Annual Reports
DfE: Councils must do more to ensure children awaiting adoption are not deprived of a loving permanent family because of council delays, children’s minister Edward Timpson said recently. The call came as the Government publishes its second set of adoption scorecards, which show how quickly children were adopted between April 2009 & March 2012.
The new scorecards highlight continued & significant differences in the time councils take to place children from care into the families of prospective adopters. Some councils took on average 2.5 years to place a child with an adoptive family, a process which takes less than a 1.5 years in 15 council areas across England.
PC&PE: The Public Accounts Committee published its 19th Report of this Session which, on the basis of evidence from HM Revenue & Customs, examined the Department's annual report & accounts for 2011-12.
The Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Chair of the CPA, said: "Global companies with huge operations in the UK generating significant amounts of income are getting away with paying little or no corporation tax here. This is outrageous and an insult to British businesses and individuals who pay their fair share”.
Ofsted: Recently the Office of the Children’s Rights Director has published a report called Children’s views on restraint. Children’s Rights Director Roger Morgan has not added his views to the report, instead using direct quotes from the 94 children he & his team spoke to as part of the consultation.
Overall children agreed that restraint should only be used as a last resort. Every group said ‘staff should always try to calm things down before things get too bad that restraint is needed’.
Overall children agreed that restraint should only be used as a last resort. Every group said ‘staff should always try to calm things down before things get too bad that restraint is needed’.
CO: The Government recently published its progress report one year after the publication of the Cyber Security Strategy. The Strategy, launched in November 2011, provided Government with a framework & objectives in tackling cyber threats.
EHRC: The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published a new report on how public authorities in England have met their transparency obligations on equality. Just as councils publish information on their spending to prove value for money, the Commission monitors public authorities to ensure they are meeting their legal requirement to publish equality information to prove they are providing equal opportunities and making fair decisions.
The report reveals that only half of the public authorities assessed were responding fully to the requirements of the specific duty regulations1 to publish equality information such as the diversity of their staff and people who use their services.
NAO: Amyas Morse, the Comptroller & Auditor General, has again refused to sign off the financial accounts of the Ministry of Defence. While the Department has improved its recording of the equipment & supplies it holds in its warehouse & stock systems, the C&AG has not been provided with sufficient evidence to support MOD’s valuation of military equipment in the form of inventory worth £3bn & capital spares worth £7bn.
The C&AG has also qualified his audit opinion because the Department has not complied with the accounting requirements, introduced under International Financial Reporting Standards, for determining whether a contract contains a lease.
