Reform Media Summary

25 February 2008

In today’s Media Summary, coverage of Reform’s publication Academies: a model education, research by the think tank Reform found that less than a third of public sector jobs created since 1997 have been “frontline workers and further coverage of Reform’s new research on the size of private healthcare spending.

Education

Reform today publishes Academies: a model education? It is available online at www.reform.co.uk.

Conservativehome

Elizabeth Truss, Reform’s Deputy Director, and Laura Kounine, Reform’s Education and Crime Research Officer, argue in a comment piece on the website: “It is possible to imagine education reform that begins with support for the current academies programme but goes on to achieve much wider benefits. With the culture of the teaching unions’ transformed, Government’s relinquishment of control over discipline, curriculum and testing, and freedom of management granted to all schools, state education in England could be significantly improved” (Conservative Home).

Guardian

The paper quoted Lord Adonis, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools and Learners. He said: “Sponsors can challenge traditional thinking on how schools should be run and what they should be like for students. The results speak for themselves - last year’s GCSE results for academies which directly replaced existing schools were almost double those of their predecessor schools in 2001. Academies are providing a ladder for children to gain the best education and qualifications, regardless of wealth or family background”. The paper also quoted Michael Gove, Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families. He said: “This report highlights the contribution that academies are making to improving education for children in some of the poorest areas of the country. It underlines the importance of maintaining and enhancing the freedoms of academies so they can thrive in the future. Unfortunately, since Gordon Brown has become prime minister he has begun to erode these freedoms, undermining the academies programme for ideological reasons, which will restrict opportunities for the most deprived children” (Guardian, p.12).

Independent

According to a report by the think-tank Reform: “The Government flagship academies programme is being hampered by bureaucracy and overly-powerful unions” (Independent, p.4).

epolitix.com

The Reform think-tank said on Monday that the [academies] programme had been particularly effective in improving management and discipline, and said it should inform any future changes to the education system. According to the report, teachers should be given more power over excluding pupils in state schools and independent appeals panels should be abolished in academies (epolitix.com).

Metro Online

Richard Tice, author of the Reform study and chairman of governors at Northampton Academy, said: “From my experience, it is right to identify discipline as one of the major problems in the state education system” (Metro online).

Ministers are working on plans to send teams of expert leaders into hundreds of struggling state secondary schools in an attempt to eliminate low performers (Guardian, p.2).

Deputy Director of Institute of Education: reducing class sizes is a waste of resources for all but the youngest children. Instead Dylan Williams advocates more frequent assessments of the whole class (Times, p.12; Sun, p.2).

Only just over half a per cent of pupils who got three A’s at A-Level were eligible for free school meals, according to data in a response to parliamentary questions (Guardian, Saturday, p.4; Independent, p.4).

Economy

Research by the think tank Reform found that less than a third of public sector jobs created since 1997 have been “frontline workers”. The number of jobs in the public sector has grown by around half a million since 1997 to 4.7 million employees. Yet only a third – around 173,000 – are doctors, nurses, teachers and police officers. If teaching assistants are included, the number rises to half (Yorkshire Post, Friday, p.15).

Public sector pensions are set to cost taxpayers £1,025 billion according to figures released today (Telegraph, p.1, p.2; Express, p.20; Mail, p.21).

Terence Kealey: “Private schools are better than state schools, private houses are better than council houses... not only because the act of paying commands a better service but also because it infuses the customer with a greater appreciation for that service” (Times, p.16).

Last year, corporation tax revenues paid by FTSE 100 companies experienced a steep rise. Over the past four years, big companies’ corporation taxes have risen by 50 per cent (FT, p.4).

Around 400,000 households pay too much council tax (Express, p.1, p.4; Mirror, p.23; Mail, p.36; Sun, p.2).

Pensioners struggling to pay winter fuel bills are to get bigger handouts, Chancellor Alistair Darling promised last night (Mirror, p.11).

Government to spend extra £934 million on a “regeneration plan” for Blackpool (Sunday Times, p.2).

Leaked document, reportedly from Conservative environment spokesman, Greg Barker, warns against higher green taxes (Sunday Times, p.2).

Conservative Party repeats support for Government commitment to end child poverty by 2020 (Sunday Telegraph, p.16 [Chris Grayling])

Vince Cable on higher taxes for “non-doms”: “Some non-doms will go, although, I suspect, not many. Providing the restrictions are moderate... there is little risk. The City will not collapse” (Mail on Sunday, p.25; FT Weekend, p.4, p.4).

Northern Rock was nationalised on Friday (Times, Saturday, p.4; FT Weekend, p.2).

