TOP 100 ENGLAND SITES
| |||
|
| |||
| |||
|
| |||
| Mark Saunders inquest: the questions posed to the jury The jury at the inquest into the death of Mark Saunders, the barrister shot by police during an armed siege in London was asked to answer seven questions. telegraph.co.uk |
Government scraps 192 quangos • Thousands of jobs will go in biggest shakeup of government the coalition has made to date• Full list of quangos being scrapped, merged or reprieved• Datablog: all the information you needThe government today delivered its promised "bonfire of the quangos", abolishing 192 government agencies, merging another 118 and substantially reforming a further 171.Thousands of jobs will go and as many will be transferred into new departments. It amounts to the biggest shakeup of government the coalition has made to date.Health bodies are dealt a particularly heavy blow with the Health Protection Agency being scrapped and its functions brought into the Department of Health. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the Human Genetics Commission and the Human Tissue Authority will all be scrapped.The BBC World Service and the British Council have both won reprieves and the Equality and Human Rights Commission will be retained, though its regulatory functions will be substantially changed and its budget is expected to be dramatically reduced.The government is now emphasising that the reforms are to drive accountability of the organisations, rowing back from previous claims that they would save money. Many of the closures are not expected to save money for many years after their liabilities in pensions, redundancies and contracts are paid. Labour accused the coalition of "chasing headlines" by making the closures.Overall, 901 bodies will be reduced to 648. However, 40 are still under review. Among the most prominent organisations affected are:• British Nuclear Fuels Limited will be abolished.• The Competition Commission will merge with the competition functions of the Office of Fair Trading.• Consumer Focus, the consumer rights group, will transfer to the Citizens Advice Bureau.• Design Council and the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (Nesta), will become charities.• British Waterways will be abolished as a public corporation in England and Wales and a new waterways charitable trust will be created – similar to a National Trust.• The Environment Agency will be substantially reformed with further announcements in the spending review.• The Student Loans Company, responsible for delayed loan payments to thousands of students last year, is still under review and could be axed.• The Youth Justice Board, set up by Jack Straw to oversee crime prevention and custody of under 18s, is to be abolished. The National Women's Commission is to be abolished and its functions transferred to the Government Equalities Office. The Security IndustryAuthority, which regulates the private security industry, will be abolished.In a statement to the Commons the Cabinet Office minister, Francis Maude, said that every body had been vetted to assess whether it provided a crucial technical function or requires political accountability or independence to carry out its work.Maude said: "We know that for a long time there has been a huge hunger for change. People have been fed up with the old way of doing business, where the ministers they voted for could often avoid taking responsibility for difficult and tough decisions by creating or hiding behind one of these quangos. "Today's announcement means that many important and essential functions will be brought back into departments meaning the line of accountability will run right up to the very top where it always should have been."There are of course organisations that will remain, although it is unlikely that any will be completely unchanged. This is because we recognise that some of these bodies do hugely important and essential work that has to be done at arm's length from government, especially when political impartiality, independence or technical expertise is required. "But those that remain will not be allowed to go back to the old way of working. As part of the reforms, we will also be introducing new transparency requirements, a new governance framework and a new review process to ensure that there is a robust and regular challenge of the continuing need for all the public bodies that remain."He went on: "While today's changes will help us move quickly to a new era of accountability in government, we recognise that there will be significant changes for many staff, who have done an enormous amount of excellent work for their organisations. We also want to recognise the public service given by members of boards and committees. We will continue to do all we can to work with their chief executives, chairs and management teams to ensure any change is conducted as fairly and as smoothly as possible."Liam Byrne MP, Labour's shadow minister for the Cabinet Office, said: "Labour had a plan for steadily saving £0.5bn by carefully closing 25% of quangos over the next few years."The Tories now need to tell us whether their desperation for headlines and faster cuts means the cost of closing quangos is actually bigger than the savings. And while they're at it, they should tell us whether their manifesto commitment for 20 new quangos is now on ice."QuangosCivil serviceSpending review 2010Tax and spendingTrade unionsFrancis MaudePublic financePublic sector cutsPublic services policyPublic sector pensionsPolly Curtisguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Three peers suspended from Lords Three peers are suspended from the Lords and told to repay expenses after wrongly claiming tens of thousands of pounds. bbc.co.uk |
