Download or read book HC 564 the Sale of Eurostar written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2016 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In March 2015 HM Treasury agreed to sell its 40% stake in Eurostar for £585.1 million, almost double the valuations produced before the sale by both the government's project team and UBS its financial adviser. While some of this difference may be explained by the successful sale process and favourable market conditions, it is also further evidence of the government and its advisers undervaluing assets. We are also concerned about the seeming over-reliance by government on a small pool of costly advisers for asset sales. For example, UBS, the financial adviser for this transaction, was also involved in the sale of the Royal Mail and High Speed 1 (HS1). Eurostar also agreed, in a separate transaction, to redeem the government's preference share, providing a further £172 million for the taxpayer. The sale of the UK government's entire financial interest in Eurostar therefore generated proceeds of £757.1 million, significantly less than taxpayers' total financial investment in Eurostar which is estimated to have been some £3 billion. In October 2015, some two years later than expected, the Department for Transport published an evaluation of the economic impact and regeneration benefits for HS1. We are concerned that this delay has prevented the evaluation, which shows that the costs of HS1 far outweigh its quantified benefits, from being used to aid the scrutiny of other projects such as High Speed 2. Despite the results of its own evaluation, which it described as "world class", the Department maintains that there are further "wider wider benefits" from HS1 that it cannot yet value which make the investment worthwhile.

Download or read book HC 583 Cancer Drugs Fund written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2016-02-05 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Survival rates for cancer patients in England have generally been worse than those in other high-income countries in Europe, mainly because patients in England tend to be diagnosed later and have poorer access to treatment. The government set up the Cancer Drugs Fund in 2010 to improve access to cancer drugs that would not otherwise be routinely available on the NHS. In the last five years about 80,000 people received drugs through the Fund. However, the Department of Health and NHS England do not have the data needed to assess the impact of the Fund on patient outcomes, such as extending patients' lives, or to demonstrate whether this is a good use of taxpayers' money. NHS England overspent the Fund's �480 million budget for the two years 2013-14 and 2014-15 by �167 million. The cost of the Fund grew from �175 million in 2012-13 to �416 million in 2014-15, an increase of 138% in two years, but NHS England did not start to take action to control the cost until November 2014. There is agreement that the Fund is not sustainable in its current form and NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) are currently consulting on proposals to reform the Fund from April 2016. We expect NHS England, in making changes, to take account of our recommendations and apply the clear lessons from the last five years to ensure that the new Fund is managed better in the future.

Download or read book HC 502 Services to People with Neurological Conditions Progress Review written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2016 with total page 25 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over 4 million people in England have a neurological condition. Services for people with these conditions are not consistently good enough, and there remains wide variation across the country in access, outcomes and patient experience. As well as affecting patients, poor care has implications for the NHS; for example, it costs �70 million to deal with emergency admissions of epilepsy patients and many of these admissions are likely to result from shortcomings in care. Neurological services remain poorly integrated with a lack of joint commissioning of health and social care. Over 40% of people with a neurological condition do not think that local services work well together, and only 12% of people have a written care plan to help coordinate their care. There has been some progress in implementing the recommendations that the previous Committee made in 2012, including the appointment of a national clinical director for adult neurology and some improvements in data. However, these changes have not yet led to demonstrable improvements in services and outcomes for patients. It is clear that neurological conditions are not a priority for the Department of Health and NHS England, and we are concerned that the progress that has been made may not be sustained. We therefore intend to review the position again later in this Parliament.

Download or read book HC 788 Corporate Tax Settlements written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2016 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A six year investigation by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has resulted in Google paying a further £130 million to settle its corporation tax liabilities over the last 10 years. This vindicates the previous Committee's concerns in 2012 and 2013 that Google did not appear to be paying the full tax it owed in the UK. However, in the absence of full transparency over the details of this settlement and how it was reached we cannot judge whether it is fair to taxpayers. The sum paid by Google seems disproportionately small when compared with the size of Google's business in the UK, reinforcing our concerns that the rules governing where corporation tax is paid by multinational companies do not produce a fair outcome. Google's stated desire for greater tax simplicity and transparency is at odds with the complex operational structure it has created which appears to be directed at minimising its tax liabilities. Google admits that this structure will not change as a result of this settlement.

