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In the News

ESRC:  Talk about appropriate timing - With public concern over online fraud, new research, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, has revealed that internet users will reveal more personal information online if they believe they can trust the organisation that requests the information.  ‘Even people who have previously demonstrated a high level of caution regarding online privacy will accept losses to their privacy if they trust the recipient of their personal information’.

The project found that even those people who declared themselves unconcerned about privacy would soon become opposed to ID cards if the way that they were asked for information made them feel that their privacy was threatened.

The central issue of the project was whether websites were seen as particularly trustworthy – or untrustworthy – causing users to alter their behaviour.  When a website is designed to look trustworthy, people are willing to accept privacy violations. But, the same actions by an untrustworthy site, leads to people behaving in a much more guarded manner.

Many services now require a level of online disclosure.  According to this research, how a user assesses the trustworthiness of a website may have a real impact on the success of that service.
Ofsted:  And the report was printed before the latest government security breach - Children and young people are worried that information on the new ContactPoint database (previously known by the working title of the 'information sharing index') that will list details about all children in England, including their age and where they live, could attract paedophiles & others that should not have access to their personal details.

They expressed concern over safety and thought that, eventually, ContactPoint would either break down or its security would be breached with serious consequences for the children listed as well as the government. The children felt that one of the big risks will be that, even with electronic security tags and passwords, some staff will pass data on to other people and that could give unauthorised outsiders access to their information.

They also felt that it might be hard to find an approved person quickly to look up information in an emergency, for example when a child might be brought into a hospital by ambulance after an accident.

Also published by the Children's Rights Director is the Children's Messages on Care report, which is a summary of key messages from children living away from home or receiving social care services.
DWP:  How do they know half will fail? - A new medical test that will score a person's capability to work has been announced by Work and Pensions Secretary Peter Hain - as part of his drive to end sick-note Britain.  The government claims that 50% of those who take the assessment will not pass it.  There are currently 2.64m working age people claiming incapacity benefits, which cost the country nearly £12.5bn in 2006/7.

Called the Work Capability Assessment, the test will be introduced in October 2008 alongside the new Employment and Support Allowance and will be applicable for all those people claiming the new allowance.  It will replace the current Personal Capability Assessment, which is weighted more towards a person's physical disability and bases itself around assessing people's incapability for work.

The Work Capability Assessment will look at people's physical & mental ability, such as learning disabilities and other similar conditions.  It will assess what an individual can do - rather than can't do. For example you will no longer score points simply because you are unable to walk more than 400 metres.
DH:  Is once a year sufficient? - Health Secretary Alan Johnson has announced detailed regional funding for ‘deep cleaning’ and confirmed the date by which all NHS hospitals in England will have carried out a deep clean (by the end of March 2008).  He told MPs that all Trusts will have to submit detailed deep clean plans, including costs, to their Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs).

Progress on the deep clean programme and new details on reporting were unveiled as the results of the latest Patient Environment and Action Team (PEAT) inspection were published by the National Patient Safety Agency.
DfT:  And they haven’t even opened up Terminal 5 yet - Transport Secretary, Ruth Kelly, has published the consultation (closing date 27 February 2008) on increasing capacity at Heathrow Airport and urged local people & interested bodies to respond with their views.  The Department for Transport is staging a series of public exhibitions in communities around Heathrow during the consultation period.

The consultation, Adding Capacity at Heathrow Airport, considers whether a third runway could be built at the airport, served by a sixth terminal with access to the road and rail network, which would enable the airport to handle around 700,000 flights a year.

Also published is the report UK Air Passenger Demand and CO2 Forecasts, which explains the Department's passenger demand and CO2 forecasting methodologies and provides the latest CO2 forecasts.
MoJ:  Democracy needs all the help it can get these days - A strong and effective Electoral Commission is vital to democracy, Ministers have said in response to the Committee on Standards in Public Life's eleventh report, Review of the Electoral Commission. 
 
