Irish premier welcomes Kamala Harris’s call for an immediate Gaza ceasefire



Cate McCurry, PA
Mon, 4 March 2024 

The Irish premier said he welcomes US Vice President Kamala Harris’s call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Leo Varadkar said that her comments on wanting to see a pause in the fighting represents a “slight change” in the US position.

Ms Harris said that, given the “immense scale of suffering” in Gaza, there must be “an immediate ceasefire for at least the next six weeks”.


She called for Israel to do more to significantly increase the flow of aid into the territory.

Mr Varadkar will travel to Washington next week as part of the annual visit to meet the US president at the White House for St Patrick’s Day.

The Fine Gael leader said he will use the opportunity to put across the Irish public’s feeling about Gaza to US President Joe Biden.

“I think the remarks of Vice President Kamala Harris are very welcome,” Mr Varadkar said.

“She’s calling for a humanitarian ceasefire to be observed by both Israel and Hamas and I think that those represent a slight change in the US position.

“I hope it happens.

“Of course, I’m going to raise the issue of Gaza and Palestine with President Biden and Vice President Harris when we meet next week.

US President Joe Biden and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (Niall Carson/PA)

“I think the Irish people would expect me to put across their feelings and views I am going to do that.

“I really hope though, that I’m going to meet them at the end of next week in the context of there being a ceasefire, because of course that will change the nature of what I need to say.

“But we’re all hoping and praying that between now and then there will be a ceasefire so that the hostages can be released, so that desperately needed food and medicine can get into Gaza, and so that we could try and work on making any temporary ceasefire a permanent one because that’s what is needed.”

Some opposition politicians have called for the high-profile White House visit to be used to push for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.

The SDLP has said that it would boycott the White House events over US military support for Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip, but would send a delegation to Washington to “make the case for an end to violence”.

SAY WHAT?!

UK ‘aligned’ with US on Gaza after Harris calls for immediate ceasefire – No 10


Nina Lloyd and Christopher McKeon, PA Political Staff
Mon, 4 March 2024 

Downing Street has said there is no difference between the UK and US positions on the Gaza war following American Vice President Kamala Harris’s call for an immediate ceasefire.

Britain is “entirely aligned” with Washington in wishing to see a pause in the fighting as soon as possible, Number 10 said on Monday.

In some of the strongest words yet from a senior member of US government on the crisis, Ms Harris said that, given the “immense scale of suffering” in Gaza, there must be “an immediate ceasefire for at least the next six weeks”.

She called for Israel to do more to significantly increase the flow of aid into the territory.

US Vice President Kamala Harris has called for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war (Leon Neal/PA)

Asked about the comments, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s official spokesman said: “We agree that we want to see a sustained humanitarian pause agreed as quickly as possible to allow the safe release of hostages and a significant increase in aid to Gaza.”

He added: “Our position is entirely aligned with the US who, like us, are calling for a pause in the fighting. We have been clear, as has the US, that the right conditions, however, must be in place for a permanent lasting ceasefire, and that includes the release of all hostages, Hamas no longer in charge in Gaza, and a bolstered Palestinian Authority.”

In response to suggestions the US position has changed, he said: “A temporary ceasefire and a humanitarian pause are the same thing, we’re talking about the same position. The US and the UK have been entirely aligned on this.”

He added that the UK would “certainly support” a six-week pause in the fighting “if that is what parties can agree on”.

The UK Government has resisted calls to back an immediate ceasefire and previously abstained on UN resolutions demanding one.

After Parliament descended into chaos earlier this month over the Commons Speaker’s handling of an opposition day motion on the conflict, the SNP has urged the Prime Minister to change Britain’s stance in any forthcoming votes.

Mr Sunak told MPs last week: “We support the United States’ draft resolution that was discussed with colleagues at the United Nations last week, but just calling for an immediate full ceasefire now which collapses back into fighting within days or weeks, and indeed does not release hostages including British hostages, is not in anyone’s interest.

“We must work towards a permanent ceasefire and that starts with an immediate humanitarian pause to get aid in and hostages out.”

KPMG fined almost £1.5m over M&C Saatchi audit failures

Henry Saker-Clark, 

PA Deputy Business Editor
Mon, 4 March 2024 



KPMG has been fined almost £1.5 million by the UK accounting watchdog over its audit of advertising firm M&C Saatchi.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) announced the sanctions against the big-four financial firm and auditor Adrian Wilcox on Monday, almost three years after a probe was first launched into the firm.

It came after M&C Saatchi found accounting errors which led to the restatement of its company accounts for 2018.

The FRC found breaches including a failure to “audit with professional scepticism”.

It said revenues were inflated by around £1.2 million as a result of the failures linked to client credit payments.

These were ultimately revised in M&C Saatchi’s annual accounts for 2019.

The investigation also found “failures to properly audit journal entries across a number of subsidiary companies”, including failures in identifying potentially high-risk journals.

In addition, there was a failure to “document the auditors’ reasoning, or complete their inquiries with management” in relation to rebates related to one contract.

The regulator said the breaches “undermine confidence in statutory audit and the truth and fairness of financial statements”.

KPMG was set to receive a £2.25 million fine but this was reduced to £1.46 million after work to improve its audit processes since the failings.

The accounting giant also paid the costs of the investigation.

Mr Wilcox, the audit engagement partner at the firm, was set to be fined £75,000 but this was reduced to £48,750.

