we are not all in this together

NHS watchdog concerned over care and safety at one in four hospitals

Spread the love

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/oct/24/nhs-watchdog-care-safety-hospitals-england

Care Quality Commission says performance at 44 out of 161 acute hospital trusts in England is cause for concern

Accident and emergency
Accident and emergency

One in four NHS hospitals is a cause for concern over the quality or safety of the care it provides to patients, the service’s statutory watchdog has warned.

In an analysis of all 161 acute hospital trusts in England that is the most comprehensive ever carried out, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) says it is worried about aspects of care at 44 (27.3%) of them.

Performance in some areas is so inadequate that it poses a risk or an elevated risk to patients.

The sheer number of hospitals about which the regulator is concerned dwarfs the 14 trusts that Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, the NHS’s medical director, investigated earlier this year. Eleven of those 14 were put into special measures as a result of inadequacies he uncovered.

…

Continue ReadingNHS watchdog concerned over care and safety at one in four hospitals

Ineos closes Grangemouth petrochemicals plant

Spread the love

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/oct/23/ineos-closes-grangemouth-petrochemicals-plant

About 800 workers at petrochemicals complex face axe, with fate of neighbouring oil refinery still undecided

Workers walk through the Grangemouth oil refinery

The petrochemical plant at Grangemouth is to close following a bitter row over pay and conditions, putting 800 workers’ jobs at risk.

Owner Ineos has decided to shut the petrochemical side of the complex, which is situated next to the firm’s oil refinery.

Workers were given the grim news at a meeting with Ineos’s chairman, Calum MacLean.

In an urgent question on Grangemouth in parliament, energy and climate change secretary Ed Davey told MPs repeatedly that the government wants the plant to stay open if at all possible. It would still consider a business case to provide investment to help keep the plant running.

Davey also confirmed that detailed contingency plans have been drawn up to protect firms and customers from running out of fuel and chemical supplies.

He will meet with MPs later on Wednesday to discuss the issue in more detail.

…

Continue ReadingIneos closes Grangemouth petrochemicals plant

Government admits it does not know how well benefit cap is working

Spread the love

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/oct/23/effect-benefit-cap-work-pensions-welfare-official-figures

Work and pensions minister condemns report that found cap not working but is unable to offer official figures

A Conservative minister has admitted that the government does not know how many people the benefit cap is forcing into work, after a new study said the flagship welfare policy was not helping the unemployed or saving money.

Mike Penning, a work and pensions minister, condemned the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) report as “fundamentally flawed”, after it estimated that only 10% of those hit by the cap in one London borough, Haringey, had secured jobs or increased their working hours.

However, he could not give a government figure for the number of people affected who were working more as a result.

“We don’t know what the percentage is,” he said. “We know 16,500 have gone into work as this was phased in and we gave Jobcentre Plus the funding to do that.

“In Haringey, we knew there would be issues in the London councils, so we gave them £56m extra, so we’re not surprised we’re doing that. And for the 10% of people that have gone into work, we’re thrilled for them. And we’re also thrilled for hardworking people because this is fair.”

The CIH report looked at early results in Haringey in north London. It found only a handful of the 747 households affected by the cap had secured a job or increased working hours since the cap was introduced six months ago, despite intensive and personalised support from councils and local jobcentres.

Although the policy was shaving £60,000 a week from the benefits bill locally, this amounted to only 1% of the council’s total weekly benefit expenditure. Haringey has spent £55,000 a week on short-term discretionary grants to help claimants affected by the cap to meet rent shortfalls, and thousands more on providing extra welfare and employment advice.

The few capped claimants who had so far moved into employment were already “close to the labour market” and were likely to have got a job anyway, or were already working part-time and had increased their hours, according to Haringey jobcentre officials and charity job advisers interviewed by the CIH.

…

 

Continue ReadingGovernment admits it does not know how well benefit cap is working

Eurobonds scandal: The high street giants avoiding millions in tax

Spread the love

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/eurobonds-scandal-the-high-street-giants-avoiding-millions-in-tax-8897591.html

Many of Britain’s best-known high street chains are avoiding millions of pounds in tax through the controversial Eurobonds scheme.

Food chains including Nando’s, Pizza Express, Café Rouge, Strada and Pret A Manger have cut their taxable profits by borrowing from their owners through the Channel Islands Stock Exchange. High street retailers doing the same include BHS, the electronics retailer Maplin, Office and Pets At Home. The revelations form the third part of an investigation by Corporate Watch and The Independent into major UK companies using the quoted Eurobond exemption, a regulatory loophole the Government knows about but has decided not to close.

