The Cornerstone Group (Free subscription) | 07/03/2008
Two thirds of the primaries at the top of recent league tables were Anglican, Catholic or Jewish. Faith schools outperform secular schools so much that atheists are happy to submit their children to the font. At a reception in Parliament earlier this month Education Secretary Ed Balls praised Catholic schools, saying they were “leading the way” [...]
The Cornerstone Group (Free subscription) | 07/02/2008
The Government’s own figures show that the number of top rate tax-payers has nearly doubled since Labour came in 11 years ago. There are now almost 4 million people in the 40p tax band; in 1997 there were 2 million. This is because the level at which the top rate kicks in has not kept up [...]
Times Online (Free subscription) | 08/11/2008
The gap between the employment rate of ethnic minorities and the rest of Britain will take 40 years to eliminate, MPs said. A report by the Commons public accounts committee criticises the “stop-start” approach of initiatives. It found that, despite £40 million being spent on tackling the gap, it had changed little in 20 years. Edward Leigh, its chairman, called on the Government to set...
The Cornerstone Group (Free subscription) | 07/22/2008
Last February the NAO found that the Government had overpaid £6 billion of tax credits. Not only was this an all-too-frequent example of incompetence by government bureaucracy, but it was compounded by the requirement on many of the country’s poorer families to pay back money they had already spent. The Ombudsman has upheld many complaints [...]
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 07/22/2008
"The MoD is trying to persuade parliament that the forecast costs of major defence equipment projects are under control by moving expenditure from those projects to other defence budgets. This is not acceptable," Edward Leigh, chairman of the Commons public accounts committee, said last night. The report says: "The department should address the fundamental causes of the rising costs,...
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 07/22/2008
"The MoD is trying to persuade parliament that the forecast costs of major defence equipment projects are under control by moving expenditure from those projects to other defence budgets. This is not acceptable," Edward Leigh, chairman of the Commons public accounts committee, said last night. The report says: "The department should address the fundamental causes of the rising costs,...
Mirror.co.uk (Free subscription) | 07/24/2008
... the Games."We welcome the news that construction has begun and the programme is broadly on track," Edward Leigh, the committee's chairman, said."Far less good is that, despite our recommendations, arrangements to manage the whole programme and the associated risks are not yet in place."As legacy and security requirements are firmed up and as lessons from Beijing are taken on board,...
Daily Star (Free subscription) | 07/24/2008
... the whole programme and the associated risks are not yet in place," according to PAC chairman Edward Leigh.Even with assurances from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) that the present £9.3 billion public funding budget for the Games will not be exceeded, the PAC were cautious. Mr Leigh said: "In the light of growing uncertainties, the Department (DCMS) should...
Channel 4 (Free subscription) | 07/24/2008
Firm leadership and an "eagle eye" is needed to ensure that London's £1 billion contingency is not exceeded because "arrangements to manage the whole programme and the associated risks are not yet in place," according to PAC chairman Edward Leigh.
The Herald (Free subscription) | 07/22/2008
... because the ministry was struggling to afford all the equipment it wants or needs to buy.Chairman Edward Leigh said: "The department must address the systemic weaknesses underlying cost increases and delays. There is a conspiracy of optimism' in the department and industry leading to the acceptance of unrealistically low estimates of the cost of bringing major equipment into service."...
The Telegraph (Free subscription) | 07/21/2008
... about lasting improvements", the committee's Major Projects Report found. The committee chairman Edward Leigh said: "The MoD is trying to persuade Parliament that the forecast costs of major defence equipment projects are under control - by moving expenditure from those projects to other defence budgets. "This is not acceptable: it diminishes Parliamentary accountability. "It is a...
Manchester Evening News (Free subscription) | 07/18/2008
News | | advertisementEx-troops 'face battle to survive'Ian Craig 18/ 7/2008SERVICEMEN and women are being left high and dry by the Ministry of Defence when they go back to civvy street, MPs have claimed.Junior ranks struggle to find work or somewhere decent to live, according to the Commons public accounts committee.Committee chairman, Tory MP Edward Leigh, said: "It's understandable...
The Independent (Free subscription) | 07/17/2008
More than 60 Tory MPs are paying up to £40,000 to family members employed in their offices at the taxpayers' expense, it emerged yesterday.Laurence Robertson, the MP for Tewkesbury and shadow Northern Ireland minister, declares that he pays his estranged wife Susan and his current partner, Anne Adams, up to £20,000 each. Both women act as secretaries.Edward Leigh, the Tory chairman of...
Times Online (Free subscription) | 07/16/2008
... in Parliament. They include Roger Gale, Peter Bone, Graham Brady, Alistair Burt, Stephen Dorrell, Edward Leigh, Peter Luff, Patrick McLoughlin, Malcolm Moss and Owen Paterson.
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 07/16/2008
... the dome and the Greenwich peninsula is so far away from being a proper sustainable community."Edward Leigh, chairman of the public accounts committee, and Tim Burr, auditor general also, criticised the delays.Leigh said: "English Partnerships need to use its influence with key players in this project to recover lost ground. They also need to work with AEG - owners of the O2...
