By Claire West
Expanding apprenticeships, driving up local economic growth and creating a business bank to help small & medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are all key parts of the latest government business plans published today.
The plans set out departments' priorities for the remainder of this Parliament, the specific actions they will take, including start and end dates, and the expenditure for each remaining year of the current spending review period.
Key actions over the remainder of this Parliament include:
creating a Business Bank to bring together support for SMEs
introducing the Single Tier Pension and Bereavement Support Payment
increasing the value of the Pupil Premium to £900
training 2,000 exceptional graduates a year as teachers
introducing, for the first time, a cap on the costs people will pay towards their care
continued funding of an additional 40,000 adult apprenticeship places focusing on the young unemployed
opening the next wave of free schools
delivering superfast broadband to 90% of premises in every county
strengthening the role of the Care Quality Commission and introducing a new Chief Inspector of Hospitals
delivering further City Deals
legislating for the London-Birmingham Phase of High Speed 2
continuing to deliver the national ambition on dementia diagnosis
Launching this year's Business Plans, Minister for Government Policy, Oliver Letwin said:
We have taken some radical steps in the last 12 months to transform our public services, tailoring services around the needs of the user rather than expecting everyone to accept an expensive one size fits all solution. The delivery of free schools and academies, the launch of Universal Credit, our reforms to the NHS and the launch of the Green Deal all highlight real reform which is having a positive impact on people's lives.
David Laws, the Minister of State at the Cabinet Office added:
In the Mid-Term Review, the coalition government set out an ambitious implementation programme for the remainder of this Parliament. These Business Plans reflect those key commitments, setting out exactly what we are going to do and by when.
