LP's blog

The NHS is likely to give dance classes to tackle declining fitness levels and counter a national obesity crisis according to the Independent. Trials have been carried out costing £2.5 million and the DoH said that dance classes have proven to be very successful. It is not clear how the people who can dance on the NHS' cost will be chosen. Can anyone wishing to avoid paying for their dance classes or gym membership sign up? What if some people do not like dancing and will demand their exercise costs to be paid by the NHS?

According to the Guardian the Home Office is considering to offer the public a chance to purchase shares in new prisons under a "buy to let" scheme. The Treasury has refused to find extra funding to sort out the prisons crisis and that has led John Reid resorting to such extreme measures.

Tony Blair is planning to double the number of new city academies from 200 to 400 by 2010. The PM is pointing to the improved exam results to justify the move. But only a month a ago, an Ofsted report found that a few of the small number of exisitng academies have cost the taxpayer almost double the amount that was originally planned and some of them are still lagging behind with no real improvements.

The government asked the Office of the Rail Regulator (ORR) to investigate lack of competition for train rolling stock this June. The report, published yesterday (29 Nov) found that the industry is inefficient but a number of the problems arise from government's own policies.

The main problem is that there are only three companies providing rolling stock and the market is very uncompetitive. This has led to higher prices for passangers and lower quality of service. One factor keeping the market as it is, is the DfT policies. Very often the award of a rail franchise is so specific, that the choice of stock is very limited.

Smaller companies' support to the FSA has decreased over the last two years. The main reasons are the continued high cost of regulation and a confusion over FSA's strategic and policy work. The FSA's recent announcement that it will switch to a principle-based rulebook has increased smaller business' fears. Bigger companies are able to pay for consultants to advise on regulations but smaller ones will have to spend a huge amount of their valuable time on getting to grips with the new changes.

The government has decided to look at scrapping the annual MOT test in favour of one every two years, a move that could save motorists millions of pounds. Currently the UK motorists are checked more frequently than their European counterparts. Heavy regulatory burden is often blamed on the EU and on the incomprehensible amount of rules that emerge from Brussels. But in the case of MOT, the UK government has undertaken more regulations than requird by the EU. Maybe the government just finds it easier to blame the EU for its own fascinations with red tape?

There is more bad news for the Home Office - today's jail watchdog's report reveals the extent of mismanagement of the largest immigration removal centre. The government has promised to respond by a detailed action plan. But there have been such action plans before and nothing has improved. Will the next one be another "purely bureaucratic exercise with no impact on the centre's practices" (from the report)?

According to the Times the Government will announce this week that council will have to assess children's needs before granting planning permission for new homes. This means housing developments will have to include access to gardens, parks and playgrounds. Also, the move is to boost family homes after an increase in the building of one and two bedroom flats.

Tony Blair promised to cut red tape for business by 25% yesterday (28 Nov) in his speech at the CBI conference. In his address today, Gordon Brown is expected to announce reforms desinged to deliver a "more modern, simpler and consistent" tax system. The PM said that bureaucracy cost almost £15 billion a year and they have identified annual savings of £2.2 billion. And Gordon's announcement comes as a response to growing criticism that the tax system has become uncompetitive.

The latest Ipsis Mori poll found that people are sceptical over the government's ability to improve the public services and the economy. Only 39% believe that the Government's policies improve the economy, while 51% disagree.

A CBI survey found that some of the major British companies have moved abroad and more companies are considering the move to escape high corporate taxes. Businesses are discontent with the complexity of tax rules, aggressive attitudes of tax collection and high compliance cost.

Today's Independent (24 Nov) reports the fall of revenue from green taxes which have fallen to their lowest level for at least 18 years. Green taxes is the most efficient way of tackling climate change but the Government doesn't seem to understand that. Gordon Brown is almost certainly preparing another of his famously complex solutions to the problem which will help no one in the end.

The Treasury yesterday (23 Nov) launched a public consultation on travel insurance on grounds that "the market is not working well enough to prevent mis-selling." The last consultation on travel insurance was only three years ago when the Government decided that it is not necessary to regulate the sector. During the last review, most of the travel agents were against regulations and argued that the sector's code of conduct is sufficient to prevent any wrong-doing. Much could not have changed since. Regulations is not the way forward but it is the responsibility of the purchaser to check the T&C of the insurace one is buying.

NAO report reveals that MoD projects are overspent by £3 billion and are a total of 36 years late. The fleet is ageing, it takes more and more money to carry out repairs and the supply of new equipment is months if not years away. This must make a grim reading for the Government especially at a time of continued heavy fighting on two fronts.

The troops in Afganistan fighting the Taleban don't only fight the dangerous enemy but also the MoD to get proper ammunition. According to the Telegraph, the MoD sent the troops faulty ammunition as it was cheaper. Proper ammunition was sent after the special forces got involved. The MoD ended up spending more than it would have done if it had bought working ammunition in the first place.

The Telegraph reports that hopitals are advised not to treat patients "too promptly" as this is costing too much money. The "Choose and Book" system has allowed patients to book early appointments which means that hospitals might lose money by giving appointments to patients that have waited less than 8 weeks. The "Choose and Book" system was created to give patients a wide choice of hospitals and to be treated promptly. But by restiricting available appointments to save money the Labour government contradicts its health policies yet again.

The release of the important transport review has been delayed and it is now expected to be published with the pre budget report. The delay has not stopped the chief of the review to move to Australia and take up several high positions, including leading a transport review of the state of Victoria.

The review that examines issues such as north south high-speed rail link, road charging and greater investment, is now led by a group of civil servants. This of course poses the question whether the review will represent independent findings as was its original function.  

Yesterday's Ofsted report reveals that more than half of secondary schools are still failing to deliver a decent standard of education. And this is almost 10 years after Tony Blair came to power with a priority of "education, education, education."

Public Accounts Committe yesterday congratulated officials and ministers for "swift and impressive" response to the Asian tsunami. But the Independent reports that more than £9 million of British aid was sitting unspent in bank accounts 16 months after the distaster and the Department for International Development (DfID) has clawed back £2.5 million of it. DfID will now decide how to spend the money, partly donated by the public. £9 million is a relatively small amount but could make a huge difference to the people affected.

Downing Street has set up an e-petitions website and it has become very succesful. Succesful in a sense that people are visiting the site and signing petitions, but will it really change anything? There is a petition to scrap the ID cards with almost 3,000 signatures but it is certain that the Government will not change its line on ID cards. People will receive a response to the petitions they have signed but that does not mean that any action will be taken. So really, what's the point...?