General Reports and Other Publications
ESRC: A new international Task Force has been set up to promote 'a fair day's work for a fair day's pay' for workers and to develop organisational capacity in lower income countries. The research which found discrepancies between the salaries earned by local and those earned by expatriate aid workers was instrumental in setting up the task force.
According to the findings from a jointly funded project by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Department for International Development (DFID) an expatriate aid worker will be paid on average 4 times more (and sometimes much more) than a local employee doing a similar job, with local salaries pushing workers below the poverty line.
ESRC: As public sector prisons move towards the thin staffing level model of profit-making institutions, with their high turnover of personnel who are less connected to their occupation, a study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) warns of a potentially detrimental impact on prison quality.
In a 4 prison comparison, the private prisons showed weaknesses in policing & control, organisation & consistency, and prisoner development. Managers in the private sector prisons acknowledged that staff did not follow procedures as well as public sector staff. The researchers found that both of the private prisons they looked at had relatively inexperienced staff, and were sometimes hampered by their tighter staffing levels.
PC&PE: The Committee of Public Accounts has published a report which, on the basis of evidence from the Home Office and the UK Border Agency, examines the management of the work routes of the Points Based System for Immigration and ‘raises a number of concerns’.
STFC: The Science and Technology Committee has published its report on strategically important metals in which it warns of the knock on effect of a 'perception of scarcity', the risk of market distortion from national monopolies, and environmental damage caused by waste exports to developing countries. It also calls for more recycling.
Civitas: The present governments approach to climate-change policies will actually undermine the UKs ability to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. By pricing energy-intensive industries out of the UK via green levies & taxes, the greenest government ever is actually smothering the emerging low-carbon economy at birth. The new plans for a 60% reduction in emissions by 2030 are too much, too soon.
PC&PE: In a report published last week, the Home Affairs Committee criticises the lack of progress made by successive Government towards addressing the concerns raised by its predecessor Committee in 2008 regarding forced marriages.
The Committee is pleased with the relatively high take-up of Forced Marriage Protection Orders - 293 issued between November 2008 & February 2011- but disappointed at a lack of agency follow-up to ensure compliance. In the rare instances where breaches are discovered, not enough action is taken, with only one individual jailed.
It recommends that the Government, while maintaining this civil route, also criminalises forced marriage, as the Prime Minister promised to consider while in Opposition. This would send a stronger message that forced marriage will not be tolerated.
It recommends that the Government, while maintaining this civil route, also criminalises forced marriage, as the Prime Minister promised to consider while in Opposition. This would send a stronger message that forced marriage will not be tolerated.
TWF: Coalition policy is failing to deliver the public sector innovation that could dramatically boost value for money & benefit the economy beyond the public sector, argues a report published by The Work Foundation.
Unless the government grasps this area, there is a danger that spending cuts and public service reforms will stifle innovation along with its economic benefits, and a chance to reverse declining public sector productivity will have been lost.
Unless the government grasps this area, there is a danger that spending cuts and public service reforms will stifle innovation along with its economic benefits, and a chance to reverse declining public sector productivity will have been lost.
Ofsted: School governing bodies that clearly understand their roles & responsibilities, build productive relationships with school leaders, know their schools well and use the views of parents, pupils and the wider community are best equipped to drive improvement in their schools.
Inspectors visited 14 schools where governance was judged outstanding and the report (‘School governance: Learning from the best’) identifies the key characteristics of those governing bodies.
DWP: Research published last week examines smartcard schemes that local authorities have implemented. The research draws together good practice & learning points as they relate to smartcard scheme implementation.
The review explores a range of issues, including the types of services included within smartcard schemes; citizen participation in schemes; use of data to improve services; dissemination of information to users & prospective users; communications activities & messages; and how schemes have been evaluated.
Deloitte: Deloitte, the business advisory firm, has launched its second power & utilities report (Empowering Ideas 2011) looking at the challenging conditions the sector will face across the world during the remainder of 2011 and into 2012.
