Annual Reports

AG: The Attorney General has published HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate’s report on the Serious Fraud Office.   The inspection found significant process failures & other weaknesses, which the agency needs to address to improve performance.  

The Inspectorate also identifies strengths, for example in analysis & presentation of evidence.  The report makes 8 recommendations, all of which the new Director, David Green, has accepted.
Press release & links
 
WAO: Earlier this year, the Wales Audit Office released a detailed report into NHS finances in Wales.  This update report shows that NHS bodies have struggled to manage within their current resource limits in the first half of the year.
Press release & links
 
PC&PEGovernment's lack of willingness to clarify & open up process for award – and forfeiture – of honours doing nothing to restore public confidence.   In The Honours System: Further Report published recently, the Commons Public Administration Committee (PASC) rejects the government’s response to its recent report on the honours system. 
 
The main report, The Honours System (published on 29 August 2012) set out the reforms the Committee considers necessary to increase public confidence that honours are awarded to the most deserving recipients and that the honours system is open & fair to all.
Press release & links
 
OfstedStrong leadership at every level is critical if England wants to have a world class education & skills system, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills said last week. Launching his first Annual Report, Sir Michael Wilshaw said that leadership in schools, in colleges and in local authorities was ‘key to driving up standards and ensuring all young people get the good education they deserve’.
Press release & links ~ IfL comments on Ofsted’s annual report
 
JRF: The extent of in-work poverty was ‘laid bare’ in a new Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) report last week, which highlights the insecurity faced by millions of working people. The annual Monitoring Poverty report, written by the New Policy Institute (NPI), highlights the dynamic nature of poverty, caused in the main by people moving in & out of jobs, and an underemployed workforce.
Press release & links
 
TUC: TUC General Secretary, Brendan Barber, has commented on new official figures published last week which show that over 3m people are under-employed across the UK.
Press release & links
 
TUC: There was a sharp divide in the positions taken by fund managers last year, with a small number backing 85% of company resolutions and a small minority supporting 25% or less, according to the latest TUC Fund Manager Voting survey published last week.
 
Remuneration remains the issue most likely to be opposed by investors, though bank remuneration reports actually received strong support. The survey shows encouraging progress in the public disclosure of fund managers' voting records, with 26 of the 28 survey respondents now making at least some voting data publicly available.
Press release & links
 
IFS: In this week’s Autumn Statement the Chancellor may have to abandon one of his fiscal targets – that debt should be falling in 2015–16.  He may also need to announce yet more spending cuts or tax increases for the next parliament in order to continue to meet his other fiscal target.
 
This is the headline conclusion of a new report by researchers at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which adjusts the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR’s) March 2012 forecasts for the economy and the public finances in the light of new developments over the last few months.
Press release ~ Autumn Statement 2012: More fiscal pain to come? ~ CBI Autumn Statement submission to Chancellor ~ IPPR: The rich will not 'shoulder the greatest burden' after the Autumn Statement
 
DCMSPlaying fields throughout the country are being protected thanks to Sport England’s role in the planning process, figures have revealed. Local councils have to consult the organisation about proposed developments that would affect a sports field. Sport England figures show 94% of the 1,460 completed planning applications they were involved in during 2010-11 resulted in better or safeguarded sports provision.
Press release & links
 
HO: More action on gang & youth violence has been announced a year after riots devastated the UK. The government has published an update on the Ending Gang and Youth Violence report detailing progress and setting out the next steps.
Press release ~ Ending gang & youth violence report - one year on
 
DWP: The Government figures show that at least 56% of the Work Programme scheme’s earliest participants have come off benefits, with 19% spending at least 6 consecutive months off benefits. Industry analysis of the programme shows the taxpayer pays significantly less for each participant on the Work Programme than under previous schemes, like the Future New Deal, where providers were paid up front regardless of whether they delivered results.
Press release & links ~ CBI responds to Work Programme data ~ NIESR: Research on the Work Programme ~ TUC: Fewer than 1 in 25 have a found long-term job through Work Programme ~ ONS: Underemployed workers up 1m since onset of downturn
 
FSA: The Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) has published its 2011 annual report.
Press release & links
 
PC&PE: The Environmental Audit Committee has published the report of its inquiry into Measuring Well-being & Sustainable Development: Sustainable Development Indicators.  The Government should reconsider its proposal to drop the 'environmental equality' Sustainable Development Indicator and review each of the other proposed SDIs to see how they might capture the range of values for how they affect people’s lives, not just the average.
Press release & links
 
NHS Confed: NHS Chief Executive, Mike Farrar says King’s Fund report on health policy under the coalition government is ‘a fair & reasonable report card on the NHS performance and it is important to acknowledge successes to patients and staff’
Press release & links
Spotlight on women at Serco – Anita’s story