Reform Media Summary

14 April 2008

Economy

Reform Scotland has published a report today entitled “Power for the Public”. The report can be found here. It examines the provision of health, education and justice in Scotland finding that increases in budgets in these areas have produced “mixed results” and calls for new ways of delivering public services that will produce real value for money. It was covered in a number of papers and also on BBC news online (BBC; Press and Journal, p.13; Express [Scottish Edition], p.8; Courier, p.3; Herald, p.6; Scotsman, p.6; Sun [Scottish Edition] p.2).

FT

A report by Reform Scotland shows that improvements in Scottish based public services have lagged behind those of other European countries despite huge increases in government spending. Ben Thompson, Chairman of the think-tank, said: “Other countries have found better ways of providing public services, whilst guaranteeing universal access regardless of ability to pay” (FT, p.3).

Times (Scottish Edition)

Geoff Mawdsley, Director of Reform Scotland, wrote in a comment piece in the Times (Scottish Edition) that there are certain principles that should underpin public service reform in Scotland: “First, our public services need to be more directly accountable to the people and local communities they serve …. Secondly, operational decisions need to be taken as close as possible to the people they affect …. Thirdly, the provision of public services needs to be diversified with different approaches in different areas as well as a wider range of providers” (Times [Scottish Edition], p.22).

New Policy Exchange report supports proposals to outsource welfare delivery and finds potential savings of £1 billion per year (Times, p.14; Telegraph, p.12; Mail, p.2; Sun, p.6 [leader], p.10).

At a speech to the Policy Exchange, George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, will say today: “Gordon Brown rested his claim to competence on three pillars – stability, prudence and competitiveness. Instead, after a decade of worldwide growth, we have ended up with a housing boom followed by bust, spending followed by debt, and a country finding it more and more difficult to compete” (Telegraph, p.10).

The Treasury will do more to relieve the pressure on banks’ ability to lend. Bank bosses are due to meet Gordon Brown tomorrow to discuss strategies to help ease liquidity problems in the markets followed by a meeting with Alistair Darling (FT, p.2; Telegraph, p.1, p.10; Mail, p.6; Guardian, p.21; Mirror, p.6, p.8).

Norman Lamont writes in an op-ed in the Sunday Telegraph on the housing market: “A key mistake by the Government was to redefine the inflation target for the Bank of England in terms of the Consumer Price Index which, unlike the older Retail Price Index, excludes all housing costs. If the Banks target had included an element for housing, interest rates might have been higher but we would have avoided some of the housing bubble and the present pain” (Sunday Telegraph, p.25).

Britain will this week propose that companies which employ fewer than 20 people should be exempt from future European Union regulations. John Hutton, the Business Secretary, argues that small companies should be permitted to take a “tailor made” approach to implementing the rules, allowing simpler enforcement and more effective guidance (FT, p.2).

The Council of Mortgage Lenders have warned that mortgage lending could halve this year unless fresh liquidity is injected into the market (Telegraph, Saturday, p.1, p.4; Guardian, Saturday, p.11; FT Weekend, p.2, p.11 [Chris Giles]; Times, Saturday, p.2; Mail, Saturday, p.4; Express, Saturday, p.4).

Tessa Jowell, the London Minister, said in an interview with the FT Weekend that Gordon Brown should reconsider his decision on the 10p tax rate if it proves to be “unfair” (FT Weekend, p.3).

According to a forecast to published today by the Centre of Economic and Business Research (CEBR), the City faces the worst employment downturn since the dotcom crash, with up to 20,000 job losses (Independent, p.36).

Further analysis of the credit crunch (Telegraph, p.22 [Ruth Lea], B.2 [Willem Buiter]; Independent, p.36, p.38 [Stephen King]; Sun, p.2; Express, p.2).

Education

Frank Field writes in an op-ed in the Sunday Telegraph: “This year, 16-year-old school-leavers will have spent their whole school career under a Labour Government. This has cost taxpayers £330 billion …. Such figures make Ed Balls’s recent attack on faith schools not simply incomprehensible, but near criminal. What is a Schools Secretary doing attacking the one group of schools which is marked out by its success? The Prime Minister, who professes to be more Blairite than Blair with his intent of radical reform of public services, must rein him in” (Sunday Telegraph, p.1-2).

The IPPR think tank has called for teacher training to be quadrupled to twenty days in-service training per year (TES, p.1).

According to a report by the Wellcome Trust pupils in England are being “turned off science” by months of test preparation in their last year of primary school (TES, p.10).

Ministers have approved funding for state schools to offer new exams for sixth-formers. The exams resemble old-style A-levels, which have often been described by experts as more demanding than current A-Levels (FT, p.4; Independent, p.12).

Figures reveal that there are fewer than 300 apprentices in the Civil Service, despite the fact that increasing the number of apprentices represents one of the core tenets of government strategy to boost skill levels (FT, p.4).

The FT Weekend reported that universities income from endowments and investments rose 13 per cent in the year to July 2007 (FT Weekend, p.4).

Saturday’s Mirror reported that two in three secondary schools are not hitting the Government’s targets of two hours of PE a week (Mirror, Saturday, p.4).

The best performing schools in the country are receiving up to £1,800 per pupil less than their neighbours (Sunday Telegraph, p.6).

In an interview with the Guardian John Denham, the Universities Secretary, announces plans to introduce new business-focused courses, during which undergraduates will be expected to complete work experience as part of their degree and will study for two rather than three years (Guardian, p.2, p.12).

Health

Royal College of Midwives raises concerns over closure of maternity units in four London boroughs. In a leader, the Times says: “Maternity care is an area where it is hardly asking too much for a state-funded service to deliver, in more ways than one” (Times, p.4, p.16 [leader], p.21; Telegraph, p.10).

Child health specialists say cases of the pneumonia, known as serotype 1, have risen tenfold in a decade. They warn that a vaccine against Prevenar (a pneumococcal disease) introduced in 2006, could be fuelling the rise (Independent, p.6).

A report by Professor Mike Richards, National Cancer Director at the Department of Health, suggests that cancer patients are dying because General Practitioners are unable to diagnose symptoms quickly enough (Telegraph, p.8; Mirror, p.27; Observer, p.1).

A many as one in 10 GP surgeries could close if Ministers remove the Minimum Practice Income Guarantee (Telegraph, Saturday, p.10).

The British Medical Association has warned that hospital doctors could be revealing intimate details about their patients’ health because of cutbacks in office space (Telegraph, p.8).

The Sunday Times reported that family doctors have put up signs in surgeries banning patients from discussing more than one ailment per appointment (Sunday Times, p.4).

Home Affairs

Times lead story: judges find that new laws introduced in July 2007 have reduced charges of domestic violence (Times, p.1).

According to government figures in the Sunday Telegraph, thousands of people caught carrying knives or guns illegally are let off without prison sentences (Sunday Telegraph, p.10).

Politics

There is coverage in a number of papers of Gordon Brown’s opinion poll ratings. Trevor Kavanagh comments for the Sun: “the mood at Westminster is bilious. Defeatism is rampant …. Nobody in Government expects a fourth term”. A Harris opinion poll conducted in several countries for the FT today shows that the Prime Minister is less trusted with the economy than any other leader of a major Western nation (FT, p.1, p.3, p.10 [leader]; Times, p.14, p.17 [Tim Hames]; Independent, p.4, p.28 [leader]; Telegraph, p.23 [leader], p.23 [Philip Johnston]; Sunday Times, p.12-13; Independent on Sunday, p.6; Mail, p.6; Sun, p.2; Express, p.9, p.12 [Leo McKinstry]).