News in brief

l Local government employers and unions have agreed terms of
reference for the new commission to look at pay and rewards for
local government services staff. Establishing the commission was
one of the key proposals made by Acas as part of the two-year pay
settlement to end the council workers’ dispute earlier this
year.

l Trade and industry secretary Patricia Hewitt last week accepted a
challenge from Remploy, the UK’s largest employer of disabled
people, to double the opportunities in all workplaces for the
estimated one million disabled people who want to work but are
currently unemployed.

l Of the 4,700 care leavers aged 19 in England, nearly half were
living independently or in supported accommodation such as hostels,
lodgings and trainer flats, according to the latest care leavers
statistical bulletin. However, councils had failed to keep in touch
with nearly a quarter of all care leavers. Forty-one per cent
(2,600) of care leavers aged 16-18 achieved at least one GCSE or
GNVQ, up 4 per cent from 2000-1 but still well down on the 95 per
cent of non-looked- after children.

l Cabinet Office minister Barbara Roche has announced £350,000
for voluntary sector projects aimed to help homeless families out
of bed and breakfast hotels. The government is to consult in the
New Year on options to strengthen homelessness legislation so that
homeless families only use bed and breakfast accommodation in
emergencies and for no longer than six weeks.