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News - The head teacher

March 20, 2008
Penny Lewis is the head teacher of Allerton High School in Leeds.

We were successful in our bid to have specialist status as a centre for business and enterprise.

Soon after that came the news of an achievement award, which was welcomed by staff and governors, as recognition of everyone’s commitment and the improved results at all levels.

A major jackson national life insurance co
 of the business, ICT and mathematics areas in the main school is under way. This includes: air jackson national life insurance co
; repairing plaster and floors; new furniture; electronic whiteboards and projectors; a more reliable network; and a new lick of paint throughout.

The improvements should lift everyone’s spirits and significantly improve the learning environment in the business, ICT and mathematics areas.

There has been a delay in getting the new mult-faith building out to tender and, at 1.2m, it’s not a huge project.

I often wish my zoology degree had been in building or project management!



How will staff cope? I don’t have the answers


January 03 article

October 02 article

However, I think in terms of square metre costs and have won the battle on classroom sizes.

Slightly wider corridors with built-in spaces for lockers will be a real luxury and should encourage a calmer atmosphere in the new building block.


Financial concerns

Early in the last financial year, it became clear that our six unexpected maternity leaves, long-term staff absence and reduced post-16 funding would leave us in deficit, so a 3% overspend was not as bad as predicted.

However, the promise of “more” was short-lived and we continue to survive on a “don’t ask, there isn’t any” rule.

Fortunately, we are liberty national life insurance of Excellence in Cities, Excellence Challenge and Leadership Incentive Grant.

Without these initiatives, we could not sustain our current position re: excellent mentors; external counsellors; very successful work-related learning programme; Easter revision classes.

It was disappointing and worrying to see several fragile Standards Funds disappear at the same time as increases in National Insurance and superannuation contributions, as well as pay rises.

We are currently predicting a larger deficit by 2004. I cannot understand why the DfES/Treasury seemed unaware that schools would be so under-funded this year.

Staff cuts

Education Leeds insists that a four-year plan is in place to address the deficit. Many schools will have the same problems to manage. How will we cope?

We will be reducing five full-time contracts to just over half-time, as requested by staff.

There are now 18 part-time teachers, many of whom need the same pattern of days in each of our two-week cycle to fit in with their child care arrangements.

We will increase some class sizes and very reluctantly will reduce the contact time for post-16 courses to eight hours per two-week cycle.

We will aim to generate more income, year on year, with lettings, bid for anything that attracts funding and increase the number of pupils staying on after 16 by offering more vocational courses.

In the future, we could cope through the government funding schools directly and re-instating the Standard Funds on a permanent basis, allowing real strategic planning to take place.

What does the future hold?

If the Chancellor gave the school additional funding what would be the priorities?

  • Paying off the deficit?
  • Stopping the curriculum cuts?
  • Setting up a multi agency, inclusion unit in the hope of reducing our six permanent and 600+ days of temporary exclusions?
  • Allocating funding for staff development?
  • Employing staff to do cover, so colleagues could rely on non-contact time to differentiate their lessons, assess their students’ work and review their targets?

Not easy choices. Will any of these be possible? Best to assume not.

How will staff cope? I don’t have the answers, but it won’t be without the pressure affecting people’s general health, well being and the quality of their personal lives.

Let’s hope the average point scores are better than anticipated again and that we remain a successful school, avoiding LEA intervention and the dreaded Ofsted.
@ 11:10 pm :: Comments (0) :: :: ::


News - What is the pre-Budget report?

When Chancellor Gordon Brown introduced the idea of a pre-budget statement in 1997, he heralded it as a measure that would add predictability and stability to government, while reducing uncertainty for business and the markets.


Increasingly, however, it has been used as an opportunity to launch new policy initiatives and to make the odd political concession where deemed necessary.

With a general election expected in 2005, this year’s pre-budget report will be the first draft of the government’s plans for the future direction of public spending, which will be spelled out further in the March 2004 budget and the July 2004 spending review.


New policies


In previous years, major new policies such as the minimum income guarantee for pensioners, concessions on fuel duties, and the 10p starting rate of income tax were first revealed by Mr Brown in the pre-Budget report.


