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(CLG) White Paper delivers power shift to local people - Blears more...

DEFRA News Item - Green goods to come to the front of Britain's shelves more...

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National News

(CLG) White Paper delivers power shift to local people - Blears

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears will today publish a White Paper setting out proposals to deliver a fundamental shift in power, influence and responsibility into the hands of communities and citizens.

Communities in control: Real people, real power sets out how the Government plans to give citizens and communities more rights and more power through:

* more information and greater influence over the local decisions that affect them;
* new means of holding politicians and councils to account; and,
* where they choose, more opportunity to get directly involved in managing and shaping how local services are delivered.

Hazel Blears will say

"In many parts of the country, local democracy needs a boost, with low turn out at local elections and people feeling they can't influence the way some issues are decided in their area. This needs to change. That's why the White Paper provides real and practical ways to put communities in control, so that they have a real say, can find out first hand what is being done to improve their local services, and push any issue they think is of importance up the priority list of their local council.

"There is a lot of cynicism about politics but it is through politics that we bring about change for the better. Politicians have a contract with those that they serve - that contract now needs to be rewritten to ensure that the views of local people are taken more into account. Where people have a better solution to a problem or issue, that needs to be taken forward. The public must not only have the right to ask difficult questions, they should also have the right to demand answers."

The White Paper will seek to address issues around lack of power and influence at a local level. These include -

- New rights for the public to demand action from their council
Councils will be subject to a new duty to respond to petitions. Petitions will enable local people to force an issue onto a council's agenda. With enough signatures that issue would need to be discussed by the full council committee and could be subject to a vote. This could be used to raise issues as diverse as bin collections and street cleaning, or the state of local parks.

- Increasing accountability
Chairs and Chief Executives of local public bodies - such as Councils - will face regular public hearings as part of plans to increase accountability. More visible 'local question times' will give the public a chance to question officials about how they are improving public services and demand better results if they believe local services are falling short of expectations. It will also give CEOs an opportunity to describe the hard choices and trade-offs involved in decision making.

- Getting redress when things go wrong
Some housing associations already offer money back to tenants where they fail to carry repairs out on time. We want to see if this could go further, with redress for citizens when council services go wrong. We will establish a review into redress for citizens that will report in 2009.

- Giving local people a direct say on how budgets are spent
We want every area of the country to have a 'community kitty' scheme - a pot of money that local people can decide how to spend. Local people should have a say in setting priorities for local budgets - for example if they want to see more community wardens or better street lighting. Government Departments are also committed to citizens having a bigger say over youth and community safety spending.

- £70m Communitybuilders fund
Community-led third sector organisations are one of the most tangible and popular ways people get involved and start to actively give something back to their local communities. The Government will be investing £70m in organisations that are the backbone of their communities. This will help strong community groups acquire buildings, take a role in running local services, and become more financially self sustainable.

- Local people running local assets
Street markets, community centres and swimming pools will be handed over to local residents if they can do a better job of running them than councils. 30 new pilots will get underway shortly and a new Asset Transfer Unit will be established to support community groups making the most of buildings and resources.

- Making it easier for people to get a directly elected mayor.
Mayors provide visible local leadership and have the potential to engage more people in politics. We will consult on allowing on-line petitioning as well as paper petitions to be counted towards support for a referendum for a mayor. We will consult on reducing the number of people needed to trigger a referendum from 5% to perhaps 2%, 3% or 4% and change existing rules that mean no referendum can be held for 10 years if referendum is lost.

- Promoting democracy
A new duty will be placed on local authorities to promote democracy. Local leaders will be expected to do more to help residents understand how the democratic process works and how they can get involved. Residents can expect to see information campaigns and town halls being opened up to councillors to hold surgeries. New 'civic champions' - council staff or former councillors who will go out into the community and work with residents and community groups to increase understanding about how they can raise awareness about civic roles they can take up - whether that's volunteering, standing as a governor, a councillor or becoming a magistrate.

- Empowering young people More needs to be done to make politics and local services relevant and open to young people. We will establish a programme for young people to shadow government ministers and elected mayors, develop a programme of internships with local councillors and increase the number of young people who help councils and others understand the impact of their policies on the young

Data from the 2007 Citizenship Survey shows that in the last year just 38% of people felt able to influence decisions in their local area. 50% of respondents to the same survey wanted to be more involved in the decisions that their local council makes that affect their local area.

We have seen some excellent improvements in the performance of local government in recent years. This makes local government well placed to take on the significant challenge of rejuvenating local democracy.

Councils remain the vital elected voice of local people. The White Paper is about finding new ways to allow more people to influence decisions directly. Petitions have been a well-understood part of our public life for centuries. They represent a recognised method of bringing people's views together into a single collective voice. New data published today shows that more must be done to ensure petitions are acted upon.

A new YouGov survey of 1,906 adults across England shows -

* 70% of people have signed a petition - 63% in the last 5 years, and 42% in the last year;
* 90% of people think that councils should take account of views raised through petitions when making decisions - but only 21% of people agree that they currently do;
* 84% of people said they were more likely to sign a petition is a response was guaranteed and over half (54%) of respondents were more likely to organise one if a response was guaranteed
* Of those who have signed or organised a petition 48% were not satisfied with the way in which the council took their views into account; and,
* 34% of us do not know their council's process for submitting petitions.

The new duty on councils to respond to petitions will make sure that petitions have a greater impact and unlock local democracy for a lot more people.

Hazel Blears added:

"The White Paper is an important step in rebalancing power in local communities to ensure that the voice of local people is heard and acted on, and where it isn't, people have the levers to make a difference themselves if they so choose.

