I’ve taken this from By-line Times. This is a list of recent initiatives. There is further information if you wish to have a look.
1. The Government has refused to authorise the use of the toxic pesticides known as neonicotinoids.
2. The Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has welcomed a £35 million investment to expand the Port of Lowestoft to service the offshore wind sector.
3. Miliband announced new Government-backed training programmes to “help workers benefit from thousands of new job opportunities in the clean power sector”.
4. The Environment Secretary Steve Reed announced the Government’s new ‘Nature Restoration Fund’.
5. The International Development Minister Annelise Dodds announced more than £7 million in Government funding to support Scottish demining charity the HALO Trust’s “life-saving work to clear deadly explosives” in Ukraine and Afghanistan.
6. The Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle announced a blueprint for the “digital centre of government” to improve public services.
7. On Tuesday, the Minister for Prisons Lord (James) Timpson — of Timpson shoes and key-cutting fame — chaired the first meeting of the Women’s Justice Board where he outlined the Government’s plans to reduce the number of women in custody by using early intervention and “tackling the root causes of crime
8. The Department for Business and Trade announced that from 6 April, thousands of families with babies in neonatal care will be entitled to additional paid time off as a day one right.
9. The Minister for Homelessness Rushanara Ali announced an extra £20 million investment for over 280 councils to help protect more rough sleepers from cold weather, tripling funding for this year.
10. The Minister for Rail Lord Hendy announced that contactless ticketing will be rolled out to 47 more railway stations across the South East on 2 February so passengers are able to use a bank card or contactless to tap-in and tap-out in any train station.
11. The Ministry of Justice has announced a new digital Victims’ Code campaign, called ‘Understand Your Rights’. The campaign focuses on increasing awareness of the Victims’ Code, as research found just one in five victims were aware of their rights.
12. Today, the Ministry of Justice has launched a consultation on increasing legal aid fees for immigration and housing cases, following its announcement in December of the intention to look at increasing legal aid fees in these areas by £20 million a year.
13. Last week, the Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds announced a £50 million investment deal secured between JATCO, Nissan and the UK Government to build a new manufacturing site in Sunderland. Government officials say it will create and support hundreds of jobs in the North East.
14. Following letters to regulators sent by the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the Business Secretary in December asking them to identify “pro-growth” proposals, ministers will begin engaging with them over the coming weeks on the proposals.
15. The Energy Secretary announced £410 million in funding for fusion energy programmes from 2025-26. The funding will support the development of nuclear fusion programmes which “could provide clean limitless energy for families and households once scaled up, delivering on our clean energy mission” No 10 says.
16. The Home Office announced legislation — now in force — which bans several synthetic drugs, as part of efforts to combat the “increasing drug threat and make our streets safer”.
17. Bridget Phillipson has confirmed that a Labour-version of the last Government’s Education Freedom of Speech Act will go ahead.
The Government’s Renters’ Rights Bill has returned to Parliament and completed its crucial report stage, where new changes to protect renters were set out. That includes a rule to cap advance rent payments at one month’s rent, and put an end to demands for large sums of cash upfront.
19. New protections for leaseholders have been signed off by the Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook.
20. At a summit last week on the role of the UK’s creative industries in driving economic growth, the Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy gave a speech setting out her priorities for the sector, which will include announcing the fourth round of the Cultural Development Fund — an award of £16.2 million for projects designed to “regenerate communities, attract tourists and new businesses, and help to grow the economy”.
It’s been a while so I will start us off…….whats for supper and why?
