countrywide Government must listen for new councils(LG) welfare reforms

    

      

countrywide Government  must listen for 

new councils welfare reforms

national report(weastar times/wp/g):::

implementation of some of the most far reaching welfare reforms of the past 60 years began on 1 April. Following a five and a half month inquiry, the communities and local government committee, which I chair, has published a report looking at the implementation of these reforms and the role that local authorities are playing.

In the report we have identified several areas important to the successful implementation of the welfare changes. While none merit an outright red card, we called on the government to act swiftly to address our concerns.

Later this year the government is switching the payment of housing support from the landlord directly to the claimant. As a result, housing associations and local authorities may face increased rent arrears and collection costs. During our inquiry the government provided assurances that the reforms will not undermine the financial viability of housing associations. It now needs to show how that guarantee will be made good. If the changes are to stand a chance of working, adequate safeguards are vital.

Direct payment to tenants are being piloted and tested in six areas and information and lessons from these must be available and acted on before national rollout begins later this year. In addition, the government has agreed that vulnerable tenants can be excluded from the switch to direct payments. But we don't yet have a clear definition of who these 'vulnerable' tenants are. This must be provided quickly.

During our inquiry we heard concerns from professionals in local authorities, who will have to implement and operate the changes, about the readiness of the ICT systems. In particular, we heard that the systems for fraud detection within universal credit were still only at an early stage of development. This is concerning given that the new system is going to start in the next few months. The government has to ensure that the benefit system will not be left vulnerable to fraud either during or after the transition.

The changes starting on 1 April are part of a much wider set of changes, which include social sector size criteria aka the bedroom tax, the benefit cap and local council tax support schemes – all of which will increase the pressures on both claimants and local authorities.

While the government is aware that some of the welfare changes place new burdens on local authorities, it needs to assess the impact of the whole programme, particularly on collection rates, rather than of individual changes in isolation. My committee has therefore called on the government to work with the Local Government Association to assess the cumulative impact of reforms.

The government also has to look at the impact of the changes on individual claimants. It was disappointing that it does not see it as a priority in claims for universal credit where requests are made for information to be passed on to councils to determine entitlement to council tax subsidy.

Local authorities have a valuable contribution to make in planning and targeting local welfare provision and have a long track record of delivering major reforms. The significance, timetable and volume of the changes this month should not, however, be underestimated. The government must act on my committee's recommendations, listen to local authorities and do all it can to assist them in their efforts to implement the changes successfully and on time.

bank of scotland crashed-down

    

      

bank of scotland crashed-down

banking corruption reporter(wp/g):::

three executives!!! who ran HBOS bank in the runup to its near-catastrophic collapse have been slated for their "colossal failure" of management in a scathing report which calls for them to be held to account by the City regulator.

The highly critical account of the events that led to HBOS being rescued by Lloyds in September 2008 said the responsibility for the management failings rested with the former chairman Lord Stevenson, and the former chief executives Sir James Crosby and Andy Hornby, and says the bank would have gone bust even if the global financial meltdown of that year had not happened. The bank, formed out of Bank of Scotland and Halifax in 2001, racked up £47bn of losses on bad loans.

In a report entitled An Accident Waiting to Happen, the parliamentary commission on banking standards calls on the trio to apologise for their "toxic" mistakes which caused the downfall of the bank and prompted a £20bn taxpayer bailout.

The HBOS report comes in another torrid week for the banking industry after a report commissioned by Barclays found its bankers "seemed to lose a sense of proportion and humility" in their race for big bonuses. The regulation of HBOS by the Financial Services Authority – which was shut down last weekend – is described as "thoroughly inadequate", but the responsibility for the management failures is placed squarely on the three men.

The report by the commission, set up in the wake of the Libor scandal, said: "The primary responsibility for the downfall of HBOS should rest with Sir James Crosby, architect of the strategy that set the course for disaster, with Andy Hornby, who proved unable or unwilling to change course, and Lord Stevenson, who presided over the bank's board from its birth to its death."

Crosby sold two-thirds of his shares just before the banking crisis hit and the bottom fell out of share prices.