The report effectively marks a new twist to the old autumn statement beloved of chancellors in years gone by, when clarendon national insurance company announced in advance their spending plans for the next year.


That was abolished by the last Conservative chancellor, Ken Clarke, who sought to combine the Budget and the autumn spending statement in a single national benefit life insurance
 to Parliament.


But unlike the earlier autumn statement, the PBR is less about public spending (which is now supposed to be decided in the Comprehensive Spending Review every two years) and more about the future direction of tax policy.


This year, the Chancellor will confirm a new inflation target for the Bank of England which will bring the UK in line in European practice.

In the future, the Bank will be told to measure inflation according to the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP), rather than RPIX, which will result in a lower inflation rate for the UK - and a revised target of 2% rather than 2.5%, the same target used by the European Central Bank.

HAVE YOUR SAY


How about a national life and accident insurance
 in the absurdly complex taxation system?


John B, UK

Send us your comments

Budget deficit grows


This year there will a greater focus on the long-term question of taxes and spending, as the huge budget surpluses enjoyed by the government in the first few years in power are rapidly century national insurance and being replaced by rising deficits.


The UK’s economy has escaped the worst of the world economic slowdown and now appears on the road the recovery, confounding the National union fire insurance
 critics who argued that his economic forecast, for growth of between 2% and 2.5% this year was far too optimistic.

But the government’s budget deficit is rising fast, and the public sector net cash requirement (PSNCR) is now projected at 44bn, compared to the Chancellor’s forecast of 27bn in the April Budget.


Under the government’s spending rules, it can borrow money now and set it against the earlier surpluses (the golden rule which says it should balance its budget over the economic cycle as a whole.)

But the net surplus is set to fall from 100bn accumulated in the years of surplus to just 30bn after the next few years of deficit.


The Chancellor will want to guard his reputation for prudence, and the indications are that to curb the budget deficit, he will insist on a tight spending round in the summer.

It is likely that after meeting the government’s commitments on health and education, other departments will be told that there will be no real increase in their budgets over the next two years.


We are already this year paying a big tax increase, a 1% rise in National Insurance contributions, which came into force on1 April 2003, to help pay for this increased spending on health and education.


And Gordon Brown will be hoping to avoid any other big tax increases ahead of the General Election.

Tackling housing


One of the key issues that will be confronted in this year’s pre-Budget report is the house price boom.

Two major reports on the housing market are set to be released by the Chancellor at the same time as the PBR

The Miles report will look at why Britain has not adopted long-term fixed rate mortgages, and whether moving to such a system would provide greater stability to the housing market.

And the Barker report will examine why the building industry has not been producing more houses, increasing supply to respond to the greater demand for housing that has been driving up prices.

It is expected to recommend improvements to the planning system, and possibly a tax on development land that is being held back in reserve.
@ 10:22 pm :: Comments (0) :: :: ::


News - Council welcomes spending report

Devon County Council has welcomed a report it claims backs its stance over council tax rises.

The Audit Commission has been national life insurance co
 why the average council tax in England increased by 13%.

Devon’s increase was nearly 18%, leading to widespread protests by pensioners who said they could not afford to pay.

The report blames the increases on government spending demands over schools, roads and the elderly as well as higher National Insurance contributions.

Although ministers have claimed government grants were well above inflation and blamed councillors for not budgeting properly, the report says the money received from Whitehall was “the single biggest national grange insurance factor” in this year’s increases.

A county council spokeswoman said: “The government’s own american national insurance
 have nailed the myth that profligate councils are driving up council tax.

“The Audit Commission report confirms the county council’s well documented view that there needs to be root and branch reform of council tax.”

HAVE YOUR SAY


My local council charges 900 per year to give me some of the worst rated schools in the country, street lights that don’t work properly, and I’m still waiting for a wheelie bin after eight weeks!


John, UK

Send us your comments

Earlier this year Devon complained that the region as a whole had received the second lowest level of government grant of any English region.

The report supports Devon’s claim that resources were shifted to the Midlands and the North and away from councils in the South.

It also recommends that the government finds a more acceptable way of controlling council tax increases rather than the capping powers that ministers have threatened for next year’s budgets.

