Select Committee Report Research Articles

Who saw it coming? The UK’s great financial crisis

AbstractWho foresaw the UK banking crisis? This paper addresses this issue through detailed empirical work on the content of the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s speeches, Bank of EnglandFinancial Stability Reports, Financial Service Authority reports and speeches by Bank of England officials, editorials in theTimesandFinancial Times, bank annual reports and financial statements, credit rating reports, share price movements, Parliamentary questions, Treasury select committee reports and the output of academic economists. We find that few people inside or outside government recognised the existence of significant financial vulnerabilities in the financial system in the years prior to the collapse of Northern Rock in September 2007. We use the conceptual lenses of individual, institutional and paradigmatic pathologies to provide explanations for this failure to detect looming crisis conditions. We argue ultimately that regulators and commentators were blinded by faith in market forces and the risk-tempering properties of securitisation.

Modernising the Monarchy—In Legal Terms: Part 4

Previous articles in this journal -as well as in others - have analysed various pieces of legislation and common law material relating to the sovereign as well as minor Crown prerogatives and asserted that they are obsolete and should be repealed. It may be noted that the House of Commons, in a Select Committee report in 2004, adverted to the need for Crown prerogatives to be analysed and for obsolete material to be excised. Continuing in this vein, this article analyses minor Crown prerogatives with regard to their continued validity today.

PHP21 How Will the New NHS Decentralised Reforms Impact on Access to Medicines in England?

With the formation of Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) GP Practices will come together to commission services for their local populations. However, freedoms to be delegated from the Clinical Commissioning board may mean that considerable ‘command and control' will still be exerted from the centre. Secondary and primary research was undertaken to gain insight into how devolved locality based commissioning is likely to impact on access to medicines. We reviewed 35 first wave CCGs in terms of population coverage, financial stability and current Primary care Trust (PCT) activities in relation to Practice based commissioning. We then interviewed 5 NHS Experts to assess whether these CCGs would be allowed the aspirational freedoms referred to in the 2012 Health and Social Care Act- in particular prescribing freedoms formerly under the guidance of PCTs. Various information sources were used Care Quality Commission, Audit Commission, and Health Select Committee reports to support the interpretation of the findings. The selected CCGs represented an homogeneous group of practices in that they had previously demonstrated financial stewardship and collaborative working with their ‘host' PCTs. Many CCGs had been devolved the Commissioning budget by their PCTs and were routinely involved in setting up medicines management protocols with their provider hospitals. Almost half of the CCGs had coterminous medicines management contracts shared with their PCTs. NHS experts raised issues around corporate and clinical governance and how practices would fundamentally want to take on the devolved financial responsibilities. The NHS reforms mean that £60 Billion of the total health care budget will be under the control of CCGs. PCTs and Strategic Health Authorities will be abolished and with a watered down role for NICE postcode variation may be rife; access to medicines will continue to be fraught with many layers of decision making and further delays.

The role of the probation service – Justice Select Committee report

The role of the probation service – Justice Select Committee report

Effective quality improvement of thromboprophylaxis in acute medicine

IntroductionThe Health Select Committee Report on the prevalence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in 2005 suggested that poor awareness of the risks of VTE contributed significantly to mortality and morbidity in...

Venous thromboembolism: risks and prevention

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in both hospital and community settings causing an estimated 60 000 deaths a year in the UK. Within this population up to 25 000 are potentially preventable with implementation of VTE prevention strategies. This was recognized in a Health Select Committee report in 2005, which identified that VTE prophylaxis was not being effectively implemented in the UK. This was also more recently supported by data published in an international audit of risk assessment and thromboprophylaxis prevention. Two influential reports followed in 2007 addressing this issue, both recommended that on admission to hospital all adults should have a VTE risk assessment that is formally documented and appropriate prophylaxis prescribed and instituted. – 5 The initial document published by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) focused on surgical inpatients, but this has been recently superseded and now provides guidance for all acute hospital admissions. It also includes guidance for certain high-risk outpatient populations, including during pregnancy and those with lower limb plaster casts. These reports have formed the basis of the National Venous Thromboembolism Prevention Programme in England which continues to raise awareness among professionals and the public of VTE prevention. This has coincided with other patient group information campaigns which are empowering individuals to question their own management of this potentially lifethreatening condition. What is the relevance to anaesthetists? As part of the clinical team, anaesthetists have a responsibility to check that appropriate thromboprophylaxis has been prescribed for every patient. This was reinforced in recent medical case law when the anaesthetic team was found partially culpable for a venous thromboembolic event in a patient who had not been prescribed adequate thromboprophylaxis. Recognition that all members of the clinical and nursing team have a responsibility to provide appropriate prophylaxis should ensure this is considered in all patients.

Allergy – will we ever meet the unmet need?

Allergy – will we ever meet the unmet need?

Safer cut: revelations of surgical harm through a national database

It is over a decade since the sentinel patient safety report ‘To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System’ highlighted the large number of medical errors occurring within health care, many of which are preventable (Kohn et al, 1999). This has, in part, heightened the public and clinical awareness of errors that had previously been limited to a few anecdotal cases reported in the newspapers. Patient safety is an increasing priority within the NHS, highlighted by the Health Select Committee report on Patient Safety which cited significant deficiencies in current policy to tackle unsafe care (House of Commons Health Committee, 2009). Surgical specialities still have high levels of adverse events resulting in mortality, morbidity and financial cost.

