Programme for Government released
Posted on 20 May 2010
The Coalition Government today published the expanded version of their agreement, titled their ‘Programme for Government', full details can be found here.
The Coalition made several commitments relevant to ActSmart subscribers, detailed below:
Retail issues:
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We will introduce, as a first step, an Ombudsman in the Office of Fair Trading who can proactively enforce the Grocery Supply Code of Practice and curb abuses of power, which undermine our farmers and act against the long-term interest of consumers.
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We will introduce honesty in food labelling so that consumers can be confident about where their food comes from and its environmental impact.
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We will give regulators new powers to define and ban excessive interest rates on credit and store cards; and we will introduce a seven-day cooling-off period for store cards.
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We will introduce stronger consumer protections, including measures to end unfair bank and financial transaction charges.
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We will take forward measures to enhance customer service in the private and public sectors
Small business issues:
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We will find a practical way to make small business rate relief automatic.
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We will cut red tape by introducing a ‘one-in, one-out' rule whereby no new regulation is brought in without other regulation being cut by a greater amount.
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We will develop effective proposals to ensure the flow of credit to viable SMEs. This will include consideration of both a major loan guarantee scheme and the use of net lending targets for the nationalised banks.
Planning:
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We will seek to ensure a level playing field between small and large retailers by enabling councils to take competition issues into account when drawing up their local plans to shape the direction and type of new retail development.
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We will rapidly abolish Regional Spatial Strategies and return decision-making powers on housing and planning to local councils, including giving councils new powers to stop ‘garden grabbing'.
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In the longer term, we will radically reform the planning system to give neighbourhoods far more ability to determine the shape of the places in which their inhabitants live, based on the principles set out in the Conservative Party publication Open Source Planning.
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We will publish and present to Parliament a simple and consolidated national planning framework covering all forms of development and setting out national economic, environmental and social priorities
Post Office issues - impacting upon communities, particularly rural:
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We will ensure that Post Offices are allowed to offer a wide range of services in order to sustain the network, and we will look at the case for developing new sources of revenue, such as the creation of a Post Office Bank.
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We will introduce new powers to help communities save local facilities and services threatened with closure, and give communities the right to bid to take over local state-run services.
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We will give Post Office Card account holders the chance to benefit from direct debit discounts and ensure that social tariffs offer access to the best prices available.
