Latest Publications

Fire and Rescue National Framework 2012

Date Posted: 20/02/2012

Description:

Under section 21 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 (“the 2004 Act”) the Welsh Ministers must prepare and consult on a Fire and Rescue National Framework setting out priorities and objectives for Fire and Rescue Authorities (FRAs). This consultation provides a draft of the proposed Fire and Rescue National Framework for 2012 onwards (the draft Framework) (see Annex A). Welsh Government invite consultation comment here.

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Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Authority Strategic Plan 2010 / 2015

Date Posted: 20/02/2012

Description:

This plan outlines the strategic vision for Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Authority for the next five years. It focuses on improving the safety of communities, continuous improvement, making Mid and West Wales a safer place to live, work or visit, and risk management.

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The Impact of the Recession on Household Spending

Date Posted: 21/02/2012

Description:

The article contains analysis looking at how the aggregate current price and volume of household spending has changed and then looks at how the changes were caused by comparing discretionary and non–discretionary household spending.

It does this by looking at two measures of household spending:

• current prices expenditure, which is the value spent, and
• chained volume measures expenditure which takes account of changing prices  as a result of inflation.

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Measuring inequalities, Trends in mortality and life expectancy in Wales

Date Posted: 21/02/2012

Description:

Health inequalities are not inevitable and are not simply a matter of chance but are strongly influenced by the actions of individuals, governments and stakeholders. In 1980, the Black report demonstrated that although health in the UK had improved since the introduction of the welfare state there were widespread inequalities.

Reducing health inequalities has been a priority for government in Wales since devolution and remains a key theme within the Public Health Framework, Our healthy future. The Welsh Government’s Strategic Action Plan for reducing inequities in health, Fairer health outcomes for all, sets out a systematic approach to achieve greater health equity.

The first part of this profile examines and compares different types of life expectancy, and their trend over time. For the first time, healthy life expectancy (HLE) and disability free life expectancy (DFLE), both relating to quality of life, have been produced at the local level and by deprivation fifths in Wales. The second part concentrates on mortality trends for the main causes of death, and for mortality relating to alcohol and smoking. This allows an analysis of patterns of inequalities by cause of death, sex and over time.

Publication(s):

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Fairer Health Outcomes For All, Reducing Inequities in Health Strategic Action Plan

Date Posted: 21/02/2012

Description:

This document examines the health and wellbeing inequities that exist across Wales. These gaps in health and wellbeing have been increasing over the past 20 years. This plan sets out how the Welsh Government intends to improve health and wellbeing, and to reduce health inequities to ensure that where a person lives or their social circumstance, does not lead to a lesser quality of life and a premature death.

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Child Development at Age Seven in Wales: Analysis of the Millennium Cohort Study

Date Posted: 21/02/2012

Description:

The UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) includes an overrepresentation of children living in Wales. The  Welsh Government augmented funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to document the development of children across the board, with a special focus on social disadvantage. The cohort has been followed so far in four surveys since the year of their birth in 2000-1. At the fourth survey in 2008, when the children were seven-years-old, interviews were carried out with just over 2,000 families in Wales. This report updates analyses of the factors associated with child development in Wales that had already been examined in the age three and age five surveys, and elaborates material that has been contributed to the Welsh Government’s 2011 Children and Young People’s Wellbeing Monitor.

The report presents an analysis of the factors associated with child development in Wales at the age of seven. The MCS is a birth cohort study following the lives of around 19,000 children born in the UK in 2000/01. Four surveys of the children have been carried out so far - at age nine months, three, five and seven years.This report details the extent to which variations in child outcomes could be explained in terms of family circumstances and parenting practice in the pre-school years.

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Monitoring poverty and social exclusion 2011

Date Posted: 05/03/2012

Description:

Each report, using official government data, is built around a set of 50 indicators. The analysis covers a wide range of issues, ranging from low income, worklessness and debt, to ill-health, poor education and problems in communities.

This report presents the legacy that was left to the Coalition Government by its predecessor, and examines the current Government's priorities for action. While many of the indicators show the ongoing effects of the recession and subsequent low economic growth, the report also looks much further back, analysing longer-term trends.

