General Reports and Other Publications
nef|: A new briefing - Feather-bedding financial services - from think-tank nef (the new economics foundation), asks whether banks would be making any profit at all without billions in hidden subsidies from the British taxpayer and bank customers.
Newswire – FAC: Cuts to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s budget are likely to pose a severe challenge to the British Council and the BBC World Servicesays a report by the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, entitled: FCO Performance and Finances. The report focuses on the FCO’s financial situation and the implications of the Spending Review 2010 on its work & performance.
MLA: As the redevelopment to streamline, update & refocus the Accreditation scheme nears completion, a report outlining the museum sector's reaction to the developed requirements and their support needs has been published along with a Curatorial Adviser review. The MLA's response: Accreditation: What next? is a manifesto for the future of the UK standard for museums.
The new standard is currently being tested in a pilot phase in ten museums & services across the UK. Feedback from the pilots is being used to refine the standard and to develop associated guidance. Arts Council England will become the new administering organisation of the Accreditation scheme later in 2011.
NLGN: Localism think tank, New Local Government Network have called on councils to try and cushion some of the current financial pressures they face by making greater use of green energy subsidies – with an estimated pot available of up to £12bn over the next two decades.
With some council budgets being cut by nearly 9% next year, a new report (Power and Money) highlights how some authorities are already starting to install solar panels on social housing and other council properties, thereby accessing new sources of funding through the ‘Feed-in Tariff’ and the ‘Renewable Heat Incentive’.
However, NLGN has also warned how a lack of clarity from the government on its support for schemes is hindering such development.
However, NLGN has also warned how a lack of clarity from the government on its support for schemes is hindering such development.
Newswire – CBI: The Government’s Green Deal risks failing to attract the businesses it needs to deliver its flagship energy efficiency scheme unless it provides greater clarity on how it will be financed & promoted, the CBI said last week. The Green Deal will allow people to take out loans to improve the energy efficiency of their properties, including for insulation, heating & lighting. The loans are to be attached to the property and will be paid back over a fixed period through the savings made on energy bills.
However, with a new CBI survey showing that three-quarters of the public do not even consider the energy efficiency of a property when buying or renting a home, the Government clearly needs to do more to get consumers to buy into the concept.
DfE: Schools Minister Nick Gibb has responded to the Royal Society's report on science & maths education.
NIA: The Northern Ireland Assembly Committee for Enterprise, Trade and Investment has presented its report into barriers to the development of renewable energy to the Assembly. The report urges Government to focus on local development of renewable energies, or risk not being able to generate our own light or heat.
Press release ~ Barriers to the Development of Renewable Energy Production and its Associated Contribution to the NI Economy - Volume 1
Socitm: Councils should be seizing the opportunity for significant & permanent future savings by reorganising the way they manage customer contact, says a new report - Better served: customer access, efficiency and channel shift - from Socitm Insight.
All front office customer contact, whether face to face, by phone, through the website or other means, should be brought under central management, to enable customer contact to be run to common standards, with customer contact analysis leading to improvement and savings in the cost of delivery.
Newswire – EUSFADD: The EU’s Police Mission in Afghanistan risks failing in an area where the EU should be showing leadership, the House of Lords EU Sub-Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence & Development says in a report.
The Committee found that the Afghan National Police force is in a dire state due to high attrition & illiteracy rates and corruption. The mission must pay greater attention to the most basic of policing skills, not least reading & writing, if it is to succeed.
Press release ~ Report: The EU’s Afghan Police Mission ~ Lords Select Committees: EU Sub-Committee C - Foreign Affairs, Defence and Development Policy
TWF: Public sector cuts could reverse patterns of improved graduate retention in cities & regions outside of the South East, resulting in a ‘brain drain’ likely to impede economic recovery, according to a new report published by The Work Foundation.
Cutting the Apron Strings? The Clustering of Young Graduates and the Role of the Public Sector shows a ‘spreading out’ of young graduates (those aged between 20 & 29) over the past decade. Young graduates in the North & the Midlands are now disproportionately employed in the public sector. The evidence suggests this trend has been driven by increased public sector demand in the regions during the decade of public sector expansion from 1997.
Press release ~ Cutting the Apron Strings? The Clustering of Young Graduates and the Role of the Public Sector ~ The Work Foundation
Newswire – EFRA: Ministers should consider reintroducing direct payments coupled to numbers of livestock - known as headage payments - for hard-pressed hill farmers in the uplands says the cross-party Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee in the report of its inquiry into Farming in the Uplands.
IISS: The International Institute for Strategic Studies looks at how malfunctions at Iran's Natanz uranium-enrichment plant attributed to the Stuxnet worm have encouraged speculation as to the potential for cyber sabotage to be used in derailing nuclear programmes.
nef: For nearly a decade, the Centre for Well-being at the New Economics Foundation (nef) has been calling for governments to measure people's well-being and to recognise that the economy - and economic growth in particular - is only ever a means to an end. A new report presents nef's contribution to the current debate about how well-being can be measured and how the data can be used to bring about more effective policy-making.
Ofsted: The Children on Family Justice report, published last week by the Children’s Rights Director, Dr Roger Morgan, reveals concerns children in care have about the court system. Only half of the children surveyed trust the courts to make the right decisions about their lives. The findings were similar when children took part in discussion groups.
The 3 main worries for children going to court included:
* whether the court’s decisions about their future was right for them
* people & strangers hearing about their private lives & problems
* not being able to give the right answers to important questions in front of a court
NAO: The Better Regulation Executive & government departments are not yet in a position to achieve value for money in their management of regulation, according to a report published by the National Audit Office. However, the BRE & departments have developed important elements of a structured approach to achieving sustainable reductions in regulatory costs and have delivered significant benefits.
NAO: The National Audit Office has published a review of how government uses Information & Communications Technology (ICT) to deliver public services. The review gives an overview of existing uses, as well as initiatives & changes underway. It details a number of big challenges the government faces in protecting & improving the value for money of ICT and in ensuring that ICT is deployed fully in the drive to secure sustainable cost reduction.
Press release ~ CBI comment ~ NAO: Information & Communications Technology in government - Landscape Review
WAG: Making high quality childcare accessible & affordable has a key role to play in reducing child poverty, Deputy Minister Huw Lewis said last week as he launched the Welsh Assembly Government’s Childcare Policy Statement ‘Nurturing Children – Supporting Families’ which outlines the WAG’s priorities & ambitions for improving childcare across Wales.
Newswire – AS: An Audit Scotland report published last week calls on the Scottish Government to consider a national review of how Scotland’s road network is managed & maintained. The report also says key routes should be prioritised and services may need to be redesigned. It suggests that there may be room for more flexibility in how staff & machinery are deployed.
Newswire – NHSC: A new NHS Confederation briefing has warned that ‘government plans to cut the numbers of readmissions need to be introduced with sensitivity if they are not to prove expensive and damaging to patient care’. The briefing sets out the findings from research which found that recently announced system to impose financial penalties on acute trusts that readmit patients within 30 days could cost hospitals £ms and have serious unintended consequences for patients.
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