Health

Further coverage of Reform’s new research on the size of private healthcare spending. In the main Sunday Telegraph op-ed column, Dan Roberts referred to both the spending on “core” healthcare and “additional” spending such as gyms and spas: “Fortunately, most people are willing to pay more for their health and wellbeing. Just look at all the billions we lavish on food and drinks purported to have life-giving properties – not to mention the £400 million a year on vitamins, £200 million on complementary medicine and £1 billion on spas and beauty salons. The trick is to tap into that desire for self-improvement while making sure everyone gets a decent minimum standard of care for real illnesses.... And anyone who thinks only the rich go private, should examine the latest research from the think-tank Reform, which found we each spend £1,200 on average every year topping up free provision with services like dentistry, geriatric care and extra medicine. Given that we already contribute an average of £3,850 toward the NHS in taxation, it's no wonder people like Mr Tagg feel hard done by” (Sunday Telegraph, p.24).

A poll in Saturday’s Times found that 45 per cent of patients surveyed thought that a polyclinic would lead to improvements in quality in comparison to 3 per cent of GPs (Times, Saturday, p.4).

Times lead story: new research points to possible increase in heart disease among 35-54 year-olds, reversing a decades-long trend of improvements (Times, p.1; Telegraph, p.8, Express, p.10).

Department of Health announces new incentives to recruit an extra 4,000 midwives over the next three years (Times, p.8; Guardian, p.5; Mirror, p.9; Mail, p.26; Sun, p.21).

The Government is launching a £10 million advertising drive to curb drinking among professional women aged between 30 and 50 (Mirror, p.6; Sun, p.2).

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, will today declare his support for the reduction of the legal time limit for abortions (Telegraph, p.2; Mail, p.6).

Health bosses are going to spend £15 million on a survey about the NHS, despite only getting 1,500 replies form the public (Telegraph, p.2).

The British Journal of Medical Practice has published a survey which suggests that more than half a million people could have diabetes or a high risk of developing the condition without knowing it (Guardian, p.10).

Home Affairs

Court Service: in a snapshot survey last month, 60 of the 455 people accused of murder were on bail. Nick Herbert, Shadow Justice Secretary and Reform's former director, questioned the status of a Home Office review into the matter on Today this morning (Times, p.2; Sun, p.2).

A report by the charity Addaction has found that illegal drug use has cost the country £110 billion over the past 10 years. However their research claims that only 3 per cent of spending on drug related issues has been used to tackle addiction (Telegraph, p.14; Mail, p.26).

Ann Owers, interviewed in the Observer: “My impression is the level of incidents in prisons is increasing – an indication of a system operating too near to the knuckle” (Observer, p.2).

Figures by the Home Office show nearly 1,400 prison officers were investigated last year for alleged offences ranging from theft to jail breaks (Mirror, p.9).

The jail population reached a record 82,068 on Friday (Express, Saturday, p.2, p.14 [leader]).

The Times reports that European Court of Human Rights will hear a case that could lead to 560,000 samples on the DNA database being destroyed (Times, Saturday, p.1, p.20 [leader]).

New figures obtained by Saturday’s Telegraph show that police are dealing with an extra 180,000 offences a year as a result of the new 24 hour drinking legislation (Telegraph, Saturday, p.1; Mail, Saturday, p.2).

Politics

Further coverage of controversy surrounding Michael Martin’s – the Speaker of the House of Commons – expenses (Times, p.6, p.16 [leader], p.17 [Tim Hames]; FT, p.2; Mail, p.10, p.14 [leader]; Independent, p.5; Telegraph, p.1, p.4; Express, p.2; Guardian, p.1, p.4, p.29 [Jackie Ashley ]; Mirror, p.8 [leader], p.10; Sun, p.2; Mail on Sunday, p.1; Observer, p.1; Independent on Sunday, p.1; Sunday Telegraph, p.1).

John Rentoul: “Labour looks tired; the Conservatives seem over-eager, as Cameron as George Osborne... seemed over Northern Rock; neither Party appears to be very sure what it wants power for” (Independent on Sunday, p.40).

Michael Portillo: “Despite Northern Rock, Brown looks likely to be Prime Minister after the next election” (Sunday Times, p.17).

William Hague, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, was interviewed in Saturday’s Telegraph (Telegraph, Saturday, p.14).

Andrew Rawnsley on the Conservative reaction to the nationalisation of Northern Rock: “They revelled so obviously in the Government’s embarrassment that they made an issue of their own judgment” (Observer, p.35).