A report summarized action taken by the government to reduce administrative and regulatory burdens on businesses.
Source: Summary of Simplification Plans 2009, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Report | DBIS press release | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Dec
The government published (following consultation) a policy statement setting out a comprehensive policy framework for planning for sustainable economic development in urban and rural areas.
Source: Planning Policy Statement 4: Planning for Sustainable Economic Growth, Department for Communities and Local Government/TSO
Links: Statement | Impact assessment | Consultation responses
Date: 2009-Dec
A 'capability review' of HM Treasury said that the department needed to engage more and earlier with its stakeholders, including other government departments.
Source: HM Treasury: Progress and Next Steps, Cabinet Office
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Dec
The government published a White Paper setting out how it planned to combat the effects of the economic recession on jobs, and continue on the path to its ambition of an 80 per cent employment rate. It said that its aim was not just to get people into jobs: it was also to help people stay in work, progress in work, and find employment that was satisfying and fitted with the rest of their lives. It announced a review of the 'Pathways to Work' programme for people on incapacity benefits.
Source: Building Britain's Recovery: Achieving Full Employment, Cm 7751, Department for Work and Pensions/TSO
Links: White Paper | TUC press release | CBI press release | NIACE press release | REC press release | Children & Young People Now report | New Start report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2009-Dec
The government published its 2009 Pre-Budget Report. The main proposals included:
• A temporary bank payroll tax of 50 per cent on discretionary bonuses above £25,000 awarded up to 5 April 2010.
• An increase of 0.5 per cent in national insurance contributions from April 2011 (on top of the 0.5 per cent increase already announced in the 2009 Budget statement).
• A freeze in the higher rate income tax threshold in 2012-13.
• In April 2010 the basic state pension would increase by 2.5 per cent; there would also be an above-indexation increase in pension credit minimum income guarantee.
• Increases of 1.5 per cent in child and disability benefits would be brought forward to 2010.
• Entitlement to free school meals would be extended to primary-school children of low-income working families, benefiting around 500,000 children.
• Young people aged 18-24 who had claimed jobseeker's allowance for six months would be guaranteed a job, work placement, or work-related skills training.
• The government would stick to planned levels of overall departmental spending in 2010-11, and public spending would grow by an average of 0.8 per cent a year in real terms from 2011-12 until 2014-15. Spending on the National Health Service, schools, and the police would be protected.
• £11 billion of savings would be made, including through limits on public sector pay increases and funding for public sector pensions.
• Public borrowing would be reduced to 5.5 per cent of national income in 2013-14: these plans would be embedded in legislation through the Fiscal Responsibility Bill.
Source: Pre-Budget Report: Securing the Recovery – Growth and Opportunity, Cm 7747, HM Treasury/TSO
Links: Report | Hansard | Tax rates and allowances 2010-11 | HMT press release | DCSF press release (1) | DCSF press release (2) | DCLG press release | DECC press release | DBIS press release | IFS briefing | Conservative Party press release | Liberal Democrats press release | TUC press release (1) | TUC press release (2) | CBI press release | CPAG press release | ECP press release | Save the Children press release | Sustain press release | CIPD press release | NUS press release | NHS Confederation press release | NHS Employers press release | LGA press release | ADASS press release | GuildHE press release | NASUWT press release | Voice press release | Shelter press release | CIH press release | CML press release | Local Government Chronicle report | Inside Housing report | Socialist Worker report | Telegraph report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Guardian report (3) | Guardian report (4) | Guardian report (5) | Guardian report (6) | Guardian report (7) | New Start report | Personnel Today report | BBC report (1) | BBC report (2) | Children & Young People Now report | Community Care report (1) | Community Care report (2)
Date: 2009-Dec
A report by a government taskforce examined the social impacts of previous recessions. Despite steeper falls in national income during the latest recession, labour market effects had been less severe than in the past. It set out what a 'Total Place' approach to worklessness and the social impacts of the recession would look like.
Source: Learning from the Past: Tackling worklessness and the social impacts of the recession, Social Exclusion Task Force/Cabinet Office
Links: Report | Evidence pack | Cabinet Office press release
Date: 2009-Dec
A report said that mental health problems were likely to increase as the recession continued, through increased debt problems, family breakdown, and job losses. It called for a redesign of the 'pathways' used to care for service users; improvements in the quality and value for money of services; and the encouragement of initiatives that would save money elsewhere in the system (such as investing in mental health diversion schemes for people with mental health problems who came into contact with the criminal justice system).