Unlike former Royal Bank of Scotland boss Fred Goodwin, Crosby has retained his knighthood and his £570,000 annual pension. Under pressure from parliament Goodwin's pension was halved to £340,000.

The commission expressed "profound regret" that in the aftermath of the banking crisis the FSA had not imposed "fitting sanctions for those most responsible in a manner which might serve as a suitable deterrent for the next crisis". Only one HBOS executive, Peter Cummings, who used to run the corporate division of the bank, has faced sanctions. He has been banned from the City and fined £500,000.

In the first detailed account of what went wrong at HBOS – valued at £30bn when it was created in 2001 – the commission concludes that the bad loans alone would have pushed HBOS into bankruptcy. That view contrasts with those who used to run the bank, who blamed the seizure in the financial markets for its downfall.

"The sums would never have added up," said Andrew Tyrie, the Conservative MP who chairs the commission.

While the bankers have apologised for failing to spot the crisis, their words "ring hollow" and "an apology is due for the incompetent and reckless board strategy", the report said. The commission's report calls for City regulators to conduct a review of whether the three former bankers are "fit and proper" to ever work in the City again. Another report into HBOS by the successor bodies to the FSA is still under way and Tyrie asked them to consider whether the three should be barred from working in finance in the future.

"Those responsible for bank failures should be held more directly accountable for their actions and face sanction," he added. Crosby is now an adviser to Bridgepoint, a private equity business, but that role does not require authorisation.

The commission published its report after taking evidence from 16 former HBOS bankers and those who regulated the bank. Stevenson, a crossbench peer who has been employed by governments to conduct a series of high-profile reports, now works for a number of charities.

Hornby, who took over as chief executive from Crosby and was regarded as the business wunderkind of his generation, is now boss of bookmakers Coral.

The report is scathing about Stevenson, who in his evidence had insisted he was not to blame because he was only "part time", despite earning £735,000 a year and insisting to regulators at the time that he was fully engaged at the bank.

Stevenson was "incapable of facing the realities of what placed the bank in jeopardy from that time until now".

The report added: "We are shocked and surprised that, even after the ship has run aground, so many of those who were on the bridge still seem so keen to congratulate themselves on their collective navigational skills."

In other evidence, HBOS board members had described the board as the best they had ever sat on, which sparked the commission to conclude: "The model of corporate governance at HBOS at board level serves as a model for the future but not in the way in which Lord Stevenson and other former board members appear to see it. It represents a model of self-delusion, or the triumph of process over purpose."

The three bankers declined to comment, while the Financial Conduct Authority, one of the bodies replacing the FSA, said it was considering the report's findings. "The FCA will be publishing its report on the failure, that was started under the FSA, at a later date," the FCA said.

A year ago the FSA decided not to hit the Bank of Scotland arm of Lloyds with a "very substantial" fine because it would have been picked up by the taxpayer, but lambasted the division for "very serious misconduct" in following an aggressive, high-risk growth strategy.

corrupt fake police jailed 16 yrs for selling drugs

    

      

crime reporter,leeds(weastar times/wp/Ebc):::

Nicholas McFadden 38, of Church Avenue, Leeds, stole thousands of pounds of class A drugs from evidence stores, Leeds Crown Court heard.

His brother, andrew McFadden, 41, of Darfield Place, Harehills, was jailed for 16 years for conspiring to supply.

Officers said Nicholas McFadden "was a criminal purporting to be an officer".

McFadden stole enormous amounts of seized drugs and conspired to sell them back on to the streets with his brother, making them at least £600,000, the court heard.

He helped himself to more than £1m of heroin, cocaine and cannabis by exploiting "slack" procedures while working at secret evidence stores.

