Key Quotes for 2012

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Last update: Wednesday 25th March




An unprecedented increase in the price of stamps will put the Royal Mail on course for privatisation within two years, it was revealed last night. Royal Mail was given historic freedoms by the regulator yesterday to set the price of stamps in an attempt to turn around years of losses in its letters business. The state-owned postal group said that it would use those new commercial freedoms to increase the price of a first-class stamp from 46p to 60p, an increase of 30 per cent, from April 30. The price of a second-class stamp will go up on the same day from 36p to 50p, an increase of 40 per cent. The move by Ofcom to end almost all price caps and regulation of the Royal Mail is the second important step toward the full-scale privatisation of the business, Moya Greene, Royal Mail's chief executive, said.
Money	The Times - March 28 2012



Public sector pay is significantly higher than its private sector counterpart, a study revealed yesterday. The Office for National Statistics said that the difference in average hourly earnings between staff in the two sectors stood at about 8.2 per cent last year, compared with 7.8 per cent in 2010. However, the ONS emphasised that comparisons were "not straightforward" because of differences in the types of job. It said that the public sector was made up of a higher proportion of skilled and older workers and also contained more people with a degree or equivalent qualification.
Work/Employment	The Times - March 28 2012



Cars and flat-screen televisions would be taken from offenders under government plans announced yesterday to make the seizure of assets a sentence in its own right. Tax and benefit records would also be made available to the courts to allow judges and magistrates to set fines that more obviously match offenders' income and ability to pay. The proposals were among a package of measures including "virtual prison" punishments in which offenders would lose passports, driving licences and the ability to leave home at night. Hundreds of thousands of offenders face harsher community punishment as the Government attempts to persuade the courts and public that non-custodial sentences are rigorous.
The Law	The Times - March 28 2012



The last-minute scramble for university places by candidates who fail to achieve their expected A-level grades is to disappear, admissions chiefs have decided. The clearing system, under which those without a place race to apply by telephone to universities with course vacancies, will be scrapped in two years’ time. Instead, there will be a short ‘cooling off’ period between the issuing of A-level results and the opening of applications for places by universities. Once applications open, prospective students will apply online and have to wait for an offer rather than the current system of a telephone interview, which may be followed by the offer of a place and a rapid deadline within which to accept. The changes, which are subject to consultation with universities and schools, come after a massive rise in the number of applications through the clearing system, which peaked at a record of more than 50,000 last year.
Education	The Times - March 28 2012



A new row has broken out over abortion after the Government was accused of trying to rig a consultation on independent counselling for pregnant women. The Department of Health is considering radical reforms to the way advice is given to thousands of women seeking terminations. Clinics could be prevented from offering counselling and made to send women for independent advice. The document outlines three choices: keeping the current system that allows clinics to offer counselling; introducing a voluntary register of counsellors that could include clinics; or preventing them offering counselling - the option preferred by pro-life groups. But Nadine Domes, the Tory MP who campaigned for the change, said it lists potential objections to each scenario and that those for her option run to a page, far longer than for the first two. Ministers refused to be drawn on Ms Domes' claims yesterday. A Department of Health spokesman said: "Decisions must await the outcome of the consultation."
Social Issues	Daily Telegraph - March 25 2012



The Church of England is to use Twitter to help choose the next Archbishop of Canterbury. It will also seek the views of people of all faiths and none, from the Chief Rabbi to Prof Richard Dawkins. For the first time the long and usually private process will begin with a widespread public consultation, to be finished by the end of May. The Crown Nominations Commission, which must present the Prime Minister with two possible successors to Dr Rowan Williams, will also ask for contributions from "senior figures in other faiths, the secular world and the life of the nation". This would appear to be good news for the candidates known to be active on Twitter. The Bishop of Durham, the Rt Rev Justin Welby, has 562 followers; the Bishop of Bradford, the Rt Rev Nick Baines, has 3,953; and the early front-runner for the job, the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has 21,558.
Church	Daily Telegraph - March 25 2012



British Citizens who bring spouses, partners and dependants to settle in the UK are to be targeted in an immigration crackdown, a leaked Cabinet letter has revealed. Theresa May, the Home Secretary, has proposed a tough new income threshold of £25,700 a year for those attempting to obtain visas for family members, in a move almost certain to be opposed by the Liberal Democrats. The moves - which also include a new five-year "probationary period" and a higher standard of English for spouses looking to settle in Britain - could reduce the numbers of people coming to Britain by 15,000 a year. David Cameron, the Prime Minister, has pledged to cut "net" migration to Britain -which is currently running at 250,000 a year - to "tens of thousands" by the time of the next election in 2015, a target which appears impossible to hit.
Social Issues	Daily Telegraph - March 25 2012



Holidaymakers face a sharp increase in the cost of flying following a 10 per cent increase in Air Passenger Duty. The tax on holidays, to be imposed next month, will add £250 to the cost of a family of four flying to Florida and about £360 to the cost of a four-strong group travelling to Australia. Visitors to Britain must also pay the duty on their return journey, meaning the tax could harm the important tourism sector in the Jubilee and Olympics year. Airlines said the tax would price ordinary families out of flying abroad and could be the ruin of smaller tour operators already struggling to survive the recession. The Government was accused of "burying bad news" after the Chancellor made no reference to the tax during his Budget speech and instead outlined the increases in papers released by the Treasury.
Travel/Tourism	Daily Telegraph - March 25 2012