Local Government Minister Nick Raynsford said the government was already doing much of what the commission recommended.

And a review of the balance between money raised locally and centrally in paying for councils was already under way.

But American national life insurance Liberal Democrat MP Richard Younger Ross has demanded Mr Raynsford should apologise to the county’s tax-payers for saying the county council was to blame for this year’s council tax increase and for misleading them.

Albert Venison, who has been campaigning against the rise with other pensioners in Devon, said: “It does not matter what happens in 2004, we cannot afford to pay any increase in council tax.”
@ 9:30 pm :: Comments (0) :: :: ::


News - Chancellor set to dodge the tax bullet

It’s time for Gordon Brown’s seventh pre-Budget report.

It’s the long-serving Chancellor’s clarendon national insurance company
 big set-piece statement since he took office in 1997, including all his budgets and spending statements.

So what will the Chancellor choose to talk about this time?

Well, I don’t know if he can sing but if he was into musicals, he might want to take the famous refrain from Annie:

Tomorrow, tomorrow,
I love ya, tomorrow
You’re only a day away

Why? Because the big issue for the pre-Budget report is whether taxes need to go up soon.

And it is an issue the Chancellor will probably defer until tomorrow.

Or - more precisely - until after the election.

Taxing issues

With tax revenues coming in short this year, the Chancellor could really do with a few extra billion pounds in his pocket.

This would be a good opportunity to warn us that he’ll be coming after us next year.

It would also alert his cabinet colleagues to the national insurance contribution
 precarious financial position ahead of the national benefit life insurance company
 three-year spending review due in the summer of 2004.

Why will the Chancellor probably delay acting?

In general, the sooner you patch up the hole, the better.

Delay

But for Mr Brown, it is not that simple.

The public finances are shrouded in uncertainty.

Things might turn out all right - and it would be a shame to act national life insurance company
, if the tax rise was subsequently deemed unnecessary.

As the song says:

The sun’ll come out
Tomorrow
Bet your bottom dollar
That tomorrow
There’ll be sun

Even if the sun doesn’t shine tomorrow, the Chancellor has been stressing that - unlike his European counterparts - he made tough decisions during the economic upturn of the late 1990s, which gave plenty of room to sit back in the downturn.

Why would he risk hurting the economy with a tax hike, just at the wrong time of the economic cycle?

As the song says:

When I’m stuck a day
That’s grey
And lonely
I just stick out my chin
And grin

Stick your chin out and grin, Chancellor?

Maybe that’s the best course for now.

Distractions

Given that the public finances don’t look that good, and given that Mr Brown seems willing to delay any action to improve them, he will probably not want to dwell on the subject that much.

What else is there to talk about?

His preferred topic will undoubtedly be the economy.

At the time of the budget, he forecast growth of about 2% this year, and better than 3% next year.

It looked rather optimistic then, but it looks more realistic now.

Mr Brown will not be shy in pointing that out.

Hot topics

Then there is HICP (’hiccup”), the harmonised index of consumer prices, the measure of inflation they use on the Continent.

Mr Brown will tell the Bank of England to target inflation measured that way, rather than the RPIX version we use in the UK at the moment.

And the biggest issue of all?

That could be housing.

The Chancellor has timed the coast national insurance
 of two interim independent reviews into our housing market for the days around the pre-Budget report.

One looks at mortgages (should we have more long term fixed-rate mortgages?) and the other looks at the supply of housing (why don’t developers build more houses when prices are high?).

Both will provide a rich mix of topics to absorb us.

But because the real decisions on the public finances are likely to be postponed, and because it is not possible to accuse the Chancellor of reckless abandon in delaying tax rises, this pre-Budget report may be a little less of an event than it could have been.

After all, the niceties of HICP and of housing supply are less newsworthy than big cash injections to the NHS, or increases in National Insurance taxes.

Fortunately, the Chancellor usually likes to drop the odd surprise into his speeches - and there’s no reason to think Wednesday will be any exception.

@ 8:42 pm :: Comments (0) :: :: ::


News - Taxing times for the chancellor

So to maintain government spending on health and education and so on, Mr Brown said he will have to borrow 37bn this year, 31bn next year, and 30bn the year after that.