The Cost of Anchoring on Credit-Card Minimum Repayments

About three quarters of credit card accounts attract interest charges. In the US, credit card debt is $951.7 billion of a total of $2,539.7 billion of consumer credit. In the UK, credit card debt is £55.1 billion of £174.4 billion of consumer credit. The 2005 US Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act and the 2003 UK Treasury Select Committee's report require lenders to collect a minimum payment of at least the interest accrued each month. Thus people are protected from the effects of compounding interest. But including minimum payment information has an unintended negative effect, because minimum payments act as psychological anchors.

Is our divided profession a profession in decline?

Richard Halliwell is concerned by criticisms of the veterinary profession in the recent select committee report on a new Veterinary Surgeons Act. He fears that a lack of leadership and division within the veterinary profession may have contributed to loss of influence, and makes some suggestions for putting that right.

Latest news and product developments

Latest news and product developments

The Select Committee Report on Obesity (2004): The significant omission of parental views of their children's eating

Many studies have reported increasing levels of obesity and overweight in children. Recent policy developments have examined a range of influences on children's eating habits but have left largely unexamined the role of parents in general and mothers in particular. In this study we examined mothers’ understandings of healthy eating and of their influence on their children's eating patterns. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine mothers of children aged between 4 and 12 years of age. Interviewees displayed knowledge of recommended eating practices for their children but distinguished this knowledge from actual eating practices. Avoidance of negative social perceptions, pleasure in eating and opportunities for fast food were regarded as more important than eating in accordance with recommended nutritional guidelines. Moreover, the food choices made were viewed as positive alternatives to eating based on nutritional balance. These views pose a challenge for policy initiatives to address obesity and excess weight in children. Future initiatives should have increased regard for the everyday contexts within which children's eating patterns are understood and justified.

Awareness and Politics of Venous Thromboembolism in the United Kingdom

Because of travelers’ thrombosis, hard campaigning, and lobbying, the awareness of venous thromboembolism is markedly improving within the United Kingdom. The present improvements relate directly to championing of the cause by a charity and British politicians. This article summarizes the story of the awakening, which had occurred since 2000. “Education, education, education.” Tony Blair, British Prime Minister, 1997 to 2007. In September 2000 the death of a 28-year-old woman, Emma Kristofferson, who collapsed and died from a pulmonary embolism after leaving a 20-hour flight from Sydney to Heathrow airport provoked a media furor. Since that time there have been numerous articles in the British press about travel & deep vein thrombosis (DVT), such that the average informed member of the public is aware of the initials DVT but relates risk to travel. The words “economy class syndrome” and “travelers thrombosis” have entered common parlance. A Lifeblood commissioned MORI poll of more than 2000 people in the UK in 2006 showed that more than 50% of the population could associate leg pain and swelling with the word thrombosis. The issue of travelers’ thrombosis was also picked up by the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee in their report on Air Travel and Health in 2001,1 and after hearing evidence from experts they demanded the airlines provided more information. John Smith MP, Labor member for the Vale of Glamorgan, was elected chairman of an all-party group set up to investigate the causes of flight-related deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and campaigned to increase awareness.2 Despite the growing recognition since 2000 that the risks of developing travelers’ thrombosis are very low for the healthy traveling public, the press interest in this has been sustained. In 2002 frustrated with the lack of awareness and understanding among health professionals and the general public …

Containing Discontent: Anti-Chinese Racism in the Reinvention of Angus Cameron

Angus Cameron is usually remembered as one of the pioneers of labour representation, a carpenter elected to the New South Wales parliament in 1874 who became a leading advocate for legislation to stop Chinese immigration. Historians have seen this link as evidence that racism was pushed from below by the working class. This article shows that Cameron turned to anti-Chinese agitation at the very point he broke with the labour movement, and argues that he most likely did so in the hope of saving his political career. In particular it looks at Cameron's infamous Select Committee Report into Common Lodging-houses, and the crisis in Cameron's parliamentary career that preceded the establishment of the select committee. It also suggests that key members of the Sydney ruling class had an interest in deflecting attention from the appalling condition of rental housing in Sydney, and that Cameron's report relieved some of the pressure on them.

Marginalising ‘eugenic anxiety’ through a rhetoric of ‘liberal choice’: a critique of the House of Commons Select Committee Report on reproductive technologies

In light of a recent House of Commons Select Committee investigation into the regulation of human reproductive technologies, this article critically evaluates the Committee's case for a devolved, libertarian-inspired framework for the regulation of reproductive technologies. In assessing the appropriate balance between legislation, regulation and reproductive freedom, the Committee rightly challenged those who exhibit a myopic history of eugenics to justify restricting reproductive choice. However, by uncritically embracing the tropes of procreative liberty and genetic progress, and defining eugenics in terms of intention rather than consequence, the Committee appeared to ignore or marginalise a number of sociological challenges to the presumptions couched within the doctrine of ‘liberal choice’. This article suggests that failure to consider the cultural and political context within which new technologies are shaped and social needs constructed might undermine any ostensible virtues of a devolved system of governance for reproductive medicine.

