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News story: CMA opens Tesco/Booker merger investigation

The CMA has opened its investigation into Tesco’s proposed acquisition of Booker.

The first phase of the investigation runs until 25 July 2017. During this period, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will assess whether the deal could reduce competition and choice for shoppers and other customers, such as stores currently supplied by Booker.

After this first phase, the merger will either be cleared or, if the CMA identifies a potential reduction in competition, it will be referred for an in-depth investigation lasting up to 24 weeks – unless the merging parties can offer proposals following the first phase of the investigation which address any concerns identified.

Having ensured it has all the necessary information from the companies before opening the investigation, the CMA is now seeking views on the merger from all interested parties.

Those interested are invited to submit their views by 13 June 2017. Further details will be available on the investigation case page.

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HM Government

Education, not separation, must be SNP’s focus as Ruth publishes new education plans

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  • Education, not separation, must be SNP’s focus as Ruth publishes new education plans

30 May 2017

Liz Smith

The Scottish Conservatives are today publishing fresh plans to improve standards in Scotland’s schools – and demanding Nicola Sturgeon focus on “education, not separation”.

As the SNP launches its election manifesto, Ruth Davidson will set out a detailed programme to improve Curriculum for Excellence, following warnings by leading experts that its roll out has led to a slump in core skills.

The Scottish Conservatives are also stepping up their attack on the SNP’s broken promise to make education its “number one priority”.

Instead, Nicola Sturgeon has spent the last year putting her unwanted plan for a second independence referendum front and centre – and ignoring the day job.

The SNP’s chaotic handling of education was underlined on Sunday after SNP MSP John Mason said Scotland had “moved on” from the need to focus on literacy and numeracy.

Today’s paper is built on extensive consultation with schools, parents and business and makes recommendations in five key areas.

1.      Clarity, Accountability and Measurement

2.      A Clear Focus on Core Skills

3.      Teacher Numbers, Workforce Planning and Teacher Training

4.      Reforming the Education Agencies 5.      Extending School Autonomy

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said:

“Nicola Sturgeon asked to be judged on education.

“Standards are down, there is a teacher shortage, we have a curriculum in crisis and our poorest children are being let down. The judgement is in and it is damning.

“The truth is Nicola Sturgeon has made independence her number one priority.

“And while standards fall, her MSPs casually dismiss parents’ concerns by declaring we have ‘moved on’ from the need to teach literacy and numeracy.

“Scotland has had enough. Education, not separation, needs to be the focus now. “The SNP must act immediately – empty promises of jam tomorrow will not do.

“This paper sets out the simple, clear and vital reforms we need to see in our schools.

“But as long as the SNP bangs on about independence, our schools will suffer.

“This election is the last chance to send the SNP a message to get back to the day job. Only the Conservatives can stand up to them and only the Conservatives have the answers.

Scottish Conservative shadow education secretary Liz Smith said:

“The Scottish Government has been quick to remind us that, in its recent review of Scottish schools, the OECD applauded Scotland for having the foresight to put in place such an ambitious reform as the Curriculum for Excellence.

“That’s true, but the OECD also made clear that there was a long way to go before Scotland could live up to its full potential and realise excellence and equity right across the country.

“The Scottish Conservatives believe we owe it to every parent, teacher and young person to deliver that excellence and equity.

“Simply hoping things will improve is not an option.”

For a copy of the publication, visit:

http://www.scottishconservatives.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/CfE-Interim-Report-FINAL.pdf

On the morning of the SNP’s manifesto, the Conservatives are calling for radical improvements to the Scottish education system, with reforms focused on five key areas:    

A Clear Focus on Core Skills

·        The urgent priority within the Curriculum for Excellence must be to address declining numeracy and literacy standards

·        Teaching of literacy and numeracy has to combine traditional methods with good quality diagnostic assessment

·        Broad general education should be reset so that its main focus is on traditional subjects and on the necessary core knowledge which defines them

·        National 4 needs to be much more focused around the testing of basic skills and there must be a much better link-up with vocational training