Source: Mental Health and the Economic Downturn: National priorities and NHS solutions, Royal College of Psychiatrists, London School of Economics and Mental Health Network/NHS Confederation (web publication only)
Links: Report | RCPsych press release | SCMH press release
Date: 2009-Nov
A trade union report said that a growing pay gap – particularly between those on middle incomes and the super-rich – was a crucial but overlooked ingredient in the financial crash. The share of national wealth going to wages had been in sharp decline, falling from 65 per cent in 1975 to 53 per cent on the latest figures, with a greater proportion going to the prosperous middle classes and super-rich. This had caused two serious imbalances in the economy: to maintain living standards, those falling behind on the wages front had borrowed more than they could afford, contributing to the credit crunch; and much of the rising profit share had been used for financial speculation rather than productive business investment, helping drive an over-reliance on finance and fuelling the unsustainable asset boom.
Source: Stewart Lansley, Unfair to Middling: How Middle Income Britain's shrinking wages fuelled the crash and threaten recovery, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294)
Links: Report | TUC press release
Date: 2009-Nov
A paper examined the impact of the recessions of the early 1980s and 1990s on non-employment patterns among people in the main range of working ages, and considered whether the effects observed in earlier business cycles were likely to be repeated during the latest recession.
Source: Richard Berthoud, Patterns of Non-Employment, and of Disadvantage, in a Recession, Working Paper 2009-23, Institute for Social and Economic Research/University of Essex (01206 873087)
Links: Working paper | Abstract | ISER press release
Date: 2009-Sep
A report examined what could be learned from evidence on previous economic recessions, in order to enable policy-makers to respond to the latest downturn in the most effective way, and to help identify the likely effects – both in the short term and in the future – on jobs, businesses, and people's lives.
Source: Romesh Vaitilingam, Recession Britain: Findings from economic and social research, Economic and Social Research Council (01793 413000)
Links: Report | ESRC press release
Date: 2009-Sep
A think-tank report examined the effects of the economic downturn on the future direction of regeneration policy, and what needed to change in order to prepare the regeneration sector for the upturn.
Source: Paul Hackett (ed.), Regeneration in a Downturn: What needs to change?, Smith Institute (020 7592 3618)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Sep
A paper examined the importance of setting fiscal policy so as to maintain a fair balance of resources between generations. It said that a coherent fiscal policy should focus not on any particular number for government borrowing, but on ensuring that there was a fair balance between generations, after taking account of other influences such as property price movements. Broadly speaking, each generation should pay its own way. There might also be a case for the government actively promoting saving for old age, if people did not save adequately for retirement, to avoid the political pressure to fall back on pay-as-you-go benefits that burdened future generations.
Source: Ray Barrell and Martin Weale, Fiscal Policy, Fairness Between Generations and National Saving, Discussion Paper 338, National Institute for Economic and Social Research (020 7654 1901)
Links: Discussion paper | NIESR press release
Date: 2009-Sep
A think-tank report called for a 'better form of capitalism' – one that was more stable and sustainable, and that delivered better outcomes for all, not just a small elite. It said that there might be better measures of progress in an economy than the growth in national income, and that reducing inequalities could make for a happier society.
Source: Tony Dolphin, How to Make Capitalism Better: Conclusions from the Tomorrow's Capitalism programme, Institute for Public Policy Research (020 7470 6100)
Links: Report | IPPR press release | Article
Date: 2009-Sep
An audit report said that local authorities had made a positive initial response to the economic recession: but it warned that councils should prepare for worsening social impact as unemployment rose. Demand for benefits, welfare, and help with debt were growing; and social problems such as domestic violence and mental ill-health were expected to follow as the recession deepened. A linked report summarized the range of schemes introduced by central government to combat the effects of the recession.
