Tag: Treasury

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 10 December 2003.

Improvements in regional statistics are vital to improve decision-making in regional economic policy, according to the First Report of Christopher Allsopp’s independent Review of Statistics for Economic Policymaking, published today.

The Report explains how the devolution and regional economic policy agendas have led to a growing demand for regional data that is not met adequately under present arrangements. Its recommendations respond to the needs of policymakers and the wider user community, including business and academics at both national and local levels. These include:

• bringing Regional Accounts more into the National Accounts framework, including a better quality and more timely measure of real regional Gross Value Added;
• expanding the range of micro-economic and sub-regional data already available, with the infrastructure used by the Office of National Statistics’ (ONS) Neighbourhood Statistics Service becoming  the primary platform for area-based National Statistics;
• ONS or Government Statistical Service presence in the English regions to complement that which already exists in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; and
• greater access for the ONS to administrative data held within government, which could improve both regional and national data while offering important savings in the compliance burden on business.

Publishing his First Report, addressed to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Governor of the Bank of England and the National Statistician, Christopher Allsopp said:

“Government policy is, increasingly, emphasising regional and local decision-making.  To be successful, this change must be underpinned by high quality and timely statistical information.  These new demands present a major challenge to the statistical services and a large gap has opened up between what is needed and what is available.

“My Report identifies ways of addressing the demands of regional economic policy.  But this will require significant investment in, and commitment to, the UK statistical services.  The pay-off would be better informed policy at all levels and in all regions and countries of the UK.”

The Report highlights a number of areas where consolidation and review of existing arrangements, some already under way, could offer savings and efficiencies, while recognising the resource and business-compliance requirements of such a statistical agenda.

The Report is consultative and comments are invited in time to inform the Final Report by the time of Budget 2004. It also looks to the second stage of the Review, discussing the extent to which the UK statistical system has reflected the changing structure of the UK economy, in particular the relative importance of the manufacturing and service sectors.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 17 December 2003.

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Paul Boateng, today announced that a consortium of charities has been selected to administer and distribute the £125m futurebuilders fund.  The consortium will be led by Charity Bank, NCVO and Unity Trust Bank. Other organisations that will play a key role are the Impetus Trust, the Community Fund and the Northern Rock Foundation. Together, they bring a wide range of experience in grant-making, loan finance and funding information and advice to the voluntary and community sector.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Paul Boateng said:

“In selecting this consortium, we are ensuring that the voluntary and community sector will continue to be in the driving seat in running the fund. This has been a unique and rewarding project to work on and I wish futurebuilders great success as it now begins to filter down to the organisations in the sector that need it most.”

Fiona Mactaggart, minister in the Home Office, who will assume lead responsibility for futurebuilders in the New Year, said:

“This is good news. This investment will help voluntary and community organisations play a more central role in service delivery. It will mean improved and expanded services that offer greater choice to local people. What we all want to see is this money out and working in the sector as soon as possible.”

Sir Michael Bichard, Chair of the Compact Working Group, commented:

“The consortium that is taking on the task has the strength and depth of experience of the voluntary and community sector and of social enterprises to ensure that this exciting new fund reaches far and wide in its investments, and makes a real difference in improving and expanding public services.”

Chief Executive of Charity Bank, Malcolm Hayday said:

“We in the consortium are very pleased to have been selected provider of choice. We are now eager to get on and put our systems in place so that the fund is up and running as soon as possible. We will announce further details just as soon as the formalities of the contract are concluded.”

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 18 December 2003.

“In the face of sizable global shocks over the last few years, the economic performance of the UK has been enviable” the International Monetary Fund said today.

In the  concluding statement to its Article IV examination of the UK economy , the IMF notes that “growth has been resilient”, “unemployment has been stable and at a low level” and “inflation has remained close to target”.  It praises the monetary policy framework, which it says has “achieved a high degree of credibility”, and comments that the increase in government borrowing “does not raise sustainability problems” and has “played a useful countercyclical role”.

The IMF also welcomes recent reforms and initiatives aimed at improving productivity and says that it is “encouraged by the success” of the New Deal.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 24 June 2003.

The government has today launched a nationwide campaign setting out how the public can help to tackle money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

The campaign sees the launch of information leaflets informing customers of the reasons why they need to prove their identity to financial services companies. Effective identification of customers using bank accounts and other financial services makes it harder for terrorists and other criminals to hide and move ‘dirty cash’.

