Compact Week 2012

Thenational awareness week is an annual celebration, which takes place across England to promote and recognise the Compact - the longstanding agreement that sets out shared commitments and guidelines for partnership working between government and the voluntary sector.

The week engages voluntary organisations both locally and nationally, government departments, local authorities and other public sector partners working with the Compact locally or nationally.

To find out more about Compact Week 2012, please visit: www.compactvoice.org.uk/compactweek2012. 2012 REVIEW - AN INVITATION TO RESPOND

"The Wiltshire Compact: 2011 and beyond." was launched a year ago, with the public and voluntary community sectors making FIVE PROMISES about how they will work together, strengthening and improving those relationships to help make Wiltshire a better place for those that live, work, or visit here.

The Compact Board made its own promise that, after a year, it would review how The Compact has worked in Wiltshire.

To do that, the Board launched a three-month review period on 8 October 2012. Please take a moment to consider how The Wiltshire Compact has touched you and your organisation, and how it can be improved (because there's always room for that!) and let me know at compactchair@sky.com, or contact one of the many Champions on our Board, details on our website www.thewiltshirecompact.org.uk.

This review will be open until the first week of January, and we aim to report our conclusions to the Resilient Communities Partnership (on behalf of The Wiltshire Assembly) at that time. The feedback itself will drive what happens next, so do please get in touch.

The plan sets out a new 18 month programme for the department that will deliver radical decentralising and transparency reforms that put citizens and councils in control of their communities. It is one of the first fundamental Structural Reform Plans for making departments accountable for the implementation of the reforms set out in the Coalition agreement.

The publication was Updated in March 2012

With nearly one in five of the whole population expected to be aged 65 or over by 2020, Ministers are determined to ensure elderly, vulnerable people get the help they need to live independent lives, and can be safe in the knowledge that they won't get ripped off by dodgy dealers and fraudsters.

So Mr Shapps has given £51 million towards Home Improvement Agencies, who will provide help and advice including:

housing advice, including help to move to more suitable accommodation if needed
handyperson services, including small home repairs, home safety and security adaptations
energy efficiency advice; and
arranging for adaptations and home repairs to be made, including grab rails, stair-lifts and major work such as ground floor extensions.
These agencies also offer hospital discharge services - ensuring older people leaving hospital care are given the support they need to be able to recuperate in the comfort of their own homes.

For those needing adaptations to their homes an additional £20 million for Disabled Facilities Grants has been confirmed - bringing the total to £200 million this year alone.

Also announced is £1.5 million funding for FirstStop, which provides independent advice to older people looking to plan their future housing needs - whether in their own homes, or in care homes. This is in addition to work already underway to look at new and innovative ways in which elderly people can fund their future care needs without having to resort to selling their property.

And to plan for the needs of older households in the future, Mr Shapps has announced plans for councils to consider the needs of their ageing residents in their local housing plans, by planning the numbers of new homes built  to ensure they include features that meet the needs of older people, such as wider doors for wheelchairs and walk-in showers.