Policy Announcements, Wednesday 21 February

• The Chief Pharmaceutical Officers from England, Scotland and Wales came together today to reveal plans for historic changes to the regulation of the pharmacy profession. The measures, which form part of the Government White Paper on professional regulation, will see the formation of two separate bodies to oversee pharmacy. One organisation would act as a regulator and a second would be responsible for leading the profession. It is envisaged that the two new bodies will take the form of a General Pharmaceutical Council (GPC) to regulate the profession and a Royal College to provide leadership.
• The Government today published landmark proposals on how to regulate health professionals and ensure patient safety in the UK. As part of this, all health professionals will be required to prove their fitness to practice every 5 years and there are plans for a radical overhaul of the processes for death certification.  
• Gordon Brown has been urged to put the voluntary sector "at the heart of his new agenda" if he becomes Labour leader. The National Council for Voluntary Organisations said the chancellor should make charities a top priority for his first 100 days in power. The organisation said that priorities should be securing sustainable funding and ensuring government accountability to the sector through parliament.

Conservatives

• David Cameron has challenged the prime minister over pensions protection following a High Court ruling critical of the government. The Conservative leader said 125,000 people were left with little or nothing after the collapse of their pensions schemes, and asked if the government would work with opposition parties to find an "affordable and sustainable" solution.

Liberal Democrats

• The Liberal Democrats will tomorrow call on the Government to ensure that all coastal pathways are accessible to the public. The call from their Defra Spokesperson, Lord Greaves, comes as Natural England meets to discuss implementation of the Country and Rights of Way Act 2000.
• Lib Dem Shadow Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, Don Foster MP tabled a motion in Parliament criticising Sky for misleading advertising. Sky’s four-page print advert was censured by the Advertising Standards Authority for stating that terrestrial TV was to be switched off, when in fact consumers would still be able to obtain terrestrial services on the Freeview platform.