Leading architects and housing specialists have been appointed to a new Innovation Panel which will look at ways to make sure homes built in future meet the needs of Britain’s aging population. The body will be chaired by Lord Best, the President of the Local Government Association, and will bring together best practice from across Europe in coming up with its proposals.

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A best practice guide issued to English local councils is aiming to strengthen links between the Government’s Planning Portal and planning authorities. The Portal, which was launched in 2002, offers local authorities tools designed to save time, money and effort in dealing with daily planning inquiries and it has seen as having played a key role in supporting authorities’ moves toward electronic working.

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Findings from an independent evaluation of the healthy schools programme, which has been operating for 10 years, show that it is making a significant contribution to participating schools.

The research revealed significant links between achieving and working towards NHSS, and better Ofsted ratings of school effectiveness, lower total and unauthorised pupil absence, higher contextual value added scores, and higher levels of pupil participation in high quality PE.

Read more on NATIONAL HEALTHY SCHOOLS PROGRAMME EVALUATION…