The government published its Pre-Budget Report for 2006, giving its assessment of the medium-term economic and budgetary position. It set out its tax and spending plans, including those for public investment, in the context of its overall approach to social, economic, and environmental objectives. Economic growth in 2006 was expected to be higher than previously forecast, at 2.75 per cent. Total net borrowing was forecast to fall from £37 billion in 2006-07 to £31 billion in 2007-08, then further in subsequent years in order to meet fiscal rules. But taxes were raised overall by £2 billion to cover a shortfall on receipts.
Source: Pre-Budget Report 2006: Investing in Britain's potential - Building our long-term future, Cm 6984, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Summary | Hansard | HMT press release (1) | HMT press release (2) | Table of tax rates | IFS press release | TUC press release | CBI press release | Conservative Party press release | PCS press release | UNISON press release | LGA press release | FT report (1) | FT report (2) | FT report (3) | BBC report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Community Care report
Date: 2006-Dec
The government announced a series of 'simplification plans', setting out a programme of work to deliver a £2 billion reduction in administrative burdens on business and charities.
Source: Simplification Plan Initiatives, Better Regulation Executive/Cabinet Office (020 7276 2142)
Links: Report | Summary | Cabinet Office press release | BRC press release | Charity Commission press release | DTI press release | Defra press release | Home Office press release | FSA press release | FSB press release | TUC press release | BCC press release | BBC report
Date: 2006-Dec
The Treasury published its autumn performance report, detailing progress being made towards its public sector agreement targets.
Source: Autumn Performance Report 2006, Cm 6990, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Dec
The government outlined the progress that had been made in implementing the Hampton report on deregulation (published in March 2005). As well as highlighting examples of best practice by regulators, the report also set out further measures designed to encourage full implementation of the Hampton report at both national and local levels.
Source: Implementing Hampton: From enforcement to compliance, HM Treasury (020 7270 4558)
Links: Report | HMT press release | Speech by Chancellor | Hampton report | FT report
Date: 2006-Nov
An official review examined the penalties for regulatory non-compliance. It said that reliance on criminal prosecution failed to give regulators adequate means to effectively deal with many cases in a proportionate and risk-based way. It proposed a broad toolkit of administrative penalties for regulators to promote and enforce regulatory compliance. It recommended pilot schemes involving restorative justice, whereby those most affected by a regulatory wrong-doing could come together to address the harm and prevent a recurrence.
Source: Richard Macrory, Regulatory Justice: Making sanctions effective, Better Regulation Executive/Cabinet Office (020 7276 2142)
Links: Report | BRE press release | HMT press release | Speech by Chancellor
Date: 2006-Nov
An official review concluded that inappropriate over-implementation by the United Kingdom of European Union legislation was not as widespread as sometimes claimed.
Source: Davidson Review: Final Report, Better Regulation Executive/Cabinet Office (020 7276 2142)
Links: Report | HMT press release | Speech by Chancellor | Cabinet Office press release
Date: 2006-Nov
A think-tank report said that the future demand for higher public spending to pay for pensions, demographic change, or better public services might be outweighed by pressures from the global economy. There was the prospect for a world in which the level of tax was lower, the taxes were simpler, and the state played a less intrusive and more efficient role in the economy.
Source: Vito Tanzi, Death of an Illusion? Decline and fall of high tax economies, Politeia (020 7240 5070)
Links: Politeia press release
Date: 2006-Nov
The government published the first progress report on the national reform programme under the European Union 'Lisbon Strategy' for jobs and growth. It focused on implementation of principal reforms over the previous 12 months, and set out further strategies for delivering long-term sustainable growth, high employment, and a fair and inclusive society.
Source: Lisbon Strategy for Jobs and Growth: UK National Reform Programme: Update on progress, HM Treasury (020 7270 4558)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Oct
The Finance Act 2006 was given Royal assent, following a third reading. It was designed to enact many of the 2006 Budget measures.
Source: Finance Act 2006, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 5 July 2006, column 942 (vote), TSO
Links: Text of Act | Explanatory notes to Bill | Hansard
Date: 2006-Jul
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the 2006 Budget.
Source: The 2006 Budget: Government Response to the Committee's Fourth Report of Session 2005-06, Fourth Special Report (Session 2005-06), HC 1472, House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2006-Jul
A think-tank report said that it was a myth that low levels of employment regulation and weak trade unions were the cause of Britain s good record at creating jobs and keeping unemployment down.
Source: David Coats, Who s Afraid of Labour Market Flexibility?, Work Foundation (0870 165 6700)
Links: Summary | Work Foundation press release
Date: 2006-Jun
A think-tank report said that government attempts to boost business activity in deprived areas had had disappointing results. Instead of trying to boost enterprise in every deprived area, future business-led regeneration programmes should focus on "business-deprived" areas.
Source: Liz Troni and Tracy Kornblatt, City Markets: Business location in deprived areas, Institute for Public Policy Research, available from Central Books (0845 458 9911)
Links: Summary | IPPR press release | FT report
Date: 2006-Jun
HM Treasury published its annual report for 2005-06.
