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General Reports and Other Publications
ScotGov: An independent review into the management culture of NHS Lothian has been published recently. The report, requested by the Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon, highlights an inappropriate management culture at the board, originating from the top level.
WWF: A recent preliminary assessment of 63 legally protected areas in 7 tiger range countries shows that only 22, or 35%, maintain WWF’s minimum standards of protection. This indicates that the areas set up to protect tigers and other threatened species are not necessarily the refuge they are designed to be, says WWF.
PX: The planning system is failing to protect some of England's most threatened wildlife and important habitats, new research by think tank Policy Exchange has found. Mechanisms designed to protect England's natural environment and compensate for any damage to it are haphazardly applied & woefully monitored, argues the new report, Nurturing Nature.
There is also considerable potential to improve how subsidies to improve our natural environment under the Common Agricultural Policy are spent. The combined weakness of the planning system and the subsidy regime risks further damaging some of our most iconic wildlife.
DH: A review into the PiP breast implant scandal has found that, although the regulator acted appropriately and followed scientific and clinical advice, there is room for improvement and serious lessons must be learned.
The report states that the MHRA and the Department of Health must learn lessons so that they can continue to improve their approach to communicating with affected individuals and the general public, particularly around issues that cause such understandable anxiety.
BIS: A new report shows that Britain’s apprentices are getting promoted, improving their confidence and taking on more responsibility in the workplace, Skills Minister John Hayes has announced. The results are taken from the Apprentice Learner Survey of 5,000 apprentices and will provide fresh evidence of the real value of apprenticeships.
A second survey of over 4,000 employers also shows high satisfaction rates among businesses, while a third report (The Employer Investment in Apprenticeships and Workplace Learning) is the first study into the net financial benefits of training to employers.
Press release & links ~ Evaluation of apprenticeships: learners ~ Evaluation of apprenticeships: employers ~ Employer investment in apprenticeships & workplace learning: the 5th net benefits of training to employers study
PC&PE: The Commons Public Accounts Committee has published its 84th Report of Session 2010-12, Adult Apprenticeships report. The Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Chair of the CPA said: "The Apprenticeship Programme has been a success. The Department has done very well in raising the number of adult apprenticeships, which more than quadrupled in the four years to 2010/11. ……. But the Department could do more to maximise the Programme’s impacts”.
“My Committee is concerned about the number of short training programmes classified as apprenticeships. The National Apprenticeships Service expects them to last between one and four years, but around a fifth of apprenticeships lasted for only six months or even less”.
DWP: Thousands of people who have been on sickness benefits for more than 15 years have been found fit to work and will now get support to help them back into a job, new analysis revealed last week. Of the first 47,400 Incapacity Benefit (IB) claimants to be reassessed and found fit to work, 27% had been on the benefit for more than 10 years. 8% had been on the benefit for more than 15 years.
Since October 2010 the Government has been reassessing people on IB to see whether they are capable of working or are entitled to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). The new analysis also shows that those people who need the most support are getting the help they need. 37% – of people who have been claiming IB for 15 years or more were put into the ESA support group.
RSF: England's motorway network is not safe enough to have the speed limit raised to 80mph, according to Unfit for 80, a new report from the Road Safety Foundation.
IPPR: The Government should switch to a more rational method of measuring student migration flows and only count students who stay on in the UK permanently in net migration figures, according to a new report published by the think tank IPPR. Overall, around 400,000 students come to British colleges and universities each year and make up the major component of the UK’s £15bn-a-year education exports.
IPPR’s survey of the top ten countries for international students has found that 3 of them explicitly qualify students as temporary or ‘non-immigrant’ admissions. These countries are the United States, Australia, and Canada – the UK’s main competitors in the global market for international students.
JRF: A report published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (Experiences of forced labour in the UK food industry) finds that some migrants are working under threatening & inhumane conditions for little or no pay, in parts of the UK food industry.
A significant proportion of those interviewed had paid fees to agents to get to the UK and obtain work. Isolated, unaware of their rights and trapped in debt, researchers found cases of migrants being forced to share cramped accommodation (sometimes with strangers), subject to threats & racist bullying, and vulnerable to scams such as 'under-work' – the practice of recruiting too many workers and then giving them just enough work to meet their debt to the gangmaster.
