Tag Archives: politics

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Communities and Children Secretary welcomes figures that show how homes are improving lives

The WHQS aims to ensure all homes provided by local authorities and housing associations are safe and secure and offer modern amenities.

The Welsh Government provides £108 million each year to help all social landlords meet the WHQS by 2020. 

The Cabinet Secretary said:

“The Welsh Housing Quality Standard will ensure that more than 220,000 households in Wales have a home that is safe, warm and secure.

“It is also vital to us achieving many of our other goals as a Government including improving the nation’s health and well being. Investment in improving and building homes also has huge potential to create jobs and training opportunities in our communities and help us build a prosperous society.”

So far, expenditure of £702 million has been tracked and 82% of that expenditure has been re-invested in Wales. The investment has also helped over 1407 people into employment or training, and provided the equivalent of 36,983 weeks of training.

“The statistics show our continued investment in our social housing stock is having a significant and far reaching impact. We have seen good progress, helping us towards our target of ensuring all social housing meets our high quality standards by 2020. I congratulate social landlords for their achievements so far, although there is still work to be done. We will continue to work with them to improve their housing stock.”

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Welsh Government •

Government at a Glance

   

Government at a Glance 2017 delivers public service performance data and comparisons, providing a vision of the state of the public sector and the trends that are shaping it across the OECD and beyond.


With over 200 indicators, it offers data and insights for governments that seek to better understand their own practices and who wish to benchmark their achievements. Policy makers, journalists, academics and the general public will benefit from its detailed comparisons and clear presentation of the data used to understand the bigger picture. 

country factsheets

country scorecards

public employment salaries

OPEN GOVERNMENT DATA

<a href=’#’><img alt=’Dashboard 1 ‘ src=’https://public.tableau.com/static/images/Go/Gov_PoC/Dashboard1/1_rss.png’ style=’border: none’ /></a>

launch event – New york, 17 july 2017

previous editions

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OECD.org – United Kingdom • •

Government at a Glance

   

Government at a Glance 2017 delivers public service performance data and comparisons, providing a vision of the state of the public sector and the trends that are shaping it across the OECD and beyond.


With over 200 indicators, it offers data and insights for governments that seek to better understand their own practices and who wish to benchmark their achievements. Policy makers, journalists, academics and the general public will benefit from its detailed comparisons and clear presentation of the data used to understand the bigger picture. 

country factsheets

country scorecards

public employment salaries

OPEN GOVERNMENT DATA

<a href=’#’><img alt=’Dashboard 1 ‘ src=’https://public.tableau.com/static/images/Go/Gov_PoC/Dashboard1/1_rss.png’ style=’border: none’ /></a>

launch event – New york, 17 july 2017

previous editions

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OECD – United States • •

Welsh Government invests £8.2m in new ambulance vehicles

The investment will allow the service to purchase:

  • 18 Emergency Ambulances
  • 67 Non Emergency Patient Transport Service (NEPTS)
  • Five specialist Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) vehicles, to replace the existing fleet.
The Welsh Ambulance Service currently has over 700 vehicles in its fleet, which cover an area of more than 8,000 square miles across Wales.

Since 2011, the Welsh Government has invested almost £45m in new ambulance vehicles for the Welsh Ambulance Service.

Health Secretary, Vaughan Gething said: 

“The Welsh Ambulance Service continues to experience a growing demand for its services every year. 

“The £8.2 million investment I’m announcing today will enable the Welsh Ambulance Service to continue upgrading its existing fleet, allowing the service to deliver the best care for people in Wales.

“This will ensure the ambulance service is able to deploy the most appropriate clinician in the most appropriate vehicle, ensuring people receive the quickest response possible.”

Richard Lee, Director of Operations for the Welsh Ambulance Service said: 

“In Wales we’re proud to have some of the most up-to-date and best equipped ambulances to benefit our patients and staff.

“Whether we’re attending emergency calls, taking non-emergency patients to appointments or providing life-saving care at major incidents, it’s vital that we have a modern fleet capable of responding to everyone’s needs.