Source: Departmental Report 2006, Cm 6830, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-May
An audit report said that the government's Small Business Service had delivered some successful projects, but did not have measures to establish its overall impact, or the information it needed from other departments to establish the overall impact of wider government support for small business.
Source: Supporting Small Business, HC 962 (Session 2005-06), National Audit Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | NAO press release | CBI press release | BCC press release
Date: 2006-May
A paper examined the role of non-state actors in regulation. While it had some advantages over state regulation, self-regulation by civil society organizations was open to abuse and was marked by lack of accountability.
Source: Bridget Hutter, The Role of Non-state Actors in Regulation, Centre for Analysis of Risk and Regulation/London School of Economics (020 7955 6577)
Links: Paper
Date: 2006-May
The government tabled amendments to the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill (designed to facilitate the removal of unnecessary regulatory burdens). The amendments gave committees in both Houses of Parliament a statutory veto within 40 days of ministers laying a draft order to make changes to legislation.
Source: Press release 4 May 2006, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527)
Links: Cabinet Office press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-May
The government began consultation on options (developed following an independent review) for the reform of regulatory sanctioning regimes.
Source: Regulatory Justice: Sanctioning in a post-Hampton world, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527)
Links: Consultation document | Cabinet Office press release
Date: 2006-May
The Department of Trade and Industry published its annual report for 2005-06.
Source: Departmental Report 2006, Cm 6826, Department of Trade and Industry, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-May
A report by a committee of MPs examined the 2006 Budget. It said that the government should set out in greater detail possible additional measures to meet its target to halve child poverty by 2010-11. It also urged the government to re-examine whether it was making the fullest possible use of taxation instruments as a mechanism to achieve environmental targets.
Source: The 2006 Budget, Fourth Report (Session 2005-06), HC 994, House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Apr
A think-tank paper said that opening product markets up to competition had helped to reduce unemployment in many European countries. In the United Kingdom, the effect had been to reduce unemployment by 1.3 percentage points compared with what it would have been without the reforms.
Source: Rachel Griffith, Rupert Harrison and Gareth Macartney, Product Market Reforms, Labour Market Institutions and Unemployment, Working Paper W06/06, Institute for Fiscal Studies (020 7291 4800)
Links: Paper | IFS press release
Date: 2006-Apr
A report examined regulatory impact assessments in the year to 30 June 2005. It said that the RIA process worked far less well for European Union-sourced than Whitehall-sourced regulation.
Source: Tim Ambler, Francis Chittenden and Kapil Ahuja, Regulators: Box Tickers or Burdens Busters? - UK regulatory impact assessments in 2004/5, British Chambers of Commerce (020 7654 5808)
Links: Report | BCC press release
Date: 2006-Apr
A think-tank report said that the public sector was poised to account for around 45 per cent of national expenditure in 2007, with potentially grave economic consequences.
Source: Allister Heath and David Smith, At a Price! The true cost of public spending, Politeia (020 7240 5070)
Links: Politeia press release
Date: 2006-Apr
A Finance Bill, designed to enact many of the 2006 Budget measures, was given a second reading.
Source: Finance (No.2) Bill, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 24 April 2006, columns 363-468, TSO
Links: Hansard | Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | HMT press release
Date: 2006-Apr
A trade union report said that employer lobbyists deliberately confused the administrative costs of regulations with the costs of implementing them - so that, for example, the costs of paying the minimum wage were counted as 'red tape', rather than simply the (minimal) costs of administering it.
Source: Slaying the Red Tape Myths: Debunking the employers' 'red tape' claims, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294)
Links: Report | TUC press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Mar
The 2006 Budget included extra funding for teachers and school buildings, designed to start closing the spending gap between the state and private sectors.
Source: Budget 2006: A strong and strengthening economy - Investing in Britain s future, Cm 968, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | HMT press release | NAO report | IFS press release | TUC press release | Conservative Party press release | BBC report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2)
Date: 2006-Mar
A think-tank report argued the case for reducing taxes on business.
Source: Charlie Elphicke and William Norton, The Case for Reducing Business Taxes, Centre for Policy Studies (020 7222 4488)
Links: Link removed
Date: 2006-Feb
A think-tank report said that short-term regulatory attempts to repair trust in business would, over the longer term, undermine the true basis of trust, which had to be based on self-regulation and peer regulation.
Source: Richard Reeves and Ed Smith, Papering Over the Cracks, Rules, regulation and real trust, Work Foundation (0870 165 6700)
Links: Report | Work Foundation press release
Date: 2006-Feb
A think-tank report put forward a set of 20 proposals designed to rebuild and renew the economy. It said that the government needed to act immediately to: de-merge banks that were 'too big to fail'; introduce a moratorium on crash-related home evictions; create a secure, accessible local banking system for people by expanding the role of post offices; and launch a 'green New Deal' to fight the recession while tackling energy insecurity and climate change.
