East Midlands

• Lincolnshire and Nottingham City are participating in a national 'Parenting Implementation Project' testing out new approaches to commissioning - particularly in relation to work with fathers

• a total of 234 children’s centres were designated over Phases One and Two (2004-2008) in the East Midlands

Health and Well Being

• there are four NHS walk-in centres in the East Midlands, located in Nottingham, Derby, Loughborough and Stapleford
• the NHS East Midlands Strategic Health Authority comprises the counties of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Rutland. It covers a population of over 4.3 million people and 23 NHS organisations

• funding for the region is up from £3.5bn in 2003-04 to £5.9bn in 2008-09

• a new £333m Private Finance Initiative (PFI) funded hospital for Derby is due for completion in 2008 and is to open to the public in early 2009. The first phase of relocation has been completed in line with planned expectations
• the £320m rebuild of King's Mill Hospital and Mansfield Community Hospital is due for completion in 2011. The state of the art hospital facilities will serve the people of Mansfield, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Newark and the surrounding towns and villages
• the £30m PFI-funded Danetre Hospital in Daventry opened to its first patients in September 2006

• the new £12.8m Charnwood Health & Social Care Centre is due to open in early 2009. This development is funded through the Leicester Local Improvement Finance Trust Public/Private Partnership

Crime

• Derby, Leicester and Nottingham have been named as three of 40 priority Respect Action Areas in England, for being councils who have a strong record in tackling anti-social behaviour. £1.6m was allocated to the region in 2007-08 for parenting programmes and family intervention projects

• Over £5m has been allocated in 2008-09 through the Stronger Safer Communities element of the Area Based Grant allocations for the region’s Local Area Agreements (Derby, Derbyshire, Leicester, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire and Rutland)

• £315,000 has been allocated across the region to support domestic violence work

• £130,000 was allocated through the Tackling Violent Crime Programme in 2007-08 (Nottingham, Leicester, Boston, Bassetlaw, Mansfield and Charnwood)

• the region’s police forces were given £3.8m in 2007-08 through the Basic Command Unit Fund to assist local partnership working and deliver crime reduction activity

Transport

• the Local Transport Settlement announcement made on 27 November 2007 allocated £131m in 2008-09 for the region for smaller (sub-£5m) integrated transport and maintenance schemes (funding for larger schemes is made on a case-by-case basis throughout the year). As assessed by GOEM and the Department for Transport (DfT) in 2006, the East Midlands has six 'excellent' and three 'good' second (2006-11) Local Transport Plans
• major transport schemes progressed recently include Oakham Bypass in Rutland, opened in January 2007 with £9.3m of DfT funding; the £11.7m Derby Inner Ring Road Integrated Maintenance Scheme which opened in March 2007; Gedling Integrated Transport Scheme in Nottinghamshire, which opened in May 2007 with £7.5m from DfT; the £13.6m A158 Burgh Le Marsh Bypass in Lincolnshire which opened in November 200 7; and the new M1 junction 29A, opened in June 2008, part of a £14.5m scheme giving access to the Markham Vale Regeneration Zone in Derbyshire. A number of other schemes are being progressed by local authorities including the £10.4m A6096 Ilkeston-Awsworth Link in Derbyshire and the £18.2m Upperton Road Viaduct scheme in Leicester and the £69.8m A1073 Spalding to Eye Improvement which commenced construction in February 2008
• the Three Cities/Counties Transport Innovation Fund project, modelling and testing alternative road pricing schemes to tackle congestion in the sub-region, reported in April 2008. The authorities announced in May that, although they had decided not to submit a bid to DfT for further funding to implement a road pricing scheme, they would continue to work together to develop proposals to tackle congestion
• the Secretary of State for Transport has awarded programme entry approval for Phase Two (lines Two and Three) of the Nottingham Express Transit tram with Government funding, in the form of PFI credits, capped at £437m. Transport Works Act Order powers for Phase Two were applied for by Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottingham City Council. Following the public objection period a Public Inquiry was held in late 2007. The Inspector's Report is currently being considered by the Secretary of State for Transport. Subject to all processes being completed successfully, construction of the new lines could start in 2010
• the East Midlands rail franchise was awarded to Stagecoach Midlands Rail Ltd in June 2007 and commenced in November 2007. The franchise will deliver a new hourly service between Kettering and London (with agreement to extend this service to Corby from December 2008); a nine per cent increase in peak capacity into and out of London St Pancras by 2010; a new station at East Midlands Parkway served by two trains an hour each way from December 2008; a daily direct service between Lincoln and London; faster journeys and improved performance
• the new InterCity East Coast (East Coast Main Line) franchise was awarded to NXEC Trains Ltd, a subsidiary of National Express Group, in August 2007 (commenced November 2007). NXEC has proposed extra train services and more carriages to deliver increased capacity from December 2010; a two-hourly direct London - Lincoln service (from December 2010); faster journeys and better performance
• the Highways Agency is currently implementing a £345m scheme to widen the M1 motorway from dual-3 to dual-4 lanes, between junctions 25 (Derby/Nottingham) and 28 (Mansfield). Work started in late October 2007 and is due to complete during 2010
• the draft East Midlands Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) for the period to 2026 was issued for consultation by the East Midlands Regional Assembly in September 2006, with an Examination-in-Public (EiP) being held between May and July 2007. The EiP panel published its report in November 2007. After considering the panel's recommendations, the next step is for the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to publish proposed changes to the RSS in July with a 12-week consultation period. It is hoped that a final version of the RSS could be published before the end of the year 

Social Inclusion and Regeneration

• between 2001 and 2008 a total of nearly £183m was allocated from the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund to help local authorities to improve services, narrowing the gap between the East Midlands' deprived areas and the rest of the country
• approximately £147m was allocated from New Deal for Communities, which aims to bridge the gap between some of the poorest members of society and the rest of Britain. In the East Midlands, this money has gone to Derwent in Derby, Braunstone in Leicester and Radford & Hyson Green in Nottingham