General Reports and Other Publications
PC&PE: The Department for International Development (DFID) needs a clearer strategy for strengthening infrastructure in developing countries because poor roads, power & water networks are constraining growth in many countries, MPs on the International Development Committee have warned.
PCS: The PCS union claims that a Cabinet Office pensions leaflet sent to staff is woefully short on detail and does nothing to allay fears the government is intent on forcing people to pay more & work longer, for less in retirement.
PCS and the other unions are in talks with the government but they have consistently criticised ministers for refusing to negotiate properly and failing to provide adequate information. In their press release they ‘answer the main points in the leaflet’, which was issued to staff last week and is available to download.
CIPD: The Government contends that its programme of public sector job cuts is modest & manageable, relative to the overall level of public sector employment and given that the vast bulk of job losses won’t occur until late in the current Parliament.
However, in a report published last week, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development questions whether the Government’s current narrative stance on public sector job cuts is tenable. It argues that the Chancellor should in next month’s autumn statement announce a temporary halt to further cuts as part of any broader plan to stimulate economic growth and combat rising unemployment.
NHS Confed: The NHS Confederation is calling on the House of Lords to reduce the threat of the NHS being ‘paralysed by fuzzy structures & decision making processes that would prevent it from dealing with financial pressures and improving quality of care’. However, a NHS Confed. briefing for peers, published ahead of a major recent parliamentary debate, makes clear that it supports a number of the key principles in the Bill.
NAO: The Comptroller and Auditor General, Amyas Morse, has qualified his opinion on the 2010-11 House of Commons Members Accounts because information on MPs whose expense claims are under investigation by the police was not made available for audit.
ESRC: Governments should target aid towards individual households threatened with poverty because of soaring food costs rather than intervene in the markets to try to lower prices, according to research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
Governments in poorer countries should pay cash benefits directly to poor families instead of interventions such as price subsidies or controls. This type of interference causes distortions of the food markets and does not help the poorest.
IFS: A new forecast of income poverty among children & working-age adults in the UK has been published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
WWF-UK: A new paper by WWF and the Food Ethics Council (FEC) argues that Government has a clear role (and a mandate) to promote sustainable food consumption in the UK. The new report, A Square Meal, suggests that, despite the inherent complexities, it is possible to achieve the goals of promoting healthier diets, reducing the environmental impacts of food, and supporting British farmers & producers.
The report finds that western-style diets are increasingly unsustainable, both because of greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production of the food we eat, and because of the pressure on land use and production of other commodities associated with a diet high in meat, such as grains or soya.
PC&PE: The Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) has published its report on the Protection of Freedoms Bill. The committee welcomes the enhanced human rights protection which the Bill would provide, by proposing to repeal or reform measures which impinge on rights & freedoms, but believes that this protection should be strengthened further in some areas.
PC&PE: A politically-motivated review of the UK's carbon budgets in 2014 - announced by the Government - is undermining certainty in the future direction of climate policy, Parliament's Green Watchdog has warned. A new report by the Environmental Audit Committee welcomes the Government's decision to set the fourth carbon budget – required under the Climate Change Act - at the level recommended by the independent Committee on Climate Change.
But it questions the Government's decision to announce a review of this budget in 2014 in response to fears that it could be bad for business. The MPs warn that the prospect of a review could weaken investor confidence in low-carbon industries as it creates uncertainty about the future trajectory of emissions reductions.
FSA: The Food Standards Agency has served up some food for thought by publishing information about GM foods, along with the views of a wide cross-section of interested parties, in the pages of its quarterly magazine Bite. The publication follows the Government’s announcement of 5 key principles for considering GM in the UK.
The principles emphasise the importance of listening to different views on the use of the technology. Bite was established by the FSA to discuss challenging food-related issues. The latest issue (entitled: ‘GM – novel cuisine or unpalatable prospect?’) looks at food security & sustainability and asks whether GM may or may not have a valid role to play.
NO: The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s Reporton Complaints about disability issues was published last week. It explains the Ombudsman’s role in considering complaints about poor service & unfair treatment provided to people with disabilities. It sets out the Ombudsman’s approach to considering complaints and shows, through a series of real case studies, what the Ombudsman can achieve for individuals.
CU: In the 6 months since Lord Davies launched his independent review into women on boards, only 33 FTSE 100 companies have heeded his recommendation to set themselves targets for the number of women they aim to have on their boards. Of these, only 10 have set themselves targets of a 10%+ increase.
A progress report published by Cranfield School of Management has revealed that since the review, 21 women have been appointed to board positions out of a possible 93. This represents 22.5% of all new appointments, some way short of the 33% recommended in the Davies report.
DfE: GCSE pupils' reading is more than a year behind the standard of their peers in Shanghai, Korea & Finland, research revealed last week. 15-year-olds in England are also at least 6 months behind those in Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada, New Zealand, Japan & Australia, according to the Department for Education's (DfE) analysis of the OECD's 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) study.
iea: New research released by the Institute of Economic Affairs shows:
* Small businesses disproportionately employ vulnerable people, such as those with no qualifications
* Government regulation is making it hard for self-employed people to take on employees
* There is an urgent need for the government to create exemptions from regulations for small businesses
* Small business provides employment for the vulnerable
Self-employment, Small Firms and Enterprise, reveals that small businesses provide vital opportunities for those who often struggle to find work in the rest of the labour market – those with no or few qualifications, immigrants, women with domestic responsibilities and those with poor English language skills. There is therefore not only an important economic, but also a social dimension to ensure the government is not holding back this sector.
Press release & links (pdf copy is free)
ASI: New research released by the Adam Smith Institute calls on the government to ‘scrap the 50p tax, reduce other tax rates, and reform current immigration policies to attract more highly skilled migrants to the UK’.
The report, Taxing talent: how Britain can attract and retain the world’s best workers says that, with an ageing population, the government must focus on policy changes designed to keep highly skilled workers in the UK, while also attracting highly skilled migrants. Unless it can do this, the UK faces economic stagnation and a pensions crisis.
Ofsted: An Ofsted report identifies the factors which have helped colleges improve the quality of their science provision, or maintain high standards, and makes recommendations for further improvement. The survey report, Improving science in colleges, a survey of good practice, draws on evidence from inspections carried out in spring 2011, which set out to observe and evaluate teaching & learning and the quality of leadership & management in 18 colleges.
