Annual Reports
DH: The Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, recently published his Annual Report for 2006, On the State of Public Health, in which he reviews key health problems & developments and calls for action in five key areas:
* improving levels of hand hygiene in hospitals
* tackling the present crisis in organ shortages for transplantation
* reducing the risk of radiation overdoses during cancer treatment
* taking steps to increase the number of women in the most senior positions in medicine
* conducting more research to establish the reasons why 500 babies die each year despite starting the process of birth apparently healthy
Press release ~ On the state of the public health: Annual report of the Chief Medical Officer 2006 ~ Securing Good Health for the Whole Population ~ National Patient Safety Agency ~ Become a donor ~ NHS Organ Donor Register ~ Royal College of Radiologists ~ NHS Litigation Authority
FSCS: The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), the UK’s fund of last resort for customers of regulated financial services firms, paid almost £150m in compensation during 2006/07 while improving its service to consumers, according to its annual report.
FSCS completed more than 31,200 claims and spent just under £27.2m on management expenses, compared to a forecast for the year of completing 28,150 claims within a budget of £29.37m.
Press release ~ FSCS 2006/07 Annual Report ~ CP07/5: Financial Services Compensation Scheme Funding Review
MoJ: The Council on Tribunals' 2006-07 Annual Report has been published, providing an account of the Council's work in the reporting year from April 2006 to March 2007.
In his preface the Chairman of the Council, Lord Newton of Braintree, refers to the year's most welcome news - the appearance of the Tribunal, Courts and Enforcement (TCE) Bill, the legislation needed to complete the tribunals reform programme, which began with the Leggatt Report 2001, followed by the White Paper 'Transforming Public Services' in 2004.
Press release ~ Annual Report for 2006-2007 ~ Tribunal, Courts and Enforcement (TCE) Bill ~ Leggatt Report ~ White Paper: 'Transforming Public Services'
P&HSO: In her 40th anniversary Annual Report Putting Principles into Practice, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Ann Abraham, calls for public bodies to put the customer at the centre of public services, using her six Principles of Good Administration. Many complaints investigated by the Ombudsman show a failure to follow the Principles, which have been welcomed across Government and the NHS.
Ms Abraham reported on 2,502 investigations over the year ending 30 March 2007, of which 1,363 related to government departments and a range of other public bodies in the UK (parliamentary), and 1,139 to the NHS in England (health).
Press release ~ Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Annual Report 2006-07 Putting principles into practice ~ Six Principles of Good Administration ~ Making things better? A report on the reform of the NHS complaints procedure in England ~
ECGD: The Exports Credits Guarantee Department, the UK's official export credit agency, today published its Annual Review and Resource Accounts 2006-07, showing it provided £1.8bn (GBP) of support to UK exporters & UK investors undertaking business overseas.
ECGD earned £55m of premium and recorded a net operating income of £404m, compared to £88m and £1.7bn respectively in the previous financial year.
Monitor: Transparent & robust regulation is helping the rapidly-expanding foundation trust sector deliver significant benefits to patients, Dr William Moyes, Executive Chairman of Monitor, the independent regulator of NHS foundation trusts has claimed.
Writing in Monitor’s annual report, he said there was “increasing evidence” that NHS foundation trusts were offering better-quality, more-responsive services than non-foundation trusts.
He added there was “clear evidence” of Monitor’s light-touch but robust regulatory regime assisting that development. And it was therefore essential that Government proposals for statutory registration operated by the proposed new regulator Ofcare did not result in confusion, duplication or undue bureaucracy.
NAO: The evasion of road tax by motorists and motorcyclists has increased significantly, the National Audit Office has reported, with Vehicle Excise Duty evasion running at some 5% (£217 million), up from 3.6% (£147 million) the previous year.
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency has little prospect of achieving its evasion target of 2.5% by December 2007 and also has little chance of meeting its related Gershon efficiency target to generate - through reduction in evasion - an additional £70 million in revenue each year by the end of March 2008.
The survey also estimated that 37% of motorcyclists are unlicensed, an increase from 30% in the previous year. Police statistics also indicate that about three-quarters of persistently untaxed vehicles are used by people involved in some other criminal activity.
