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Reducing Re-Offending
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Paul Goggins):
I have today placed in the Library of the House copies of the "Reducing Re-offending National Action Plan". This fulfils the Government's commitment to reducing re-offending through greater strategic direction and collaborative
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working. The plan aims to address the concerns raised in a number of important reports on the theme of rehabilitation, including the social exclusion unit report on "reducing re-offending by ex-prisoners" and the joint thematic report "Through the prison gate" by Her Majesty's chief inspector of prison and Her Majesty's chief inspector of probation.
Over 60 national action points have been agreed across Government within the key areas to support the rehabilitation of offenders. For each agreed action point, the plan suggests complementary activity for those working at local and regional level to consider. A complementary approach is being developed in Wales led by the correctional services and the Welsh Assembly Government.
The plan has been set within our radical proposals for improving the management of offenders through the creation of a National Offender Management Service (NOMS). The new service is a key building block in achieving integrated service delivery, with end-to-end case management and co-ordinated interventions focused on individual offenders.
The delivery of the Plan will be overseen by a cross-Government board of senior officials, chaired by the chief executive of NOMS, including representatives from key government departments responsible for complementary services such as health, education and training, employment and housing.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
Regional Planning Guidance for the East Midlands
The Minister for Housing and Planning (Keith Hill): My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister is today publishing for public consultation the proposed changes to the draft revised regional planning guidance for the east midlands (RPG8). They follow the public examination into draft revised RPG8 held in November-December 2003.
RPG8 was issued by the Secretary of State on 24 January 2002 to provide a broad development strategy for the east midlands up to 2021. This also represents the spatial element of the east midlands integrated regional strategy (IRS) and provides the framework for meeting the region's development needs in a way that promotes a more sustainable pattern of development.
The current revision makes the guidance more concise, more regionally specific, more focused on delivery and with cross references to national policy rather than repetition. However, the revision is not a complete review and several key parts are not revised, including housing provision figures which are retained from the existing RPG8. These will be reviewed at the next full review of RPG8 when it is re-cast as a regional spatial strategy under the principles set out in the new Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act.
New elements in the draft revision include:
New policies to promote sustainable economic growth consistent with the region's economic strategy produced by the East Midlands Development Agency;
A new regional transport strategy which has been informed by a number of major studies in the region;
Higher targets for improving biodiversity, promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy, and recycling waste
A new approach to dealing with flood risk
Proposals for more detailed sub-regional strategies in parts of the region, including areas of Northamptonshire covered by the Milton Keynes and south midlands study.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister supports the broad thrust of the draft revision and has accepted most of the recommendations of the independent panel, many of which have been made to improve clarity and to eliminate as far as possible any ambiguity in the wording of policies. Among the recommendations that my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister has accepted is the deletion of a geographically based policy indicating general areas where wind energy proposals might be acceptable and the substitution of a criteria-based policy in line with current Government guidelines as expressed in PPS22.
However, my right hon. Friend has not accepted the panel's recommendation to delete a policy requiring a review of the Nottingham-Derby green belt to be undertaken. The panel's view was that the policy was superfluous as PPG2 provides adequate guidance for any review. However, since the original Nottingham-Derby green belt was drawn up in the 1980s there has been no overall strategic review of the green belt, and with the development of planning policy, particularly related to the principles of sustainable development, together with the increasing development pressures in the Nottingham-Derby area, the Deputy Prime Minister considers that there is a need for a strategic review of the green belt carried out by all the affected planning authorities in a single exercise, overseen by the regional assembly as regional planning body. The policy and supporting paragraphs are therefore retained and amended accordingly.
The issue raising most discussion at the public examination related to a policy that proposed a target of a 50 per cent. cut in the predicted growth in traffic without reference to the Government's priority of reducing congestion in urban areas and at key pinch points in the regional road network. The panel rejected this argument and recommended that the policy be retained. The proposed changes, which are endorsed by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport, omit the original target for traffic growth reduction but retain the principle of reducing traffic growth as one of a series of measures encouraging behavioural change, which also includes the principle of reducing congestion.
