01 September 2006
Electoral Commission officials have revealed that the Labour Party has taken out loans totalling more than £28m. The watchdog, publishing details of donations and loans made to political parties between April 1 and June 30, also revealed that the Conservative Party received loans totalling £2.8m, while the Liberal Democrats received £584,000. Labour said its figures were higher because it declared all outstanding loans. All parties agreed to publish loan details after the 'cash for peerages' row.
Lenders to registered social landlords need no longer worry about the security of their debts as the legal status of RSL assets has been clarified, according to credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's. The uncertainty stemmed from a discovery this year that the Housing Corporation did not have the legal power to delegate decision-making beyond its board. That potentially threatened the standing of 'section 9 consents', needed to allow RSLs to use assets as security for loans. Now the Housing Corporation (Delegation) etc. Act 2006 has given the HC delegation powers retrospectively and in the future.
GCSE success for the majority of Britain's school children masks the continued failure of children in care who have been 'written off by the education system', Barnardo's has said. A survey by the children's charity found that the percentage of children in care scoring five grades A*–C was just 11% last year, way below the national average. Bullying, disrupted and multiple placements, changing schools and insufficient home support undermined the educational chances of the 80,000 children in care, its report concluded.
The UK's armed forces are operating at 97.2% of their targeted personnel capacity, according to figures released by the Ministry of Defence on August 24. An assessment in July showed that the 'full-time trained strength' of the armed forces was 180,690 against a target of 185,870. The percentage of regular forces from ethnic minority backgrounds has risen to 5.6%, compared with 5.4% in 2005.
NHS executives in Glasgow have signed a £180m deal with an investment consortium that will design, build and operate new Private Finance Initiative hospitals in the city. The Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board and the joint venture firm Glasgow Healthcare Facilities have agreed to build two new hospitals — the New Victoria and the New Stobhill — under the 30-year contract. Andrew Gordon, chief executive of the Canmore Partnership, one of the four firms that make up the consortium, said the project would deliver 'the world-class facilities that patients and staff deserve'.
Constitutional affairs minister Harriet Harman has recruited 12 members of the public to help scrutinise the government's proposed new coroner laws. Harman announced on August 24 that a panel of people with recent experience of the coroner service — good and bad — would help to assess the draft Coroners Bill 'clause by clause' during a parliamentary session on October 18. Harman said: 'The new law is supposed to make the inquest process better for bereaved relatives, so who better to help us?'
PFsep2006
