Reports
Starter for six. In May, England will elect six people to govern a total population of 9.5 million and economies worth £214 billion. So far, there’s bit of a policy gap around what they can actually do for their cities, argue the authors of this report. There are three things mayors can do straight away. First, set out some deliverable objectives, and give themselves integrated teams - drawn from secondments from local and central government and their agencies. This is the way to realise the devolution dividend - integrated services, based on redefined relationships with citizens, oriented towards outcomes rather than delivery. Second, a realistic assessment shows mayors will need all the money they can raise. They’ll need to open up a conversation with their electors about raising revenue, from business rate supplements to parking levies to earnback schemes. An example of the latter - where local authorities borrow against future business rates revenue and claim resulting tax increases from the Treasury - is the £350 million extension of Metrolink into Trafford Park in Greater Manchester. Finally, setting up a brain trust of public sector and external experts who can make the most of local data to provide policy guidance will help. 30 further policy recommendations follow. IPPR
There aren’t plenty more fish in the sea. It should be simple - manage fish stocks properly, and seas controlled by EU nations could feed 89 million more of their citizens, give another 20,000 new jobs, and provide €1.6 billion additional revenue each year. Yet each year, fisheries ministers agree behind closed doors on how much their countries may fish - and seven out of ten times, these numbers exceed scientific guidance. This year, Belgium, The Netherlands and Ireland were 10 per cent over. However, it’s the UK, Denmark and the Netherlands who take the largest amount of fish by tonnage out of the sea in excess of sustainable levels. However, the Common Fisheries Policy - as rethought in 2014 - sets a 2020 deadline for fishing levels to achieve sustainability. Playing politics by continuing to agree excessive limits will mean a sudden reduction - which will cause profound socio-economic shocks to fishing communities. New Economics Foundation
Spent. The pupil premium is intended to support better educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils - whatever their ability - and to help them to catch up with more privileged peers. But new polling of 1361 teachers suggests that the first real-terms cuts to school budgets in 20 years are getting in the way of this policy aim. Nearly a third of headteachers surveyed said that this money has had to be used to cover funding gaps. Schools with more disadvantaged pupils are actually having to cut staff, particularly in the North East and London. Secondary schools (65 per cent) were more likely to have to lose staff than primaries (21 per cent). So how do teachers prioritise pupil premium spending? Most favour early intervention schemes (27 per cent), with more one-to-one tuition and more teaching assistants following at 12 per cent each. Unsettlingly, 18 per cent of teachers couldn’t identify their school’s priority for this funding. Sutton Trust
Everyone expects the world of work to change, but how? Demographics are one driver you can count on. A growing UK population will inevitably need more food, energy, housing and infrastructure: and therefore jobs in the respective sectors will increase. No-one’s sure what technological change will do, but you can expect middle-skilled jobs to disappear in line with current trends. Trade, accommodation and transport are the sectors most at risk from automation - but new technology has tended to displace rather than disappear jobs. Because of the multivalent impacts of these large-scale trends, the authors predict business and other services (9.8 per cent growth); trade, accommodation and transport (7.5 per cent) and construction (14.4 per cent) to add the most jobs in the next ten years. National Institute for Economic and Social Research
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