2010
Social housing tenants under financial pressure were given a helping hand by the Government yesterday, as Housing Minister John Healey MP announced that councils will halve guideline rent increases for 2010-11. However, this “good deal” for council tenants will not yet be passed onto RSL tenants, with Mr Healy revealing that a date had still to be set for implementing rent convergence between housing associations and councils.
A forthcoming Westminster Briefing entitled “Preventing Rent Arrears & Evictions: Establishing Early Support that Helps Tenants & Landlords” will provide delegates with a timely opportunity to examine other measures that can be used to help social housing tenants avoid rent arrears and eviction.
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February 4th, 2010
A plan to halve the number of smokers in England over the next 10 years has been recently unveiled by ministers. Smokers’ lobby group Forest criticised the proposals for eroding people’s ability to make lifestyle choices. Health charity Ash said that while it supported the plans in principle, there was a need for more detail and stronger pledges.
A forthcoming Westminster Briefing entitled “A Smokefree Future: New Approaches to Tobacco Reduction, Protection and Support” will provide delegates with a timely opportunity to examine the newly launched strategy and it’s implications in lowering smoking rates amongst young and old.
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February 2nd, 2010
The Pope has urged Catholic bishops in England and Wales to fight the UK’s Equality Bill with “missionary zeal”. Pope Benedict XVI said the legislation “violates natural law” and could end the right of the Catholic Church to ban gay people from senior positions. Gay rights charity Stonewall condemned the Pope’s comments, saying equality had to apply to everyone.
A forthcoming Westminster Briefing Conference entitled “The Equality Act – Ensuring Compliance to Deliver a Fairer Society For All” will provide delegates with a timely opportunity to examine the Equality Act and what it means for the equality and diversity landscape.
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January 29th, 2010
A study published by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has found that one in five young people from the most disadvantaged areas now continue their studies at higher education level, compared to a figure of one in eight recorded in the mid-1990’s. However, a HEFCE spokesperson admitted that participation differences between the most advantaged and least advantaged “remain very large.”
A forthcoming Westminster Briefing entitled “Changing Careers Education: Information, Advice and Guidance That Motivates All Young People, will provide participants with the opportunity to consider how to sustain and build on the progress made in ensuring fairer access to higher education.
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January 26th, 2010
From yesterday every young person who is unemployed for six months will be guaranteed the offer of a job, training or work experience, supported by up to 470,000 opportunities over the next 15 months through the Government’s Young Person’s Guarantee.
A forthcoming Westminster Briefing Conference entitled “Tackling Youth Unemployment: Creating Jobs and Building Skills for Young People” will provide participants with the opportunity to consider the impact of the Guarantee on jobseekers, employment service providers and skills bodies, as well as investigating the success of recent job creation initiatives.
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January 25th, 2010
Schools secretary Ed Balls has rejected opposition party calls to publish in full the Edlington serious case review.
The government has come under pressure in recent days to publish in full a report in to the serious attack on two boys by two young brothers. Balls said that the safety and privacy of children named in the report would be violated if he were to publish it in full. To do so would be “wholly wrong” he added.
A forthcoming Westminster Briefing entitled “Protecting Children Locally: Using Serious Case Reviews to Improve Practice” will provide participants with the opportunity to consider the issue serious case reviews and child protection.
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January 22nd, 2010
Harriet Harman has highlighted class as the most important factor in affecting life chances. Referring to a government-commissioned report out next week, Ms Harman said that the present government was best equipped to tackle inequality that “carries from one generation to the next”.
A forthcoming Westminster Briefing Conference entitled “Changing Careers Education: Information, Advice and Guidance That Motivates All Young People” will provide participants with the opportunity to consider how to effectively support disadvantaged children in making vital education and career choices that can help to erode inequality.
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January 21st, 2010
The Office for National Statistics has reported a fall in the number of people claiming unemployment benefit, news described by the Guardian as a pre-election gift for Gordon Brown. Meanwhile the Independent reports that the figures disguise the hidden jobless and the eight million “economically inactive” people.
There are warnings from some experts of “a lost generation” of young people who are finding it difficult break into the workforce.
A forthcoming Westminster Briefing Conference entitled “Tackling Youth Unemployment: Creating Jobs and Building Skills for Young People” will provide participants with the opportunity to consider the current policy and best practice to ensure that career and training opportunities are made available to young people.
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January 15th, 2010
Schools secretary Ed Balls has defended plans to make
home-educating parents register with their local council as a “very light touch indeed”.
Opening the second reading debate of the Children, Schools and Families Bill on Monday, Balls insisted he would offer “extensive support” for home-educating families.
A forthcoming Westminster Briefing entitled “Regulating Home Education and Supporting Home Educators: Implementing the New System” will provide participants with the opportunity to consider the issue of Home Education and the role of Local Authorities.
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January 14th, 2010
Dementia services in England are not getting the priority that was promised, the National Audit Office has said. It urges the Department of Health to demonstrate that its dementia strategy, published last year, is not just words.
A forthcoming Policy and Practice Briefing entitled ‘’The National Dementia Strategy One Year On – Local Responses to Dementia Care” on 10th March will provide participants with the opportunity to consider the Dementia Strategy one year on, what has been achieved, and what more needs to be done to ensure the highest standards of dementia care.
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January 12th, 2010
Up to one million households have borrowed money on a credit card to pay their mortgage or rent over the past year, a charity’s study suggests. Shelter said people in lower social groups had been most likely to need to use their credit cards, but that the middle classes had also been affected.
A forthcoming Westminster Briefing entitled “Improving Financial Capability During Difficult Times: Making Money Clear for Everyone” will provide participants with the opportunity to consider how the government aims to tackle the challenge of financial capability in economically uncertain times.
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January 11th, 2010
Martha Lane Fox has identified families and friends as the cornerstone of her efforts to bring Britain’s most disadvantaged people online. Highlighting the 10 million people who have never touched a computer, the co-founder of Lastminute.com stressed that “if everyone trained five people, it would be problem solved.”
A forthcoming Westminster Briefing entitled “IT Skills for Everyone: Ensuring Young People, Adults and the Elderly Take Advantage of the Internet”, will provide delegates with the opportunity to see if the community and voluntary sector has an important role to play in getting people online.
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January 7th, 2010
To encourage a deeper and broader relationship between Government and faith communities, Communities Secretary John Denham yesterday announced the appointment of 13 new faith advisers who will act as a ’sounding board’ to advise on effective engagement with faith communities
A forthcoming Westminster Briefing entitled “Preventing Violent Extremism: Implementing the Prevent Programme in Local Communities” on 16th March, will provide participants with the opportunity to consider inter-faith relations and community engagement issues at the local level.
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Social housing tenants under financial pressure were given a helping hand by the Government yesterday, as Housing Minister John Healey MP announced that councils will halve guideline rent increases for 2010-11. However, this “good deal” for council tenants will not yet be passed onto RSL tenants, with Mr Healy revealing that a date had still to be set for implementing rent convergence between housing associations and councils.