Download or read book HC 600 Reform of the Rail Franchising Programme written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2016 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The last time we discussed rail franchising was in 2012, in the wake of the collapsed competition for the InterCity West Coast franchise. We are encouraged that, since then, the Department for Transport has strengthened its capability to let franchises, but there are still gaps in its ability to then manage the contracts effectively. The Department's increased focus on the passenger experience is also welcome, but it is unclear when passengers themselves will actually see the benefits. Furthermore, the Department has not yet developed the partnerships with operators that are required to support innovation, improve efficiency and improve services for passengers. Successful rail franchising depends on strong interest from the market and effective competition but there are barriers to entry to the UK market and the possibility that current participants in the market may drop out. Any reduction to the current level of competition is a major risk to securing value for money for the taxpayer. Perhaps the biggest challenge facing the Department is to manage the complex interdependencies between passenger rail franchises, the infrastructure that train services run on and the introduction of new fleets of trains to the network. Uncertainty about infrastructure work has resulted in delays to franchise competitions and the Department will have to rely on potentially expensive changes to franchises during the life of contracts. The Department's role is to provide a strategic lead for the complex rail system but it has not yet shown that it has embraced this role. It needs to provide a coherent strategic vision and stronger leadership to ensure that the investment decisions it makes now do not result in increased costs in the long term.

Download or read book HC 643 e Borders and Successor Programmes written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2016 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On current projections the Home Office's e-Borders programme and its successors will cost over a billion pounds, be delivered 8 years late and not provide the benefits expected for transport carriers and passengers. A major reason for this delay was the termination by the Department in 2010 of its e-Borders contract with Raytheon. This had required Raytheon to deliver its own solution to meet the Department's objectives to a fixed price and timescale which turned out to be unrealistic as government had detailed and evolving requirements, and wanted high assurance that the proposed solution would work. The Department was emphatic that our borders are secure. However, the Department needs to accept that its assertion that it checks 100% of passports is both imprecise and unrealistic due to the complexity of our border. It is now five years since the e-Borders contract was cancelled yet the capabilities delivered so far still fall short of what was originally envisaged. Since 2010 the Major Projects Authority has issued seven warnings about these programmes. The Department's complacency about progress to date increases our concerns about whether the programme will be completed by 2019 as the Department now promises, and whether tangible benefits for border security, transport carriers and passengers will result.

Download or read book HC 563 Management of Adult Diabetes Services in the NHS Progress Review written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2016 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the previous Committee of Public Accounts reported in 2012, the Department of Health and NHS England have made progress in improving outcomes for diabetes patients. International evidence now available also suggests that the UK performs well compared to other countries in terms of outcomes for diabetes patients. However, there are significant variations in the routine care and support that diabetes patients receive, and in outcomes for diabetes patients. We are concerned that the witnesses from the Department and NHS England painted an unduly healthy picture of the state of diabetes services in England. Although an individual diabetes patient's prospects are getting better, the number of people with diabetes is rising by 4.8% a year, and performance in delivering the nine care processes and achieving the three treatment standards, which help to minimise the risk of diabetes patients developing complications in the future, has stalled. In addition, very few new diabetes patients are taking up education that could help them manage their condition, and the number of diabetes patients experiencing complications (which account for over two-thirds of the cost of diabetes to the NHS) continues to rise. This all means that the costs of diabetes to the NHS will continue to rise. In order to control these costs, the Department and NHS must take significant action to improve prevention and treatment for diabetes patients in the next couple of years.

Download or read book HC 581 Automatic Enrolment to Workplace Pensions written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2016 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the introduction of automatic enrolment in October 2012, almost all larger employers have enrolled their workers in a workplace pension, thereby increasing the number of people saving for retirement. Employer compliance has been high and the proportion of people choosing to opt out from automatic enrolment has been lower than expected. The Department for Work & Pensions, the Pensions Regulator and the National Employment Savings Trust and other pension providers are now facing the more difficult task of supporting 1.8 million small employers through automatic enrolment. They will need to monitor the experiences of small businesses-including 900,000 employers with only 1 or 2 employees-and minimise administrative burdens, while also ensuring that increased enrolment translates into adequate incomes in retirement. We will be returning to this subject, which is of vital importance to both employees themselves and to future governments as they plan for pensions, and we have asked the Department to update us on progress over the next 12 months

Download or read book HC 601 Universal Credit Progress Update written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2016 with total page 25 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We acknowledge that Universal Credit has stabilised and made progress since the previous Committee of Public Accounts first reported on the programme in 2013. However, there remains a long way to go. Implementation of Universal Credit so far has focussed mainly on the simplest cases and the Department for Work & Pensions has again delayed the programme. The completion date for the roll-out of its new digital service is six months later compared to when we looked at the programme only a year ago, and the Department now expects that Universal Credit will be fully operational in March 2021. The Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts that there will be a further six-month delay beyond the Department's latest planned end-date. We remain disappointed by the persistent lack of clarity and evasive responses by the Department to our inquiries, particularly about the extent and impact of delays. The Department's response to the previous Committee's recommendations in the February 2015 report Universal Credit: progress update do not convince us that it is committed to improving transparency about the programme's progress.