Source: Andrew Simms, From the Ashes of the Crash: 20 first steps from new economics to rebuild a better economy, New Economics Foundation (020 7820 6300)
Links: Report | NEF press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jan
The government announced (in the Pre-Budget Report for 2008) a package of measures totalling £20 billion aimed at stimulating economic activity in the face of the global financial crisis. It confirmed the abandonment of its 'golden rule' on public borrowing, saying that it would be 'perverse and damaging' to apply it in the changed circumstances. Borrowing would rise to £78 billion in 2008-09, and £118 billion in 2009-10. Public sector debt as a proportion of national income would peak at 57 per cent in 2013-14. Public spending worth £3 billion on capital projects would be brought forward from 2010-11. Value added tax would be cut 17.5 per cent to 15 per cent, until 2010. National insurance contributions would rise by 0.5 per cent on all rates of national insurance, from 2011. A new top rate of income tax would be introduced, of 45 per cent on earnings over £150,000, from 2011. The compensation package for those who lost income as a result of abolition of the 10 pence income tax band (in the 2007 Budget) would be continued. Limits would be introduced on the value of personal tax allowances for those paying the highest rates of tax. The planned increase in the per child element of the children's tax credit would be brought forward. The planned child benefit increase, from £18.80 per week to £20 per week, would come into effect from January 2009, not April as planned. Old age pensioners would get a one-off payment worth £60, on top of their £10 Christmas bonus, in January 2009. A package of measures was announced to help people at risk of having their homes repossessed.
Source: Pre-Budget Report 2008: Facing global challenges – Supporting people through difficult times, Cm 7484, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Supplementary documents (index) | Hansard | HMT press release (1) | HMT press release (2) | DCLG press release (1) | DCLG press release (2) | DECC press release | DCSF press release | DT press release | CO press release | IFS briefings | CPAG press release | ECP press release | Unicef press release | 4Children press release | CAP press release | Citizens Advice press release | Help the Aged press release | NIESR press release | NLGN press release | LGIU press release | TUC press release | UNISON press release | PCS press release | NUT press release | CIPD press release | REC press release | NHF press release | Shelter press release | CIH press release | CML press release | CBI press release | IMA press release | BBA press release | FSB press release | Friends of the Earth press release | NEA press release | CfBT press release | ASH press release | CAF press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Guardian report (3) | Telegraph report (1) | Telegraph report (2) | Personnel Today report | FT report (1) | FT report (2) | BBC report | Inside Housing report (1) | Inside Housing report (2) | Community Care report
Date: 2006-Jan
A think-tank report set out a programme of social and economic change designed to meet the challenges of climate change, inequality, and economic instability, and to create a better society. It warned that there would be a high cost if governments returned to a 'business-as-usual' approach after the end of the global recession. Between 2010 and 2050 the cumulative cost of climate change would range from £1.6 to £2.5 trillion; and the cumulative cost of addressing preventable social problems associated with high levels of inequality was £4.5 trillion.
Source: Stephen Spratt, Andrew Simms, Eva Neitzert and Josh Ryan-Collins, The Great Transition: A tale of how it turned out right, New Economics Foundation (020 7820 6300)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jan
A report examined the benefits of regulation, and how regulations were perceived. A linked survey found that nearly two-thirds of people agreed that they benefited from government regulation in their everyday lives, and 70 per cent thought that the benefits of regulation outweighed the burdens.
Source: Better Regulation, Better Benefits: Getting the balance right, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (0870 150 2500) | FreshMinds, The Benefits of Regulation: A public and business perceptions study, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Report | Survey report | Hansard | DBIS press release
Date: 2006-Jan
A report by a committee of MPs proposed that the government should review its fiscal rules, including examination of the extent to which they needed to be supplemented during a period when the economy was passing from one cycle to another. It called for the provision of further information to assist in analyzing the costs and savings arising from the changes to tax credits announced in the Report. It also recommended research into the economic effects of migration; and noted areas for improvement relating to skills levels.
Source: The 2005 Pre-Budget Report, Second Report, (Session 2005-06), HC 739, House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jan
A report said that the banking sector delivered 'little social value' and called for radical reforms, including restrictions on bonus payments.
Source: An Alternative Report on UK Banking Reform, Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change/University of Manchester (0161 275 8985)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jan
The opposition Conservative Party announced a plan under which companies would receive a £2,500 national insurance break for every new worker they recruited who had been unemployed for more than three months. It said that the £2.6 billion cost of the scheme would pay for itself by reducing the future cost of unemployment.
Source: Keep Britain Working: Helping our economy sustain jobs through the recession, Conservative Party (020 7222 9000)
Links: Plan | Conservative Party press release | Speech | CBI press release | CIPD press release | Taxpayers Alliance press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Guardian report (3) | BBC report | FT report
Date: 2006-Jan
The government published its 2009 report to the European Commission as part of the European Union's 'Lisbon Strategy' for jobs and growth, setting out progress on economic reform. The report responded to the recommendations the European Council agreed in March 2009 for the United Kingdom on fiscal sustainability, skills, and employment.
Source: Lisbon Strategy for Jobs and Growth: UK National Reform Programme 2009, HM Treasury (020 7270 4558)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jan