15th May 2009
The Higher Education Funding Council for England has approved £60m of capital funding for projects in universities and colleges that are thought to have the greatest impact on economic recovery. This is the second round of the programme, which was announced in December 2008. The first round of projects was approved in February. Higher education minister David Lammy said on May 11: ‘It is essential that we continue to support both universities and students during the downturn and the government has been investing in higher education at record levels. We want to look to long-term solutions and, in addition to today’s funding announcement, we have also announced extra funds for postgraduate places, internships and work placements for new graduates.’
The National Audit Office has suggested that more needs to be done to improve road safety in the UK. More than 30,000 pedestrians and 16,000 cyclists were injured in 2007, with 646 pedestrians and 136 cyclists killed. The May 8 report estimated that casualties for these two groups cost the economy more than £3.4bn, in addition to the distress and health problems for the victims and their families. NAO head Tim Burr said: ‘The Department for Transport needs to draw on its research programme and the lessons learned from the projects that it funds to find ways of improving safety, especially for groups most at risk.’
Health Secretary Alan Johnson has urged local health authorities and schools to improve the management of childhood asthma. A May 7 Department for Health report, Tackling health inequalities — Ten years on, said health inequalities still remained despite significant improvements to some disadvantaged groups. The government is looking at how schools can provide better support for children with long-term conditions such as asthma and diabetes as part of the Child Health Strategy. Asthma affects 1.1 million children in England and is a leading cause of hospitalisation.
Public Accounts Committee chair Edward Leigh said it was ‘disgraceful’ and ‘very disappointing’ that more than a fifth of primary school children in England leave primary education without a secure grasp of basic maths. According to a PAC report published on May 7, improvements in primary school children’s maths results have levelled off since 2000 with only 79% of pupils meeting the government’s expected standards. The PAC also raised major concerns over primary teachers’ depth of knowledge, which has only recently been addressed by the Department for Education and Skills with a ten-year programme to train 13,000 specialist teachers.
The new local standards framework for councillor conduct is ‘working well’, the Standards Board has said. Marking the first anniversary of the framework, Standards Board chair Robert Chilton said: ‘Overall we’re pleased with the way that authorities have taken ownership of local standards. The latest information from authorities shows that local experience of dealing with cases is growing, and that, on the whole, the system is working well.’ There were 2,863 complaints received between May 2008 and April 2009, down from 3,547 complaints the previous year.
Fires attended by fire and rescue services fell in the year to June 30, 2008, according to Department for Communities and Local Government statistics. The UK Fire and Rescue Services attended 773,000 fire and false alarm incidents in the year, an 11% decrease. There was also a decrease in false alarms — down 7% to 410,000 — and a 16% fall in ‘malicious’ false alarms. There were, however, 476 fire deaths, an increase of 5%.