“We would like to thank the Welsh Government for its continued support as we aim to further improve the services and quality of care we provide for our patients.”

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Welsh Government •

Plan to help improve mobile connectivity in Wales

Although mobile connectivity is the responsibility of the UK Government, the Welsh Government is looking at the powers it has in order to ensure a series of actions are implemented to facilitate improving the service in Wales.

The plan sets out how the Welsh Government will work together with the mobile phone industry and the regulator to improve connectivity.  

There are particular challenges in boosting mobile connectivity in Wales.  For example, data from Ofcom on television masts show that because of the country’s topography Wales needs 67 masts to reach one million people, while in England to reach the same amount of people 12 masts are required, in Northern Ireland it is 25 and Scotland 45.

The series of actions follows a Mobile Roundtable held by the Minister for Skills and Science, Julie James, with mobile providers and the regulator earlier this year.  The plan has been developed in consultation with those at the meeting and others including farming unions, landowners and business organisations.

It focuses on nine key areas where the Welsh Government can use the levers at its disposal and its influence to help improve connectivity and capacity.  The areas include:

  • Planning – Research has been commissioned, due to be completed in the Autumn,  to inform changes to permitted development rights for telecommunications equipment to improve mobile connectivity.  Planning Policy Wales (PPW) will be refreshed to highlight the positive relationship between telecommunications and the economy.  A revised PPW will be published for consultation by Spring 2018.  We will also work with mobile network operators to revise and update the code of best practice and Technical Advice Note (TAN19)
  • Non-domestic rates – Where evidence suggests that a reduction in non-domestic rates would encourage investment the Welsh Government will consider providing non-domestic rates relief on appropriate mobile mast sites.
  • Innovation and emerging technologies – The Welsh Government and mobile network operators will work together to identify opportunities to develop and test innovative technologies in Wales, including 5G. There have already been success stories in Wales in this field, such as the Welsh Government working with EE in the Teifi Valley to extend coverage using small cell technology.
  • Major events and special projects – Build on work already done at the Royal Welsh Show where collaborative working has resulted in a permanent mast at the showground.  The Welsh Government will facilitate relationships between mobile network operators and major event organisers

The Mobile Action Plan will be reviewed regularly and updated as the actions are carried out and progress recorded.

Minister for Skills and Science Julie James said:

“Mobile phone connectivity is becoming increasingly important for both residents and businesses.  We know there are challenges in Wales and that the service needs to be better.  

“This plan outlines what we as a Welsh Government can do to help create the right environment to further improve connectivity in Wales.   I have to be clear that we do not have the main levers as these rest with the UK Government and Ofcom, and it is important to emphasise there is not one single solution to boosting mobile connectivity.    

“Wales’ topography presents many challenges and we need to ensure we strike the right balance between the local economic benefits of improved mobile coverage with the need to safeguard our sensitive landscape.

“We already have good examples of where we have worked with mobile operators to bring about innovative solutions to rural areas, and Wales will continue to play an important role in the support of emerging technologies within the mobile communications sector.

“I’m pleased this plan has come together with the co-operation of the mobile providers and stakeholders.  It is by looking at various options and working together that we can all do this.  

“We are already improving connectivity across Wales with the rollout of Superfast Cymru which has to date provided over 653,000 premises across the country with access to superfast broadband.  While we do not have all the powers to improve mobile connectivity it is only right that we look at what we as a Welsh Government can do.

“I look forward to reporting back on the progress made on this plan.  I intend the first review to take place at the turn of the year.”

Hamish MacLeod, Director of Mobile UK said:

“Mobile UK is pleased to see the publication of the Welsh Government’s Mobile Action Plan, which rightly recognises the urgent need for reform and identifies barriers to effective deployment of mobile infrastructure.

“The Mobile Action Plan commits the Welsh Government to work with the mobile industry, Ofcom and others to deliver effective reform. The challenge now is to realise this ambition and implement the proposals promptly.”

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Welsh Government •