This is an industry-wide initiative, supported and backed by HM Treasury, National Criminal Intelligence Service, Financial Services Authority and the financial services industry.

Announcing the campaign Paul Boateng, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said:

“Customers should be in no doubt that when they are asked by financial companies to provide personal details it is done to make it as hard as possible for criminals and terrorists to abuse the system. ‘Dirty cash’ comes from crimes like theft, burglary and drug dealing and is used by terrorists to fund their atrocities. It is in the interests of every law abiding person to stop this ‘dirty cash’ being laundered ‘clean’.

“The Government is fully behind this campaign to widen awareness of why it’s so vital for people to provide personal details. These leaflets will help financial services customers understand the key role they can play in cracking down on this abuse and making Britain a safer place.”

Carol Sergeant, Managing Director of the Financial Services Authority, said:

“These leaflets are designed to explain to customers why they are asked to prove their identity by their financial services provider when buying a product or opening a new account. It is an important part of the government’s overall strategy to reduce crime.”

Peter Hampson, Director General of the National Criminal Intelligence Service, said:

“Top level criminals and terrorists are known to abuse the financial system for their own illegal ends. Asking customers to provide personal details is a vital element in the law enforcement clampdown against such persons.”

Ian Mullen, Chief Executive of the British Bankers’ Association and Chairman of the Joint Money Laundering Steering Group, said:

“We welcome this initiative to explain to the public why banks and other financial services providers need to ask their customers to prove their identity in order to help fight crime and terrorism.”

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 14 January 2003.

A massive transfer of resources – up to £2 billion – will go from men to women through the new Tax Credits from April this year, said Chancellor Gordon Brown today, as a new poll shows that two-thirds of people believe that all support for children should be paid to the mother, and only one per cent think it should be paid to the father.

Even the vast majority of men believe all support for children should be paid to the mother: 64 per cent believed that it should be paid to the mother and only 1 per cent that it should go to the father.

70 per cent of all those polled said that the mother is most likely to ensure that the money goes to the needs of the children. While 28 per cent said it made no difference which parent received the money, only two per cent said fathers would be most likely to ensure that the money goes to the needs of the children.

Mr Brown and Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt also published wide ranging proposals to help parents balance work and family life.

Chancellor Gordon Brown said:

“April’s new Tax Credits are the biggest financial boost for mothers since the introduction of Child Benefit, and evidence shows that money paid direct to mothers is more likely to be spent on the child, than if it goes to fathers. Up to £2 billion will be transferred from dads, to mums – for their children.

“We want to put families first by helping parents as they do the most important and difficult job of all – getting their children off to a good start in life.”

Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt said:

“The new package of rights we are bringing in next April will give parents more choice and support than ever before to balance work and family life in ways which will be good for everyone – employers, employees and their children. The ‘right to request’ will help deliver modern, flexible, productive workplaces for all, with balanced benefits for both employers and employees.”

Mr Brown and Patricia Hewitt launched Balancing Work and Family Life: enhancing choice and support for parents which looks to enable parents to make choices and balance work and family life and asks for views on possible next steps including:

• following consultation on the home childcarers scheme, how to widen entry into the scheme to include people who are not already childminders;
• improving the tax and NICs exemptions on employer-supported childcare, including how they could offer a better incentive to employers to support childcare provision;
• whether to allow fathers time off to attend ante-natal care and the case for extending paid paternity leave in cases of multiple births and disabled children; and
• the case for allowing a mother on paid maternity leave to claim support with the childcare costs for her new child in order to settle her child into childcare prior to returning to work.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 21 January 2003.

West Midlands business will be on the agenda, when Economic Secretary John Healey visits Birmingham Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday 21 January.  The Minister will be listening to the views of business leaders from across the region on local enterprise.

The Economic Secretary’s visit to the West Midlands is part of a national pre-budget consultation by HM Treasury, with Ministers visiting different regions to hold discussions on key budget topics.