Claudia Mortimore, deputy executive counsel at the FRC, said: “KPMG’s audit did not meet the required quality standards in a number of respects, amounting to serious audit failings and breaches of audit standards.

“This included a lack of professional scepticism in certain high-risk areas of the audit and basic failings in journal testing.”

Cath Burnet, head of audit at KPMG UK, said: “We are committed to dealing with, and learning from, our past cases and regret that aspects of our 2018 audit of M&C Saatchi plc fell short of required standards.

“We continue to invest significantly in audit quality, in our training, controls and technology, to drive further improvements and resilience in our audit practice.”

It comes five months after KPMG was handed a record £21 million fine by the FRC over its “very bad” work for collapsed outsourcing firm Carillion.

EDF wind farm to pay £5.5m for overcharging grid

August Graham, 

PA Business Reporter
Mon, 4 March 2024



A wind farm majority owned by energy company EDF will pay £5.5 million into a fund designed to help vulnerable customers after regulator Ofgem found that it had overcharged the grid.

Ofgem said that EDF’s Dorenell Windfarm Limited (DWL) charged “excessive prices” when it was asked to reduce its output.

Wind farms are normally paid for the electricity that they produce and send into the grid. But sometimes, when the grid is too full to take on more electricity, the wind farms are paid to turn off their turbines.


“Ofgem considers that DWL charged excessive prices to reduce output where this was required to keep the system balanced, and the breach pushed up costs for consumers,” Ofgem said in a statement on Monday.

The regulator said that some of the assumptions used by the company were higher than necessary to recover its costs. Meanwhile its prices “did not properly reflect the financial benefits of reducing its output”.

The business told Ofgem that it thought it had complied with the rules, but accepted the regulators’ findings and will pay £5.5 million towards its voluntary redress fund – a scheme set up to help struggling households.

Ofgem director of enforcement Cathryn Scott said: “Another win for customers through Ofgem’s robust enforcement work has been secured.

“This company has accepted its error and has agreed to make a significant payment to put it right.

“Customers – particularly those in vulnerable situations – will rightly benefit from over £5 million as a direct result.

“We hope this sends a clear message that licence breaches will simply not be tolerated.”

The Dorenell wind farm has 59 wind turbines and is just off the A941, south of Dufftown, Moray, in the north-east of Scotland.

A spokesperson for the wind farm said: “Dorenell Windfarm Limited takes compliance seriously and aims to comply with regulations at all times.

“DWL reviews its practices regularly and adapts as necessary. At all times throughout this review, DWL has engaged actively with Ofgem and cooperated fully to resolve the issue.

“DWL accepts it made an unintentional breach of the Transmission Constraint Licence Condition (TCLC). As a result, DWL has changed its bid pricing policy to avoid any future breaches.”

Welsh medical chief described UK’s Covid information sharing as ‘omnishambles’

WORD OF THE DAY

Jordan Reynolds, PA
Mon, 4 March 2024 


The chief medical officer for Wales wrote the word “omnishambles” in his notebook to express his frustration over information coming from UK level “very late”, leaving Welsh officials “on the back foot” during the pandemic, an inquiry has heard.

Sir Frank Atherton wrote the word in the middle of a spider diagram, the UK Covid-19 Inquiry was told on Monday.

He said: “This represents a degree of frustration I think I had which is that sometimes information came from UK level into Wales very late and left us on the back foot on some issues.”

Looking at his notebook entry, he said: “So if I read down that list, it seemed odd to me that at some point, the virus was relatively contained at this point, but we were lifting restrictions, but other restrictions were being put in place including face coverings, for example.

“Why were we doing that? Why was Scotland moving more on face coverings at a time when we were relaxing other things?

“So it was a sense of frustration, I think, that there were things happening, that information was not being properly shared between policy leads in the different countries.”

Sir Frank was asked by Tom Poole KC, lead counsel for the inquiry, if giving different advice on face masks to the other three nations in June 2020 weakened public messaging, and he replied “it probably did”.

He added: “And when I look back at all the time and energy that was spent in Wales thinking about face coverings, I do wonder whether it would have been a better decision just to simply align.”

Asked if he had his time again, would he have mandated wearing face masks at the same time as the UK Government did in England, Sir Frank said: “I think I probably would, with the caveat that I suspect it would have been subject to legal challenge because there wasn’t very good evidence to support it.”

Another note from Sir Frank’s notebook, from December 21 2021, was shown to the inquiry which said: “PROBLEM. I’ve given clear advice that L4 restrictions are needed. Ministers stuck on financial implications, can afford L2 and not L4.”

It was put to him that this entry was his view that level four restrictions were needed, but the financial implications meant a political decision was made that the country could not afford to move to level four. He said he could not remember but “that’s what it reads like to me”.

Covid was managed for too long as a health issue “rather than a cross-government issue”, and should have been treated as such “once we started to see pictures in Italy of hospitals really running into stress”, he told the inquiry.

Sir Frank agreed that the Scottish Government’s decision on March 12 2020 to ban mass gatherings so emergency services were not displaced would have been a pragmatic approach, but officials were following the advice of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage).

He also said “most Governments should have been consulted” before the UK national lockdown on March 23, but they agreed with the advice.

He added that he did not believe a national lockdown could have been avoided had different actions been taken in the months beforehand.

The hearing in Cardiff was told that Sir Frank wrote in his statement to the inquiry that the pandemic put “an unprecedented level of pressure on the chief medical officer private office, and the wider health protection team”.