Download or read book Railways and the Western European Capitals written by M. Nilsen and published by Springer. This book was released on 2008-10-13 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book looks at the effect of railways on London, Paris, Brussels, and Berlin, focusing on each city as a case study for one aspect of implantation.

Download or read book Handbook of Biomaterial Properties written by William Murphy and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-06-11 with total page 676 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides tabular and text data relating to normal and diseased tissue materials and materials used in medical devices. Comprehensive and practical for students, researchers, engineers, and practicing physicians who use implants, this book considers the materials aspects of both implantable materials and natural tissues and fluids. Examples of materials and topics covered include titanium, elastomers, degradable biomaterials, composites, scaffold materials for tissue engineering, dental implants, sterilization effects on material properties, metallic alloys, and much more. Each chapter author considers the intrinsic and interactive properties of biomaterials, as well as their appropriate applications and historical contexts. Now in an updated second edition, this book also contains two new chapters on the cornea and on vocal folds, as well as updated insights, data, and citations for several chapters.

Download or read book Engineering Solutions for Sustainability written by Jeffrey W. Fergus and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2015-08-06 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book contains a collection of papers presented at Engineering Solutions for Sustainability: Materials and Resources II, a special symposium organized as part of the TMS 2015 Annual Meeting & Exhibition and held in Orlando, Florida, March 15-19, 2015. With impending and burgeoning societal issues affecting both developed and emerging nations, the global engineering community has a responsibility and an opportunity to truly make a difference and contribute. The papers in this collection address what materials and resources are integral to meeting basic societal sustainability needs in critical areas of energy, transportation, housing, and recycling. Contributions focus on the engineering answers for cost-effective, sustainable pathways; the strategies for effective use of engineering solutions; and the role of the global engineering community. Authors share perspectives on the major engineering challenges that face our world today; identify, discuss, and prioritize engineering solution needs; and establish how these fit into developing global-demand pressures for materials and human resources.

Download or read book Transport security written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Transport Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008-01-09 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Incorporating HCP 1085, session 2005-06 and HCP 96, session 2006-07, not previously published

Download or read book Panorama of Transport written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The third edition of this publication provides key data on all main modes of transport in the EU, including air, road, rail and inland waterway transport, as well as covering maritime transport for the first time. It provides information on the transport economy in term of quantities of freight and passengers moved and the vehicles and infrastructure used, and also sets this within the broader context of the economy, energy consumption and pollution, the environment and public health as a factor in our quality of life.

Download or read book Eco Novel Food and Feed written by Isabel Sousa and published by . This book was released on 2020-10-13 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Innovation is recognized as the key driver of economic growth. Trends in the food industry deal with a permanent need to develop new food products, adjusted to the consumer demands and, in the near future, to the scarcity of food resources. The concepts of sustainable food production and food products as health and wellness promoters, the use of alternative ingredients such as new protein sources, and the use of by-products in designing food or feed formulations according to bioeconomic principles, are current topics that act as driving forces for innovation. Currently, food and feed product development methodologies are generally based on chemical and nutritional properties, complemented with a sensory validation carried out in the final stages of the development process. In the creative process, the food macromolecules are the major players for the creation of relevant food structures such as foams, emulsions, and gels. The development of gluten-free or vegetarian products using alternative proteins and polysaccharides, the use of food industry by-products as sources of these structuring biopolymers, and the structural implications of adding protein and/or fiber-rich healthy ingredients are some of the challenges in creating novel food and feed products. Finally, the consumer attitude towards new food products is a relevant issue for the success of the novelties, and should be considered for close-to-market novel products.

Download or read book Applied Transport Economics written by Stuart Cole and published by Kogan Page Publishers. This book was released on 2005 with total page 476 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Revised and updated to cover developments and thinking in transport economics, the book examines the application of economics techniques first, to commercial transport operations, second, to public policy issues and third, to the role of transport in its wider economic context.

Download or read book Advanced Machine Learning Technologies and Applications written by Aboul Ella Hassanien and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-11-04 with total page 542 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Second International Conference on Advanced Machine Learning Technologies and Applications, AMLTA 2014, held in Cairo, Egypt, in November 2014. The 49 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 101 initial submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on machine learning in Arabic text recognition and assistive technology; recommendation systems for cloud services; machine learning in watermarking/authentication and virtual machines; features extraction and classification; rough/fuzzy sets and applications; fuzzy multi-criteria decision making; Web-based application and case-based reasoning construction; social networks and big data sets.