'Champagne and sausages'

He and his brother, andrew hallen McFadden, a debt collector, conspired to sell the drugs back to underworld contacts.
A judge sentencing the two men at Leeds Crown Court said both were motivated by one factor - an "insatiable greed" that made them "so much money that they simply did not know how to spend it", but ultimately led to their downfall.
The brothers lived a champagne lifestyle, taking exotic holidays, designer clothing, expensive jewellery, artwork, home improvements and private number plates for their cars, jurors in the five-week trial heard.
andrew  McFadden also indulged his love of expensive sausages, which he and his wife washed down with large amounts of champagne.
When police raided Nicholas McFadden's family home in Castleford, West Yorkshire, they found almost £160,000 in banknotes stuffed into sacks in his garage and £20,000 hidden around his house.
They also discovered £6,000 in his performance car.
Karen McFadden, who lived with andrew in Harehills, Leeds, was spared an immediate jail term for the sake of her teenage son after admitting money laundering.
She was given a 12-month sentence suspended for two years after the court heard she revelled in their new-found wealth but did not know how her husband was making the money, of which she spent £11,000 at the Harvey Nichols store.
Judge Tom Bayliss said: "The two of you were putting back on the streets drugs which successful police operations had taken off the streets.
"And in doing so you became very rich."
However, he added: "The effect on all of you is devastating. For a brief period, crime paid for your extravagances - but now you have a lifetime to regret it."

Online music licensing revenues up from £39.1m to £51.7m

    

      

Online music licensing revenues up  from £39.1m to £51.7m

ICT reporter,London(weastar times/g)::

THE ROYAL ENGLAND songwriters, including acts such as Ed Sheeran and Calvin Harris, netted a record total of £51.7m in THE ROYAL ENGLAND royalties from digital music services last year, as online licensing revenues eclipsed radio for the first time.

New licensing agreements with Google Play, Microsoft Xbox and other online players helped UK digital revenues soar 32.2% in 2012, from £39.1m in 2011.

Digital music players are now the biggest single source of income for songwriters in the THE ROYAL ENGLAND, having overtaken radio last year after previously eclipsing live events and pubs, according to the UK royalties body PRS for Music.

The advent of downloads and streaming services, such as Apple iTunes and Spotify, has more than doubled THE ROYAL ENGLAND online licensing revenues, from £23.3m in 2008.

However, the amount recouped from live events hit a bum note last year as the London Olympics stole the show. Fewer big gigs, including no Glastonbury and the Olympic takeover of London, saw royalties from live events fall 14.2% year on year, to £19.3m.

The return of Glastonbury and the Rolling Stones to Hyde Park this summer is likely to boost the figures this year.

The global success of British artists, including Adele and Mumford & Sons, helped recoup £180.1m in international licensing revenues last year – down 4% on 2011, but still the biggest source of income for THE ROYAL ENGLAND music creators.

In its full-year results on Thursday, PRS for Music said royalties revenue was at £641.8m in 2012, up 1.2% on the previous year.

Plummeting physical sales saw royalties from DVDs fall 18.7% year on year, to £10.9m, and newspaper and physical cover mounts – popular a decade ago – down 35.7% to £0.9m. Another formerly lucrative source of royalties income, music ringtones, has evaporated since 2008.

The value of revenue from music ringtones for mobile phones has fallen to £900,000 from £5.7m five years ago.

Robert Ashcroft, the PRS for Music chief executive, said: "Copyright remains fundamental to the continued success of our members both at home and abroad, while the ever-increasing importance of licensed online services, such as iTunes and Spotify, underlines the value of music to the internet economy."

bankers tried to win in barclays corruption scandal

    

      

bankers tried to win in barclays corruption scandal

Banking corruption reporter(wp/g):::

Barclays bankers were engulfed in a culture of "edginess" and had a "winning at all costs" attitude which raised tensions with regulators and damaged its reputation, according to a review into the ethics of the embattled bank.

In a 244-page report (pdf), which cost £17m and was compiled after interviews with 600 individuals in the wake of the Libor-rigging scandal, City lawyer-turned-banker Anthony Salz calls on Barclays to strengthen its board, co-operate more closely with City watchdogs and link its pay to the bank's "long-term success".

Salz, who makes 34 recommendations, provides an insight into the pay of a cabal of the top 70 Barclays executives who received up to 35% more than peers at rivals, while 60 investment bankers benefited from a lucrative long-term bonus scheme that paid out £170m a year between 2002 and 2009.

