General Reports and Other Publications
HM Treasury: Otto Thoresen has published the final report of the Thoresen Review of Generic Financial Advice, which sets out a high-level blueprint for a national money guidance service to provide the people of the UK with the knowledge, understanding and confidence to make better decisions about money issues. It recommends that the service should offer a combination of telephone, Internet and face-to-face guidance.
The Report’s recommendations include the setting up of a national Money Guidance service to be run by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) focusing on giving people information & guidance on budgeting, saving & borrowing, protection, retirement planning, tax & welfare benefits and jargon busting. It should stop short of recommending specific products.
Press release ~ The Thoresen Review and final report ~ Financial Capability: the Government's long-term approach ~ FSA: Money made clear ~ Building financial capability in the UK
CLG: Independent research, carried out by Warwick Business School over three years, evaluates the impact & effectiveness of the Beacons Scheme, which recognises excellence & innovation in local authorities and promotes best practice in services which are key to improving quality of life.
The large majority of councils agreed that the awards encourage networking with peers, sharing information and ideas, and over three quarters of those who visited or engaged with Beacon winning authorities said they had made changes as a result of the interaction. Award winners claimed that winning boosted staff morale and motivated further improvement.
Press release ~ The use of performance measurement, performance management and innovation in relation to the Beacon Scheme ~ The Beacon Scheme
HM Treasury: The Finance Ministries of Sweden, the UK and Germany have published a joint vision for shaping an inclusive globalisation through human capital. ‘Social Bridges II - The importance of human capital for growth and social inclusion’ takes up the basic idea of building social bridges by combining modern economic and social policies to provide flexibility, fairness & opportunity for all.
Social Bridges II aims to provide a new impetus to the ongoing and future discussions on modern & inclusive policy responses to globalisation from the perspective of Finance Ministers. Effective and efficient policy development, using a social bridges approach, can increase social inclusion and contribute to an improved economic & fiscal position, delivering sustainable levels of public spending and generating increased revenues.
Press release ~ Social Bridges II ~ Social Bridges - Meeting the challenges of globalisation ~ Realising Britain's Potential: Future Strategic Challenges for Britain ~ Foresight Project ~ Human tide: the real migration crisis - Christian Aid
NAO: The National Audit Office (NAO) has published a report on the work of the Parole Board which found that assessing the risk posed by offenders is difficult. Determinate sentenced prisoners, though, are having their hearings on time and the Board is reducing the backlog of cases where offenders are recalled while on parole.
But with a 31% increase in the Board’s workload between 2005-06 and 2006-07 only a third of hearings for life sentence cases are being held on time. Two thirds of oral hearings for those serving life sentences have been deferred at least once.
The assessment of the risk of harm posed by offenders can be undermined by the absence of important documents. In 97 of 276 cases (35%) reviewed by the NAO, involving offenders serving a life sentence an Offender Assessment System report or a Life Sentence Plan was not included.
The proportion of offenders released early who were recalled for committing a further offence remained stable at 6% over the same period, suggesting that patterns of reconvictions have remained broadly constant and that standards of risk assessment by the Board are being maintained when identifying those offenders ready for release into the community.
NAO press release ~ Parole Board press release ~ Protecting the public: the work of the Parole Board ~ Executive Summary
NAO: Holding managers to account for the resources they have been allocated is key to improving financial management at Defra, according to a report by the National Audit Office (NAO). Effective monitoring by the Department’s Management Board and greater integration between the Department’s systems for monitoring performance delivery and financial expenditure would help the Department to better manage its budgets.
The NAO recommends that the Department’s Management Board set budgets from 2008-09 onwards that balance with the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review and develops benchmarks to test the rigour of proposed budgets and to provide confirmation that these resource bids accord with the Department’s strategic objectives.
Press release ~ Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Management of Expenditure ~ Executive Summary
WAG: Speaking at the first ever conference of Natur, the new Welsh Institute of Countryside and Conservation Management, Ms Davidson revealed the progress being made on their Environment Strategy and Action Plan and outlined plans for the second Action Plan. She also emphasised the important role that green spaces in urban areas will play in this.
The One Wales document commits the Welsh Assembly to a 3% reduction in carbon emissions, and an ambitious agenda on waste, energy and local environmental quality. The Minister explained that more work was needed to protect and enhance the environment for Wales.
Press release ~ Welsh Assembly Government’s Environment Strategy and Action Plan ~ One Wales document
HM Treasury: Sir James Crosby's independent review, Challenges and opportunities in identity assurance, has been published. The review looks at how to maximise the economic & social advantage to the UK from having the most effective ID assurance systems and infrastructure.
NAO: According to the National Audit office (NAO), many of the long standing problems in providing offenders with effective & useful learning and skills training have yet to be overcome following the establishment of the Offenders’ Learning and Skills Service (OLASS). Offenders have severe learning & skills needs: half of offenders in custody have no qualifications, almost 40% have a reading age beneath that expected of a competent 11 year old and nearly half of offenders were excluded from school.
Offenders who find employment upon their release are less likely to re-offend, which is why improving their training & skills could contribute to a reduction in crime levels. The level of training provision at each prison is based on historical funding allocations which do not necessarily match current learning & skills needs.
There are also problems in getting offenders to complete a course once started. One of the main reasons for this is the disruption caused when they transfer between prisons. Training records are often not transferred with them and differences in the courses being run reduce the potential for continuity in learning.