The Government says it will:
* Support the Commission's withdrawal from its statutory duty to encourage participation in the democratic process
* Limit the Commission's policy development role to the consideration of changes that would help it to perform its core regulatory duties
* Repeal the current provision in the Political Parties and Referendums Act (PPERA) 2000 which allows for the transfer of boundary setting to the Electoral Commission.
* Work with the Commission to determine whether it needs more powers and sanctions to become a more robust regulator
CLG:  More power or just a way of shifting the blame if it goes wrong? - Local Government Minister John Healey has announced that councils and their partners are now ‘in the driving seat’ on new Local Area Agreements (LAAs) with a package of measures to give them the tools to make decisions and improve services & quality of life in their communities.

All Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) are supposed to be now agreeing which priorities they want to tackle by involving their local communities, before negotiating a maximum of 35 targets with Government (plus statutory education & childcare targets).
New guidance published this week is intended to provide the new framework for negotiating LAAs:
* An introduction to the new local performance framework: Delivering better outcomes for local people produced jointly with the LGA to provide a clear overview of purpose to all those working with LAAs and setting out their and relationship and timeline with the new national indicators and the Comprehensive Area Assessment

* Creating Strong, Safe and Prosperous Communities: draft statutory Guidance for consultation on the duties under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act - the consultation closes 12 February 2008.

* Development of the new LAA framework - The second phase of operational guidance to support the negotiation of LAAs by June 2008
CLG:  But can we keep up with flow of immigrants? - Housing Minister Yvette Cooper has welcomed the publication of the Callcutt Review into delivering new housing and announced a major new drive to speed up the delivery of new greener, affordable homes for first time buyers and families, as an initial response.

Yvette Cooper gave the Government's initial response to five key areas highlighted in the Review, saying the Government would:
* Introduce a new legal definition on what constitutes a 'substantial start' by a developer to avoid major sites being held up by long delays
* Introduce new 'fast track contracts' to help speed up the development of new homes on public sector land
* Closely examine proposals for an annual independent customer satisfaction survey on new housing
* Agree a 'new industry standard' to increase transparency of developers' land holders held for future housing
* Give increased support to sustain the Government's drive to make all new homes zero carbon by 2016, through a new body to monitor and co-ordinate work on delivering the target

John Callcutt's report concludes that the housing building industry is in shape to deliver the additional 240,000 homes a year needed by 2016, and three million more homes by 2020.  But the challenge will be to deliver homes where they are needed, at an affordable price and meet zero carbon targets.
NAO:  Shrewd bargain or political expediency? - The NAO report to Parliament concludes that the Ministry of Defence’s privatisation of the defence technology business QinetiQ safeguarded the viability of a business of national strategic importance and generated significant proceeds for the taxpayer.  However, the NAO believes the taxpayer could have received more money from the deal. 

The top ten managers at QinetiQ received shares worth £107m at the time of flotation, from an investment of just over £500,000.  The NAO think that the returns to management exceeded what was necessary to incentivise them.  The MoD accepted the incentive scheme for this deal but was not involved in designing the scheme, nor did it seek specialist professional advice.

Minister for Defence Equipment and Support Baroness Taylor said: "We have consistently stated our view that the privatisation has been an overall success. It has delivered excellent value for money, generating more than £800 million for the taxpayer, while protecting UK defence and security interests….. As the largest shareholder it is the taxpayer who has gained the most from the increase in QinetiQ's value”.

The PCS union accused the government of selling off a valuable and strategically important public asset that had served to line the pockets of senior managers and private corporations.  The union was further angered as it emerged that the senior managers who benefited from the astronomical returns through the privatisation were the people who allegedly sold the idea of privatisation to the department in the first place.
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General News

HC:   The Healthcare Commission has said that Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust could resume heart transplant operations following the trust’s agreement to implement additional safeguards to protect patients. 

Heart transplants at the trust were paused while the Commission undertook the review at the request of the Chief Medical Officer (CMO). The trust itself had raised concerns with the CMO, following the death of seven out of 20 heart transplant patients from January to September this year.  An eighth patient died following a heart transplant in October.

The Commission has made 10 recommendations to the trust to ensure that known risks associated with heart transplantation are minimised. The trust has accepted the recommendations and told the Commission that it
will put them in place with immediate effect.
 
CEL: The Centre for Excellence in Leadership (CEL) presented its strategy for sustainable development at the House of Lords recently. Towards leadership for sustainability sets out CEL's plans to help develop the capacity & capability of leaders at all levels in the further education sector to lead & support the embedding of sustainable development throughout their organisations.