Source: When It Comes to the Crunch: How councils are responding to the recession, Audit Commission (0800 502030) | When It Comes to the Crunch: Central government recession schemes, Audit Commission
Links: Report | Recession schemes | Audit Commission press release | LGA press release | Guardian report | Local Government Chronicle report | Personnel Today report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2009-Aug
A report examined the social effects of the economic recession. It considered the psychological impact of the recession on different groups, focusing on younger people, and how patterns of spending and saving had changed since the recession began.
Source: Generation Recession, Social Issues Research Centre (01865 262255) and Friends Provident
Links: Report | SIRC press release
Date: 2009-Aug
A report examined the economic challenges of an ageing population. The ratio of the number of workers to the number of young and old people had peaked in 2007 and was now in decline. The report said that the downside of getting outcomes 'wrong' – doing nothing based on existing trajectories – was that this could result in economic stagnation. There was a need for greater linkages between policies, so that changes in longevity or in other variables should be matched by changes in pension age, pension and benefit values, participation rates, or healthy life expectancy.
Source: Les Mayhew, Increasing Longevity and the Economic Value of Healthy Ageing and Working Longer, Cass Business School/City University (020 7040 8600)
Links: Report | CASS press release
Date: 2009-Jul
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the 2009 Budget. There was 'significant uncertainty' about the impact on child poverty of the economic recession, and the additional economic pressures would make it harder to meet the 2010 target for reducing it: but the government remained committed to the sustainable eradication of child poverty.
Source: Budget 2009: Government Response to the Eighth Report from the Committee, Fifth Special Report (Session 2008-09), HC 890, House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2009-Jul
The Treasury published its annual report for 2008-09, showing performance against its public service agreement targets.
Source: Annual Report and Accounts 2008-09, HC 611, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Jul
The Finance Act 2009 was given Royal assent, following a third reading. The Act was designed to implement the measures contained in the 2009 Budget.
Source: Finance Act 2009, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 8 July 2009, columns 992-1075, TSO
Links: Text of Act | Hansard
Date: 2009-Jul
A report by a committee of peers examined aspects of the 2009 Finance Bill, focusing on measures relating to the taxation of foreign profits, real estate investment trusts, and pensions. It said that plans to restrict tax relief on pension contributions for people with incomes over £150,000 per year could be seen as the 'thin end of the wedge' in reducing relief more generally.
Source: The Finance Bill 2009, Third Report (Session 2008-09), HL 113, House of Lords Economic Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | BPF press release | BSA press release | Telegraph report | Professional Pensions report
Date: 2009-Jun
A paper described a microsimulation model of the household that had been developed in order to explore behavioural responses to various aspects of the economic environment, particularly in relation to tax and benefits policy.
Source: Justin van de Ven, A Model of Household Savings and Labour Supply Responses to the Policy Environment, Discussion Paper 334, National Institute for Economic and Social Research (020 7654 1901)
Links: Discussion paper | Summary
Date: 2009-Jun
A survey of the United Kingdom economy looked at the measures needed to ease the severity of the recession as unemployment rose; how to improve public finances; financial market regulation; and the efficiency of the healthcare system. It said that the UK faced a 'significant challenge' in ensuring that joblessness did not become entrenched, even with a relatively flexible labour market.
Source: Economic Survey of the United Kingdom 2009, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (+33 1 4524 8200)
Links: Summary | Telegraph report
Date: 2009-Jun
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs that called for stronger fiscal measures by the government to promote its environmental objectives.
Source: Pre-Budget Report 2008: Green Fiscal Policy in a Recession – Government Response to the Committee's Third Report, Fourth Special Report (Session 2008-09), HC 563, House of Commons Environmental Audit Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2009-Jun
The Finance Bill was given a second reading. The Bill was designed to implement the provisions of the 2009 Budget.
Source: Finance Bill, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 6 May 2009, columns 178-316, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Hansard
Date: 2009-May
A report said that young people in deprived areas would be hit hardest by the economic recession, as unemployment rose and local youth services became vulnerable to cuts. Youth charities might be unable to keep up with demand, as their services faced spiralling demands from disadvantaged young people.
Source: Jenny Harrow and Cathy Pharoah, Rethinking Recession: Needs and opportunities for sector change, Prince's Trust (020 7543 1234) and ESRC Centre for Giving and Philanthropy/Cass Business School
Links: Report | Prince's Trust press release | CASS press release | Guardian report | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2009-May
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the impact of globalization on Wales.
