NHS faces more cuts to avoid £10bn shortfall, report warns

Exclusive: Leaked Whitehall document says cancer research and social care could be hit

Health secretary Andrew Lansley has come under pressure from David Cameron to prove he can deliver his NHS reforms. Photograph: Lewis Whyld/PA

A "complacent" Department of Health will face an annual £10bn shortfall unless it speeds up efficiency savings across the NHS and considers cuts to social care and cancer research charities, according to a secret Whitehall report leaked to the Guardian.

The damning report warns that ministers will face an "unpalatable trade-off" between longer waiting times or a massive increase in the NHS budget unless dramatic savings are found.

It also warns that the central reform proposed by health secretary Andrew Lansley – to devolve 80% of the NHS budget to GPs – could have "patchy" results.

The findings are outlined in a blunt letter to Danny Alexander, the Treasury chief secretary, from the Independent Challenge Group, which was set up at the time of the budget in June to question Whitehall thinking.

Banking reform proposals outlined

Opposition parties are setting out details of how they would regulate banking, following the loss of billions of pounds in the credit crunch.

Lib Dem Treasury spokesman Vince Cable is expected to argue that large, failed UK banks are the "financial equivalent" of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

And taxpayer-owned Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland should be broken up.

Meanwhile, Shadow Chancellor George Osborne wants to give the Bank of England more regulation powers.

However, he also wants to curb the personal power of the governor of the Bank by vesting the responsibility for supervising financial institutions in a new financial policy committee. This would include independent appointees.

The Tories, in their 52-page "plan for sound banking", also propose a raft of measures to protect and empower consumers.

These would include transforming the rump of the current Financial Service Authority (FSA) into a consumer protection agency and also forcing banks to give the consumers more useful information on what they charge.

Treasury minister Lord Myners called the proposals "window dressing that ignore the failures that led to the global financial crisis".

"While George Osborne talks about who's in charge, we are focused on the lessons of the crisis, including greater scrutiny of the shadow banking sector and a crackdown on excessive City bonuses.

"The Tory proposals would abolish an independent, expert regulator, while diverting attention from banks that took excessive risks that led to this crisis."

'Not hostile'

Meanwhile, Mr Cable will use a speech later to argue major reform is needed to make banks a lesser threat to the UK economy.

He will tell the London Stock Exchange he believes there is a long-term role for state banking, and will argue the banks in which taxpayers have a stake should be broken up into smaller parts before being returned to private ownership.

Tory financial plans
Mr Cable will also call for highly-paid bankers to publish details of their pay and bonuses and will repeat his calls for the FSA to keep its role as banking regulator.

"Some aspects of the financial services industry are simply too big for the British economy to manage safely," he will say.

"The large, failed, British banks are the financial equivalent of Chernobyl. Like the former Soviet Union, the UK became over-reliant on dangerous financial reactors."

To prevent Britain from becoming the next Iceland, "radical safety measures" were needed, he will argue.

"My approach to the City is not one of hostility, or of obsequiousness. I recognise its importance.

"But it needs 'tough love', not the freedom to run amok."

Earlier this month, Chancellor Alistair Darling said banks would have to hold more capital and announced plans to strengthen regulation.

He intends to set up a new Council for Financial Stability, which would see the FSA, the Bank of England and the Treasury meeting regularly and reporting on the systemic risks to financial stability.

sourced from THE BBC

Sales soar at Primark

Primark sales sour over the Christmas period. As the rest of the high street suffer Primark sales increase.

Article

Primark has enjoyed another successful Christmas, with sales soaring by more than a fifth as its cut-price chic continued to appeal to shoppers.

Parent company Associated British Foods said today that total sales at the fashion store rose by 21% in the final 16 weeks of last year.

The sharp rise was partly attributed to Primark opening six new stores during the year, but the group said like-for-like sales growth, which excludes new space, was "very strong" at around 4%.

Primark's performance provides further evidence that shoppers are becoming increasingly thrifty as the recession hammers consumer confidence – a trend that sent clothing sales falling sharply at Marks & Spencer.

Primark fired several suppliers in 2008 following allegations that they were using child labour. But this week, allegations emerged that one of its UK suppliers was subjecting its workers to sweatshop conditions, with illegal immigrants receiving just half the minimum wage for 12-hour days, seven days a week.

read full article sourced from the Guardian