News and Notes

News and Notes

An Analysis of the House Select Committee and White House Reports on Hurricane Katrina

author examines two documents issued in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath: The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned by Frances Fragos Townsend and A Failure of Initiative a report by the House Select Committee. Various subjects covered by either or both of the documents include levee failure, unheeded warnings, communication failures, information gaps, a lack of coordination, training inadequacies, medical shortcomings, private sector role, a lack of shelter, initiative failure, public administration dimensions, as well as U.S. Department of Homeland Security coordinating arrangements, political appointee misuse, the Undersecretary for Management's role, complexity levels, Presidential management assistance, catastrophic disasters special approaches, and an alternative concept.

Two cultures and tragedy of the commons

In 1959 the scientist, administrator and novelist C.P. Snow gave a lecture in Cambridge entitled ‘The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution’ in which he said that ‘intellectual life of the whole of western society is increasingly split into two groups’, which he identified as literary intellectuals and scientists (Snow, 1998). The ‘Two Cultures’ theme was taken up again 9 years later in another famous paper ‘The Tragedy of the Commons’ written by the biologist Garrett Hardin (Hardin, 1968). This time however the polarization was between social and natural scientists. Here we will use the case of land management in Africa to show that this divide is alive and well. We will start by describing recent criticisms of the research agenda incurred by the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) and then look at the sweeping land tenure reforms underway in Africa. Finally we will discuss why this is significant for ecology and emphasize how important it is for African ecologists to be interdisciplinary and avoid policy pitfalls associated with the two cultures divide. On the 26 October 2004 the U.K. government International Development Committee published a report on science in British-funded international development (Gibson, 2004). The committee is appointed by parliament to oversee the spending, administration and policy of the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID), so the findings were of particular interest for ecologists in Africa whose work includes development issues. The report was sharply critical of the lack of science in DFID, so much so that the U.K. Royal Society issued a statement that said: ‘‘The report into the use of science in U.K. International Development policy highlights the Royal Society’s concern that the Department for International Development’s (DFID) efforts to tackle the pressing issues facing the world’s poorest countries have been hampered by a failure to harness the full potential of science and technology.’’ (Royal Society, 2004) The type of science envisaged by the Royal Society is for ‘‘robust vaccination programmes and drought-resistant crops’’ achieved through recent innovations such as biotechnology. The expectation is that improved yields will play a major role in poverty alleviation through enhanced agricultural productivity. In many ways the criticism is remarkable. For the last 10 years DFID has been funding a Renewable Natural Resources Research Strategy (RNRRS) at a cost of over £190 million with 56% of this money spent in Africa. In June 2005 the RNRRS was evaluated (LTS International, 2005). The reviewers found that the science supported by the programme was of a high quality, saying that the ‘‘RNRRS has established itself globally as possibly the leading research programme in natural resource management’’ (LTS International, 2005 p. 27). In particular the review emphasized the important changes that the livelihoods approach (Carney, 1998; Scoones, 1998) embraced by DFID had created in the research, with an increased emphasis on social sciences and multi-disciplinary work. So it is pertinent to ask why there is such a marked difference in opinion between the U.K. government select committee report and august bodies such as the Royal Society, and the independent evaluation of the research funded by DFID. One possible explanation is the classic academic divide between social and natural sciences. Returning to Hardin’s, 1968 paper we can see that, although published nearly 40 years ago, it perfectly captures the gap in thinking between the views expressed by the select committee report on Science and International Development as endorsed by the Royal Society, and the research carried out by DFID under its RNRRS. Hardin described the gulf thus: ‘‘An implicit and almost universal assumption of discussions published in professional and semi-popular scientific journals is that the problem under discussion has a technical solution. A technical solution may be defined as one that requires a change only in the techniques of the natural sciences, demanding little or nothing in the way of change in human

Public Libraries in England: A valuable public service or a service in distress?

Compares and contrasts the Department of Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee Reports of 2000 and 2005. Suggests that an increasing focus on public library matters can mean either that public libraries are moving up the political agenda or that they are a cause for concern. Discusses how the two reports show developments but also failings in public library service policy and provision over the five-year period. Both reports cover the regulatory framework governing public libraries but the 2005 report documents changes to reporting systems which, it is feared, will not improve the standard of below standard library services. Concerns about access to library buildings also featured in both reports. The success of the People's Network was praised in both 2000 and 2005 although the practice in some library authorities of charging for access to ICT was condemned strongly in the latter. The two reports emphasized the problem of the decline in the book lending service caused by a fall in the value of the book fund. It is concluded that although the 2005 report contains many criticisms of the provision and management of public library services in England, these should be viewed as an opportunity by the public library community to lobby local and national politicians for funding and action to rectify the problems identified.

Missing the mark.

EVER SINCE the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee report, Resistance to Antibiotics and Other Antimicrobial Agents, was published in 1998, infection control staff have benefited from a vigorous interest by the public, politicians and the media.