He told the inquiry there was a lack of administrative support in the first months of the pandemic, and he “lost control of emails towards the end of January”, but there was a “gradual evolution of support during the pandemic”.

More support was provided in May 2020, the inquiry heard, but Sir Frank agreed that it would have been helpful to have it earlier.

A lack of minutes or formal notes from meetings attended by Sir Frank during this early period was a result of a lack of administrative support, the inquiry heard.

Meanwhile, Dr Rob Orford, chief scientific adviser for health, in his evidence to the inquiry, said scientific papers suggest it would have been better to go into lockdown a week earlier than the UK did.

REPATRIATIONS

‘C of E work on slavery should inspire others to do the right thing

Aine Fox, 

PA Social Affairs Correspondent
Mon, 4 March 2024 

The Church of England’s work to address historic links to slavery must be the start of a wider conversation for British society, a campaigner has said, as a new report set a £1 billion target for an investment fund for “healing, repair and justice”.

The initial £100 million investment fund set up to address the wrongs of the past has been deemed too small and slow by an independent oversight group.

The funding programme was announced in January last year for investment, research and engagement to “address past wrongs”.

But its original nine-year timeframe has been judged too long by an independent oversight group which also stated that £100 million is “insufficient” to counter the “historic and enduring greed, cynicism and hate with penitence, hope and love”.

It said: “The sum of £100 million is very small compared to the scale of racial disadvantage originating in African chattel enslavement.”

The group said the Church Commissioners had “embraced a target of £1 billion for a broader healing, repair and justice initiative with the fund at its centre”.

Patrick Vernon, a member of the oversight group and a well-known Windrush campaigner, welcomed the church’s response to the report, and said it must be “the start of a journey for the country, to talk about this” issue.

He told reporters on Monday: “We have to recognise this is quite an historic occasion for one of the major institutions in British society, to put its hand up and say ‘we benefited from the African Chattel enslavement, we recognise injustice’ and in terms of the theology of the church, recognising that it had to do the right thing.”

Campaigner Patrick Vernon called for a wider and mature conversation on what organisations can do to address the wrongs of the past (Victoria Jones/PA)

Calling for a “mature conversation”, he said he hopes the report can spark other major organisations into action.

“I hope that this will inspire other institutions and other organisations who have been involved in a similar history, like the Church of England, to recognise they have to look at righting the wrongs,” he said.

Rosemarie Mallett, Bishop of Croydon and chairwoman of the oversight group, said the church was “stepping forth quite boldly, quite audaciously, and saying: ‘We can do this, others should join in.'”

The fund – which they said should be known as the Fund For Healing, Repair And Justice – will invest in members of disadvantaged black communities, aiming to “back their most brilliant social entrepreneurs, educators, healthcare givers, asset managers and historians”.

While there will be grants for non-profit investments “to promote and enhance healthy lives, thriving minds and cultural impact”, there will not be cash compensation for individuals or grants to government bodies, the group added.

The Church Commissioners will disburse the £100 million over five years, rather than nine as originally planned, the report said.

Both the commissioners and the oversight group stressed that they did not want to rush into action, but rather to focus on “doing it well”.

Gareth Mostyn, chief executive of the Church Commissioners for England, said: “I hope that we will be able to start deploying funds by the end of this year, but we’ll make sure that we work through all of the practical, financial, legal issues to make sure that we’re ready to do that before we do.”

The £1 billion target can be met through a larger allocation from the Church Commissioners as well as through third-party funds, the group said.

Mr Mostyn said the establishment of the fund will hopefully encourage others to “co-invest and join us on this journey”, and emphasised that as it is an investment fund it is hoped it will “grow and create a lasting legacy”.

The announcement of the fund last year was a specific response to what the group described as a “historic pool of capital tainted by its involvement in African chattel enslavement”.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby described transatlantic slavery as an ‘appalling evil’ (Gareth Fuller/PA)

Known as Queen Anne’s Bounty – a fund used to supplement the income of poor clergy, it invested significantly in the South Sea Company, which traded in slaves in the 18th century.

The fund also received numerous donations, many of which the church has said were likely to have come from people linked to, or who profited from, slavery and plantations.

Among a series of recommendations, the oversight group called on the Church Commissioners to separately fund research to uncover “the full picture” of the church’s involvement in slavery and wealth generated from it, beyond Queen Anne’s Bounty.

It also urged the church to “apologise publicly for denying that black Africans are made in the image of God and for seeking to destroy diverse African traditional religious belief systems”.

Rosemarie Mallett, Bishop of Croydon and chairwoman of the oversight group, said she hopes the investment fund can be “a catalyst to encourage other institutions to investigate their past and make a better future for impacted communities”.

She said no amount of money can “fully atone for or fully redress the centuries-long impact of African chattel enslavement, the effects of which are still felt around the world today”.

She said the legacy of slavery “continues to have a significant impact on communities today and inequalities persist till this day” in the form of pregnancy and childbirth outcomes, life chances at birth, physical and mental health, education, employment, income, property and the criminal justice system”.

The bishop told reporters: “We hope that by doing what we can do, others will look at us and see that as an example.”

She said people “like to berate the Church of England quite often”, but that on this occasion the church is “stepping forth quite boldly, quite audaciously and saying ‘we can do this, others should join in’.”

In a statement, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said: “In seeking justice for all, we must continue to work together remembering that all are created in the image of God.