Key points

• In the year to 2009/10, the child poverty rate fell to 29%, the second fall in two years. Child poverty fell by around one-seventh under the previous Labour Government.
• The poverty rate for working-age adults without dependent children rose both in 2009/10 and over the last decade. It now stands at 20%.
• The pensioner poverty rate, at 16%, is now around half the rate it was in 1997.
• By mid-2011, six million people were unemployed, lacking but wanting work or working part-time because no full time job was available. Though no higher than the previous year, this was 2 million higher than in 2004.
• On a range of education indicators at ages 11, 16 and 19, more pupils are reaching expected standards than in previous years, continuing long-term positive trends. Although closing slowly, the gaps between attainment levels of those on free school meals and other children are smaller than in previous years.
• The proportion of households in fuel poverty has risen significantly in the last few years. Almost all households in the bottom tenth by income are in fuel poverty, as are half of households in the second bottom tenth.
• Changes to the tax credit system mean that an additional 1.4m working households on low incomes now face marginal effective tax rates of over 70%.
• The number of households accepted as homeless in England rose in 2010/11 for the first time since 2003/04 and now stands at 65,000. The number of court orders for mortgage repossessions in England and Wales rose to 21,000 in the first half of 2011, the first significant rise for three years.

Publication(s):

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Monitoring poverty and social exclusion in Wales 2011

Date Posted: 05/03/2012

Description:

This is the third update of Monitoring poverty and social exclusion in Wales. It is set against the Welsh Government's stated commitment to end child poverty by 2020. After looking at the mixed results of policy over the last ten years, it examines how far higher employment might take Wales towards its goal - and what its wider implications might be.

The study examines:

• Poverty rates amongst adults, children and pensioners;
• Under-employment;
• Qualification levels;
• The effects of higher employment on child poverty.

Publication(s):

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Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Authority DRAFT Child Poverty Strategy 2012-13

Date Posted: 07/03/2012

Description:

The Welsh Government recognises that public authorities play a crucial role in reducing child poverty and specifically names the fire and rescue service as one of these contributing public bodies in section 6 of The Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010. The Measure places a duty on the named Welsh Authorities to produce a child poverty strategy and to demonstrate how they intend to improve the life chances of children and young people experiencing poverty and deprivation.

In line with the over-riding objective of Mid and West Wales Firs and Rescue Service to protect and support the communities they serve, the organisation recognises the importance of targeted interventions to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty and improve outcomes for young people in both health and education. The Measure details 13 broad aims which reflect back onto the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The Measure specifies that the public authorities have a commitment to delivering against one or more of the 13 broad aims. Those set out below are those which Mid and West Wales Fire & Rescue Service can engage with most effectively:

• Broad Aim 6: To support parenting of children.
• Broad Aim 9: To ensure that all children grow up in safe and cohesive communities
• Broad Aim 13: To help young people participate effectively and responsibly in the life of their communities

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ACCESS DENIED - Transport poverty in Wales

Date Posted: 09/03/2012

Description:

The rising cost of transport and the inadequacy of our public transport system means people feel excluded and isolated, unable to access opportunities, from jobs to healthcare, that many take for granted.

For decades transport policy has focused on the needs of motorists; and the location of essential services such as schools, hospitals, employment opportunities, retail outlets and leisure and recreation opportunities have often been planned on the assumption that everyone has access to personal transport. This can be a particular problem in rural areas, where jobs and services are more widely dispersed, but is also an issue faced in more built up areas too. The post-industrial make up of the economy in parts of Wales has meant many are forced to travel outside of their communities to find work.

To overcome barriers to accessing essential goods and services, car ownership can seem to many to be a lifestyle essential but, as fuel prices rise and become more volatile, people are increasingly being priced out of car ownership or forced into debt. More than this, a quarter of households in Wales (over 300,000) already have no car, including half of all lone parents and two thirds of single pensioners, and many more people find public transport unaffordable, inaccessible and inappropriate to their needs. All this underlines the complexity of transport poverty but, unlike fuel poverty, there is no officially accepted definition or measure of transport poverty and no UK or Welsh Government targets to eradicate this burden.

However it is important to note that these figures are just one indicator of the situation. Transport poverty is a much bigger issue than simply those finding rising car costs a strain; it also affects people who cannot afford a car at all, or who do not have access to a car for other reasons, and for whom the available public transport may be inadequate or costly. Government should consider how best to identify and assess transport needs and outcomes, before evaluating options for addressing the problem.

This document discusses some of the far reaching impacts of transport poverty on people’s lives.

Publication(s):

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