The West Midlands has benefited from a range of enterprise and productivity initiatives by the Government:

• Employment has risen by more than 73,000 and unemployment has fallen by 18,000 in the region since 1997;
• Over 93,000 young people in the region have gained new skills and experience through the New Deal, over 30,000 of whom have already moved into jobs;
• Making work pay for all, with the Working and Child Tax Credits, from 2003, will help over half a million families in the West Midlands;
• Creating almost 120 Enterprise Areas in the region, giving more people the chance to start and develop new business;
• Providing extra support to tackle barriers to business growth including the extension of the VAT flat rate scheme – the West Midlands has almost 58,000 businesses eligible to use the scheme;
• Tackling pensioner poverty and rewarding savings, with an estimated 350,000 pensioner households benefiting in the region.
• 61,500 children typically born in the region each year will benefit from further development of the new Child Trust Fund, ensuring that young people start their adult lives with a pot of savings.

John Healey commented: “The West Midlands has a strong tradition of industry and enterprise. We acknowledge the pressures that businesses are facing, and now I want to hear first-hand from local businesses how we can better support Britain’s entrepreneurs. This is a valuable discussion as we put in place preparations for the Budget.

“The Government wants to build a stronger, more enterprising economy and a fairer society. The West Midlands can make a huge contribution to that.”

The Minister then visits a social enterprise in central Birmingham, which works with people suffering from addictions – helping them to overcome their problems and giving them the opportunity to learn about and actually run a business.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 21 January 2003.

Representatives from a variety of Leicestershire companies and other organisations met the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, John Healey, on Tuesday 21 January 2003 as part of a series of pre-Budget consultation visits throughout the country.

The East Midlands has benefited from a range of enterprise and productivity initiatives by the Government:

• Employment has risen by more than 98,000 and unemployment has fallen by 27,000 in the region since 1997;
• Over 54,000 young people in the region have gained new skills and experience through the New Deal, over 20,000 of whom have already moved into jobs;
• Making work pay for all, with the Working and Child Tax Credits, from 2003, will help 400,000 families in the East Midlands;
• Creating over 130 Enterprise Areas in the region, giving more people the chance to start and develop new business;
• Providing extra support to tackle barriers to business growth including the extension of the VAT flat rate scheme – the East Midlands has almost 38,000 businesses eligible to use the scheme;
• Tackling pensioner poverty and rewarding savings, with an estimated 300,000 pensioner households benefiting in the region.
• 45,800 children typically born in the region each year will benefit from further development of the new Child Trust Fund, ensuring that young people start their adult lives with a pot of savings.

John Healey commented: “The East Midlands has a strong tradition of industry and enterprise. We acknowledge the pressures that businesses are facing, and now I want to hear first-hand from local businesses how we can better support Britain’s entrepreneurs. This is a valuable discussion as we put in place preparations for the Budget.

“The Government wants to build a stronger, more enterprising economy and a fairer society. The East Midlands can make a huge contribution to that.”

The Government continues to support Regional Development Agencies as a strategic driver of economic development, regeneration and competitiveness in the regions. Through the Spending Review 2002, RDAs were granted a 4.5% real increase in resources between 2002-03 and 2005-06, taking the total single pot to £2bn by 2005-06.

Achievements of the East Midlands Development Agency include:

• The regeneration of a disused stretch of waterfront, to bring new prosperity and a better quality of life to the south east area of Nottingham City Centre;
• Championing the value of social enterprises as powerful tools against exclusion by investing £255,000 in a new multi-partner initiative to promote growth in the sector.

Local organisations involved in the visit include Wilson Bowden plc, Advanced Tapes, de Montfort University Business School, Hallam Construction, Northcliffe Publishing plc and the Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The Minister also travelled to Lutterworth to see the work of learndirect at Focus Four which provides “any time, any place, any pace” learning for individual adults and businesses through three training centres in south Leicestershire.   Since becoming a learndirect centre in August 2001 and a learndirect Premier Business Centre in November 2002, more than 2,000 learners have enrolled for courses.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 23 January 2003.

A proposal for an International Finance Facility which could double the amount of development aid provided by the richest countries to the poorest was published today by Chancellor Gordon Brown and International Development Secretary Clare Short.

The Facility is designed to provide additional financing to help meet the internationally agreed Millennium Development Goals so that by 2015 every child is in education, infant mortality is reduced by two thirds and maternal mortality by three quarters, and poverty is halved.

