Annual Reports
FRC: The Financial Reporting Council has published a collection of essays entitled Comply or Explain: 20th Anniversary of the UK Corporate Governance Code to mark the 20th anniversary of the Cadbury Code, which introduced the UK’s ‘comply or explain’ approach to best practice in the organisation of corporate boardrooms and their relations with shareholders.
The FRC is responsible for promoting high quality corporate governance & reporting to foster investment. They set the UK Corporate Governance and Stewardship Codes as well as UK standards for accounting, auditing and actuarial work.
Press release & links ~ CIPD: Two fifths of employees don’t believe business values are worth the paper they are written on
HEFCE: The projected performance for the higher education sector in England for the period to 2014-15 is sound overall, although this is heavily dependent on the sector achieving its student recruitment targets.
Recent information from UCAS & higher education institutions (HEIs) indicates that 2012-13 student demand is lower than forecast by the sector, and that some institutions are recruiting fewer students than expected. This suggests that enrolments will also be down, and increases the risk that financial performance for these institutions will be poorer than anticipated.
Higher Education Funding Council England do not yet know whether the reduction in enrolments is a one-off or permanent, and we will monitor this closely over the coming year.
Higher Education Funding Council England do not yet know whether the reduction in enrolments is a one-off or permanent, and we will monitor this closely over the coming year.
DfE: New figures that show which of England’s bathing waters have met strict quality standards have been published by Defra. The figures show that 93% of England’s bathing waters met the minimum European water quality standard, with over 58% meeting the tighter guideline standard following one of the wettest summers on record. The original EU Bathing Water Directive will be replaced by the revised Directive in 2015.
A number of bathing water sites failed to meet the required standards. This is due to some waters in England remaining vulnerable to the effects of very heavy rainfall as pollution is washed from cities & rural areas into our rivers & streams.
AS: Re-offending is a continuing problem in Scotland. A range of bodies provide many services to reduce re-offending, but there is a mismatch between what is delivered and what is known to work.
Reconviction rates have remained relatively static over the past decade, and 30% of offenders are reconvicted within one year. In 2010/11, 9,500 people convicted (one in five of convicted offenders) had at least ten previous convictions.
Reconviction rates have remained relatively static over the past decade, and 30% of offenders are reconvicted within one year. In 2010/11, 9,500 people convicted (one in five of convicted offenders) had at least ten previous convictions.
The Audit Scotland report says Community Justice Authorities have struggled to achieve their role of improving joint working, due to the way they were set up and inflexible funding. It says the Scottish Government should review how offenders are managed in the community to ensure that: those working with offenders have clear and shared goals; there is clear accountability; and arrangements promote what is effective in reducing re-offending.