The strategy was informed by two research projects conducted for CEL, one by Forum for the Future, and the other by a team from the Education for Sustainability Programme at London South Bank University.
 
FDA: Commenting on the decision by the Chairman of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to step down, Jonathan Baume, general secretary of the FDA, the union for senior public servants, said: 
"There has been a serious operational error, which should not have occurred.  Paul Gray was in no way personally responsible, but he has recognised that, as the most senior official in the department, the accountability ultimately lies with him.  His decision to take on this accountability is an example of British public service at its best….
 
MoD: A new web-based learning programme for schools has been launched - Defence Dynamics – which is an on-line resource for teachers that will offer an interactive library of material for lessons on many subjects in the core curriculum.
 
From the protection of sustainable fish stocks to the maths involved in navigating a fast jet, children can study core subjects using fresh & exciting examples based on real events and, at the same time, broaden their awareness & understanding of the role of defence in society.
 
By next month, Defence Dynamics will feature 40 complete lesson plans and accompanying stimulus materials for GCSE (and equivalent level) students across three core subjects - Science, Maths, English - plus Geography.  There are also two whole-school assembly plans provided for Personal, & Social Health Education (PSHE) teachers.
 
TfL: As from 18 November 2007 Oyster pay as you go can now be used on London Midland services between Watford Junction & Euston and Southern services between Watford Junction & Clapham Junction and all stations in between.  This follows an offer by the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, to provide the funding to the train operators to install the system, which offers passengers quicker and more convenient journeys.
 
Around 80% of all Underground & bus payments in London are now by Oyster card and in the 3 years since its introduction, the proportion of cash payments on London's Underground and buses has fallen to just 3%.

Auto Top-up can be set up on line to ensure that passengers never run out our pay as you go money. When your balance drops below £5, it will automatically be topped up with either £20 or £40 next time you touch in on any yellow reader on Tube, bus, tram or DLR.
 
DfT: A pioneering new Government motorcycle helmet safety rating scheme which could save the lives of 50 riders a year has been officially launched by Road Safety Minister Jim Fitzpatrick. SHARP - the Safety Helmet Assessment and Rating Programme - will give an independent rating of how much protection a helmet can provide in an impact.  Helmets will be rated from 1 to 5 stars depending how well they perform in laboratory tests.
 
All helmets on sale in the UK must offer the wearer a minimum level of protection, but tests show there are real differences in safety performance.  SHARP's objective advice, based on rigorous testing, will help riders choose a safer helmet by measuring the extent to which a helmet exceeds the minimum standards.
 
CEL: The Centre for Excellence in Leadership (CEL) has published a compilation of ‘thinkpieces’ about the strategic significance of technology in the further education system. ‘e-Gazing: further horizons for leaders’ is CEL's second publication about the e-gazing aspect of leadership & elearning, and includes contributions from seven sector representatives.
 
An accompanying DVD features video clips of interviews with five of the thinkpiece contributors and twelve other leaders, experts and visionaries.

Policy Statements and Initiatives

BERR: A major expansion of energy from renewable sources and the launch of the competition to build one of the world's first carbon capture and storage (CCS) plants were among the measures set out in a major speech on climate change by the Prime Minister recently.
 
The speech comes on the day the Commission on Environmental Markets and Economic Performance (CEMEP) publishes its Government-commissioned report setting out the steps needed to unlock the business opportunities that exist in tackling climate change.
 
Among the announcements were that Government will announce a decision on future nuclear power in the New Year and that it was launching a Carbon Capture and Storage competition.  This follows the previous announcement by John Hutton that the project should demonstrate post-combustion CCS on a coal-fired power station, with CO2 stored offshore.
 
CLG: BedfordshireCounty Council, Mid-Bedfordshire District Council and South Bedfordshire District Council have been asked to draw up their proposals following the decision that the Government is minded to implement proposals for a unitary authority for Bedford Borough Council.
 
Any new proposals must demonstrate how restructuring will deliver strong, effective and accountable strategic leadership, genuine opportunities for neighbourhood flexibility and empowerment; and value for money and equity on public services.  They must also demonstrate how the change to the future unitary structure will be affordable and supported by a broad cross section of partners and stakeholders.
 
