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Sky News
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
Department for Education 'lacks coherent plan' to address teacher shortage
Why you can trust Sky News The Department for Education (DfE) has come under fire from MPs over its handling of England's worsening teacher shortage. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has said DfE "lacks a coherent plan" to deliver the government's flagship recruitment pledge. In a new report, PAC warns that schools and further education colleges are struggling with rising vacancy rates, while the government's promise to recruit 6,500 new teachers by 2029 remains vague and uncosted. The committee says DfE has failed to explain how this figure was calculated or how progress will be measured, especially when colleges alone are expected to need up to 12,400 more teachers by 2028. There is still "no baseline, no milestones, and no clarity" on how the pledge aligns with the scale of current shortages, the committee warned. PAC chair Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said: "The government is essentially flying blind, without a clear plan, the pledge risks being meaningless." The MP called for urgent action to ensure that staffing shortfalls, particularly in disadvantaged areas and key subjects, do not jeopardise pupils' education. The report reveals that 46% of secondary schools in England reported at least one teaching vacancy during the last academic year. It comes despite £700m being allocated annually to recruitment and retention initiatives, excluding pay and pensions. The committee found little evidence that the government has properly evaluated its programmes, especially non-financial initiatives like wellbeing, flexible working, or behaviour support. The situation is particularly bleak in schools serving disadvantaged communities, where teachers are more likely to leave, and subject gaps are more pronounced. Nearly one-third of these schools do not offer computer science A-level due to a lack of trained staff. This is a stark contrast to wealthier areas, where such subjects are far more accessible. 7:37 Reacting to the report, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said: "It is heartening to see the PAC really get to grips with the serious challenge around teacher numbers and subject specialists. "English schools and colleges are in the midst of the worst teacher recruitment and retention crisis in a generation, created by long hours, poor pay and Ofsted." 4:12 Workload and pupil behaviour were cited as key factors pushing experienced teachers out of the profession. The government's own wellbeing charter has so far gained limited traction, with just 17% of schools and colleges signing up. PAC is now calling on DfE to publish a full delivery plan, with measurable milestones and regular updates to parliament, to track progress on recruitment and retention across both schools and colleges. A DfE spokesperson said: "This government is already delivering on our pledge to recruit and retain 6,500 more talented teachers with 2,300 more secondary and special schoolteachers in classrooms this year, as well as 1,300 fewer teachers leaving the profession - one of the lowest leave rates since 2010. "Since day one, the education secretary has worked to reset the relationship with the education sector, announcing pay awards of almost 10% over two years and committed to tackle high workload and poor wellbeing including encouraging schools to offer more flexible working opportunities. "We are committed to working with teachers as partners in the push for better, driving high and rising standards through our Plan for Change to enable every child to achieve and thrive."
Times
24-06-2025
- Business
- Times
Postmaster payouts and Covid fraud: it's a mess, minister
Just what you want from a government department: as slow to compensate those wrongly accused of fraud as it is to recover losses from real fraudsters; quick to hand out millions of pounds of taxpayers' cash in 'business support' without a 'comprehensive understanding' of where the money has gone; and the home of a set of qualified accounts. What is this repository of government efficiency, you ask? The Department for Business and Trade, at least according to two reports from MPs on the public accounts committee (PAC). Neither make pretty reading, not least for Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, a chap in charge of a department pivotal to both the government's 'primary growth mission' and its freshly launched industrial strategy. Start at the top. The PAC finds that the department 'has not done enough to ensure compensation' for the victims of the Post Office Horizon IT system scandal, wrongly convicted of fraud, theft and false accounting. It was, as the committee's