“The oversight group’s independent work with the Church Commissioners is the beginning of a multi-generational response to the appalling evil of transatlantic chattel enslavement.

“My prayer is that this work will stimulate further visionary and practical co-created action.”

Academia.edu

https://www.academia.edu/53037646/Capitalism_and_Slavery_by_Eric_Williams

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WORKERS CAPITAL
Pension fund AustralianSuper to invest 8 billion pounds in Britain


Reuters
Mon, 4 March 2024 


LONDON (Reuters) - The British government said on Monday that pension giant AustralianSuper was set to invest 8 billion pounds ($10.15 billion) more in the country, taking its total investment to over 18 billion pounds by the end of the decade.

"This major investment from AustralianSuper will promote growth and strengthen the UK's position as a leading financial centre, creating wealth and helping to fund public services," finance minister Jeremy Hunt said in the statement.

The announcement comes ahead of a budget update on Wednesday that Hunt is hoping will boost Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's flagging fortunes before an election later this year.

Last July, Hunt set out the Mansion House Compact, whereby 10 pension funds, including Aegon, Legal & General and Aviva, voluntarily committed to investing at least 5%, or about 50 billion pounds, in life science, fintech, biotech, clean tech and other types of high growth unlisted British companies by 2030.

"The raft of investment announcements we have seen today show that the UK remains one of the most attractive places to invest in the world," Sunak said in the statement.

"But because of the difficult, long term decisions the government has taken the economy is now turning a corner, and we must stick to the plan."

AustralianSuper, which holds more than 2.5 billion pounds in British-listed equities according to the statement, says on its website that it manages more than A$315 billion ($205 billion) of retirement savings on behalf of more than 3.3 million members.

Private markets overseas, especially debt, are top priorities for Australia's largest pension funds as they look for ways to deploy the rapidly growing A$2.4 trillion pool of retirement savings that is outgrowing the domestic market.

($1 = 0.7879 pounds)

(Reporting by Muvija M, editing by William James and Alex Richardson)

Pension funds have ‘abrogated responsibility to the UK,’ says Peel Hunt

Charlie Conchie
Mon, 4 March 2024 

Peel Hunt has called on pension funds to act after the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced sweeping changes ahead of the budget on Wednesday.

Pension funds have “abrogated their responsibility” to the UK over the past 25 years and should prepare to disclose how much of their cash goes into British firms, one of the UK’s top investment banks has said, after Jeremy Hunt revealed plans for a sweeping shake-up of rules ahead of the budget on Wednesday.

In a note to investors today, London-listed investment bank Peel Hunt called on the FCA to implement rules that would force pension funds to disclose the geographic mix of their investments and told pension money managers to begin getting their houses in order ahead of the change.

The calls come after the Chancellor revealed plans for a major shake-up of rules ahead of the budget over the weekend that would see money managers forced to publish the make-up of their investments.

Under the proposals, underperforming schemes would also be banned from taking on new members in a bid to accelerate consolidation of the UK’s sprawling pension industry market.

The measures are seen as a means of encouraging domestic pension funds to back the British stock market after a drop-off in investment over the past two decades. Just four percent of the British stock market is now held by pension funds, down from 39 per cent in 2000, according to the think tank New Financial.

In a note to investors this morning, Peel Hunt’s head of research, Charles Hall, took aim at funds and said they had a responsibility to back the stock market.

“Pension funds have largely abrogated their responsibility to the UK over the past 25 years,” Hall said. “There are several reasons for this, including risk aversion, tax position and companies’ desire to offload their schemes. Pension funds used to be core investors in listed companies and specifically UK equities, but the latter has diminished from 44 per cent in 1998 to 4 per cent currently.”

While the FCA has set a timeline of three years for implementation, Hall called on funds to begin preparing for the changes now.

However, Hunt’s plans faced some resistance over the weekend from regulators. The FCA has reportedly refused to commit to writing new rules because there was no evidence that consumers or markets were being hampered by the current framework, the Financial Times reported.

The calls are also likely to unsettle some pension industry figures who have claimed that pension fund managers have a responsibility to their members rather than the health of the UK stock market.

One pension boss told City A.M last year that “it doesn’t make any sense to try and wind back to some anachronistic 90s situation where all UK pension funds were investing in UK companies.”

Prior to Hunt’s plans last week, the boss of the UK’s biggest private sector pension scheme, the £73bn Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), also cautioned ministers over plans for reform.

Carol Young, chief executive of the £73bn Universities Superannuation Scheme, said she would have no problem with disclosures but would have “cause for concern” if ministers were to direct trustees as to where funds should be allocated.

“There’s no question that the primary purpose of [pensions] is to deliver in the members’ best financial interests,” Young told the Financial Times.

The chairwoman of Sweden’s biggest pension fund—which has a track record of awful investments—quits after just 1 week on the job

Ryan Hogg
Mon, March 4, 2024 

Janerikk Henriksson—TT News Agency/AFP/Getty Images


It may be almost a year since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank set off a short-lived financial crisis across the banking industry, but one of its bigger casualties, a $120 billion Swedish pension fund, is still dealing with the effects of the fallout on its C-suite.

Alecta, which handles the pensions of a quarter of Sweden’s population, announced that its new chairwoman of the board, Carina Åkerström, had stepped down from her role just one week into the job.

"It is regrettable that Carina Åkerström has changed her assessment of her ability to fulfill her assignment as Chairman of the Board of Alecta and has chosen to resign," Kenneth Bengtsson, Alecta’s chair of the nomination committee, said in a statement.