Press release ~ Experiences of forced labour in the UK food industry ~ TUC comment ~ Comment from Unite
PC&PE: The Commons Public Accounts Committee has published its 82nd Report of Session 2010-12, on Department for Education: accountability and oversight of education and children's services. The Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Chair of the CPA said: "As the Government devolves the delivery of education and children’s services in England, it becomes ever more important for the Department to tell us exactly how accountability to Parliament is going to work so that we can properly follow the taxpayers’ pound.
The Department has described arrangements for providing assurance on regularity and propriety. But although this is the third draft of the accountability arrangements we have seen, we remain very concerned at the weakness of the proposed arrangements to ensure accountability for value for money”.
EHRC: The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published its equality assessment of the government’s 2010 Spending Review. The Commission's report considers the extent to which the decision-making by ministers & Treasury officials met legal obligations to consider the impact on equality when completing the Review.
The report commends Ministers & officials for ‘serious’ efforts to meet the requirements of their obligations. It finds that in 6 cases the Treasury acted in accordance with the requirements under the equality duties, but in 3 cases, the Commission says that it was unable to establish whether or not the decisions were in full accord with the requirements of the duty because of a lack of clarity as to a) where the true site of the decisions lay and b) whether or not some decisions were the responsibility of other government departments or the government as a whole.
NAO: The National Audit Office has issued a report examining arrangements at the Department for Work and Pensions for detecting and preventing fraud and improper practices in employment programmes. The report concludes that levels of reported fraud in employment programmes are low.
The introduction of the Work Programme in June 2011 largely addressed the main weaknesses in previous programmes which had led to a risk that fraud by providers was being understated. The report finds in particular that the Department’s past assessment of the risk of fraud at A4e missed vital evidence.
Press release & links ~ CBI response to PAC report on Work Programme ~ MPs publish report on the introduction of the Work Programme ~ PCS union comment ~ Employment Minister Chris Grayling makes statement on A4e
ESRC: The mothers of Britain's 'mixed families' are ensuring their children learn about their heritage & culture, according to a development project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. So, even if the child’s father hails from a minority background, it will still be the mother who is responsible for teaching them about the father’s culture.
'Mixed' relationships, where each partner is from a different racial or ethnic background, are increasingly common in Britain. Findings clearly show that for many couples and their children, their different cultures & heritage were not overly an issue for them, or for the communities in which they lived. For many it was more often an issue for other people than those who are themselves mixing or of mixed race.
ESRC: Funeral directors need to be aware of the needs of non-religious people. A unique investigation into the subject funded by the Economic and Social Research Council provides a snapshot of a defining aspect of life - or indeed death.
CCC: Local authorities have a crucial role in contributing to emissions reductions and helping the UK meet its carbon budgets targets says a report by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC). However, at the moment there is no requirement for councils to set targets & implement measures to reduce emissions within their area. And the scale of ambition is generally low given limited funding & lack of obligation. The Committee argues that limited action at the local level would put achievement of national carbon budgets at risk.
EH: English Heritage has submitted a detailed response to HMRC on their 'VAT: Addressing borderline anomalies' which announced the introduction of VAT at 20% on alterations works to listed buildings. Alterations are vital in many cases to allow listed buildings to continue in their existing uses or to adapt them to new uses to ensure they are occupied and cared for. If the changes do proceed as set out in the Budget 2012, EH have recommended a number of possible mitigation measures which could reduce the impact of the changes.
IISS: The latest Strategic Comment from the International Institute for Strategic Studies thinks that NATO's Chicago Summit on 20-21 May is likely to be dominated by 2 themes:
* Withdrawal of combat troops from Afghanistan
* The reduction in defence spending by almost all NATO members
EHRC: A new report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission has found that disabled people continue to be put at a disadvantage in the workplace. They are not realising their full potential as they are not getting the support they need at work.
The report, ‘A Perfect Partnership’, says that closing the employment gap between disabled workers and non disabled workers can increase the performance of staff across the board. It found that disabled people do not want to be singled out for special treatment. They are looking for company-wide solutions that support all workers – not just those with a disability – to do their jobs effectively.