DIUS: Six key new technologies have been highlighted as central to the UK's future prosperity in a report published by the Council for Science and Technology (CST), which has rigorously assessed over 100 technology areas in its search to find the most promising technologies for the UK to focus on over the next five years.
 
The six winning technologies are:
* Carbon Capture and Storage
* Disaster Mitigation Technologies
* Plastic Electronics
* Low Carbon Distribution Networks for Electricity Supply
* Medical Devices
* E-health
 
Four further platform technologies were also identified: bandwidth telecommunications; cell & tissue therapies; pervasive systems; simulation & modelling.
 

Consultations

HM Treasury: HM Treasury and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform have published a consultation document (closes on 14 February 2008) on proposed changes to the Consumer Credit Act 1974 to prevent the dual regulation of mortgages.
 
Regulation of Modified Credit Agreements: a consultation asks for views on a proposed change to the Act to ensure that the regulatory regimes of the Financial Services Authority and the Office of Fair Trading for mortgages remain mutually exclusive.  The proposed change will provide clarity on the regulatory position and reduce the potential burdens associated with dual regulation.
 
ScotGov: A consultation (closes 29 February 2008) on the principles of water charging that will guide the work of the Water Industry Commission in determining water charge levels for 2010-14 has been launched.  The consultation includes:
* The maintenance of existing principles that are critical to fair & affordable water services
* Further movement towards more obviously cost-reflective charges
 
This charging review will conclude in November 2009 with the Water Industry Commission setting limits on the water and sewerage charge levels that Scottish Water can apply during 2010-14.  It will only do so following the decisions that Ministers make on the principles that they would wish to see the Commission apply during that period.

CLG: Local Government Minister John Healey has published Creating Strong, Safe and Prosperous Communities: draft statutory Guidance for consultation on the duties under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act - the consultation closes 12 February 2008. See ‘In the News’ above
 
DH: Health Secretary, Alan Johnson, has published a new plan to increase preparedness and better protect the public against a possible flu pandemic. The DH is also launching a public consultation (closes 22 February 2008) on possible amendments to the medicines and associated legislation.  See ‘Guidance Notes and Best Practice’ below.
 
DH: The Department of Health and the Food Standards Agency have set out stricter controls on the promotion, labelling and composition of Infant and Follow on Formula. New EU legislation, being implemented into law, will ensure that all types of formulae meet the nutritional needs of babies - whilst ensuring that breastfeeding is not undermined by the marketing and promotion of such products.
 
A consultation (closes on the 13 February 2007) on the draft Statutory Guidance notes has also begun and the Agency is seeking views from all stakeholders. See ‘EU legislation, initiatives’ below.

Guidance Notes and Best Practice Guides

DH: Health Secretary, Alan Johnson, has published a new plan to increase preparedness and better protect the public against a possible flu pandemic. A new clinical countermeasures strategy has been developed to offer increased protection against the effects of a flu pandemic if a 'worst case scenario' happened.
 
The Department has already signed agreements with two pharmaceutical companies to supply enough pandemic specific vaccine for the entire population, once the pandemic strain has been identified. It also has an existing stockpile of 3.3 million doses of H5N1 pre-pandemic vaccine for healthcare workers and will be considering all the latest scientific evidence in relation to future decisions on pre-pandemic vaccines.
 
The DH is also launching a public consultation (closes 22 February 2008) on possible amendments to the medicines and associated legislation.  It would seek to widen powers to supply prescription only medicines to ensure patients can continue to access their routine, but essential medicines if front-line staff, especially GPs, are focussed on the most seriously ill.
 
Alongside the countermeasures a new National Flu Pandemic Framework, which coordinates the responses of all government departments, regional assemblies and all public and private bodies, will set out how the UK will respond if a flu pandemic occurs.

Annual Reports

ScotGov: Scotland's health is improving, but support & intervention in early life is essential if the nation is to close the gap between affluent and deprived areas, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) has said in his second annual report.
 
ScotGov: The living conditions in many of Scotland's prisons have been transformed, but all the good work is threatened by overcrowding and the relentless rise in prison numbers, according to the annual report of the Chief Inspector of Prisons.

Many prisoners are locked in their cells all day with nothing to do and no access to training to develop a skill to help with employment on release, so therefore their chances of re-offending are high. 
The report assesses how well prisons are doing against HMCIP's 'Standards used in the Inspection of Prisons in Scotland'.