In an unusually cryptic message, Bengtsson said no new information had come to light in the week since Åkerström’s appointment, and that no conflict of interest that “couldn’t be dealt with in the usual way” had emerged.

“During the process, we have of course asked extensive questions to Carina Åkerström about this,” Bengtsson said.

Alecta’s former interim chairman, Jan-Olof Jacke, will return to his role as interim chairperson until the fund finds someone it can keep on a longer-term basis.

A representative for Alecta declined to comment further on the press release.

The abrupt resignation of Åkerström—the former CEO of Swedish bank Svenska Handelsbanken—will do little to quell a widespread crisis of confidence in the embattled fund, which has faced disastrous losses on some of its riskier financial bets.
Alecta still reels from SVB crisis

Alecta has on multiple occasions described 2023 as one of the most turbulent times for the pension fund in its 107-year history.

But the events from the last year would suggest they might still be underselling the level of turmoil inside the fund, which is moving to reduce the risk profile of its bruised portfolio.

Åkerström’s short-lived appointment made her the fund’s first permanent chairperson since October when Ingrid Bonde stepped down in the wake of a crisis sparked by the collapse of SVB last March.

Bonde said there had been “too much focus on my person” in her resignation statement, adding that she needed to “devote my time and energy to my family and my other assignments."

The fund posted a SEKr 16 billion loss ($1.9 billion) last year thanks to its stake in embattled U.S. banks SVB, First Republic, and Signature, all of which became virtually worthless as contagion fears tore through the financial sector.

Alecta had previously fired its CEO Magnus Billing in April after the fund revealed its losses from its holdings in the American regional banks, which it said had massively damaged confidence in Alecta’s asset management operations.
C-suite flip flop

Åkerström’s u-turn is just the latest in flip flops at the executive level that have added to a sense of chaos at Alecta.

The board had initially elected former Denmark central bank chief Lars Rohde as Bonde’s successor as chairperson in January, but within a week it had reneged on this appointment.

Alecta said Rohde had accepted a position on the board of another company that bore too many similarities to Alecta, something it was unaware of during the selection process.

At the time of her surprise appointment, Åkerström appeared far from enthusiastic about being thrust into the position of leading the troubled fund.

Åkerström said her appointment was unexpected, but “sometimes unexpected things happen and I'm used to working flexibly.”

Alecta continues to battle bad bets on its investments. Last week, Alecta announced it was writing down $1.2 billion due to losses in its largest single investment, real estate developer Heimstaden Bostad.

The pension fund said the value of its holdings in the indebted landlord had declined 25% in 2023, as a steep jump in interest rates cut hit property valuations and significantly pushed up borrowing costs.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

NO TAX CUTS! FUND NHS!
Jeremy Hunt warned of £2bn real-term cuts to NHS funding


Sophie Wingate,

 PA Political Correspondent
Mon, 4 March 2024 

Jeremy Hunt is facing warnings of real-term cuts to NHS funding worth £2 billion in the coming financial year as he puts the finishing touches to this week’s Budget.

The already-strained health service could suffer a 1.2% cut in day-to-day spending in England – the largest reduction since the 1970s – according to analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), despite ministers’ promises not to squeeze healthcare.

Critics urged the Chancellor to cancel the “scandalous” spending cuts amid calls for public service funding to be prioritised over tax reductions in his financial statement on Wednesday.

The IFS said the health budget would be 2.4% lower in 2024–25 without further funding of around £2.1 billion.

Without the cash boost, the NHS would be forced to cut staffing, pay or patient services, even as it faces extra costs linked to workforce expansion and a pledge to tackle waiting lists, the think tank said.

Mr Hunt has signalled he wants to move towards a “lower tax economy” in a hint at a pre-election giveaway to voters in the form of a national insurance or income tax cut.

He has been clear that he will not pay for tax cuts with borrowing, meaning a combination of spending cuts and tax rises elsewhere will be necessary for him to keep to his own fiscal rules on debt.

There has been speculation he could shave more off his post-election public spending plans, reducing overall departmental spending – currently pencilled in to rise by 1% per year in real terms after 2025 – to 0.7%.

Rachel Reeves (Aaron Chown/PA)

But experts have already cast doubt on the whether the existing plans are realistic, as they would involve significant cuts to under-pressure unprotected services such as the courts, police and local authorities.

Amid deteriorating forecasts for the public finances, officials have drawn up a range of options for raising money to fund a personal tax cut, potentially including reforms to the non-dom tax status that allows overseas-domiciled individuals to avoid paying UK tax on their overseas earnings.

The policy is a key plank of Labour’s plans and adopting it could lay a trap for Sir Keir Starmer’s party, which would have to find an alternative way to pay for pledges including NHS improvements.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves criticised the Tories for “pickpocketing the Labour Party of its policies”.

She told a meeting of Labour MPs on Monday: “(Mr Hunt) is cynically talking up maxing out headroom to pay for pre-election promises. I see through it and so do the British people.”

(PA Graphics)

Other rumoured tax rises include a new levy on vapes and removing tax breaks for second-home owners who rent out their properties to tourists.

Mr Hunt is expected to freeze fuel duty for another year, in a move that will cost the Treasury around £5 billion.

He will reportedly extend the 5p-a-litre petrol and diesel duty cut for motorists and again scrap an inflation-linked rise in the levy.