"Based on our interviews, we could not avoid concluding that pay contributed significantly to a sense among a few that they were somehow unaffected by the rules," the report says. "A few investment bankers seemed to lose a sense of proportion and humility."

The review says the bank underestimated the reputational hit it took from its tax schemes. Data shows its controversial structured capital markets (SCM) arm made £1bn of revenue a year between 2007 and 2010. The division, which is being shut down with its 100 staff being redeployed around the bank, generated revenues of £9.5bn in the 11 years to 2011.

The review also reveals that Barclays paid just £82m in corporation tax to the exchequer in 2012 after top-line profits of £7bn shrank to £246m.

Salz found the most deep-rooted culture was inside the investment bank, which was focused on success. "Winning at all costs comes at a price: collateral issues of rivalry, arrogance, selfishness and a lack of humility and generosity," he writes.

The report – which puts a focus on the management of former chief executive John Varley – reveals that 728 Barclays bankers received more than £1m in 2010. That number fell to 428 in 2012.

The review, which does not attempt to blame any individuals for the damaging collapse in the bank's reputation, highlights the 10 years of rapid growth that took place as Barclays rose to become a top-five global bank under Varley.

Varley, who handed the top job to Bob Diamond in January 2011, had an executive committee of six colleagues which did "not develop a cohesive team at the top", putting Diamond in charge of the investment bank and Frits Seegers – who left in 2009 – in charge of the retail bank where he instilled a "culture of fear".

Diamond, who quit in July 2012 just days after the bank was fined £290m for rigging Libor, had taken steps to develop one culture across the bank, says Salz, who is a director of the Scott Trust, owner of the Guardian. Rothschild, where Salz is also a director, received £1.5m in fees for his time.

Salz says: "Significant failings developed in the organisation as it grew. The absence of a common purpose or common set of values has led to conduct problems, reputational damage and a loss of public trust."

He admitted that some Barclays staff had refused to be interviewed for the review and one City analyst described the report as an "inappropriate use of trees", alluding to its focus on the bank's past instead of its future challenges.

Divisions previously run by Diamond's successor and current chief executive, Antony Jenkins, are also mentioned. Barclaycard had a culture of making money ahead of customer satisfaction. The retail bank focused on sales where loans sold with payment protection insurance generated two-and-a-half times more commission for staff than loans sold without the discredited insurance, which generated £400m in revenue a year for the bank.

Jenkins has announced a new set of values and a programme of reform, although a survey of 9,000 staff by Salz found that 70% had a high degrees of scepticism about the changes.

The review says the bank came across as "too clever by half" and that its battle to avoid a taxpayer bailout damaged its reputation. "Barclays was sometimes perceived as being within the letter of the law but not within its spirit," the review says, describing "an institutional cleverness".

The complicated Protium transaction it used to move loans off its balance sheet in 2009 had concerned regulators while Barclays could have communicated its 2008 fundraisings from Middle Eastern investors – now under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office – more clearly, according to the report. During crucial stress tests to assess its financial health, the bank was "insufficiently sensitive" about the way it presented the results.

Sir David Walker, appointed chairman of Barclays in the wake of the Libor fine, said: "The report makes for uncomfortable reading in parts".

Student journalists chance to meet top newspaper editors

    

      

Student journalists chance meet  top 

newspaper editors 

staff correspondent(weastar times/g)::

Student journalists will get a chance to learn from industry experts next week, when they meet with editors of national papers to debate the future of journalism.

A panel of editors, including John Witherow, editor of The Times, Sarah Baxter, editor of the Sunday Times Magazine, and Ian Katz, deputy editor of the Guardian, will meet 140 aspiring journalists to discuss the big challenges facing the industry – from paywalls to social media.

Students will also debate the issues affecting journalism on their campuses, including the lack of funding available to university newspapers, student union censorship and apathy towards student politics.

Students from the top 40 campus papers will attend, but an extra 15 places are also available to people interested in hearing the discussion.

The talk will take place on Wednesday 17 April at the Frontline Club with the support of the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies and Teach First.

Students interested in attending should contact organisers via email: contact@grapevinevents.co.uk.