Annual Reports
IEA: The UK is the 14th most free economy in the world, according to research published recently by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal in association with the Institute of Economic Affairs. The UK’s score of 74.8 is 0.7 points higher than last year, reflecting positive steps such as corporate tax rate cuts.
PC&PE: The Environmental Audit Committee has published the Government Response to its Second Report of Session 2012-13: Protecting the Arctic. The Government has rejected calls from MPs to protect the Arctic from risky oil & gas drilling, despite renewed safety concerns following the grounding of a Shell rig in the region.
CCC: Wales has made good progress towards reducing carbon emissions & preparing for climate change, despite a sharp emissions increase in 2010 due to particularly cold winter temperatures, says a report by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC). It also finds Wales’ flood defence budget better protected than England, although this is still unlikely to keep pace with the growing risk of flooding from climate change.
NIA: A new Report from the Assembly Public Accounts Committee has raised concerns that the level of rate debt has almost doubled in the last 5 years rising from £88m in 2006-07 to £160m in 2011-12. A further £53m has been written off since 2008-09.
WAO: The Forestry Commission Wales is in good shape, but challenges remain for its successor if forestry in Wales is to continue to improve, says the Auditor General. FCW has followed previous audit recommendations and developed clear & appropriate priorities. It has also improved its core processes however, planning gaps in areas such as spatial, workforce & financial planning are hampering progress
WAG: The Deputy Minister for Children & Social Services, Gwenda Thomas has welcomed the publication of the Care & Social Services Inspectorate for Wales (CSSIW) Chief Inspector’s annual report 2011-12.
ONS: There have been significant changes to what people can afford to spend during the recession, according to a new report by the Office for National Statistics.
The report, Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK & EU, 2005-2011 says that, although overall levels of severe material deprivation in the UK have changed little in recent years the percentage of people in the UK who say they would be unable to meet an unexpected, but necessary financial expense has markedly increased since the start of the economic downturn, up from 26.6% in 2007 to 36.6% in 2011.