Speculation ahead of the Budget has suggested the Chancellor could seek to cut 1p or 2p off income tax or – as a cheaper alternative – national insurance, to ease the burden on working households and set dividing lines with Labour ahead of the general election later this year.

Mr Hunt on Monday indicated a more efficient public sector could give him greater scope for tax cuts.

The IFS urged him to deliver more top-up spending for the NHS in Wednesday’s Budget, rather than hold back extra money until later in the year as he has done previously.

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Sarah Olney said: “What this Conservative Government is doing to our NHS is nothing short of scandalous. They have left health services shockingly underfunded and it is patients who are bearing the brunt of their neglect.

“The Chancellor must cancel these planned spending cuts to the NHS at the Budget. To push ahead with them would show that this Conservative Government does not understand the crisis that local health services are in and the unnecessary suffering they are putting patients through.

“The neglect of our NHS is holding back economic growth. Millions of people who want to work can’t as they simply cannot access the treatment they deserve. To fix our economy we must first fix our NHS.”

NHS funding faces biggest real-terms cuts since 1970s, warns IFS


Denis Campbell and Pippa Crerar

The Guardian
Mon, 4 March 2024 

Jeremy Hunt is considering cutting billions more from public spending to pay for further reductions in either income tax or national insurance.Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

NHS funding faces the biggest cuts in real terms since the 1970s, an influential analysis shows, amid growing pressure on Jeremy Hunt to prioritise public service funding over tax cuts in the budget.

It comes as the Guardian has learned that the chancellor is planning to clamp down on the NHS’s annual £4.6bn bill for agency workers who cover for doctor and nurse shortages at the frontline.

Health spending in England is due to suffer a 1.2% cut – worth £2bn – in the new financial year starting next month, despite the NHS facing extra costs from continuing pay strikes and the expansion of its workforce, according to an analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IfS).


The health budget, almost all of which the NHS gets, is to go from £168.2bn in 2023-24 to £166.2bn in 2024-25, after adjustment for inflation, in 2022-23 prices.

Without a government rethink the reduction in funding will force the NHS to cut staffing numbers, staff pay, the services it provides to patients or all three, the thinktank warned.Interactive

Its intervention comes as Hunt is considering cutting billions more from his public spending plans to pay for further reductions in either income tax or national insurance in this week’s budget.

Economists have calculated that such a move would mean taking as much as a fifth out of budgets for certain “unprotected” departments across the five-year parliament covering areas such as justice, home affairs and local government.

There were also reports on Monday night that the chancellor was looking to give motorists a £5bn boost by extending the “temporary” 5p-a-litre cut in fuel duty by another year.

The level of public sector spending pencilled in for the next parliament could mean cuts equivalent to those undertaken by David Cameron’s government during the years of austerity from 2010 to 2015. That has prompted warnings that the next government would not be able to implement them, and would be forced either to raise taxes or borrow more to fund emergency spending.

The Liberal Democrats said the plan to cut the NHS budget was “scandalous”. Doctors’ leaders warned it would harm patients. And hospital bosses said they would struggle if it went ahead because the estimated £2bn cost of 15 months of strikes have left their finances in a perilous state.

Sarah Olney, the Lib Dem’s Treasury spokesperson, said: “What this Conservative government is doing to our NHS is nothing short of scandalous. They have left health services shockingly underfunded and it is patients who are bearing the brunt of their neglect.”

She urged Hunt to cancel the planned cut in the budget he will present to MPs on Wednesday.Interactive

Meanwhile, hospital doctors voiced alarm that, with the NHS already in “an eternal crisis” in which it cannot meet the growing demand for care, pressing ahead with the planned cut could be “terminal” and would harm patients.

Dr Tim Cooksley, the immediate past president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said: “On this background, rumours of a funding cut could be the final straw for many colleagues and would undoubtedly cause severe harm to large numbers of patients.

“There is consensus that the situation in the NHS has never been so challenging. Funding is only part of the solution but a crucial one. A reduction at this stage could be a terminal event.”

David Phillips, an associate director at the IFS who carried out the analysis, said: “Existing [government spending] plans entail real-terms cuts of around 1.2% in [NHS] day-to-day spending [in 2024/25] – the largest reduction since the 1970s following the 1976 IMF crisis, except for the last two years as temporary funding related to the Covid-19 pandemic expired.

“A real-terms reduction in health spending would require some combination of reductions in staffing, pay and service provision.”

Phillips also disclosed that the government had to give the Department of Health and Social Care an emergency injection of £4.4bn of extra Treasury funding during the course of the current financial year to ensure that it – and the NHS – did not bust their budgets. The DSHC had not publicised that.

The NHS is thought to have received about £4bn of the £4.4bn, which was to cover staff pay rises, the costs of industrial action, schemes to help the service cope with winter and also its share of the health surcharge that migrants, or their employers, pay to cover the cost of their NHS care.

The DHSC’s budget for 2023-24 was originally due to be £164.2bn. However, it rose to £168.2bn as a result of ministers giving it what health economists call an “in-year bung” of about £4bn, to avoid a shortfall.

The department was and remains due to be handed a budget of £166.2bn for 2024-25. However, the £4.4bn top-up received this year meant that, as a result, next year’s budget was on course to be £2bn less than this one, prompting the IfS’s intervention, Phillips explained.

Julian Hartley, the chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents health service trusts, said: “These figures will ring alarm bells for trust leaders who are already struggling to provide patient care in a hugely challenging financial environment.