ESRC: Greater awareness of 'specific language impairment' (SLI), a language disorder, is needed to ensure better outcomes for the 3-6% of UK school children affected by this disability. Children with SLI have difficulties with most or all aspects of language including grammar, vocabulary & literacy as well as with short term memory.
According to new research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), they also have problems with higher order thinking skills. SLI may have a greater impact on these children than the better know disorder, dyslexia.
Press release ~ Executive functioning in children with specific language impairment ~ Executive Functioning In Children With Language Difficulties
ICI UkBA: John Vine CBE QPM, the Independent Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency, has published 3 reports focusing on the Agency’s operations in Scotland & Northern Ireland: border operations, countering abuse of the Common Travel Area, and the Agency’s representation at first-tier appeals in Scotland.
DWP: Research published recently examines what aspirations people of all ages hold for their later life, what they are currently doing to prepare, and what enablers & barriers there are to achieving their aspirations.
KPMG: Despite the EU’s ongoing efforts to establish more uniform financial regulation across Europe, a report published by KPMG finds there is still significant divergence among European regulators in their approaches to implementing the Pillar 2 guidance on capital adequacy.
The main difference between countries such as Germany, Austria & Belgium, and others including France, Spain & the UK, boils down to the extent economic capital models are expected to inform the outcome of the regulatory assessment of required capital levels.
Newswire – CBI: The CBI has commented on the Chief Nuclear Inspector’s interim analysis of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, and its implications for the UK nuclear industry.
Press release ~ Interim analysis of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami and its implications for the UK nuclear industry
CIPD: The impact on the overall labour market of a slight rise in private sector recruitment, fuelled almost exclusively by the manufacturing & services sectors, is still being cancelled out by large-scale public sector job losses, according to this quarter’s Labour Market Outlook from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and KPMG.
The survey also forecasts that pay inflation may pick up in the next 12 months, with average pay award expectations across all sectors rising to 1.7% from the 1.3% recorded last quarter.
Ofsted: Service children who face regular moves from home & school can suffer high levels of anxiety & stress, especially when their parents deploy to armed conflicts overseas, according to an Ofsted report - Children in Service families.
The quality and impact of partnership provision for children in Service families report found that this problem was exacerbated because systems of transfer of children's records between schools were not always properly coordinated and important information was therefore delayed or did not arrive at all.
The quality and impact of partnership provision for children in Service families report found that this problem was exacerbated because systems of transfer of children's records between schools were not always properly coordinated and important information was therefore delayed or did not arrive at all.
NAO: The suspension & cancellation of a number of key armoured vehicle projects since the 1998 defence review has resulted in the Armed Forces facing a significant shortage in the principal armoured vehicles they require, until at least 2024-2025.
A National Audit Office report found that the Department's standard acquisition process has been undermined by a combination of over-ambitious requirements and unstable financial planning. Despite the commitment of considerable resources, since 1998, the MOD has received only a fraction of the armoured vehicles it has set out to buy through its standard acquisition process.
Press release & links ~ Newswire – DSC: As well as being 'underfunded' (click & then scroll down)
KF: A 8 month inquiry by The King’s Fund’s Commission on NHS Leadership and Management finds the NHS ‘in urgent need of a new style of leadership to overcome unprecedented financial pressures and adapt to future challenges’. The report from the Commission emphasises the crucial role excellent general & clinical managers can play in delivering the productivity improvements & service transformation that the NHS requires.
The Commission finds high-quality, stable management to be key to high-performing health services. Yet across the NHS, the average chief executive spends just 700 days in post. The Commission examined evidence from UK and international health care and other sectors, finding that given its size & complexity, the NHS is under-managed, but over-administered.
PwC: The future of corporate reporting is at a critical point– its ability to evolve & meet business and society’s changing needs will be essential if the threat of future systemic risk is to be minimised. These are the conclusions of a new report from the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), PwC, and think tank Tomorrow’s Company.
The risk of leaving a reporting framework – founded during the Industrial Revolution – largely unchanged means that while financial accounting will survive, the whole system may become stressed and increasingly reliant on information outside the mainstream report, the organisations said.
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