David Cameron vows to fight EU budget increase Prime minister tells MPs it is 'completely unacceptable' that union budget could rise by 5.9% as UK faces cutsDavid Cameron today vowed to "fight very hard" against a planned 5.9% increase in the European Union's budget.The prime minister told MPs it was "completely unacceptable" at a time when the British government is being forced to impose domestic cuts.Cameron, who is due to attend the European summit in Brussels tomorrow, told MPs the rise – backed by the EU parliament against the wishes of the European council – was "wrong".He is prepared to link Germany's demand for a new treaty to Britain's call for a freeze in the EU budget following MEPs' decision to vote in favour of the rise for 2011.During prime minister's questions, he told the Commons he would do "everything I can" to limit the rise for next year and put "strict controls" in place for future years."The greatest priority for Britain should be to fight very hard to get the EU budget under control," he added. "It is completely unacceptable that, at a time when we are making tough budget decisions here, we are seeing spending rise consistently in the European Union."I think that is wrong, and I am going to be doing everything I can to try and sort out the budget for next year and then also look at the future financing of the European Union where we want to see strict controls. That, I think, should be our priority."Kate Hoey, the Labour MP for Vauxhall, told Cameron the British public did not want to see a "single penny more" given to the EU when Britain was facing cuts. "They would like to see some of the money brought back," she added.Cameron said the rebate secured by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s had saved Britain £88bn, citing it as an example of what tough negotiation could achieve.He continued: "The European parliament has insisted on a higher budget than the one set by the council, and the first thing is to say that is not acceptable and to build a majority on that council to get that budget down again."This would be easier if Labour MEPs did not keep voting for higher budgets, as they had this week."Cameron's statement was rebutted tonight by Labour MEPs who said they had voted against the proposed increase.Glenis Willmott MEP, Labour's leader in the European parliament, said: "David Cameron is wrong to say Labour MEPs backed the European parliament's proposals for a 5.9% budget increase."This is just political posturing by the Conservatives. Their MEPs didn't table a single amendment that would have actually led to reductions in EU spending against 2010 levels," she said.Earlier this month, the government saw off an attempt by Tory Eurosceptics to force ministers to cut the UK's contribution to the EU budget.But an amendment by Bill Cash, the Conservative MP for Stone and the chairman of the Commons European scrutiny committee, calling on the government "to reject European parliament proposals to increase the budget" was accepted.The issue of the EU budget rise was initially brought up at PMQs by Andrew Turner, the Conservative MP for the Isle of Wight, who asked Cameron about reports that the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, was seeking a new treaty to put EU aid to Greece on a legal footing.Merkel is reported to want the new treaty to place the €110bn (£98bn) bailout for Greece and the wider €750bn bailout fund for others on a legally watertight treaty basis.She has voiced fears that, without treaty-based rules outlining punishments for countries that break the eurozone's fiscal limits, the funds could be challenged by the German constitutional court.Cameron insisted any changes would not affect the UK, saying: "This is an argument that is being put forward particularly by the Germans, that there is a new treaty clause needed to put the eurozone on a stronger footing."Clearly from our point of view we are not in the euro, we are not planning to join the euro, and so any treaty change wouldn't apply to us – just as the new rules in terms of the stability and funding mechanism, we have always had a carve out from them."David CameronPMQsHouse of CommonsLiberal-Conservative coalitionEuropean UnionGermanyAngela MerkelHélène Mulhollandguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Queen Victoria's piper honoured A memorial cairn is being unveiled to the first piper to the royal household at the spot where he was last seen alive. bbc.co.uk |