The founding principle of the new International Finance Facility (IFF) is long-term, but conditional, funding guaranteed to the poorest countries by the richest countries. On the basis of these long-term donor commitments, the Facility would leverage in additional money from the international capital markets. It would seek to raise the amount of development aid from just over $50 billion a year today, to $100 billion per year in the years to 2015.

The Facility will ensure not only additional money, but also value for money. It will do this by providing, for the first time, a predictable and stable flow of aid, allowing developing countries to plan long-term investment effectively and efficiently.

It would thus build on existing agreements, between developed and developing countries, with each country:

pursuing anti-corruption, pro-stability policies and agreeing the necessary transparency in economic and corporate policies to achieve this;
committing to the Doha development agenda – a sequenced opening up of markets to global trade;
improving the environment for investment and private sector-led growth; and
as part of country-owned poverty reduction strategies, agreeing clear and costed plans for building education, health and economic capacity.
Chancellor Gordon Brown said:

“The IFF will provide developing countries that reform with the means to invest in schools and healthcare, roads and legal systems, helping to create the environment businesses need as well as create the conditions that will enable countries to participate in, and benefit from, global trade. And as families in those countries are lifted out of poverty, new and dynamic markets will be created.”

Clare Short said:

“The Facility could double the aid currently available, which would provide sufficient investment to enable every country committed to reform to make progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. This would help create a more just and safer world.”

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 10 February 2003.

The Chancellor announced to Parliament today that the Treasury is advertising this week for a new Chairman of the Financial Services Authority to succeed Sir Howard Davies.  The post will be advertised in national newspapers and through the Treasury website.

The Treasury will be looking for an individual of the highest calibre to lead the FSA in delivering a strong and effective financial services regulatory regime.

As the single regulator for financial services in the UK, the FSA has one of the widest remits of any international financial services regulator. The scope of FSA regulation will increase further when the FSA takes on responsibility for conduct of business regulation for mortgages and general insurance in 2004/5.  In light of this, it has been decided that the Chairman should be supported by a separate Chief Executive.

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. The Chairman and Board of the FSA are appointed by the Treasury in accordance with the rules of the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
2. Board members are appointed in a personal capacity and do not serve as representatives of particular interests or associations.
3. Sir Howard Davies will continue as Chairman of the FSA until his successor is appointed and takes up his post. This will happen before October 2003 when Sir Howard will move to the LSE.
4. The FSA became the statutory single financial services regulator at midnight on 30 November 2001, when the Financial Services and Markets Act commenced.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 13 February 2003.

Economic Secretary to the Treasury, John Healey, was in Kirklees, Yorkshire, today to see some of the ways waste is put into action in the region.

As Chair of the short-term Ministerial Group on Waste, an initiative announced in the Government’s Pre-Budget Report, Mr Healey was keen to see waste technologies in use on the ground.

Visiting two Huddersfield waste management sites, Mr Healey said:

“This is proving to be a useful first-hand experience. I have seen some novel approaches to waste management in practice and I have been struck by the commitment shown by all concerned.”

The Minister toured the materials recycling facility and the energy from waste plant on Diamond Street, Huddersfield, both operated by SITA Kirklees. The materials recycling facility deals with 12,000 tonnes of material collected from local homes each year. Similarly, the energy from waste plant can deal with 136,000 tonnes of household and commercial waste annually. Waste is incinerated and, using state of the art technology, the heat produced is used to raise steam to drive a turbine and produce electricity for the National Grid.

Accompanied by Cllr David Payne of Kirklees Council’s Environment and Transportation Cabinet, Mr Healey heard how the Council and SITA are also currently considering using some of the energy produced for district heating.

From high tech turbines the Minister then moved on to more basic technology with an award-winning Huddersfield project that turns waste cardboard into caviar using little more than worms, and at the same time gives local young people a chance to gain some specialised training and national vocational qualifications.

The ABLE project, which recently won a National Grid Community 21 Award, involves a partnership between the Green Business Network, East Wakefield PCT, and Turning Point. It involves a cyclical process in which waste cardboard is put to use as bedding at a local equestrian centre, before being composted in worm beds, and the excess worms fed to sturgeon fish that, long-term, will be sold as fish and caviar to local restaurants. Met by Project Leader Graham Wiles, Mr Healey was told how the scheme has just been given 34 acres of land by Yorkshire Water to roll the scheme out in the Wakefield district.