Teacher Numbers, Workforce Planning and Teacher Training

·        We need more investment in teacher numbers, especially in additional support for learning

·        Routes in to teaching should be more flexible, with allowing teachers with non-Scottish qualifications to teach in Scottish schools with minimal restrictions

·        A Scottish equivalent of TeachFirst should be introduced

·        Postgraduate bursaries should be introduced, attracting talented graduates into key subjects, especially STEM

·        Tests for trainee teachers to identify weaknesses in literacy and numeracy teaching should be introduced

Reforming the Education Agencies

·        A reformed Education Scotland should be completely separate from an independent inspectorate and linked more effectively to SQA, government, local authorities and schools

·        Schools should be free to make use of advice and CPD training available from independent bodies

·        The Scottish Government needs to commission independent research which will provide regular, detailed and rigorous quantitative and qualitative analysis

·        For the SQA, there must be better resourcing, more transparent decision-making which draws on teachers’ classroom experiences, clearer lines of responsibility, much greater clarity of purpose and better communication with schools.

Extending School Autonomy

·        Any straitjackets which prevent or discourage headteachers from using the existing powers they have should be removed

·        Headteachers should be free to spend the money received from the Pupil Equity Fund as they think best without edicts from central or local government

·        The extension of powers to headteachers should include greater power over staffing decisions

·        The percentage of any school budget over which headteachers have direct control should be much higher

·        Legislative changes should be considered to provide greater diversity within our schools

Clarity, Accountability and Measurement

·        Curriculum for Excellence should be re-launched in line with its original principles but in a greatly simplified and clarified form

·        Teachers should have access to short, concise and straightforward advice on content and standards for the main curriculum areas

·        Scotland should once again participate in TIMSS and PIRLS and that SSLN should not be abandoned but reformed

·        Standardised national testing needs to deliver a better understanding for schools and local authorities of national benchmarks

·        There should be formal partnerships between colleges and schools and universities and schools

Over the weekend, SNP MSP John Mason made a series of remarks on social media suggesting standards of education don’t really matter. He said society had “moved on” from the need to have literacy and numeracy skills, and that such skills weren’t needed across a range of careers:

https://twitter.com/JohnMasonMSP

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Scottish Conservatives

Press release: April 2017 Price Paid Data

HM Land Registry Price Paid Data tracks land and property sales in England and Wales submitted to us for registration.

This month’s Price Paid Data includes details of more than 75,400 residential and commercial land and property sales in England and Wales lodged for registration in April 2017.

Of the 75,412 sales lodged for registration:

  • 54,761 were freehold

  • 9,165 were newly built

  • 22,546 sales took place in April 2017

  • 429 were residential sales in April 2017 in England and Wales for £1 million and over

  • 247 were residential sales in April 2017 in London for £1 million and over.

Number of sales lodged for registration by property type

Property type Number of properties
Detached 16,271
Semi-detached 18,504
Terraced 19,858
Flat/maisonette 15,042
Other 5,737
Total 75,412

The most expensive residential sale in April 2017 was of a flat in Knightsbridge, central London for £90m. The cheapest residential sales in April 2017 were of terraced properties in Ferryhill and Bishop Auckland, County Durham, each for £10,000.

The most expensive commercial sale in April 2017 was in the London Borough of Camden, for £98,446,300. The cheapest commercial sales in April 2017 were in Mitcham, London, each for £500.

Access the full dataset

Notes to editors

  1. Price Paid Data (PPD) is published at 11am on the 20th working day of each month. The next dataset will be published on 28 June 2017.

  2. Price Paid Data is property price data for all residential and commercial property sales in England and Wales that are lodged with HM Land Registry for registration in that month, subject to exclusions.

  3. The following information is available for each property:
    • the full address
    • the price paid
    • the date of transfer
    • the property type
    • whether it is new build or not
    • whether it is freehold or leasehold

  4. Price Paid Data can be downloaded in txt, csv format and in a machine readable format as linked data and is released under Open Government Licence (OGL). Under the OGL, HM Land Registry permits use of Price Paid Data for commercial or non-commercial purposes. However, the OGL does not cover the use of third party rights, which HMLR is not authorised to license.