Up to 20 million taxpayers will receive a personalised statement every year detailing how the Government is spending their contributions on the NHS, welfare and the national debt. The Chancellor confirmed that personal tax statements would be introduced from 2014. Ministers hope that the move will help persuade voters of the need for spending cuts, including in welfare payments, which represent the largest source of government expenditure. Treasury calculations suggest that someone earning £50,000 would pay for £4,727 of welfare. Someone earning £25,000 spends the equivalent of almost four weeks' paid work, £1,900, on welfare. George Osborne said he wanted to bring the tax system into "the information age". "People should know what taxes they're paying and what their money is being spent on," he told MPs. "The statements will tell people how much income tax and national insurance they have paid and how this contributes to public spending.
Money	Daily Telegraph - March 22 2012



Thousands of nursing posts have been shed in the NHS as the health service struggles to make savings. Official figures show there are now almost 3,500 fewer nurses working in the service than in 2010 and the number of managers has also dropped, the NHS workforce census has shown. Overall, the workforce declined by 19,799 to reach 1,350,377 at the end of September last year, a decrease of 1.4 per cent on the same time in 2010. It is the biggest fall in staff figures for a decade and comes as the NHS is making £20 billion in efficiency savings by 2014-15. Critics said the figures provided proof that, despite reassurances, front-line NHS jobs were not being protected, and there were calls for the cuts to stop.
Health	Daily Telegraph - March 22 2012



Charitable donations of more than £200,000 will get less tax relief, George Osborne announced yesterday. The Treasury wants to clamp down on rich people reducing their tax bill by making significant contributions to worthy causes. But charities are concerned that donations could fall following the Budget announcement. Critics said the changes "cast a huge shadow" over philanthropy. The Charities Aid Foundation has called for urgent talks with the Treasury over fears that many groups will struggle to cope with a drop-off in donations. John Low, the group's chief executive, said: "Government can't have a philanthropy agenda on the one hand and then introduce measures like this on the other. This change seems to run counter to the very idea of Big Society."
Money	Daily Telegraph - March 22 2012



The Government has pinned its hopes on tackling rising youth unemployment via start-ups, introducing a £10m enterprise loan scheme to help under-25s set up their own business. The one-year pilot scheme will work in a similar way to the student loans system, which helps thousands of people go to university each year. Up to 7,000 young people aged 18 to 24 will be able to borrow between £5,000 to £10,000 to help them start their own company, the Department for Business (BIS) said. Under-25s will need a "viable" business plan before they get their hands on any money and will be expected to pitch ideas to third-party providers, such as The Prince's Trust, who will run the scheme. Under the enterprise loan scheme - mooted by Virgin entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson last week - young people would be expected to start paying back the money once their business began earning money. If their start-up failed, they would still have to pay back the loan, but only when they earned a decent income, BIS said.
Young People	Daily Telegraph - March 22 2012



Homeopathic potions do not work and it is unethical to give them on the NHS, a leading scientist has claimed. Edzard Ernst, a professor of complementary medicine, also described the logic behind homeopathy as bizarre and accused homeopaths of lying to their patients. The NHS spends around £4million a year on homeopathy, despite calls from the British Medical Association for the funding to end. The discipline - which has won the backing of Prince Charles - claims to prevent and treat diseases by using dilute forms of materials that in higher concentrations could produce the symptoms of the condition. A typical remedy could have one part of an ingredient to one trillion, trillion parts of water. Although scientists argue the potions are so dilute they are unlikely to contain any of the original substance, homeopaths claim the water retains a 'memory' of the active ingredient, which it passes to the body to help fight the illness. But Professor Ernst said that even if an ultra-dilute homeopathic solution was somehow different from pure water, this would not make it an effective drug. Professor Ernst, a former homeopath who now researches complementary medicine at Exeter University, said the treatments could be dangerous if people chose them over conventional medicines with proven benefits.
Health	Daily Mail - March 19 2012



State school pupils could be missing out on places at top universities because they are not doing enough work experience, a study suggests. Work placements are seen as essential or desirable for large numbers of prestigious courses at Russell Group universities, particularly medicine, dentistry and veterinary science. But state school pupils are less likely than those from independent schools to undertake such placements, the Manchester University study found. Researchers found university applications from independent school pupils drew on 55 per cent more examples of work experience than those from state school pupils, and the nature of the work was also different. State school candidates were more likely to cite unskilled work, such as Saturday jobs, than a placement or internship, while independent school pupils were six times more likely than their state school counterparts to cite work 'experiences' instead.
Work/Employment	Daily Mail - March 19 2012



Sunday trading laws are to be relaxed this summer in a move that could pave the way for longer weekend opening hours all year round. George Osborne confirmed yesterday that he is to push through emergency legislation lifting the six-hour limit on opening hours for larger stores over eight weekends in July, August and September. The move, which brought protests from Labour, church leaders and trades unions, is designed to coincide with London's hosting of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Chancellor, who will set out details in the Budget on Wednesday, said it would be an opportunity to try to stimulate the economy. Critics also predicted the Government would move to a permanent shift in opening hours, undermining family life for those working in retailing. The Chancellor fuelled that suspicion yesterday when he said he was proposing 'at the moment' only a temporary change during the Games.
Work/Employment	Daily Mail - March 19 2012

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