General Reports and Other Publications

PC&PE: The Met Office needs new supercomputers to deliver confident extreme weather warnings, more accurate long-term forecasts and improved climate modelling, according to a report by the Science and Technology Committee.
Press release & links
 
CBI: The CBI called on the Chancellor to use his March Budget to score the growth & investment policy goals he put forward in his Autumn Statement and give the UK economy & jobs a real boost. In its submission to the 2012 Budget, the CBI also urged changes to the UK tax system which it believes could help persuade businesses to invest in the UK and further stimulate growth.
Press release & links
 
PC&PE: In a report released last week, the Commons Welsh Affairs Committee says that investment opportunities have been missed by the lack of a dedicated trade promotion agency.   It reports that the abolition of the Welsh Development Agency (WDA) has reduced Wales's visibility in the global market place.
Press release & links
 
CIPD: The government is right to target support at the hardest-to-reach amongst the young unemployed (16 to 17 year old NEETs with poor qualifications) as these are the people most at risk of the scarring effect of youth unemployment, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development.
Press release & links
 
NLGN: English councils are prepared to use retail bonds to pay for crucial improvements to schools & highways – but only if the price is right.  New research from localism think tank, New Local Government Network, detailed in the recently published report ‘Retail Therapy: Local capital finance and the retail bond market’, shows that the flexibility of retail bonds and the fact that local residents can buy them are both significant attractions, provided those benefits do not cost more than wholesale debt.
Press release & links ~ Retail Therapy: Local capital finance and the retail bond market
 
Adam Smith Institute: Ahead of a public consultation on the plain-packaging of cigarettes, the Adam Smith Institute released a report recently, ‘Plain Packaging’, arguing that ‘the proposals will do nothing for public health and are profoundly illiberal’.
Press release & links ~ Plain Packaging  
 
PC&PE: The UK could ‘become a leading exporter of wave & tidal power equipment and expertise’ if the Government adopts a more visionary approach to developing marine renewables, according to a new report by the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee.
Press release & links ~ WWF comment
 
TUCReducing consultation rights during collective redundancy exercises could cost jobs, damage workforce morale and increase unemployment, the TUC has warned. Currently, where employers are proposing to make between 20 & 99 employees redundant, they must allow for at least 30 days consultation with unions or workplace representatives before any job cuts can take effect.
Press release & links
 
TUC: The organisers of London 2012 are to introduce new measures designed to protect workers producing merchandise for this summer's Olympic Games, following evidence of exploitation uncovered by researchers working for the TUC and the Labour Behind the Label-led Playfair 2012 campaign.
Press release & links
 
PX: A report published recently by leading think tank, Policy Exchange, says that ‘the government should consider allowing private companies to set up & run schools under a social enterprise model’.  Teachers should be encouraged to take a stake in the school which would create strong incentives to drive up standards.
Press release & links
 
PC&PE: The Commons Public Accounts Committee has published its Oversight of special education for young people aged 16-25 report on the basis of evidence from the Department for Education, the Young People's Learning Agency, the Principal of Abingdon & Witney College, and representatives of two organisations which provide support & information to young people & professionals about special education, Disability Alliance and nasen.
 
The Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Chair of the Committee said: “It is shocking that almost a third of young people with a Statement of special educational needs at the age of 16 are not in any form of education, employment or training two years later”.
Press release & links
 
PC&PE: MPs on the cross party Transport Select Committee warned the Government it must do more to show that transport expenditure plans involve a fair allocation of resources across the nation, when launching a short report examining transport spending pledges made by the Government in 2011–12.
Press release & links
 
IISS: The latest Strategic Comment from the International Institute for Strategic Studies looks at how the USA military is re-acting to Congress imposed budget cuts and a re-orientation of its forces away from Europe to the Asia-Pacific region, as part of a realignment as it disengages from Afghanistan and Iraq.
Press release & links
 
Civitas: As George Osborne's next Budget approaches and the UK teeters on the edge of recession, a new Civitas report ‘reveals that the Government is failing to tackle the key barrier to growth’. A lending freeze affecting SMEs is preventing economic recovery.
 
Extending Lending shows how state-backed investment schemes in the US & Germany have created better lending opportunities for SMEs, allowing them to expand & replace jobs lost during the financial crisis.  By contrast, Britain has relied too much on the big commercial banks, which are failing in their public function as investors in business.
Press release & links
Spotlight on women at Serco – Anita’s story