Reform Media Summary

18 March 2008

In today’s Media Summary the Sunday Telegraph reported new Reform research on the level of private health spending in the UK, heavy coverage of the Treasury's decision yesterday to nationalise Northern Rock and Oxford and Cambridge universities have been identified by the Higher Education Minister, Bill Rammell, as failing to increase the number of state school applicants.

Health

The Sunday Telegraph reported new Reform research on the level of private health spending in the UK. The paper reported the finding that the average family is spending £1,200 on top of the £3,850 contributed annually to the NHS via tax. The report said: “Andrew Haldenby, Director of Reform, said: ‘The Government keeps repeating a mantra that the NHS free at the point of use. That is obsolete and it is misleading to patients who only find out that their care is not state-funded at the point when they need it.’ He said the research made a nonsense of the Government’s policy of banning patients from buying drugs privately and having them administered by the NHS. Health Department rules state that if a patient buys a drug that is not funded by the NHS, such as the cancer treatment Avastin, then they must be treated as a private patient” (Sunday Telegraph, p.6).

In a letter to the Sunday Telegraph, Andrew Haldenby, Director of Reform, responded to a letter by Ben Bradshaw MP on Reform’s annual health report (February 13). Andrew Haldenby wrote: “Mr Bradshaw is right that some reform of the NHS is happening. But the point of our research is that the reform effort has become incoherent and marginal. For example, the Minister says that patients will have an open choice of hospital, publicly or privately run, from April. This is misleading; in fact, the market in NHS provision is so biased against the private sector that most patients will not feel any benefit. The Minister’s reaction is regrettable because we are on his side. We also want reform to succeed and for the NHS to move from monopoly to competition. We make the constructive proposal of a new economic constitution, to salvage the reform effort and ensure that the service focuses on value for money at all levels” (Telegraph, Saturday, p.25).

The Health Secretary will reportedly announce this week that GPs should identify the work that sick patients can still do, in an attempt to “change our sick-note culture into a well-note culture” (Times, p.4, p.4, [a GP's opposition]; Mail, p.2).

Saturday’s Times reported that smokers may be forced to pay for a license to buy tobacco under plans to reduce tobacco-related deaths, at a cost of about £10 per year (Times, Saturday, p.17; Sun, Saturday, p.2; Express, Saturday, p.7; Mail, Saturday, p.56).

The Telegraph reports that contract changes that have seen more than 1,000 dentists leave the health service threaten to bring about the end of NHS dentistry (Telegraph, p.8).

The Observer reported that seriously ill patients are left for hours in ambulances instead of being immediately admitted to accident and emergency departments to meet a government target on treatment times (Observer, p.1; Telegraph, p.8; Sun, p.24).

Economy

Heavy coverage of the Treasury's decision yesterday to nationalise Northern Rock (Times, p.1, p.6, p.34; Independent, p.2, p.3 [Steve Richards], p.28 [leader], p.36, p.36, p.36; Guardian, p.1, p.6, p.7; p.29 [Martin Jacques], p.30 [leader]; FT, p.2, p.2, p.3, p.10 [leader]; Telegraph, p.1, p.4, p.5, p.23 [leader], B.1; Mirror, p.6 [Kevin Maguire], p.7, p.8 [leader]; Sun, p.1, p.6 [leader], p.8; Express, p.4, p.5, p.50; Mail, p.1, p.2, p.6, p.7 [Alex Brummer], p.14 [leader]; p.66; FT, Weekend, p.2; Independent, Saturday, p.54; Telegraph, Saturday, p.12).

Reaction

Times

On the front page, Anatole Kaletsky writes: “Unbelievable.... Of course nationalisation was the right option.... But every detail of yesterday's announcement was exactly, unbelievably, wrong.”. A leader says that the decision is “not by conviction but by default” (Times, p.1, p.16 [leader]).

Guardian

A leader states that: “The chancellor's search for a third way between nationalisation and receivership was an unworkable attempt to triangulate corporate collapse. A braver government would have reached this point long before” (Guardian, p.30).

Independent

A leading article states that: “Having decided against a bail-out early on, the Government has ended up, half a year later, exactly where it started, with a large amount of taxpayers' money spent in the meantime” (Independent, p.28).

Telegraph

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard writes: “The British economy has been recklessly mismanaged for over five years” (Telegraph, B.4).

