This follows the announcement made in July 2018 and marks a new approach to managing the UK’s 13 Magnox sites – 10 former Magnox nuclear power stations, two nuclear research sites and a hydroelectric plant.

Magnox becoming a NDA subsidiary follows a similar change made at Sellafield in 2016, where the new model is facilitating progress and providing increased value for money for the taxpayer.

NDA Chief Executive, David Peattie, said:

Today is an important day for Magnox and the NDA as we continue to find more effective and efficient ways of managing nuclear site clean-up and decommissioning. We’ve secured a very strong executive team, led by Gwen Parry-Jones, to drive progress and success across the Magnox sites.

Gwen Parry-Jones OBE, Magnox’s new CEO, said:

This is a very exciting time for Magnox. We have some fantastic talented people and being an NDA subsidiary gives us more opportunities to work closely as part of the NDA group, share ideas and take a more flexible approach to decommissioning the UK’s first generation of nuclear power stations.

Published 2 September 2019

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Letter from the Chancellor updating him on the date of the government’s response to the Committee’s report “Measuring Inflation”.

Background

Phase 4 of the 6-phase whole systems approach to obesity enabled Halton Borough Council to collectively prioritise actions to address obesity with its system of local stakeholders and develop a workable action plan through stakeholder workshops.

Phase 4 of the 6-phase whole systems approach to obesity entails:

• preparing for the second workshop with stakeholders as part of the whole systems approach to obesity
• delivering the workshop and carrying out action planning
• developing a draft whole systems action plan
• refining the shared vision

What was involved

The first step of phase 4 for Halton Borough Council was to refine the council’s system map, which was prepared in an earlier workshop as part of phase 3 and visually represents how the local causes of obesity are linked. This refinement was done through participatory activities at the programme’s second stakeholder workshop.

During this workshop, new actions to address obesity were also proposed. These were added to the existing actions mapped in phase 2 and overlaid on to the system map.

Primary stakeholders included:

• Halton clinical commissioning group
• local councillors
• Halton Stadium
• school meals
• transport
• children’s centres
• community centres
• environmental health
• Halton Housing
• Halton Lea Shopping Centre
• Halton People Into Jobs
• Department of Work and Pensions
• sports and leisure
• lead for Children and Young People

Following the workshop, the core working team, who managed the approach, considered whether further actions were required to bridge any gaps in the proposed approach.

They then developed a draft whole systems action plan, which included actions from a range of different stakeholders such as:

• introduce improved work health initiatives
• develop, implement and deliver a Making Every Contact Count training programme
• create more accessible cycling and walking route to promote active transport
• work with communities, local communities safety team and transport to alter the perception of safety
• raise awareness of what is available around the built environment agenda, for example linking health and planning

Working well

Through the collective work of stakeholders, Halton Borough Council was able to put together an action plan that reflected a much broader range of actions than previously. These actions also go beyond public health and therefore support a whole systems approach.

The council had several principal take-home messages from this phase. Firstly, it’s important to ensure there is a dedicated core working group to pull the action plan together. This involves:

• administering and delivering workshops and presentations
• writing up each stage
• developing the action plan
• feedback processes

Secondly, the programme should not lose momentum. One way of avoiding this during phase 4 is to book in all workshops at once and set specific deadlines for actions.

Thirdly, the council learnt to be prepared to work with a smaller group than anticipated, as it takes time to engage stakeholders from all parts of the local system.

Next steps

For Halton Borough Council, the next steps will be to align its action plan with the whole systems approach to obesity in the Halton strategy and complete the action plan. This will require ongoing communication across the network as well as monitoring and evaluating actions individually and collectively in phase 6.

For further information, contact Lisa Taylor, Divisional Manager Health and Wellbeing, Halton Borough Council.

Salaries for new teachers are set to rise to £30,000 by 2022-23, under government plans for the biggest reform to teacher pay in a generation.

The Teacher’s Pension Scheme is also one of the most generous on offer. From September, the government will be fully funding increased contributions into the scheme, so that school leaders can focus as much of their resources as possible on the front line. It means teachers will get an employer contribution of 23.6% on top their salary towards their pension every year to ensure the scheme is fully funded.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announced the plans today (2 September), underlining his determination to recognise teaching as the high-value, prestigious profession it is.

The move would make starting salaries for teachers among the most competitive in the graduate labour market, building on the above-inflation average pay increases for teachers in the last two years.

Mr Williamson will set out his proposal to increase teachers’ starting salaries by up to £6,000 in a remit letter to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB), asking for their recommendations on raising the starting salaries of new teachers as well as next year’s pay award.