chairman Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown puts it, 'one of the UK's worst ever miscarriages of justice': a disgrace finally brought to the nation's attention by the TV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office. Yet, read the report and anyone would think a penny-pinching department was deliberately foot-dragging over the redress. Of the 800 or so postmasters who had their convictions quashed after the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act in May 2024, only 339 had accepted the fixed final redress of £600,000 by March 31 this year, others opting for a detailed claim assessment. The Post Office has also sent 18,500 letters to postmasters 'who were affected by financial discrepancies' relating to the earlier system but not convicted, where the fixed redress is £75,000. The response rate? Only 21 per cent. The PAC found, though, that 'the department does not have any plans for following up with individuals who are, or may be, eligible to claim under these schemes but who have not yet applied'. On top, 25 of the 111 individuals whose wrongful convictions were later overturned by the courts may not have their claims dealt with until 2026 'due to the complexity of their cases'. Indeed, it's thanks to the 'significant uncertainty' over the size of the redress to come that the department had its accounts qualified. • Post Office victims offered 'pathetic' payouts: 0.5% of their claims It has been similarly lackadaisical over cases of real fraud. It expects 'a total loss of at least £1.9 billion' owing to abuse of the 'Bounce-Back Loan Scheme', offering small firms up to £50,000 during Covid. Yet, its 'efforts to recover fraud losses … have been largely unsuccessful'. As Clifton-Brown noted: relying on 'government-backed lenders' that 'lack any incentive to pursue lost funds' has been 'a dangerously flat-footed approach'. There are wider inefficiencies, too. The department was set up, the PAC says, 'to provide a 'front door' to all businesses'. Yet, 'officials do not consistently record their interactions with industry'. And, despite spending £791 million in 2023-24 on 'business support grants' and £530 million on 'business support programmes', the department 'found it difficult to readily provide the National Audit Office with a breakdown of its industry support', such as by sector. In fact, it says something for the department's failings that the PAC feels the need to spell out that 'good oversight of spending enables good decision-making, prioritisation and accountability'. Naturally the department blames the Tories for the issues raised by the PAC and says it has accelerated postmasters' compo, with 'more than £1 billion having now been paid'. Yet, it still seems in a bit of a mess. Lucky, it's only the key to our growth strategy. • Covid fraud convictions at risk over investigators' legal failure Two puzzlers from Kantar's supermarket shopping stats for the four weeks to June 15. Are we all bored stupid? And are our appetites being changed by weight-loss drugs? Grocery footfall 'hit a five-year high', with Brits making 490 million trips to the supermarket, or almost 17 per household. Haven't we got anything better to do? Sales rose 4.1 per cent year-on-year, despite grocery inflation of 4.7 per cent, but spend per trip fell by 3p to £23.89. Surely, that's not because we're eking things out for the next trip, with the likes of Tesco and Sainsbury's now regarded as some sort of entertainment venue? Or is there some other explanation? Then, volumes fell by 0.4 per cent, the first year-on-year drop of 2025. The reason? Well, Kantar's Fraser McKevitt reckons 'a small part' could 'be down to changing health priorities', thanks to use of the weight-loss jabs developed by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. He says 'four in a hundred' UK households now include 'at least one GLP-1 user' and the drugs have the potential to 'steer choices at the till'. He may be on to something but his proof looks skinny: 'Four in five of the users we surveyed say they plan to eat fewer chocolates and crisps and nearly three quarters intend to cut back on biscuits.' Yet, don't people always say that sort of thing to researchers and then fail to live up to their plans? The drugs wouldn't exist if they didn't. One place Donald Trump isn't claiming a ceasefire: his battle with the Fed chairman Jay Powell, who the US president has just branded 'very dumb' and 'hard-headed'. Why? For telling the US House committee on financial services that owing to his tariffs' 'inflationary effects', the Fed was in no rush to cut interest rates from 4.25 per cent to 4.5 per cent, despite two Trump-appointed ratesetters hinting that they favoured a cut as early as next month. Powell's right to be cautious. Despite the pressure, he must stick to his guns.
