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Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude today announced 'better than expected' savings for the taxpayer of some £5.5 billion as a result of the efficiency drive being spearheaded by his Department.
Giving some examples of the wasteful spending that has supposedly been banished from Westminster, several newspapers quoted Mr Maude as saying that the cost of printing varied wildly between different parts of government.
Almost a year on from the summer riots in England, and plenty of debate still exists between commentators over how the events of last August should be interpreted.
Readers of this morning's Telegraph were treated to the views of Professor David Starkey, who has been no stranger to the debate ever since the analysis of the events began almost as soon as the brooms had been downed.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) this morning warned that the Government needs to do more to ensure that the information it releases to the public is accurate, consistent and easy to interpret.
When the Coalition took office after the May 2010 General Election it was quick to promise that it would "make the UK the most transparent and accountable country in the world."
On Friday, the Daily Mail and the Daily Express reported that, on average, a third of the income of a retired household is being sucked away by the taxman. Overall, they claim, Government coffers are bolstered by nearly £42 billion from the contribution of older taxpayers.
On Wednesday we published a Factcheck on a number of claims made in the media about NHS sickness absences.
One such claim was that the number of sickness days taken by professionally qualified (PQ) ambulance staff was five times that of the national average.
An eagle-eyed reader pointed out a typo in our heading which originally read “Is 15 days per year five times the national average?”
Earlier this week the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) released new statistics on benefit claimants at risk of being affected by the Government's planned benefit cap.
Due to take effect from 2013, the cap - first announced in 2010 - aims to ensure that “no workless family can receive more in welfare than the median after tax earnings for working households”. The logic of this move is to increase incentives for jobless adults to move off benefits and into work.
The publication of a report by the Government's 'Troubled Families Tsar' this morning has reopened old wounds about the scale and nature of the social problems caused by difficult households.
The Financial Times and the Guardian both reported yesterday that "the population of England and Wales grew over the past decade at its fastest rate in 100 years."
As the rain continues to fall with no sign of respite over the Olympic period, our floppy-haired London mayor, Boris Johnson, has attempted to keep our chins up as well as our umbrellas.
According to a tweet by Simon Harris, Olympics Correspondent for ITV’s London Tonight, Mr Johnson told international press that “it doesn’t rain in London 94 per cent of the time”, while on Mr Harris’ show yesterday.
With the sound of the recent coroner’s ruling on the death of 22 year-old Kane Gorey still ringing in the public ear, the Independent reported that the neglect at the heart of Mr Gorey's case may not have been an isolated incident highlighting a new study on the scale of preventable deaths in NHS hospitals.
The headline rang:
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- Police warnings about foreign rape/murder suspect numbers ignored by newspapers t.co/hBWWFkxS9D follow
- The #NHS isn't always "free at the point of use" t.co/WuP61R9nXL follow
- #Childcare: Are our nurseries the priciest in Europe? t.co/dTYzGdhZ67 #ratios follow
- The NHS: not always "free at the point of use" t.co/PCjQkGpnJY follow
- In the past two years, there have been fewer arrests and fewer cases solved. Is this bad news? t.co/rs1LZ76u2A follow
- @sib313 Will take a look and give you thoughts, thanks! follow
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