The £14 billion investment announced by the Prime Minister last week will ensure that pay can be increased for all teachers. The government’s proposal to increase the pay of early career teachers fastest is in line with the evidence on where recruitment and retention challenges are greatest. Further detail will be set out in the government’s evidence to the STRB later this year.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said:

Teachers truly are the lifeblood of a school and I have been instantly impressed by the dedication, commitment and hard work that I have seen from those at the front of our classrooms.

I want the best talent to be drawn to the teaching profession and for schools to compete with biggest employers in the labour market and recruit the brightest and the best into teaching.

Teachers should be in no doubt that this government fully backs them in every stage of their career, starting with rewarding starting salaries, and giving them the powers they need to deal with bad behaviour and bullying and continue to drive up school standards right across the country.

The Education Secretary will also ask for the STRB’s recommendations on additional pay reform, including the introduction of progression points in pay. Progression will continue to be linked to performance ensuring the investment best supports the recruitment and retention of the most talented recruits into classrooms.

The Teachers’ Pension Scheme also provides additional benefits linked to salary and is inflation-proof to offer teachers a secure retirement.

The government is also planning significant new investment in the Further Education workforce as part of a 16-19 funding package. This is critical to underlining its commitment to delivering world-leading technical education.

To ensure teaching continues to be attractive as teachers’ lives develop, a group of Ambassador Schools to champion flexible working are set to be introduced.

These will be responsible for sharing good practice on how to successfully implement flexible working in schools, utilising case studies and practical resources for teachers and school leaders. Once fully rolled out, these will form part of an overall flexible working toolkit.

Mr Williamson added:

I want to keep great teachers in the profession, and we know that the lack of flexible working opportunities is often cited as a reason for leaving.

Other sectors have embraced flexible working and the benefits it provides – I want to see the same in schools. There are great things happening in some schools, but I want it to be the norm.

These new Ambassador Schools will break down the barriers and show schools who are nervous about flexible working that not only can it be done, it can change their school for the better.

Alongside proposed record increases to new teachers’ salaries, trainee teachers will also receive reformed core training content, which will ensure all new trainees begin their career with high-quality evidence-based training.

This will dovetail with the Early Career Framework, the biggest teaching reforms in a generation. Backed by at least £130 million a year in extra funding when fully rolled out, this will provide a two-year entitlement to training and support for new teachers, including a reduced timetable to allow teachers to make the most of their training.

Structured curriculum resources to reduce teacher workload in key subjects will also be introduced, building on the success of the Department for Education’s Curriculum Fund pilots.

Background

Phase 3 of the whole systems approach to obesity is based around a workshop where stakeholders are invited to develop a local system map of the causes of obesity.

In East Herts, the primary learning was this facilitated stakeholder engagement and increased understanding of the range of different factors that impact obesity locally, and how these factors relate and can be linked together.

Phase 3 of the 6-phase whole systems approach to obesity entails:

• preparing for workshop 1 – identifying and engaging wider stakeholders, preparing presentation slides and adding local information, and preparing facilitators to undertake system mapping
• holding the workshop – conducting the system mapping exercise
• beginning to develop a shared vision

What was involved

Stakeholders from across the local system collectively mapped out the local causes of obesity during a half-day system mapping event (workshop 1). The system maps were then produced by the team who managed the approach (the core working team).

The workshop provided stakeholders with a real insight into why obesity is considered a highly complex issue and why all of the different components need to be considered, to better understand the issue as a whole. The workshop took into account the human, societal and environmental factors contributing to obesity.

Collectively, these new insights could potentially be used to help shift the system in the right direction to reduce the impact of the obesogenic environment.

Main stakeholders included councillors from community wellbeing champion areas and the portfolio holder for health and wellbeing.

Service managers and officers from council departments including:

• health and community wellbeing
• housing
• parks and open spaces
• environmental health
• licensing
• Hertfordshire County Council Public Health

Partners from the local voluntary sector including:

• children’s centres
• nutritionists
• physical activity community interest company
• NHS community service
• individuals with a personal interest in planning and active travel

East Herts stakeholders identified green space and the healthy eating environment as priority areas to address.

Collaborative partner work resulted in a high-level green spaces strategic action plan, focused on increasing participation and accessibility to green space.

Working well

The workshops created an opportunity to discuss obesity and engage stakeholders in the importance of the issue, as well as give adequate time and space to understand the complexities and system factors that contribute to obesity.

Stakeholders were also able to consider using the approach to give insight, understanding and application to other complex public health issues.

Next steps

To change the local system, the next phase involves translating this action plan – with its short, medium and longer-term objectives – into specific actions. The whole systems approach is intended to create the conditions to generate system shift in the East Herts District area.

Momentum for achieving tangible outcomes has to be considered against the backdrop of realising that system shift is something that will take time to happen.

For further information, contact Simon Barfoot, Healthy Lifestyles Programme Officer at East Herts Council. simon.barfoot@eastherts.gov.uk