A leading London council unveiled plans to launch a flagship programme to combat domestic violence and help affected families, after receiving unanimous support at its council meeting on Wednesday night.
 
Following on from its hugely successful Family Recovery Programme and Your Choice Gang Programme, Westminster Council will launch a campaign to tackle the root causes of domestic abuse by taking a whole family approach, which will offer assistance to vulnerable women who are most at risk and help to young people for whom this is a reality at home.
 
One of the key proposals being considered includes the establishment of a domestic violence court, which would exclusively hear domestic violence cases and speed up the rate at which they are heard.

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Westminster City Council is urging local authorities across the capital to adopt a pioneering literacy scheme that helps rough sleepers to improve their reading skills.
 
The “Yes. You can read” scheme, which has seen dozens of rough sleepers learning  to read in Westminster, has this week gained support from London Mayor, Boris Johnson, who is encouraging other local authorities to follow Westminster's lead.
 
Through the ‘Yes we can Read’ phonics programme, which has been rolled out across 15 hostels, anyone who can read fluently can teach a non or poor reader to read in less than six months. 
 
Under an earlier pilot scheme – which ran in five hostels - 19 people started learning to read through regular sessions running five times a week for around 20 minutes. The council now wants more people who have come off the street to take advantage of this free service. It is also calling for more volunteers to join the programme.

Cllr Daniel Astaire, Westminster Council’s cabinet member for adult services and health, said: “Some people underestimate what a difference being able to read and write can impact on somebody’s life.
 
"Being literate not only provides a source of enjoyment through reading but is a core life skill when it comes to practicalities. Anybody who has some time to spare should get involved and make a real difference to the lives of those less fortunate than themselves." 

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Local library users can now check whether their next must-read book is in stock at the touch of a button, after Westminster Council launched its new LibraryAnywhere mobile phone.

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Having taken the lead in getting Oxford Street back up and running, Westminster Council has also taken full advantage of the unfortunate flooding by bringing forward scheduled road works.

The carriageway on the famous high street was due to undergo resurfacing later this year after what is expected to be one of the busiest summers on record.

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Westminster Council is today celebrating a resounding success as the Department for Education's secondary school league tables are published.

Having risen from close to the bottom of the list just five years ago, Westminster's pupils' average achievement of five or more GCSEs now stands at 63.1%, which is 4.2% higher than the national average.

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