The Guardian
17-06-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Over half of English councils face insolvency under £5bn deficit, MPs warn
Councils in England face being overwhelmed by billions of pounds in debts and reforms that are divorced from reality, according to an influential committee of MPs. In its inquiry into local government finances, the public accounts committee (PAC) told the Treasury and other departments to urgently address the estimated £5bn deficit on high needs spending – mainly on special educational needs – that will hit council balance sheets at the end of the financial year, potentially driving many insolvent. Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the PAC's chair, said: 'Our inquiry heard that the government is concerned about local authority finances. But the lack of urgent action to come forward with a plan to address the fast-approaching cliff edge for under-pressure authorities would seem to suggest it is comfortable with the current state of affairs as normalised background noise. 'Alarmingly, scrutiny of council finances can now provoke a sense of deja vu, with the same unfixed issues seen over and over.' Since 2021 councils have been able to keep high needs deficits off their balance sheets through a 'statutory override' granted by the previous government. But the accounting manoeuvre expires in March 2026, the end of the current financial year. The inquiry said that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Treasury and the Department for Education 'should work together to set out their solution for ensuring local authorities can achieve a sustainable financial position when the statutory override ends in March 2026. The solution must include how cumulative deficits will be treated.' Louise Gittins, chair of the Local Government Association, which represents councils, said: 'We expect the government to provide urgent clarity on how it plans to address high needs deficits, which are projected to rise to £5bn next year, as part of its forthcoming special educational needs and disabilities reforms. 'Over half of councils have warned us they will become insolvent next year when the statutory override flexibility ends and we continue to urge the government to write off these deficits.' The committee also accused the government of creating 'significant uncertainty' over a string of promised reforms and reorganisations, including for funding, special needs provision and social care. Clifton-Brown said: 'Aspirations for wide-ranging reforms seem to be unengaged with a reality in which local authorities do not have good and strong capacity to fundamentally change the way they work.' But Jim McMahon, minister of state for local government, said: 'These claims are not supported by the evidence. From a standing start we have set out a clear plan to fix the foundations of local government and have wasted no time in taking action as part of our plan for change. Sign up to Headlines UK Get the day's headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion 'We've taken action to restore the audit system to a functioning state, recast our approach to council best value and we are laying legislation to bring in a new local audit office. 'The spending review provided over £5bn of new grant funding for local services, and that's on top of the £69bn we have already injected this year to boost council finances.' Last week the Guardian reported that council leaders in England say the multibillion pound high needs deficits have become a 'burning platform' that will push scores of councils into bankruptcy within months. Ministers aim to publish a schools white paper in the autumn, including reforms to education, health and care plans, known as EHCPs. The plans give children and young people up to the age of 25 the legal right to support from local authorities' high needs budgets, for conditions such as autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and speech, language and communication needs.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Sellafield could leak until 2050s, MPs warn
The UK's largest nuclear site could continue leaking radioactive water until the 2050s, MPs have warned, while its clean-up operations struggle to progress quickly enough. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) criticised the speed of decommissioning work at Sellafield in Cumbria, citing "cost overruns and continuing safety concerns" in a report published on Wednesday. Although the committee noted there were "signs of improvement", PAC chairman Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said Sellafield continued to present "intolerable risks". The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) acknowledged the leak at its Magnox Swarf Storage Silo (MSSS) was its "single biggest environmental issue". The MSSS, which the NDA described as "the most hazardous building in the UK", has been leaking radioactive water into the ground since 2018, releasing enough to fill an Olympic swimming pool every three years. It is likely to continue leaking until the oldest section of the building has been emptied in the 2050s, about a decade later than previously expected. Sir Geoffrey said: "As with the fight against climate change, the sheer scale of the hundred-year timeframe of the decommissioning project makes it hard to grasp the immediacy of safety hazards and cost overruns that delays can have. "Every day at Sellafield is a race against time to complete works before buildings reach the end of their life. "Our report contains too many signs that this is a race that Sellafield risks losing." Pointing to the fact that Sellafield Ltd had missed most of its annual targets for