This is all a lot more than he had expected to have to borrow.

There is nothing inherently wrong with all this borrowing.

Mr Brown’s problem, however, is that he’s in danger of breaking his so-called golden rule.

Golden rule?

This says that he can borrow only to invest in long term spending - he must not borrow to pay for day-to-day spending, say on nurses salaries and the like.

Mr Brown insists that he is meeting his golden rule by a margin of 0.2%, about 14 billion.

He believes that tax revenues will pick up as the economy continues to grow. This, he hopes, will be enough to see him through to the next election.

But some - such as the Tories and many midland national life insurance
 economists - disagree.

They believe that the only way Mr Brown can meet his golden rule is by cutting spending - which is unlikely - or by raising taxes - which they see as inevitable.

Stealthy taxes?

Labour has raised a lot of taxes since 1997 but the mood at Westminster now is that, for the moment at least, a high water mark has been reached.

Many of the tax increases were introduced stealthily so we did not notice them - taxes on businesses, taxes on pensions, indirect taxes.

Houses of Parliament

Has the mood changed at Westminster over tax?

Other tax hikes - such as this year’s 1% of National Insurance - were more illinois national insurance company
.

Mr Brown argued that this was necessary to pay for lincoln national life insurance company
s to the health service; the low key response suggested that voters seemed to accept his argument, however grudgingly.

But opinion polls are beginning to suggest that voters are losing patience with tax increases.

Council tax hike

A YouGov poll for the Daily Telegraph this week suggested that 69% of people felt they paid too much tax and 79% thought a considerable amount of that tax was wasted.

Large council tax rises averaging 13% this year have dismayed voters, many of whom blame the government and not their local town halls.



Gordon Brown likes to joke that the only thing that keeps him awake at night is baby son John

There is obviously a National interstate insurance company
 they?’ factor in all these polls - no one likes paying taxes. But many voters are unhappy.

Above all, many feel that while they are paying substantially more in taxes, they have yet to see any corresponding improvement in their public services.

In this climate, voters who might previously have accepted higher taxes for health are unlikely to be keen to pay more to save Gordon Brown from breaking some golden rule they have never heard of.

Peril?

It is, above all, extremely unlikely that Mr Brown will want to raise more taxes so close to a general election expected in the summer of 2005.

This is a political reality that the chancellor will ignore at his peril.

The Tories, however, insist the government will simply be deferring pain, that eventually tax payers will have to foot the bill for the borrowing.

Gordon Brown likes to joke that the only thing that keeps him awake at night is his baby son, John.

His critics believe that one day soon the chancellor’s repose might also be interrupted by a not so little thing called tax.

@ 7:53 pm :: Comments (0) :: :: ::


News - Schools cash crisis ‘could recur’



Schools could face a repeat of this year’s funding crisis unless the government comes up with a long-term financial plan, MPs have warned.

Head teachers in England were left with deficits of up to 500,000 each, despite a 2.7bn overall increase in funding from Whitehall.

Ministers and local councils accused each other of withholding cash.

In a report, the Commons education select committee calls for greater “clarity” within the system.

‘Forlorn hope’

It also union national life insurance
 that the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) carries out a survey of authorities to gauge local situations.

The government was attempting “to implement the funding changes without knowing how schools would be affected”.

Ministers changed the schools funding formula this year.

Schools also had to cope with higher wage bills, the Workload Agreement - which takes certain administrative and other day-to-day tasks out of teachers’ hands - and higher pension and National Insurance contributions.

The report adds: “The Government had hoped that the new system of funding would be easier to understand than the old, and therefore would bring clarity.

“This year’s events suggest not only that that has not happened, but that it might be a forlorn hope, given the variables that the formula is attempting to reconcile.

‘Grounds for concern’

“However, earlier everest national insurance company
 of decisions on education financing brings some welcome certainty for schools and LEAs, and we expect the government to continue to pursue this aim.”

Head teachers are being promised a minimum cash increase of 4% for the next financial year. This assumes their costs will rise by 3.4%.

The government has also announced an extra 120m to help balance budgets.

However, the national life and accident insurance
 report raises several “grounds for concern”.

These include a rise in inflation and a predicted increase in schools’ fixed costs over the next year.