“Fifteen months of strike action have landed the NHS with an eye-watering bill due to income lost from delayed operations, scans and procedures and providing cover for striking staff.

“With worries that industrial action looks set to continue into the next financial year, trust leaders are rightly worried that these costs could continue to mount. Given the extra pressure industrial action is putting on NHS budgets, it’s vital the Treasury funds trusts’ strike costs in full.”

Hunt also plans to announce a clampdown on the money the NHS gives to employment agencies – £4.6bn across the UK and £3.5bn in England alone – as a result of a Treasury review of productivity across the public sector. He is set to cap the amount the service as a whole can hand them.

Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, labelled the chancellor “hypocrite Hunt” because the DHSC last year raised the annual cap for such spending by £450m. Streeting also pointed out that in 2015, when Hunt was the health secretary, he announced a similar crackdown on agencies which charged “extortionate hourly rates which cost billions of pounds a year”.

Streeting said: “Taxpayers are paying a heavy price for 14 years of Conservative failure.

“The Conservatives refused to train the doctors and nurses our NHS needs, leaving the health service to rely on rip-off recruitment agencies. Then they forced doctors and nurses out on the worst strike in the history of the NHS, leaving patients waiting longer and taxpayers picking up the bill.

“Expecting hypocrite Hunt to fix the mess he’s made is like expecting the arsonist to put out the fire they’ve started – it’s not going to happen.”

The DHSC was approached for its response.

UK

Nurses should have student debt written off in return for NHS work – poll

Ella Pickover,

 PA Health Correspondent
Mon, 4 March 2024



Nurses should have their student loans written off in return for NHS work, leading nurses have said.

A new poll shows that the majority of UK adults also back a loan forgiveness scheme for nurses who work in the NHS and wider public services.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said that writing off the student debt of nurses would help “attract and retain” more nurses.

A poll for the college, conducted by YouGov, found that three quarters (76%) of 2,100 UK adults backed such a measure.

This includes 73% of Conservative voters, 89% of Labour voters and 79% of Liberal Democrat voters, according to figures shared with the PA news agency.

The removal of the nursing training bursary in 2017 led to a fall in the number of people choosing to study nursing as would-be nurses face tuition fee loans of more than £9,000 each year, the RCN said.

The latest Ucas data shows that the number of people applying to undergraduate nursing courses in the UK fell this year.

In England, there were 24,680 nursing applicants to higher education providers in January 2024, down from 27,370 applicants 12 months earlier and 33,410 in 2022.

As a result the RCN called on ministers to introduce a package of measures to support recruitment in the profession.

There are almost 35,000 vacant nursing posts in England alone, the RCN said.

The poll also saw people asked about the Chancellor’s priorities ahead of Wednesday’s Budget.

Some 62% said they wanted Jeremy Hunt to prioritise the NHS ahead of tax cuts and other issues.

RCN general secretary and chief executive Professor Pat Cullen said: “There is an undeniable consensus for the Chancellor to act at the Budget on Wednesday.

“A loan forgiveness scheme for nurses working in the NHS and public services can stop students being shackled with debt and help attract and retain more nurses – it has huge support among the public too.

“The Chancellor has repeatedly said that he plans to deliver tax cuts in the upcoming Budget, but the public don’t agree with his priorities.

“They want investment in the NHS above all else. That is a message that needs to be heard loud and clear before Wednesday.”

Rachel Hewitt, chief executive of MillionPlus, the Association for Modern Universities, said: “That a fee loan forgiveness scheme for nurses who choose to work and remain in the NHS has such overwhelming backing from the country is unsurprising and vindicates a long-held MillionPlus position.

“The cost to the Treasury pales in comparison to the long-term economic and social benefits brought about through improved staff retention and should be viewed in Westminster in the same way that this polling suggests the people of Britain do: as a vital investment in Britain’s future.

“Nurse educators, nurse leaders and now the public are speaking as one – the Chancellor must heed them.”

Dr Billy Palmer, senior fellow at Nuffield Trust, said the poll shows more support for writing off student debt of healthcare professionals, adding: “The NHS is failing to keep valuable staff in the health service – a student loans forgiveness scheme is an instant and affordable way to increase the number of applications to clinical courses as well as reducing the numbers leaving during training or early in their career.”

A Government spokesperson said: “Nurses play a vital role in the NHS by providing high-quality, compassionate and safe care.

“Nurses can access a training grant of £5,000 per academic year from the NHS through the Learning Support Fund, and qualified nurses received a 5% pay rise last year as well as two additional bonuses worth over £2,000 on average.”

DEI

Fair representation of disabled people ‘lacking in media and advertising’


Rebecca Speare-Cole, 

PA sustainability reporter
Mon, 4 March 2024 

Disabled people need fairer representation in media, advertising and marketing content, campaigners have warned.

The Business Disability Forum asked more than 6,500 British adults, including more than 2,300 who identified as disabled, about the representation of disability in content they had recently seen, watched or read.

The poll, conducted by Ipsos and released on Tuesday, suggested that many disabled people do not feel represented by images used in media, advertising and on TV.


A third of respondents (32%) said they had not seen disability represented in content they had seen, watched or read during the last six months at all.

Respondents without a disability were significantly less likely to see disability represented in images than people with disabilities at 40%, compared to 17% of respondents with a disability, the research found.