David Cameron is expected to be questioned today in Parliament about the scheme and HMRC’s failure to tackle it. Instead of putting their money in the shares of the companies they buy, the owners – mostly private equity funds – lend it instead. The interest on the loans cuts the UK companies’ taxable income each year and the exemption – triggered because the loans are listed on the Channel Islands Stock Exchange – means the interest goes to the owners tax free. Without this loophole, HMRC could deduct a 20 per cent “withholding tax” from payments overseas and the overall tax saving would be greatly reduced. Yesterday The Independent reported how Camelot had avoided tax using this method and how HMRC was lobbied by financial firms to keep the loophole open.

Murray Worthy, a tax campaigner with War on Want, said: “This isn’t just a niche issue that’s being used by a handful of companies. We’ve seen how angry people are about the ease with which these companies can avoid paying their fair share, [and] the only reason this is happening is because of the influence of big business on the Government’s tax rules.” Gondola Group – which owns Pizza Express, Zizzi and Ask – has avoided as much as £77m in UK corporation tax since it was bought by the Cinven private equity fund in 2006. Cinven loaned Gondola more than £300m at a 12.5 per cent interest rate but only invested £8m in equity. Instead of receiving the interest payments on the loans every year, Cinven has allowed it to accrue on the debt, compounding the amount taken off Gondola’s profits every year. When Cinven sells the restaurants, which it is reportedly considering, it can receive the £276.8m it is owed tax free.

…

27/11/13 Having received a takedown notice from the Independent newspaper for a different posting, I have reviewed this article which links to an article at the Independent’s website in order to attempt to ensure conformance with copyright laws.

I consider this posting to comply with copyright laws since
a. Only a small portion of the original article has been quoted satisfying the fair use criteria, and / or
b. This posting satisfies the requirements of a derivative work.

Please be assured that this blog is a non-commercial blog (weblog) which does not feature advertising and has not ever produced any income.

dizzy

Continue ReadingEurobonds scandal: The high street giants avoiding millions in tax

Borrowing figures show how Osborne allowed thousands to avoid 50p tax rate

Spread the love

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/10/borrowing-figures-show-how-osborne-allowed-thousands-avoid-50p-tax-rate

The spike in tax receipts was caused by individuals deferring income and bonuses to benefit from the new 45p rate, not a surge in earnings.

By George Eaton

george_osborne

The latest borrowing figures are being trumpeted by the Tories as evidence of the success of George Osborne’s economic plan, with tax receipts up by 7% compared to last year. But what they won’t mention is that this spike has more to do with high earners avoiding the 50p tax rate than it does with any rise in earnings. By deferring income and bonuses from 2012 until this year to take advantage of the new 45p rate, taxpayers have caused a £2.9bn increase in receipts. But with earnings growth of just 0.7% in the most recent month, it’s far from certain that this improved trend will continue.

As the OBR notes in its commentary on the figures:

Growth in both income tax and NICs for the year-to-date is above the full year forecasts, but this largely reflects the fact that receipts in the first few months of the year benefited from the deferral of some income/bonuses to take advantage of the reduction of the additional rate of income tax to 45p and some temporary effects in non-PAYE income tax. Prospects for PAYE and NIC receipts growth will depend on the feed-through from the low growth in average weekly earnings in the latest data.

The IFS similarly warns:

It is important to note that some of the strong growth in receipts observed earlier in the year may not be expected to persist for the rest of the financial year, as it may be the result of some high income individuals pushing part of their income from last year into the beginning of this tax year in order to take advantage of the reduction in the higher rate of income tax.

And with individuals paying tax at 45p, rather than 50p, the Exchequer is left out of pocket. Osborne’s stated justification for abolishing the 50p rate was that, due to mass avoidance, it raised “just a third of the £3bn” expected. But while it’s true that £16bn of income was shifted into the previous tax year  – when the rate was still 40p – this was a trick the rich could only have played once. And as the government has acknowledged on other occasions, tax avoidance isn’t an argument for cutting tax, it’s an argument for stopping avoidance.

Having falsely claimed that the (anomalous) first year of the 50p rate proved that it was ineffective, the Tories are now using the (anomalous) first year of the 45p rate to argue that they were right to scrap it. We’ll never know how much the 50p rate would actually have raised – and that is just as Osborne intended.

…

Continue ReadingBorrowing figures show how Osborne allowed thousands to avoid 50p tax rate