FT

Martin Wolf comments: “Nationalising Northern Rock was the right decision. It should have happened months ago. As soon as it became evident that the stricken bank could only survive with generous public sector guarantees, any so-called private sector solution was a mirage” (FT, p.2).

Further coverage of George Osborne’s speech on tax reform on Friday. In a leader, the Sunday Times said: “Mr Osborne’s challenge is not over. Labour will be tempted to set out spending plans before the next election for the whole of the following parliament and challenge the Tories to match them. That will be when the shadow chancellor, an instinctive tax-cutter, may abandon caution. For the moment, he is right to stick to his guns” (Sunday Times, p.20, p.23 [Irwin Stelzer]; Sun, Saturday, p.2; Mail, Saturday, p.8; Telegraph, Saturday, p.2; FT, Weekend, p.2; Independent, Saturday, p.13).

Harrow Council has saved £336,000 in seven months through a pilot using lie detectors during benefit interviews (Times, p.22).

Gary Duncan: “There was little cheer in the Governor's grim prognosis” (Times, p.35).

Figures released by the Ministry of Justice show the number of bankruptcies rose to a record level in 2007 (Guardian, Saturday, p.18; FT, Weekend, p.2; Mirror, Saturday, p.19).

The numbers of days lost through industrial action topped 1 million last year for only the second time in a decade as government experienced anger over public sector job cuts and below-inflation pay increases (FT, p.4).

Financial services companies are expected to recruit almost 15 per cent fewer graduates this year in the wake of the credit crunch (FT, p.4).

Graham Beale, chief executive of Nationwide, Britain’s biggest building society warns of a steep rise in house repossessions this year as homeowners struggle to come to terms with spiralling borrowing costs (Observer, p.6).

Saturday’s Express reported that Gordon Brown wants “contracts out of poverty” which could mean payments of about £2000 a year to parents who take up work and training (Express, Saturday, p.6; Independent, Saturday, p.13 [Andrew Grice]).

Education

Oxford and Cambridge universities have been identified by the Higher Education Minister, Bill Rammell, as failing to increase the number of state school applicants (Guardian, p.5).

In a report due to be published on Wednesday, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority is expected to propose the termination of oral tests from foreign language GCSE examinations (Guardian, p.13; Mail, p.20, Independent, Sunday, p.7; Telegraph, p.12; Sun, p.2, p.6 [leader]; Mirror, p.4).

A report by the Public Accounts Committee will reveal this week that Labour has spent £800 million trying to cut the number of students dropping out of university but to little effect (Telegraph, p.12).

The Government has lowered the pass mark in SATs to ensure more pupils pass (Times, Saturday, p.25; Telegraph, Saturday, p.14; Express, Saturday, p.14; Mail, Saturday, p.19).

Saturday’s Telegraph reported that as many as half of children in some areas are expected to miss out on their first choice secondary school this year (Telegraph, Saturday, p.14).

Home Affairs

Wide coverage of a new Home Office action plan on violent crime, including a presumption that anyone over 18 carrying a knife should be prosecuted rather than issued with a police caution (Times, p.12; Independent, p.8; Express, p.9, p.12; Sunday Mirror, p.2; Independent, Sunday, p.4; Telegraph, Saturday, p.2; FT, p.4; Telegraph, p.1; Sun, p.7).

The number of prisoners has hit a new high of 81,918 (Times, Saturday, p.2; Mail, Saturday, p.5; Mirror, Saturday, p.2 [leader]).

A dossier compiled by Chris Grayling, the Shadow Secretary for work and pensions, revealed that nearly one in three young people are living below the poverty line. With youth unemployment rising, one in six youngsters in Britain is claiming unemployment benefits, while nearly one in ten are officially classed as NEETs – not in education, employment or training (Telegraph, p.6).

Politics

YouGov poll for the Sunday Times: Labour 32 per cent (down one on last month), Conservatives 41 per cent (down two), Liberal Democrats 16 per cent (down two) (Sunday Times, p.9).

MP Derek Conway is sacked from the House of Commons panel of the chairmen (Guardian, Saturday, p.17; Independent, Saturday, p.10; Mirror, Saturday, p.7).

Further coverage on the debate over a written British constitution (Guardian, p.12, [Marcel Berlins]).