It also suggested that uncertainty still exists, with 17% of respondents not knowing if they had seen disability represented in any images they had seen in the last six months.

Elsewhere, less than a quarter of people with a disability (23%) agreed that images of disabled people used in content reflected their own experience.

The campaign seeks to look beyond stereotypes (Business Disability Forum)

Images of wheelchair and mobility scooter users are the most likely to have been seen in content representing disability – by 26% of respondents.

This comes despite Disability Sport’s findings that less than one in 10 disabled people use wheelchairs in real life and disability covers a broad range of conditions, many of which are less visible.

The research has been published as the Business Disability Forum launches its “Changing the image of disability” campaign, supported by Paralympic gold medallist Kadeena Cox MBE, model Kelly Knox, and inclusion advocate Sinead Burke.

The organisation is calling on businesses and the media to increase representation as well as create a more authentic view of disabled people in their content.

Alongside the poll, it published free guidance on portraying disability and a collection of 50 disability-smart images for the media, created with disabled people as models and advisers.

A bank of 480 free images have also been created for the forum’s business members, it said.

In its research, the Business Disability Forum cited the Equality Act definition of disability as a condition or impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on the individual’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

Ms Cox, who had a stroke in 2016 and was later diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, said: “Just because my disability is less visible, it doesn’t mean that it has less of an impact on my life.

“We need to change how disability is viewed and that’s why I am supporting Business Disability Forum’s ‘Changing the image of disability’ campaign.

“I hope it will encourage more people to look beyond the obvious and the stereotypes and to see that disability is something that can affect anyone.”

Campaigners have called for more – and better – representation (Business Disability Forum)

Ms Burke, chief executive of accessibility consultancy Tilting the Lens, said: “For too long, images of disabled people have been clinical, and without reflection of community or disability pride.

“Stock imagery can reiterate exclusionary narratives, making disabled people objects rather than subjects or protagonists.

“Visibility alone cannot be a metric for systemic change, but this campaign and its library of images for businesses and media is a key milestone.”

Lara Davis, Business Disability Forum’s head of communications, said: “Our view of the world is influenced by the images we see in media and advertising.

“Too often disabled people are either missing from that content or are represented in an unrealistic way, reinforcing unhelpful stereotypes and leaving disabled people feeling overlooked and misunderstood.”

Older people’s mental health needs being overlooked due to ageism, report says

Aine Fox, PA Social Affairs Correspondent
Mon, 4 March 2024 



Older people’s mental health has too often been disregarded due to systemic ageism, according to a report.

Disregarding their needs is discriminatory and has consequences for the older person, families, communities and public services, the Centre for Mental Health said.

Its report, commissioned by Age UK, concluded that there is a “pervasive sense of pessimism and inevitability that normalises poor mental health” among older people, and argued there is a “pressing need to tackle ageist assumptions and expectations about mental health in later life”.

The report, published on Tuesday, comes after a Resolution Foundation study out last week found that younger people with mental health problems can have their chances of a good education blighted and can end up out of work or going into low-paid jobs.

The authors of this latest report said there needs to be similar focus on older people’s mental health.

Andy Bell, chief executive at the Centre for Mental Health, said: “Recent reports have pointed to a deeply worrying rise in poor mental health among young people.

“We want to see similar concern for older generations, so that their experiences of poor mental health are no longer dismissed as an inevitable part of ageing.”

The authors said they based their research on existing evidence, but that findings “are limited by the paucity of research and policy development that is specific to our mental health during later life”.

They said there is no national strategy or blueprint to help public services prevent mental ill health in later life, to intervene quickly to stop problems from escalating, or to meet the needs of people with mental health problems in later life “effectively and holistically”.

Because the population is ageing, the mental health of this population is “therefore going to be increasingly important for health and care services to address effectively”, they added.

The report stated: “The invisibility of older people within mental health services and policymaking are a major concern.

“Older people are too easily overlooked, from the design of prevalence surveys to the commissioning of mental health support.”

Mr Bell said ageism is “deeply entrenched and systemic, and it is causing people to miss out on a mentally healthier later life”.

He added: “The absence of later life from successive national mental health plans means there has been little investment in support for older people’s mental health. This is a form of discrimination that leaves older people without effective help.

“Our briefing paper sets out some immediate changes that could make a difference. Future mental health strategies must treat older people equitably.”

Paul Farmer, chief executive at Age UK, said: “We are just as likely to experience poor mental health in later life as at any other age, but it is not an inevitable part of ageing.

“There is a paradox at the core of mental health support for older people: under-recognised on the one hand and low mood and depression treated as ‘just your age’ on the other.

“In either case, the outcome is the same, too many of us going without the care we need to maintain good mental wellbeing as we age.

“Given the many challenges being experienced by older people at the moment, it is more important than ever that society, and the services we all rely on, finally take older people’s mental health seriously. We welcome the Centre for Mental Health’s contribution to this vital topic.”

The report called for research funders to prioritise projects looking at mental health in later life, urged integrated care boards (ICBs) to review their provision of mental health support for older adults, and said there must be efforts in staff training to address ageist attitudes.

It also called for NHS England to review the effectiveness of the 2019 Community Mental Health Framework for Adults and Older Adults (NHS, 2019) and ensure that any successor to the Long Term Plan includes specific provisions for mental health care in later life.

The report said the plan must “challenge deeply entrenched and ingrained ageism across health and care services, creating a new narrative that values mental health in later life”.

NHS England has been contacted for comment.