Government
- A "lost generation" of unemployed young people is costing the economy billions of pounds a year in benefits, youth crime and educational under-achievement, a major report discloses today. The first large-scale study of its kind also shows that the population of "Neets" - people not in education, employment or training - is more than double that of Germany and France and is still growing. Roughly one in five young people faces a lifetime on government handouts, under-achieving in education and runs the risk of falling into crime, says a report by the London School of Economics for the Prince's Trust charity. The study, entitled The Cost of Exclusion, warns that the problem of "youth exclusion" is draining £3.65 billion a year from the exchequer, enough to fund a 1p cut in income tax. It says the strength of the economy is masking the true cost of having 1.2 million young Neets. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/10/nyouth10.xml
- Gordon Brown is "seriously considering" creating a super-ministry covering energy and the environment, which would pave the way for the potential break-up of the Department of Trade and Industry, according to Whitehall insiders. A blueprint for the radical shake-up of Whitehall is being drawn up as part of the chancellor's planning for his first 100 days as prime minister. Mr Brown, keen to demonstrate he will adopt a more collegiate style as leader, is involving senior officials outside the Treasury - including Gus O'Donnell, the cabinet secretary - in the work on the restructuring. Moving energy from the DTI to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs would have political, as well as operational, advantages. It would give David Miliband, the environment secretary, an enhanced role in a Brown cabinet, as well as providing a power base from which to attack the Tories' new emphasis on green issues. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/db97be14-e6d2-11db-9034-000b5df10621.html
- Services for people with HIV in Britain are crumbling through neglect and complacency in spite of the government's good record on helping developing countries deal with the condition, according to a report released yesterday. Ten years after drugs were made available that will keep people alive, HIV does not have a high priority and funding disappears into the general NHS pot, says the report. Its survey of HIV service providers and commissioners concludes there is no national strategic vision. The report, from a group of charities called the Aids Funders Forum, which includes the Elton John Aids Foundation and Crusaid, says the NHS is not putting in place the right services to deal with the changing face of the condition in the UK, and is failing to focus on keeping people well. There are no government targets on HIV prevention, social care or provision of information, it says, and it has disappeared from the political agenda and public consciousness. http://www.guardian.co.uk/aids/story/0,,2053387,00.html
- The loss of lottery funding for arts groups and other good causes in order to pay for the London Olympics is small compared with the overall government funding they receive, Tessa Jowell claims. The culture secretary has come under fire from groups such as the Arts Council, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Sport England for the government's decision to increase the amount of lottery funding for London 2012 to meet the rising cost of the Olympics. The government last month announced an extra £675m would be diverted from lottery funding for the games, taking the total lottery "take" for London 2012 to £2.2bn. In an interview with the Financial Times, Ms Jowell said: "I don't underestimate the anxiety this has caused people." http://www.ft.com/cms/s/6731acce-e6ff-11db-9034-000b5df10621.html
- More than a million motorists a year face having bailiffs force their way into their homes to collect unpaid parking fines under legislation before MPs. Action could be taken even when the motorist is unaware that a ticket has been issued or that the debt has been pursued through the civil courts. In such cases car owners have faced spiralling costs - including bailiffs' fees - of hundreds of pounds. The Department for Transport's feasibility study into "pay as you drive" includes proposals to use debt collectors to chase unpaid fees. Motoring groups are alarmed at the proposals contained in the Tribunal Courts and Enforcement Bill, which is designed to strengthen the power of bailiffs to collect civil debts. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/10/npark10.xml
- A marked increase in the number of supersize secondary schools has led to an erosion of discipline, as teachers try to keep control of children they cannot identify even by year group, let alone by name, research suggests. Expulsions from the largest secondaries, with 1,500 or more pupils, have risen by 28 per cent since Labour came to power in 1997, leaving 730 pupils a year permanently excluded from school. Temporary exclusions are now running at nearly 10 per cent of pupils in schools with more than 1,000 children, compared with 3 per cent in schools with 1,000 or fewer pupils. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article1632773.ece
- Military personnel were banned from selling their stories to the media last night amid increasing pressure over the decision to allow the marines and sailors freed from Iran to be paid for their accounts of captivity. Des Browne, the Secretary of State for Defence, imposed the ban on further media deals pending a full-scale review of rules governing payment - although it did not affect Leading Seaman Faye Turney's ITV1 interview with Sir Trevor McDonald, aired last night. He said the Royal Navy had faced a "tough call" but admitted that the decision to allow the captives to sell their stories had "not reached a satisfactory outcome". http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2437297.ece
- A solicitor whose firm specialises in compensation claims for sick miners made a personal profit of £16.8 million in one year. Jim Beresford is the senior partner in Beresfords, a firm in Doncaster which registered more than 90,000 claims under the Government-run scheme. He is named today as Britain's highest-earning solicitor. Tens of thousands of former miners whose health was damaged by their years of work underground have received awards of less than £1,000. More than 15,000 claimants died before they received any money, yet in 2005, when the scheme was running at its peak, 56-year-old Mr Beresford grew richer at a rate of £45,892 every day. The bulk of his firm's profits were paid by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for its work on claims by miners suffering from chronic respiratory disease or a disabling hand condition called vibration white finger (VWF). http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article1633063.ece
Conservatives
- David Cameron risks another spat with business, after a Tory policy group warned that "lazy arguments on cost and competitiveness" should not stop stringent climate-change targets being imposed. The Conservatives' quality of life policy group calls for Britain to increase its target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from 60 per cent to "at least" 80 per cent by 2050. It urges the UK to work with the European Union to build a "coalition of the ambitious", joining other developed countries that will commit to the 80 per cent target. Business will react with alarm to the prospect of the UK adopting much tougher curbs on emissions than some of its competitors, fearing this could put British companies at a disadvantage and tip market forces further in favour of environmentally unfriendly practices elsewhere in the world. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/a65f9974-e6ff-11db-9034-000b5df10621.html