General Reports and Other Publications

DCSF: Children, schools and families Secretary, Ed Balls has published a review of the lives of children & young people and rejected theories that children growing up in England today are worse off than previous generations.
 
The report - Children and Young People Today: evidence to support the development of the Children's Plan - will be the foundation for the Government's forthcoming Children's Plan, due to be published in December.
 
CRC: Graham Garbutt, Chief Executive of the Commission for Rural Communities, has written about the 'lost city' - 980,000 homes across rural England with incomes below 60% of the national median, the equivalent of a city.
 
His article for the Local Government Chronicle asks how we can ensure challenges facing rural areas receive the same energetic attention enjoyed by urban centres and develop effective ways of working through county, district & parish councils.
 
Ofsted: Although most 11 year olds can now swim 25 metres, some groups of pupils are missing out.  These include pupils with learning difficulties when staff are not well trained to deal with them; and some pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds who begin school with little or no experience of swimming.

A report by the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) reveals that the reason some pupils failed to meet expectations for the end of Key Stage 2 was usually because too little time had been given to swimming and staff had been unable to help them overcome their fear of water in the available lessons.

The standards reached by pupils were; good in nine of the 30 schools surveyed, satisfactory in 16, but inadequate in five. Although the needs of most learners were met, some schools gave too little attention to particular groups of learners, notably gifted & talented swimmers and the least able or experienced.
 
Defra: The independent Parliamentary Circus Working Group has published its report on the welfare of non-domesticated animals in circuses, relating to their transportation & housing needs.
 
The Academic Panel advising the Group concluded that in order to justify a change to the status quo, the balance of the evidence would have to present a convincing argument for change. On the basis of the scientific evidence submitted to it, the Panel concluded that such an argument had not been made.
 
DfT: Targeting young people with information about alternatives to the car at key 'trigger points' in their lives could boost use of public transport more effectively, according to new research. The Department for Transport research asked older & younger people about their transport needs and opinions.
 
One finding showed that for younger people, the transition from education to employment is a key development stage in their lives during which it might be most effective to target efforts to influence their transport choices. The report also showed that improving frequency & reliability of public transport services was a key concern of both older and younger people.
 
DfT: More reliable & efficient journey times for passengers using Heathrow would benefit travellers and the economy the Transport Secretary, Ruth Kelly, said as she published evidence showing where passengers' journeys can be significantly improved.
 
Every stage of a journey, from leaving home to arrival at the airport, is analysed in Improving the Air Passenger Experience.  It gives a clear picture of where pinch-points slow passengers down, identifies those accountable, and highlights what is being done and what more can be done.
 
MoJ: In-court conciliation helps separating parents to reach their own agreements about contact with their children, research commissioned by the Ministry of Justice has revealed. In-court conciliation typically consists of a brief meeting at court where divorcing or separating parents are encouraged to negotiate arrangements with the assistance of Children & Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) professionals.
 
The report concludes that although conciliation is an effective way of reaching agreements and restoring contact over the short-term, it has a limited impact on making contact work for children in the long-term.
 
The report goes on to recommend the development of a more relationship-based or therapeutically-orientated interventions in addition to conciliation which would target parental attitudes, help them work together as co-parents thereby improving the quality of contact.
 
BERR: A new report from the Renewables Advisory Board (RAB), which advises Government on renewable energy issues, provides the first in depth analysis of the role of on site energy generation in the delivery of the Government's policy of ensuring that all new homes are zero carbon from 2016.  
 
On the basis of the reports findings RAB, which supports the zero carbon homes policy, has made three headline recommendations to Government:
* Change the proposed policy to create earlier stimulation for onsite renewable energy
* Accelerate the technological & commercial development of Biomass Combined Heat and Power (CHP)
* Minimise the use of remote offsite energy generation in meeting zero carbon standards
 
FCO: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has published the fifteenth report by the Independent Monitor for Entry Clearance on refusals without the right of appeal. 
 
Under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 amended by paragraph 27 of schedule 7 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, Mrs Costelloe Baker monitors visa refusals made by UK Entry Clearance Officers (ECOs) in cases where there is a limited right of appeal to check that decisions are consistent and fair.
 