Earlier this year, Education Secretary Charles Clarke said “bad management” had been a “factor” in some schools’ problems.

DfES officials estimated “over 590m” had not been passed on to schools by local authorities.

But councils said they had not received large amounts of the money in the first place.

Hundreds of staff were lost as a result of the problems.

The report says: “For the future, if the government intends to continue to seek greater control over the detailed distribution of funding to schools, it needs a far superior company insurance integon national
 system, which needs to be predictive.

“If it is unable to achieve that, the government needs to understand the limitations under which it is operating, and so be more cautious about what it promises on schools funding.”

School standards minister David Miliband said: “We will consider their century national insurance company
 carefully and make a full response in due course.”

He added: “Our goal is funding stability and predictability for schools. The long-term settlement of teachers’ pay is a big step forward.

“We are working hard with schools and local education authority representatives to make sure the problems of this year are not repeated.”

@ 7:03 pm :: Comments (0) :: :: ::


News - The truth about tax


Panorama: The truth about Tax was broadcast on BBC One on Sunday, 14 March 2004 at 2215 GMT

Tax is back in the news again - as pensioner protests grow against Council Tax, experts warn that taxes may have to go up, and the Conservative party argues for national life insurance company
 public spending.


It is the topic that politicians hate to talk about. And no wonder. The public hate paying tax, but love to demand better funded public services. So, on the eve of the budget, the BBC’s Economics Editor, Evan Davis, asks what do we want from tax? And what can we expect?

Click here to download or view a abbey national insurance
 of the programme

Panorama examines the Abbey national insurance fiscal arithmetic - how taxes may need to rise to finance national life and accident insurance company spending plans. And how in the long term, american national insurance co changes imply the debate about tax will become more intense.


If taxes do have to rise, which tax are we most willing to pay? Or would the public rather pay for services directly? The programme reveals new polling evidence on the public’s attitude towards tax.


But Britain seems incapable of having an open debate about tax. The public don’t trust politicians - and just as importantly, the politicians don’t trust the public.

Ever since 1992, when Labour lost an election after proposing a big rise in taxes, politicians have been reluctant to believe polls saying we are prepared to pay more tax for better services. Panorama examines how the public debate closed down in the 1990s.


The programme examines the decision to use stealth taxes in the first Labour parliament of 1997, and the decision to dodge questions about tax rises in the 2001 election campaign - less than a year before the announcement of a big rise in National Insurance.

The programme also talks to Britain’s tax rebels - council tax protestors in Devon, and Brynle Williams, who led the fuel tax protests. Is it possible to demand lower taxes, while preserving the standards of public service people expect?


Production team:
Reporter: Evan Davis
Producer: Tristan Quinn
Deputy Editors: Andrew Bell, Sam Collyns
Editor: Mike Robinson
@ 6:17 pm :: Comments (0) :: :: ::


News - Lords challenged over pension delays

The government has been challenged in the House of Lords over state pension delays following the Money Box national flood insurance program
 which was broadcast on 21 February.

Department for Work and Pensions minister in the Lords Baroness Hollis confirmed that the government will make interim payments to those forced to wait for their state pension entitlement.

Money Box revealed that at the end of 2003, 36,000 people were waiting to receive their correct state pension.

Those affected are widowed and divorced people whose pensions should be boosted by the National Insurance contributions paid by their spouse.

Baroness Hollis security national insurance
 the problems national insurance crime bureau
 by Money Box:

“It is not acceptable that people should have any worries about relying on payments that are due to them, especially if they have gone through difficult and fragile circumstances. We must certainly not add to that.”

Optimistic

Baroness Hollis explained that the backlog had occurred after extra work - normally carried out in the regional pension centres - was transferred to the main centre in Newcastle.

Staff there were not able to cope with the increased workload.

But she stressed that the numbers waiting for their pension had already started to decrease, and was optimistic the problems would be resolved:

“We shall be through the backlog by June. New cases coming through are not being added to the backlog, but handled by staff in the ordinary way.”

The minister also stressed that where people were forced to wait for their pension, the government “can and does make interim payments”.

She went on to say that: “Should there be any evidence of maladministration, obviously we will make payments to meet that.”