retrieving waste from buildings, including the MSSS, the committee warned: "The consequence of this underperformance is that the buildings are likely to remain extremely hazardous for longer." A spokeswoman for the NDA said the "leak in the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo is contained and does not pose a risk to the public". "Regulators accept that the current plan to tackle the leak is the most effective one." Sir Geoffrey said it was of "vital importance that the government grasp the daily urgency of the work taking place at Sellafield and shed any sense of a far-off date of completion for which no-one currently living is responsible". "Sellafield's risks and challenges are those of the present day. "There are some early indications of some improvement in Sellafield's delivery, which our report notes. "The government must do far more to hold all involved immediately accountable to ensure these do not represent a false dawn, and to better safeguard both the public purse and the public itself." Sellafield ceased generating electricity in 2003 and, in addition to work cleaning up the site, now processes and stores nuclear waste from power plants around the UK. The government plans to create an underground geological disposal facility (GDF) to store nuclear waste for the thousands of years it will take to become safe. But the committee said delays in creating the GDF, which is now not expected to be complete until the late 2050s, meant more costs for Sellafield. NDA chief executive David Peattie said it welcomed the report, adding it took the "findings seriously and the safety of the site and the wellbeing of our people will always be our highest priorities". "We are pleased they recognise improvements in delivering major projects and that we are safely retrieving waste from all four highest hazard facilities." The PAC expressed concern there was a "sub-optimal culture" at Sellafield and called on the NDA to publish information about the prevalence and perception of bullying in its annual report. The NDA spokeswoman said: "We're committed to an open and respectful culture and we've taken decisive action to enable this, including strengthening our whistleblowing policy." The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said it "expected the highest standards of safety and security as former nuclear sites are dismantled, and the regulator is clear that public safety is not compromised at Sellafield". "This is underpinned by monthly performance reviews and increased responsibility for overseeing major project performance, enabling more direct scrutiny and intervention," a spokeswoman for the department said. "We have zero tolerance of bullying, harassment and offensive behaviour in the workplace - we expect Sellafield and the NDA to operate on this basis, investigate allegations and take robust action when needed." Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram. Leak is Sellafield's 'biggest environmental issue' GMB warns over potential nuclear plant Budget cuts Nuclear site runs up 'considerable' costs - report Plan for new building to store radioactive waste Sellafield Ltd Public Accounts Committee
BBC News
13-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Government has no clear plan for NHS England abolition
The government is abolishing NHS England without a clear plan for how it will be achieved and how it will benefit frontline care, a cross-party group of MPs has warned. Ministers announced in March that the body responsible for overseeing the health service in England would go, with its functions brought into the Department of Health and Social the Public Accounts Committee said it was concerned about the uncertainty being caused and urged the government to set out a clear plan within the next three government said the move would eliminate "wasteful duplication" and that detailed planning had started. Alongside the changes at a national level, the 42 local health boards responsible for planning services are also having to shed around half of their 25,000 MPs also raised concerns about the "jaw-dropping" amount of money lawyers are making from clinical negligence claims. Of the £2.8bn paid out in 2023-24, nearly a fifth went on legal said this was unacceptable and more must be done to improve safety. Huge pressure Committee chair and Tory MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said the changes to NHS England and local health boards amounted to a major structural reform. He said strong decision-making and experienced staff would be vital to manage a period of "huge pressure" for the NHS."It has been two months since the government's decision to remove what, up until now, has been seen as a key piece of machinery, without articulating a clear plan for what comes next – and the future for patients and staff remains hazy," he England, which employs nearly 15,000 staff, is in charge of £193bn of public sector money this reduction in staffing of abolishing NHS England is expected to save £400m, while the cut in local health board staff is expected to add another £700-750m. A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Care said the changes would eliminate "wasteful duplication" and a joint board was already working on detailed plans."Serious reform is needed to tackle the challenges facing the NHS," she added. Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents NHS trusts, said the changes "marked the biggest reshaping of the NHS in a decade".He said that while many managers in the NHS understood the need for change, the lack of detail and how the plans fitted in with the forthcoming 10-year plan were "a cause for concern" for those running the health service.