The Independent Monitor for Entry Clearance is required to submit her findings to the Foreign Secretary in the form of a report.  The Independent Monitor is not an alternative to the appeal system; nor is it a procedure for applicants or sponsors to have decisions reviewed in individual cases.  The Independent Monitor does not have powers to overturn decisions.
 
NAO: The Carbon Trust helped UK businesses and public sector organisations reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by up to an estimated 2m tonnes in 2006-07 and its support of emerging low carbon technologies could lead to further sizeable reductions in the future, according to a report by the National Audit Office.  

The report found that the Carbon Trust is likely to meet the expectation set out in the Climate Change Programme 2006, butthat organisations could achieve greater reductions in carbon emissions, as less than 40% of the carbon savings identified have so far been implemented. 
 
The NAO also found that 60% of organisations had implemented fewer than half of the recommendations made and that only 12% of large businesses with annual energy bills over £50,000 have worked with the Carbon Trust to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions.
 
Defra: New research published by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), shows that the arrival of children and retirement can be motivators for pro-environmental behaviour change. The research also shows that individuals and consumers recognise they have a personal responsibility to change their behaviour to protect the environment. Despite being mistrustful of some of the information they are given, most people expect government to take the lead on environmental issues.
 
The five independent reports, carried out for Defra by specialist research organisations, provide an in-depth analysis of the public's current expectations and aspirations of pro-environmental behaviour.  The projects looked at public understanding of sustainability in the following areas: Energy Consumption, Finance & Investment, Leisure & Tourism, Consumption of Food and Transport.
 

Legislation / Legal

Home Office: The Home Office has set out new measures to prevent illegal working following a consultation with UK businesses.  Under a new system of civil penalties, which take effect in February 2008, employers who negligently hire illegal workers could face a maximum fine of £10,000 for each illegal worker found at a business.  If employers are found to have knowingly hired illegal workers they could incur an unlimited fine and be sent to prison.
 
The Government has also published a Statement of Intent setting out a new approach for licensing employers or colleges who wish to sponsor migrants for visa applications.  Under the Points Based System employers & colleges will need a license in order to sponsor migrants.  To earn and hold a licence they must agree to fulfil certain duties.

EU Legislation, Initiatives, etc.

DH: The Department of Health and the Food Standards Agency have set out stricter controls on the promotion, labelling and composition of Infant and Follow on Formula. New EU legislation, being implemented into law, will ensure that all types of formulae meet the nutritional needs of babies - whilst ensuring that breastfeeding is not undermined by the marketing and promotion of such products.
 
The new measures include:
* Updated rules implementing advice from the European Scientific Committee for Food on the composition of all types of formulae
* Tighter rules on the labelling of all types of formulae
* Tougher restrictions relating to the marketing and promotion of Infant Formula
* Tough new rules on how Follow-on Formula can be advertised
 * Robust Guidance for industry and enforcement authorities to use to correctly apply the new law
 
The Food Standards Agency held a public consultation on the draft Regulations earlier this year and has now published the responses received. A new consultation (closes on the 13 February 2007) on the draft Statutory Guidance notes has also begun and the Agency is seeking views from all stakeholders. 

Charity and Voluntary Sector

BIG: 8 local community projects are rallying support for the public vote that could see them win up to £80,000 each from the Big Lottery Fund in this week’s People’s Millions regional contest on ITV London.  Up to £400,000 of Big Lottery funding is up for grabs for five lucky groups in the region.  The contest goes live on ITV London’s 6.00pm evening news between 26 and 29 November.
 
Two projects will be showcased each night in a head-to-head battle to win support.  At the end of the programme, viewers will be asked to vote by phone for the project they think should win the Lottery good cause cash.  Voting telephone numbers will be broadcast during the programme and will also be available on the Big Lottery Fund’s website each day.
 
There will be one winner of the £80,000 award each night.  At the end of the competition there is also an additional bonus award of up to £80,000 that will go to the runner-up with the most votes.
 
Telephone voting numbers – As with previous years, ITV and the Big Lottery Fund will use a low cost non-premium rate telephone number.  ITV and BIG do not make a profit from the voting telephone numbers.

Business and Other Briefings

This Brief gives details of an article: VAT: The decision of the tribunal in InsuranceWide.com Services Ltd.

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