Source: Globalisation and its Impact on Wales: Government Response to the Committee's Second Report, Fourth Special Report (Session 2008-09), HC 538, House of Commons Welsh Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2009-May
A report by a committee of MPs said that the government's plan to borrow £700 billion over five years would leave the country facing 'uncomfortable choices'. Only substantial tax rises or 'unprecedented' cuts in public spending – or a combination of the two – would be enough to get public debt back down to acceptable levels.
Source: Budget 2009, Eighth Report (Session 2008-09), HC 438, House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | BBC report | FT report | Telegraph report | Professional Pensions report
Date: 2009-May
The opposition Conservative Party published a report that proposed ways to reduce the 'burden' of regulation on business, including: a system of regulatory budgets, involving caps on the number of new regulations which could be introduced by all Whitehall departments; and subjecting all regulators to 'sunset clauses', reviewing their performance every seven years, and scrapping or merging underperforming watchdogs.
Source: The Arculus Review: Enabling Enterprise, Encouraging Responsibility, Conservative Party (020 7222 9000)
Links: Report | Conservative Party press release
Date: 2009-May
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the Pre-Budget Report 2008. It agreed that more could be done to increase take-up of working tax credit among people without children. There was 'no easy solution' to the marginal deduction rates of over 60 per cent caused by the provision of significantly more generous support to low-income families through tax credits.
Source: Pre-Budget Report 2008: Government Response to the Committee's Second Report, Third Special Report (Session 2008-09), HC 431, House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2009-May
A think-tank report called for a £23 billion package of fiscal measures to avert mass unemployment as a result of the global economic recession.
Source: David Coats, Ian Brinkley, Naomi Clayton and Matteo Razzanelli, A Boost for Britain: The case for activist fiscal policy, Work Foundation (0870 165 6700)
Links: Report | Work Foundation press release | Personnel Today report
Date: 2009-Apr
The government announced that it had decided not to implement a system of 'regulation budgets' that would have allowed it to better manage the costs of new regulation, and to take account of their overall impact on the economy. It said that the global financial crisis had made it impossible to introduce the budget system; and that the recession itself created the need for more regulation, especially in financial services.
Source: House of Lords Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 2 April 2009, columns WS99-100, TSO (0870 600 5522) Links: Hansard | Personnel Today report | FT report
Date: 2009-Apr
An article examined the development of the opposition Conservative Party's economic policy, and the abandonment of its pledge to increase expenditure on education and the National Health Service in line with existing Labour government plans.
Source: Peter Dorey, '"Sharing the proceeds of growth": Conservative economic policy under David Cameron', Political Quarterly, Volume 80 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Apr
A report presented findings from research on the concerns and experiences of the economic downturn among women and families. The qualitative findings suggested that women were generally more concerned than men about the effects of the downturn on themselves and their families. This concern was heightened among parents and carers, as well as among women in industries they perceived to be more vulnerable to recession, such as service industries. The survey results showed that more women than men were concerned on many measures, including: concern about the impact of the economic downturn on family life (80 per cent of women compared with 70 per cent of men); and feeling that the economic downturn had 'reduced the quality of their family life'.
Source: Julia Clark, Jerry Latter, Isabella Pereira, Katrina Leary and Tom Mludzinski, The Economic Downturn: The Concerns and Experiences of Women and Families, Government Equalities Office (020 7944 0601)
Date: 2009-Apr
The government published the 2009 Budget. It said that, as a result of the global economic and financial crisis, public borrowing would reach 12.4 per cent of national income in 2009-10 and 11.9 per cent in 2010-11: but it would then fall to only around 5.5 per cent of national income by 2013-14 as a result of tax increases, cuts in the growth of public spending, and an early return to strong economic growth. Nonetheless net outstanding public sector debt would rise to 79 per cent of national income by 2013-14 – the highest level since the 1950s.
Source: Budget 2009: Building Britain's future, HC 407, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Hansard | HMT press release | TUC press release | CBI press release | BITC press release | PWC press release | NIESR press release | ACCA press release | Conservative Party press release | Liberal Democrats press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Guardian report (3) | Guardian report (4) | FT report (1) | FT report (2) | BBC report | Womensgrid report | Telegraph report
Date: 2009-Apr