The report from the joint study, which is set to be published later today, has revealed that nearly thirty years after the government turned to the private sector to help build the Channel Tunnel in a bid to boost trade, the hybrid projects – which are more expensive and no more efficient than government-procured projects – are still failing to provide value for money.
The findings are set to come as a blow to the government process – which has £29.9 billion of PPP liabilities on the balance sheet – as it had specifically set “value for money” as the main objective for both PPP and its successor programme, Private Finance Initiatives (PFI).
Professor Graham Winch, from Manchester Business School, said: “The value-for-money case for PPP in the public sector has yet to be proven.
“The benefits gained from the availability of 'extra' finance, the transfer of risk from public to private sector, and improvements in decision-making processes are too nebulous to provide any certainty that they outweigh all the known problems.
“PFI has undoubtedly allowed the UK to acquire more social infrastructure earlier, and this has stimulated short-term economic growth, but it has led to an overhang of debt in the shape of commitments to unitary charges stretching some 30 years into the future and constraints on the flexibility of public bodies in using their infrastructure.”
For more information, please visit www.milsted-langdon.co.uk
[ add comment ] ( 47 views ) | permalink
A confidential study by HMRC has revealed that some of the country’s richest are using aggressive avoidance schemes to reduce their income tax rate to an average of ten percent – less than half the level paid by the average taxpayer.
Following the study, the Chancellor George Osborne is set to target millionaires, to ensure they pay tax on more than a third of their earnings.
As part of his crackdown on millionaires, the Chancellor has unveiled proposals which will mean that from next year, the total amount of tax relief any individual can claim will be limited to twenty-five percent of their income or £50,000 – whichever the greater value is.
The Chancellor personally studied the anonymous copies of the tax returns submitted by some of the wealthiest in the country, as part of the HMRC study, and admitted he was “shocked” by the number of people who have organised their finances in an effort to avoid paying income tax.
He said: “I was shocked to see that some of the very wealthiest people in the country have organised their tax affairs, and to be fair it’s within the tax laws, so that they were regularly paying virtually no income tax. And I don’t think that’s right.
“I’m talking about people right at the top. I’m talking about people with incomes of many millions of pounds a year.
“The general principle is that people should pay income tax and that includes people with the highest incomes.
“I’m not allowed to be shown the names of the individuals but I’ve sat with the most senior people at the Inland Revenue, the people who run some of the high net worth units there. They have given me examples, anonymised examples, and so we are taking action.”
Despite the Chancellor admitting the Treasury are taking action to prevent people from avoiding paying income tax, their proposals have been heavily criticised, with claims they will lead to philanthropic giving.
For more information, please visit www.milsted-langdon.co.uk
[ add comment ] ( 42 views ) | permalink
A new £600 million financial institution is set to be launched, to help fund the Prime Minister’s “Big Society”.
The Big Society Capital, which will fund the new scheme, will use a mixture of money from dormant bank accounts and main High Street lenders to fund investment in charities and social enterprises, in a move which the Prime Minister, David Cameron, has said will help tackle the country’s “deepest social problems.”
The initial capital for the big society fund comes from an estimated £400 million from bank accounts which have been dormant for fifteen years or more, whilst a further £200 million will come from Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and RBS.
David Cameron has said of the new fund: “For years, the City has been associated with providing capital to help businesses to expand.
“Today, this is about supplying capital to help society expand. Just as finance from the City has been essential to help businesses grow and take on the world, so finance from the City is going to be essential to helping tackle our deepest social problems.
“Big Society Capital is going to encourage charities and social enterprises to prove their business models - and then replicate them.
“Once they've proved that success in one area they'll be able - just as a business can - to seek investment for expansion into the wider region and into the country.
“This is a self-sustaining, independent market that's going to help build the Big Society.”
For more information, please visit www.milsted-langdon.co.uk
[ add comment ] ( 69 views ) | permalink
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) have warned that the government needs to take “radical” steps to assist British businesses, and to kick-start the UK economy.
Despite an "encouraging" pick-up in growth in the first quarter of the year, which means the UK will likely dodge another recession, the business lobby group have warned that the country’s economic expansion is still "much too slow", having predicted that the UK economy will grow by 0.6 percent throughout the year.
As a result of their predictions, the BCC have called for the government to take forceful action to help the economy, with the director general of the group, John Longworth, saying: “The UK economy is still facing huge challenges and the recovery is much too slow.
“The UK has the potential to recover but to achieve that the government has to set businesses free to grow.
“As the public sector's share of economic activity shrinks over the next few years, forceful measures are needed to make it possible for businesses to drive recovery.”
The group’s predictions come on the back of the OECD’s predictions last week, which suggested the UK had already slipped back into recession following two consecutive months of negative growth; however the group said the government can take measures to assist the growth.
The BCC believe the government needs to take "radical" steps to set businesses free, with the group suggesting the creation of a a state-backed bank to boost lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), along with ramping up its credit easing scheme, scrapping this month's 5.6 percent hike in business rates, and speeding up the proposed improvements to transport infrastructure.
For more information, please visit www.milsted-langdon.co.uk
[ add comment ] ( 72 views ) | permalink
Depending on what you read and who wrote it, the UK economy will either contract in Q1, taking the country back into recession, or enjoy a small amount of growth.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is saying that there will be an annualised contraction of 0.4 per cent for GDP, suggesting a 0.1 per cent contraction compared with the previous quarter.
However, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), out last week, show that the UK service sector, which accounts for around 75 per cent of the UK economy, grew 0.2 per cent in January alone.
Governor of the Bank of England, Sir Mervyn King, foresees a ‘zig-zag’ pattern, predicting that the economy will continue to fluctuate between positive and negative growth throughout the year, as it has been since the middle of 2010.
And according to the CBI, “growth will restart in 2012, but high levels of uncertainty around the economic outlook, mainly driven by the situation in the euro area, mean growth will remain subdued, particularly in the first half of this year.”
Analysts are divided on the matter. Howard Archer at IHS Global Insight said: "While services output was hardly spectacular in January, it was a solid enough performance after a decent gain in December and supports hopes that the economy has returned to growth in the first quarter."
But David Blanchflower writing in The Independent today believes the OECD, saying: “A big day on the economic calendar will be 25 April when the first estimate of GDP growth for Q1 2012 is released. I also expect the number to be negative.”
Speaking of the OECD’s prediction, Chancellor George Osborne said: "This is a forecast... Our own forecast from our own independent body, which we published last week, says we are going to avoid a recession."
For more information, please visit www.milsted-langdon.co.uk
[ add comment ] ( 65 views ) | permalink
Search
