The Scottish National Party has called for an inquiry after electoral registers for the Glenrothes by-election were lost by the courts. The registers must be kept for a year, as they are the only record of who voted in the November 2008 election in which Labour’s Lindsay Roy fended off an SNP challenge by more than 6,000 votes. A spokesman for the Scottish Court Service said the incident was being investigated and described it as ‘deeply regrettable’. But Tricia Marwick, the SNP MSP for Central Fife, called for an independent inquiry, adding: ‘It is almost beyond belief that a by-election that attracted media coverage throughout the UK, which delivered such a surprise result and had a much higher turnout than anticipated, now has no records to show who actually voted.’
Impact assessments of government legislation are still failing to give full information on costs and benefits, the National Audit Office has found. In a report published on January 30, the NAO said many impact assessments did not pay sufficient attention to compliance and enforcement issues. Auditor general Tim Burr said: ‘The quality of published assessments of the impact of proposed regulations has improved. But the standard varies widely.’
Whitehall managers should use a new self-assessment tool to pinpoint deficiencies in their asset management practices, the Office of Government Commerce has urged. The OGC said that the Property Management Capability Assessment Model, known as Pamcam, would help government departments find £1.5bn in efficiency savings by 2013. OGC chief executive Nigel Smith said: ‘Pamcam offers managers a great opportunity to assess their current practices in an easy way, and paints a clear picture of where improvements can be made.’
All of Scotland’s closed prisons were over capacity between October and December, according to figures produced by the Liberal Democrats. Justice spokesman Robert Brown said the figures revealed that Dumfries, Glenochil, Greenock, Inverness, Kilmarnock, Peterhead and Polmont prisons were all working above their Assessed Operational Limit. ‘It is unacceptable that all of Scotland’s prisons are operating above their design capacity and half are working above their AOL. The SNP must not delay any longer in addressing this issue,’ he said. The Scottish Government accused Brown of hypocrisy, saying the ‘overcrowding problem built up over the eight years of the LibDem/Labour coalition’.
The number of people aged 16 to 24 not in work, education or training went up by 94,000 to 850,000 between 2003 and 2007, according to figures obtained by the Conservatives. Shadow skills secretary David Willetts said the number of youngsters not in education, employment or training — so-called Neets — had risen in 47% of local education authority areas in England while it had fallen in only 25% of them. He added: ‘It is tragic that ministers have done so little to help Neets during the fat years. Now that we are entering the lean years, it will be harder than ever to tackle this urgent social problem.’ The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills blamed population growth and said the figures included disabled youths, carers and those on gap years.
Local authorities have been given the green light to submit applications for a share of £25m of money from the ‘Kickstart’ programme to improve bus services. Transport minister Paul Clark said on January 29: ‘Good local transport is vital, providing essential links to friends, work and local amenities. This latest round of funding will give crucial financial support to services which may be commercially marginal for operators but which have the potential to benefit local residents.’
