General Reports and Other Publications

PC&PE: The Commons Public Accounts Committee has published its report on ‘Reducing bureaucracy in further education in England’.  The Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Chair of the Committee said: "There are too many funding organizations in further education, none of whom accepts ultimate responsibility for cutting the bureaucracy that colleges have to deal with”. ………… This lack of clear accountability is at the root of many of the issues we highlight in this report”.
Press release & links
 
IFS: Recently the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) closed a consultation on how transfers of small pots of money between different pension providers could be improved.  New evidence published recently by researchers at the Institute for Fiscal Studies suggests that there are currently £400m of assets in Great Britain being held in pension accounts that are individually worth less than £2,000 and to which no further contributions are being paid.
 
The research finds that at least 200,000 people could benefit from being able to consolidate these existing small pension pots, if transfers between providers were made easier.
Press release & links
 
Socitm: Councils must make radical changes to the way they govern & manage their websites and adopt a new model for future development, says a new briefing from Socitm Insight.

The briefing says that council leaders and managers must accept that the main purpose of the website is to deliver services. News about the council and its activities, and communication of policies and plans, have a place on the website, but must not get in the way of the primary task of delivering services.
Press release & links
 
BIS: Minister for Further Education, Skills & Lifelong Learning John Hayes has welcomed the interim report of the independent review of professionalism in the further education and skills sector.  

As a result of the recommendations, the Government will set in motion a formal process of consultation with the view to taking away the statutory obligation for teachers to register with the Institute for Learning (IfL).  A final report, which will consider professionalism more widely, will report in the Summer.
Press release & links ~ IfL comment
 
NAO: The National Audit Office has issued a report on the 2009 implementation of a points based route, known as ‘Tier 4’, by which students from countries outside the European Economic Area can study in the UK.

The report has found that the UK Border Agency implemented Tier 4 with flaws which were predictable & could have been avoided.  The Agency has not dealt efficiently & effectively with overstayers & students in breach of the rules.
Press release ~ Immigration: The Points Based System - Student Route
 
PC&PEFuel crime's disproportionate impact in Northern Ireland requires greater focus & priority say Northern Ireland Affairs Committee in new report, which claims ‘that the scale and impact of fuel laundering crimes in particularly requires a much higher priority and focus in fighting it’. 
Press release & links
 
TWF: Ian Brinkley, director at The Work Foundation, has responded to the recent Budget announcement.
Press release & links
 
CQC: Awareness of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards in care homes & hospitals grew in 2010-2011, but staff training on how to apply them was still patchy, leading to inconsistent practice, says the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Press release & links
 
PC&PE: The Joint Committee on Privacy and Injunctions has published a report indicating that the PCC successor must be independent, and have more powers, and that if industry fails to establish an effective regulator, statutory oversight should be considered.
 
The Committee says the most important step towards improving protection of privacy is to provide for enhanced regulation of the media.  The Press Complaints Commission lacked the power, sanctions or independence to be truly effective.  Substantial changes to press regulation are needed to ensure that it encompasses all major news publishers including, in time, major bloggers.
Press release & links
 
NHS ConfedNHS Confederation chief executive, Mike Farrar, has said sector regulator Monitor must "nip in the bud" growing fears that it is building an onerous regulatory regime, as the proposed new architecture of the health service takes shape.  He made the comments as his organisation published a submission on plans to transform Monitor into an economic regulator.
Press release ~ Submission
 
HL: Research published by Homeless Link indicates that the average day centre is now seeing 25% more people a day than they were in 2010.  While on any one night 80% of accommodation services surveyed say they have no empty beds for new homeless people.
 
As well as running at full capacity, 60% of projects also had their budgets cut in 2011. With services facing an average cut of 15% to their funding, the research highlights the impact this is having on both homeless people and local communities.
Press release & links
 
UCAS: In a report published recently, UCAS recommends reform of the admissions process for entry to full-time undergraduate Higher Education.  Proposals to move to a full post-results admissions process are not being taken forward.
Press release & links ~ BIS comment
 
CBI: The CBI has responded to DEFRA’s Parliamentary Report, Company Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Press release & links ~ Report to Parliament on company reporting of greenhouse gas emissions
 
STFCExplore the work of the Science and Technology Facilities Council in their free newsletter!  If you would like to sign up to receive Fascination 6 times a year, please register now.  It is distributed electronically to be environmentally friendly & cost effective.
Press release & links
 
WAG: Education Minister Leighton Andrews has received the final report from the Digital Classroom Teaching Task & Finish Group which sets out how Welsh schools can deliver digital classrooms in a digital age.
 
The report makes a number of recommendations including the creation of a hub to enable learners and teachers to share best practice resources.  The report also recommends the creation of a national digital collection of teaching & learning resources.
Press release & links ~ Related press release
 
PC&PE: The House of Lords Constitution Committee has recently published its report on Judicial Appointments and concludes that a more diverse judiciary would improve public trust & confidence in the justice system.
Press release & links
 
PC&PE: The defence manufacturer BAE systems has now signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department for International Development to pay £29.5m (plus accrued interest) to improve the Tanzanian education system - following an International Development Committee inquiry into Financial Crime.
Press release & links
 
ScotGov: The Scottish Government has welcomed publication of an inquiry by HM Chief Inspector of Fire and Rescue Authorities into the unsuccessful attempt to rescue Alison Hume from a disused mineshaft in 2008.
Press release & links
 
PC&PE: The Government should drop its commitment to spend 0.7% of Gross National Income on aid from 2013, according to a report published by the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee recently.  The 0.7% target was adopted by donor nations - including the UK - at the UN in 1970, but few have reached it.
 
The Government, which spent 0.56% of GNI on aid in 2010, plans to introduce legislation to make the 0.7% target legally binding, which the Committee strongly oppose. 

The committee also calls for DFID to do more to tackle corruption feeding off the aid programme.  DFID detected only £1.2m of fraud in its £7.7bn budget in the year to March 2011 – a figure the Committee found ‘paltry and implausibly low’.
Press release & links
 
PC&PE: The House of Commons Home Affairs Committee is recommending that the Government seek major amendments to the 2003 US-UK Extradition Treaty and that it ‘should seek to amend the Treaty to specify that the same test applies for extradition from the UK that applies to extradition from the USA’.  I

t should also introduce a ‘forum bar’ to extradition, which would allow a judge to decide that a person be tried in the UK in cases where both countries have jurisdiction. 
Press release & links
 
PC&PELabelling on electrical equipment sold by DIY stores must be used to warn that it is illegal for an unregistered person to carry out MOST electrical works in the home, says the Communities and Local Government Committee.  Far too many homeowners do not appreciate either the dangers of using sub-standard engineers or their own liability when it comes to faulty gas & electrical work.
 
In addition, public awareness about the risk of the odourless, invisible & potentially lethal carbon monoxide fumes must be raised to increase safety in the home, warns the Committee.
Press release & links
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