News story: Iraq Afghanistan Memorial to be unveiled in London
Her Majesty The Queen will unveil a new memorial in Victoria Embankment Gardens, Westminster, at a service on Thursday 9 March read more
Her Majesty The Queen will unveil a new memorial in Victoria Embankment Gardens, Westminster, at a service on Thursday 9 March read more
Both the National Fostering Agency Group (NFA) and Acorn Care and Education Group (Acorn) provide independent fostering placement services to local authorities across Scotland, England and Wales, helping them match vulnerable children with foster carers.
The market for independent fostering placement services is worth in excess of £750 million per annum and the companies are 2 of the largest national providers to local authorities.
The number of children requiring foster care is growing while shortages of carers available to local authorities and independent fostering suppliers continue, leaving a growing deficit.
Groups of local authorities often tender for such services through framework agreements, which establish a list of independent providers with foster carers available in the local area, to ensure availability when their own in-house network of carers are unable to meet demand.
The Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) investigation reviewed all local authority framework areas in which the companies overlap in the UK, and found concerns in 3 framework agreement areas: Wales, Norfolk and the framework agreement area covering Luton, central Bedfordshire and Bedford.
In each of these framework areas, the merged company’s position is strong and we found that local authorities may face challenges in ensuring value for money in framework tenders.
The merger will, therefore, be referred for an in-depth phase 2 investigation by an independent group of CMA panel members – unless NFA is able to offer undertakings which sufficiently address the concerns in these areas of the country.
Sheldon Mills, Senior Director of Mergers at the CMA, said:
Many local authorities have raised concerns with us that this merger could significantly weaken their ability to ensure quality of care in their local areas, at the best possible price, when placing vulnerable children.
We closely investigated these concerns and found that in some areas local authorities may find it more difficult to obtain value for money as a result of the merger.
We think the concerns warrant an in-depth investigation unless the company can offer undertakings which address our concerns.
The government intends to impose a new, fixed cap on all clinical negligence cases up to £25,000 to prevent rising litigation costs within the NHS. There are numerous examples of lawyers who profit from the NHS by charging more than 80 times the amount awarded to the victims in minor claims.
In one case, lawyers claimed £83,000 in legal costs for a case in which the patient was awarded £1,000. These costs contributed to a total bill for the NHS of £1.5 billion in financial year 2015 to 2016.
Currently, there is no limit on legal costs that can be recouped and the money claimed by lawyers takes vital funds away from NHS trusts. It is expected the new cap will help the NHS save up to £45 million a year.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said:
It’s important that when significant mistakes happen in the NHS, patients are able to have an open dialogue with a trust about what went wrong, receive reassurance of what is being learnt, and can discuss what form of recompense or redress may be appropriate. Legal action should only be one part of this process.
Unfortunately, what we often see in lower cost claims is a deeply unfair system where unscrupulous law firms cream off excessive legal costs that dwarf the actual damages recovered. We believe this creates an adversarial culture of litigation, which is inflating insurance premiums and drawing away resource from the NHS at a crucial time.
Andrew Foster, Chief Executive at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust, said:
The introduction of a fixed recoverable cost for lower value claims would support more proportionate payment to claimant lawyers – which alongside improvements to the system should make things quicker and better for patients. This seems fair and appropriate recognising this all comes out of the NHS pot. Less money spent on legal costs will mean more to put into improved patient care at a local level.
See consultation on plans for fixed recoverable costs for clinical negligence claims.
read moreJohn McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, commenting on a report from The UK in a Changing Europe, ‘A successful Brexit – four economic tests’, said:
“This is an important and detailed piece of work which should be looked at seriously by everyone involved in the Brexit negotiations.
“It is vital for the good of the country that we can hold the Government to account using a series of tests like this, but to do so we will need much greater openness and transparency than the Government has shown so far.
“That’s why Labour’s amendments to the Bill in Parliament this week will seek to require regular progress reports from the Government and full Parliamentary scrutiny.”
read moreInterim Manager appointed to The Central Gurdwara (British Isles) London Khalsa Jatha (258324).
The Charity Commission has appointed an Interim Manager to The Central Gurdwara (British Isles) London Khalsa Jatha. The appointment comes as part of the regulator’s inquiry into the charity, which began in July 2015.
The inquiry is examining a range of concerns, including the trustees’ failure to comply with a previous action plan set by the Commission, and concerns about potential unauthorised trustee benefit and unmanaged conflicts of interest. A statement about the investigation is available on GOV.UK.
The Commission has now appointed Tom Murdoch of Stone King as Interim Manager of the charity. His task is limited to determining the membership of the charity. The charity’s trustees remain responsible for the day-to-day management of the charity, including its financial management.
The Interim Manager was appointed on 26 January 2016.
The Commission’s investigation continues. It is the Commission’s policy, after it has concluded an inquiry, to publish a report detailing what issues the inquiry looked at, what actions were undertaken as part of the inquiry and what the outcomes were. Reports of previous inquiries are available on GOV.UK.
The charity’s registered number is 258324.
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