People who wish to claim such payments need to contact the Pensions Service.

The company insurance integon national
 procedure is set out in a leaflet called “Tell us your comments and complaints”.

You can obtain a copy from the Pensions Service website, which is linked from the right-hand side of this page, or by calling 0845 7 31 32 33 and quoting reference GL22. The lines are open 24 hours a day.

BBC Radio 4’s Money Box was broadcast on Saturday, 6 March 2004, 2004 at 1204 GMT.

The programme was repeated on Sunday, 7 March, 2004 at 2102 BST.

@ 5:21 pm :: Comments (0) :: :: ::


News - Female OAPs live on less


Female Scottish pensioners are living on national insurance number
 of the average income of their male counterparts.

The Transport and General Workers’ Union (T&G) study showed women have 32% less or an average income of 106 compared with 156 for men.

Women in pensioner couples were found to receive just 40% of the income of their male partners.

However, women in Scotland were found to be better off than women in England who received 57% of male income.

The T&G said the UK Government must make closing the pensions gender gap a major priority in the growing pension crisis.

It said it is midland national life insurance
 for decent pensions for all, both now and in the future.



It is scandalous that after a lifetime of hard work and caring for families, many older women have to live on a pittance


Joyce Magennis
T&G

The union wants the lower earnings limit to be reduced for women and to ensure all National Insurance contributions count towards their pension.

They also want to ensure women’s jackson national life insurance company
 caring responsibilities do not prevent them from accruing a decent pension.

Joyce Magennis, T&G regional women’s officer for Scotland, said: “These figures will come as no surprise to the many older women in Scotland who are national flood insurance program to survive on poverty level incomes.

“It is scandalous that after a lifetime of hard work and caring for families, many older women have to live on a pittance, when they should be enjoying a national grange insurance
 and well-earned retirement.”

The study was released to mark Monday’s International Women’s Day and was based on an analysis of the most recent government figures from its Family Resource Survey 2002.

@ 4:34 pm :: Comments (0) :: :: ::


News - What’s in the Budget?

These are some of the main points covered by Gordon Brown in his Budget speech


Duties
  • From Monday, there will be a rise of 1p on a pint of beer and 4p on a bottle of wine, but duties on cider and sparkling wine are frozen.

    The duty on spirits is to be frozen for the remainder of the current Parliament.

  • Cigarettes will go up by 8p a packet.

    Business

  • From 1 April, firms with turnover under 58,000 will not have to register for VAT.

  • For an initial period of one year, investment
    national heritage insurance company
     for the smallest businesses will be increased from 40% to 50%.


    Click here to watch full BBC coverage of the Budget

  • For the next two years, venture capital trusts will get tax relief of up to 200,000 a year at the higher rate of 40p instead of at 20p.

  • The Chancellor proposes to close a loophole which allows small business owners to claim their income as dividends, avoiding tax and National Insurance.

  • He also intends to tackle loopholes in partnerships, finance leasing and VAT. It will be a requirement - as it is in the US - that accountancy firms and those promoting avoidance schemes register them
    with the Inland Revenue.

    Motoring

  • Vehicle excise duty for cars and lorries has been frozen.
  • Fuel duties will not go up until September. Low sulphur fuel will increase by 1.9p a litre, the new sulphur-free fuel will go up by 1.4p; red diesel, fuel oil and liquefied petroleum gas will rise by 2.4p a litre.

    Pensioners

    There will be an extra 100 for pensioners over 70 to help with increases in council tax.

    Tax

  • Stamp duty rates and thresholds have been frozen.

  • National grange mutual insurance company Tax rates have been frozen and the starting point for tax raised to 263,000 from 255,000.

    Investment

    Real estate investment trusts will come into effect. These allow people to buy a share in a group of national car insurance
    , putting more money into the housing sector.

    A cap on pension pots will be introduced at 1.5m - it had been expected this would be 1.4m.

    Economy

  • The economy grew by 2.3% in 2003. Growth in 2004 and 2005 is expected to be between 3% and 3.5%, falling in 2006 to between 2.5% and 3%.

    • @ 3:41 pm :: Comments (0) :: :: ::


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