Hc 59 Well Being Hc 59

The Government's ’Natural Capital Committee', set up to check how far the Government bases its policies on the cost the benefits the UK derives from its natural environment - such as clean air, water, food and recreation - should be put on a permanent statutory footing, the Environmental Audit Committee recommends. The NCC was set up in May 2012 with a three-year remit that ends just before the General Election. It has produced 2 progress reports so far, highlighting gaps in the available data on these factors and calling for a 25-year plan to plug the gaps and start using the information in Government decisions. But the Government has yet to respond in detail to those NCC reports. The environment is just one strand of a wider view of people's well-being, which also addresses people's economic and social circumstances, as well as their view of the satisfaction they get from their lives. In November 2010, the Prime Minister launched a programme to measure well-being to complement economic statistics like ’GDP' in - "measuring our progress as a country". However, more than three years since then, the Committee note, our quality of life is not yet receiving the same attention as those economic metrics. The Committee highlight the links being uncovered in the statistics between people's view of their well-being and their background and circumstances - for example the link between well-being and people's health, marital status or religion. But the MPs warn that the data are not yet sufficiently robust to support a single metric that could encompass well-being and which could be set alongside GDP.

Emissions of a number of airborne pollutants increased in 2013, after being steady between 2010 and 2012 and in a longer term decline before that. The UK failed to meet targets for nitrogen dioxide pollution in 34 of the 43 zones specified in the EU Ambient Air Quality Directive in 2012, resulting in the European Commission launching infraction proceedings against the UK in February 2014 in regard to 16 zones that would not be compliant by 2015. The Committee's report recommends an overarching Environmental Strategy be implemented, to set out strategic principles and good practices; facilitate discussion between central and local government and identify how they can work together and with the wider community; encompass clear environmental assessments; identify work required to fill data gaps in assessments; map appropriate policy levers to environmental areas; and set out how environmental and equality considerations will be addressed in policy areas across Government. The report concludes that the Government should set up an independent body-an 'Office for Environmental Responsibility'-to (i) review the Environment Strategy we advocate; (ii) advise Government on appropriate targets; (iii) advise Government on policies, both those in Government programmes and new ones that could be brought forward to support the environment; (iv) advise Government about the adequacy of the resources (in both central and local government) made available for delivering the Strategy; and (v) monitor and publish performance against the Strategy and its targets.

Marine Conservation Zones can protect our seas from over-fishing and give species and habitats space to recover, ultimately benefiting people whose livelihoods depend on healthy seas. But the Government has been too slow in creating these Zones, and it has failed to get coastal communities and fishermen on board. It is now well over four years since the launch of the programme, yet only 27 of the 127 sites recommended by independent project groups have been designated. Budget reductions at DEFRA mean the Government is currently unable to demonstrate that the Marine Management Organisation - the public body charged with managing the zones - will have the resources needed to manage and enforce the MCZs. The Government must set out a strategy for the management of the 27 MCZs and management plans for individual Zones to demonstrate that they can be enforced. MPs are calling on the Government to bring forward the MCZ programme, so that more Zones are designated in the next phase, due in 2015. Ministers should follow a precautionary principle approach to designating new Zones, according to the Committee, and use the 'best available' data rather than applying the more stringent evidence standards recently introduced by the Government - which require data that is much harder and more expensive to obtain

Where LNPs have been successful, they have demonstrated the benefits of local engagement, harnessing enthusiasm in finding solutions to local priorities. Where they have not been successful, the solution is not to impose additional tasks but to re-energise the unfocussed local commitment. Many LNPs are starved of funding and resources, meaning much of the good work in getting them up and running, is being undone. The whole country-urban as well as rural-need the natural environment protections that LNPs can provide. Rather than leave under-performing LNPs to wither away, the next Government should urgently review LNPs and their funding, and re-energise the initiative.

Books recommended for undergraduate and college libraries listed by Library of Congress Classification Numbers.

Now in a fully revised and fully updated new edition, this comprehensive introduction to the teaching of Physical Education in primary schools is still the only textbook to cover the full sweep of the subject, from policy and curriculum developments to best practice and current debates. Written exclusively by primary Physical Education specialists, with primary school teaching experience, the book highlights the importance of Physical Education in the primary curriculum and the key issues facing primary teachers today, such as inclusion, training needs and the development of creativity. Central to the book are core chapters that examine each functional area common to many primary Physical Education syllabi – including games, dance, gymnastics, athletics and outdoor learning – and give clear, practical guidance on how to teach each topic. This new edition includes three completely new chapters, covering leadership, stakeholder interest in Physical Education delivery, and how to manage transitions. Rooted throughout in sound theory and the latest evidence and research, this book is essential reading for all students, trainee teachers and qualified teachers looking to understand and develop their professional practice in primary Physical Education.

The question of what constitutes the good life has been pondered for millennia. Yet only in the last decades has the study of well-being become a scientific endeavor. This book is based on the idea that we can empirically study quality of life and make cross-society comparisons of subjective well-being (SWB). A potential problem in studying SWB across societies is that of cultural relativism: if societies have different values, the members of those societies will use different criteria in evaluating the success of their society. By examining, however, such aspects of SWB as whether people believe they are living correctly, whether they enjoy their lives, and whether others important to them believe they are living well, SWB can represent the degree to which people in a society are achieving the values they hold dear. The contributors analyze SWB in relation to money, age, gender, democracy, and other factors. Among the interesting findings is that although wealthy nations are on average happier than poor ones, people do not get happier as a wealthy nation grows wealthier.