"As the best councils already show, local government has nothing to fear and everything to gain by involving local people is shaping and delivering services. When local people are given a greater say in how decisions are taken not only do they feel more empowered but satisfaction with services rises too."

DEFRA News Item - Green goods to come to the front of Britain's shelves

Green goods will need to become the normal products on our shelves in the future, while products with a big environmental impact will need to change -- and much of the time consumers won't even notice, Climate Change Minister Joan Ruddock said today.

Publishing progress reports on Sustainable Products and Materials and the Waste Strategy, Ms Ruddock said that the Government and industry were working together to green the whole life cycle of products and services - from the raw materials right through to their use and disposal.

Joan Ruddock said:

"We know people are concerned about their effect on the environment, but they don't get to see the full picture of what goes into producing the goods they buy - and they don't see what happens after they've thrown them away.

"It needs to be easier for people to buy products that will save them money and reduce their impact on the environment - and that's exactly what we're doing. There are real savings to be made - through this action to green the products and materials we use, UK households could save £5 billion a year on their bills.

"Many businesses are already taking positive steps to reduce the environmental impact of their products, and are seeing the real benefits this can have, both for them and their customers. But as fuel prices rise, commodities become scarcer, and families are feeling the pinch, it becomes ever more important for businesses to use resources more efficiently throughout the supply chain, those that don't will miss out on potential savings, as well as big opportunities for growth."

The Sustainable Products and Materials report details, for the first time, the action already underway on making products and materials more sustainable throughout their production, use and disposal, across a wide range of products groups including food, electrical appliances and clothing.

Significant achievements to date include:

* The piloting of Product Roadmaps, which aim to improve the environmental performance of ten priority products across their life cycles;

* Progress towards saving enough energy to power 1.5 million homes by improving the efficiency of some of the biggest energy using products - set top boxes, external power supply units (such as for laptops, mobile phones, and printers), fridges, washing machines, and dishwashers;

* An initiative with retailers to take inefficient light bulbs off the shelves by 2011;

* Half of all milk packaging to be made from recycled materials by 2020;

* Government is setting an example for business through our "Buy Sustainable - Quick Wins workstream." This tightens minimum standards for public sector procurement. For example most paper used in Government offices must have 100% recycled content and, where non-recycled content is allowed, any virgin fibre used must be sourced from a sustainably managed forest;

* Developing the PAS2050, a recognised standard which enables businesses to measure CO2 emissions across the life-cycle of products;

* Leading in Europe to bring the energy used by all standby devices sold in the EU down to 1 watt - and to halve that again in four years after that standard is adopted.

The report also sets out a vision for future work on making products more sustainable, and encourages further debate and discussion on how this can be achieved.

* UK households could save £5 billion per year from cost-effective energy efficiency improvements to products.

* Savings from not wasting so much food could be around £420 for the average UK household. And for households with children it's even more - £610 a year.

* We are confident that with today's technology for metering, tariffs and water efficiency, per capita consumption of water can be reduced through cost effective measures, to an average of 130 litres per person per day by 2030. We hope that developments in new technology and future innovation will improve the cost-effectiveness of these measures over time and this can drive consumption down further to an average of 120 litres per person per day by 2030.

* Energy saving light bulbs can reduce lighting costs by up to £100 over the lifetime of the bulb.

* Initiatives such as moves by major retailers to reduce environmental impacts demonstrate that resource efficiency is beginning to be seen as a business opportunity.

The Government is also publishing the "Policy Analysis and Projections 2008" report which sets out our vision and trajectories for improvement of efficiency of a range of energy-using products including light bulbs, refrigerators, boilers and consumer electronics till 2020 as well as the evidence underpinning our assessment and challenges to industry for the scale of those improvements.

A summary of progress made since the publication in May 2007 of the Waste Strategy is also published today.

It shows good progress in the main indicators, covering waste growth, recycling and diversion from landfill:

* There is a fall in the amount of household waste produced per person which is not re-used, recycled, or composted;

* Household recycling rates have continued to increase. Early indications are that the national average has risen in the first part of 2007/08 to 33%;

* The amount of commercial and industrial waste being sent to landfill has continued to fall;

* More energy is being recovered from waste; and

* Less biodegradable waste is being sent to landfill.

Further work is needed to identify whether an increase in reports of fly tipping incidents represents an increase in fly tipping activity, or whether it reflects continued improvement in the levels of information local authorities provide to the Fly Capture national database. The forecast for 2007/08 anticipates a decrease in fly tipping levels.

New guidance on CRB checks for volunteers

The Cabinet Office for the Third Sector have published guidance to help organisations that use volunteers to be clear about when they do and don’t need to carry out Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks on volunteers. The guidance will help cut unnecessary red tape and responds to concerns voiced by the voluntary sector that potential volunteers can be put off if they are asked to undergo a CRB check without good reason.

People volunteering or working with children or vulnerable adults are sometimes legally required to have a CRB check. Where contact with vulnerable people will be limited or perhaps the person has recently been CRB checked for a different role, a decision about clearance must be made. The guidance clearly explains how the check works as part of a proper risk management process. Other safeguards such as interviewing, training and taking references from potential volunteers can also be employed.

The guidance responds to recommendations put to the Government by Baroness Neuberger, the Government’s Independent Volunteering Champion

To order a hardcopy of the guidance, please call 0845 015 0010 and quote URN 08/Z1. Or visit http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/news/news_stories/080604_crb.aspx

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