News round-up: October 24

23 Oct 08
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24 October 2008

The Department for International Development spends more than £1bn a year providing aid to insecure countries despite having limited experience of operating in such areas, according to the National Audit Office. An October 16 report said that, while staff assessed the extent and nature of conflict, this did not always inform the design and management of programmes, while the damaging effects of insecurity hindered progress in reducing poverty. The NAO said that DfID needed to get better and faster at learning lessons from its practical experience.

MPs have urged councils to reverse a decline in the number of public toilets. A report from the communities and local government select committee said all local authorities should consult with their communities to develop a public toilet strategy for their area. Committee chair Phyllis Starkey said adopting this duty would 'go a long way towards achieving the right of people who live in and visit this country to have accessible and clean public toilets'. The committee's October 22 report found the provision of public toilets to be patchy. Birmingham, Cardiff and Edinburgh were singled out as cities with poor access to public toilets.

The government has announced a radical overhaul of the blue badge disabled parking scheme amid concerns that it is being abused. Ministers are considering giving councils the power to confiscate stolen or forged badges. Around one in 200 badges is reported stolen each year and can fetch a price of up to £1,500 on the black market. While the government plans to crack down on abuse, the scope of the scheme is also being extended to include people with temporary but serious mobility problems and young children with specific disabilities.

Kate Barker, the economist who led the government-commissioned review into housing supply, has been appointed to the board of the Homes and Communities Agency. Barker has been a board member of the Housing Corporation for three years and is also a member of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee. Appointments to the board of the Tenants Services Authority also announced include Jim Coulter, former chief executive of the National Housing Federation. Housing minister Iain Wright said: 'The board of the TSA will ensure improving services for tenants and making sure they have a strong voice is at the heart of the work of the authority.'

A £60m support package to help first-time buyers access affordable homes has been launched in Scotland. The scheme aims to stimulate the housing market and assist around 1,500 low-income households to buy a share in a property with the government funding the remainder. The scheme is an extension of the £24m Open Market Shared Equity Pilot, which began in January this year covering ten local authorities. Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said: 'In these difficult economic times, we are doing all we can to help families, households and businesses. Providing more access to affordable housing and greater support to first-time buyers will also help stimulate our housing market.'

Public health minister Dawn Primarolo has launched a £5m research programme into health service quality and patient safety. The Health Services Research programme will provide funding for a broader range of research than that covered by the National Institute for Health Research. Professor Sally Davies, director general of research and development at the Department of Health, said research areas likely to be of interest to the new programme were patient safety and the use of existing health data to improve the planning and delivery of services and systems.

PFoct2008

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