The panel has also suggested that further indicators be included to measure the effectiveness of policies. These require further discussion with regional stakeholders and views on these will be sought during public consultation. This also applies to the inclusion of a new map, which will illustrate the region's environmental and cultural assets.
I have today written to the east midlands regional assembly with the proposed changes indicating areas where views are particularly sought. There will now be a 12-week period for public consultation on the proposed changes which will end on 8 October 2004.
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Copies of the relevant documents are available in the Libraries of the House and have been provided for all the region's MPs, MEPs and local authorities. Documents are also available on the Government office for the east midlands website http://www.go-em.gov.uk/.
Regional Planning Guidance for Yorkshire and the Humber
The Minister for Housing and Planning (Keith Hill): My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister will publish this week for public consultation proposed changes to the draft revised regional planning guidance for Yorkshire and the Humber (RPG12). They follow the public examination into the selective review of RPG12 held in February 2004.
The panel that held the public examination endorsed the approach taken by the Yorkshire and Humber assembly in the selective review and recommended only modest changes to clarify and refine the document. More radical changes to RPG should await preparation of a regional spatial strategy (RSS),which the assembly is currently working on to prepare a draft by April 2005.
The proposed changes being published this week reflect this approach. They are largely as recommended by the panel and are modest in nature. They also take account of suggestions made in the public consultation last autumn, the sustainability appraisal carried out on draft revised RPG, and to take account of national policy. The main issues addressed in the selective review of RPG and covered by the proposed changes are as follows:
Preparation of regional spatial strategy
The proposed changes clearly set out the timetable and issues to be addressed in the preparation of a new RSS. RSS will build on this selective review of RPG and carry forward a lot of the core strategy. But it will need to look again at a number of important policy areas, such as housing, economic development, waste management and transport priorities. The changes make it clear that this will need to be in the context of the northern way growth strategy.
The panel concluded that draft revised RPG contains appropriate regional and sub regional targets for renewable energy generation to contribute to the national target that renewable energy should provide 10 per cent. of UK electricity supply by 2010 and consistent with the aspiration to reach 20 per cent. nationally by 2020. The proposed changes therefore carry these forward.
The panel recommend a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the region by at least 20 per cent. below 1990 levels by 2010 and by at least 25 per cent. below 1990 levels by 2015. These are consistent with the regional economic strategy, make a positive contribution to national targets and are carried forward in the proposed changes.
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The panel commend work done by YHA, the Environment Agency and local authorities to address flooding issues and consider that revised draft RPG provides an integrated and sustainable regional framework. The proposed changes simply seek to further clarify the policy.
The panel endorse the approach taken in draft revised RPG to the management of municipal waste, including sub-regional targets for recycling/composting and guidance on new facilities that may be required. The proposed changes make a number of detailed changes to clarify the policies and targets. Importantly, they also emphasise the need for urgent, further work for RSS to drive forward the waste management strategy and ensure the delivery of significant numbers of new facilities to allow landfill directive targets to be met.
Public transport accessibility
The panel considers that draft revised RPG includes a sophisticated and innovative public transport accessibility policy which should help achieve spatial planning and transport objectives in an integrated way. The proposed changes clarify how the policy will be implemented.
Strategic transport demand management
The proposed changes carry forward the panel's recommendation that RPG should set out action that local authorities can take immediately on car parking strategies, a range of actions that can be taken in the short to medium term, and a commitment to take forward area-wide charging in the region if and when there is a national framework in place to support it.
Transport investment priorities
The panel considers the list of priorities set out in draft revised RPG to be generally appropriate. They recommend some detailed changes to the way the priorities are presented and to add some management measures (rather than infrastructure improvements). The proposed changes take forward most of these recommendations and ensure that RPG reflects national commitments and Government guidance on the inclusion of regional priorities.
I will write to the chair of the Yorkshire and Humber assembly this week informing him of publication of the proposed changes. Copies of the proposed changes will be put on the government office for Yorkshire and the Humber website and sent to the region's local authorities and all other interested parties. There will be a 10-week period of consultation which will end on Friday 24 September 2004.
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