Mar312017

Policy paper: Marine planning: East Marine Plans three-year progress report

DEFRA
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This report reviews the progress made from 2 April 2014 to 1 April 2017 towards achieving the objectives set out in the East Inshore and Offshore Marine Plans. It also reviews the progress made against the high level marine objectives set out in the overall UK Marine Policy Statement.

Marine planning is the approach to managing the seas around England introduced by the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009. There are 11 marine plan areas in the UK. Marine plans are intended to inform and guide marine users and regulators, managing the sustainable development of marine industries, such as wind farms and fishing, alongside the need to conserve and protect marine species and habitats. Marine plans contribute to the UK objective of having clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse oceans and seas.

The East Inshore and East Offshore Marine Plans were published in April 2014. The inshore area has a coastline that stretches from Flamborough Head in Yorkshire to Felixstowe town in Suffolk. The offshore area covers from 12 nautical miles out to maritime borders with the Netherlands, Belgium and France. They are monitored and reviewed every three years.

Mar312017

Barbara Keeley responds to CLG select committee social care report

Labour
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Barbara Keeley
MP, Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Minister for Social Care, commenting on
the CLG select committee report in to social care, said:

“This report is yet more evidence of government failure on social care.

"With less than 10 per cent of directors of adult social care confident
they will be able to fulfil their statutory duty to provide care this coming
year, it’s clear that the Government simply has not done enough to give social
care the funding it needs.

“The
underfunding of social care is hitting the care work force with nearly half of
all care staff on zero-hours contracts and hundreds of thousands of them
scandalously earning less than the living wage. And as the cuts to budgets
bite, we are seeing the number of people caring for family and friends unpaid
going up faster than population growth. This is bad for the family carers and
can put great strain on families. 

"The
Government should heed the recommendations from the committee and make sure
that their upcoming Green Paper does not rule any future funding options out.
 We need social care to be put on a long term sustainable financial
footing and we need an end to this on-going funding crisis.”