  5. Price Paid Data includes Standard Price Paid Data (SPPD) for single residential property sales at full market value and Additional Price Paid Data (APPD) for transactions previously excluded from SPPD such as:
    • transfers to a non-private individual, for example a company, corporate body or business
    • transfers under a power of sale (repossessions)
    • buy-to-lets (where they can be identified by a mortgage). The information available for each property will indicate whether it is APPD or SPPD and the record’s status – addition/change/deletion (A/C/D).

  6. The Price Paid Data report builder allows users to build bespoke reports using the data. Reports can be based on location, estate type, price paid or property type over a defined period of time.

  7. As a government department established in 1862, executive agency and trading fund responsible to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, HM Land Registry keeps and maintains the Land Register for England and Wales. The Land Register has been open to public inspection since 1990.

  8. With the largest transactional database of its kind detailing over 24 million titles, HM Land Registry underpins the economy by safeguarding ownership of many billions of pounds worth of property.

  9. For further information about HM Land Registry visit www.gov.uk/land-registry.

  10. Follow us on:
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HM Government

News story: Customer enquiry service changes

How you contact UK Visas and Immigration is changing.

From 1 June, all customer enquiries will be handled by a new commercial partner Sitel UK.

The new contract will see a number of changes for customers. These changes help the government reduce costs and ensure those who benefit directly from the UK immigration system make an appropriate contribution.

The main changes for customers applying from outside the UK are:

  • all phone numbers and opening hours will change
  • the number of languages offered is reducing to 8 including English
  • customers who contact UK Visas and Immigration by email will be charged £5.48

You will need to pay using a credit or debit card for contacting us by email. The charge includes the first email enquiry you send and any follow-up emails to and from the contact centre relating to the same enquiry.

The way you pay to use the telephone service will remain the same using a credit or debit card.

If you do not have access to a credit or debit card, you may choose to use a trusted 3rd party such as an agent or sponsor.

There are no changes to services if you are contacting us from inside the UK.

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HM Government

News story: Prince Harry unveils the UK team for the Invictus Games 2017

Prince Harry joined the 2017 UK team of Wounded, Injured and Sick (WIS) Service personnel and veterans for their first official team photograph at the Tower of London today. Following the unveiling, Prince Harry, who is patron of the Invictus Games Foundation, joined competitors at a reception in Plaisterers Hall.

The Invictus Games harness the power of sport to inspire recovery and generate wider understanding and respect for those who serve their country. Getting involved in sport provides significant physical and mental health benefits including increasing self-confidence and psychological empowerment.

More than 300 WIS personnel and veterans applied for one of 90 places available on the team. Selection criteria included the benefit the Invictus Games will give an individual as part of their recovery, combined with performance and commitment to training. 62% of the team are new to the Invictus Games with only 8% having competed in the two previous games, London 2014 and Orlando 2016.

The UK team will join 16 other nations at the third Invictus Games from 23-30 September in Toronto, Canada. They will compete across 12 sports: athletics, archery, wheelchair basketball, road cycling, powerlifting, indoor rowing, wheelchair rugby, swimming, sitting volleyball, wheelchair tennis, the Jaguar Land Rover Driving Challenge, and a new sport for 2017, golf.

The 2017 UK team captain has been named as former Army Major Bernie Broad. He served in the Grenadier Guards for around 30 years and due to injuries sustained in an explosion in Afghanistan 2009 lost both his legs below the knee.

He said:

The Invictus Games are empowering and inspire all of us as competitors to be the best version of ourselves. It allows us to be judged on what we can achieve, rather than what we can’t.

To simply be selected for the UK Team was an amazing achievement. To then be further selected as the UK Team Captain filled me with such immense pride and it is a huge privilege to be given this honour.

Between now and the Games, training will take place across the country at recovery centres and other external venues to train and develop the team.

The UK delegation to the Invictus Games Toronto 2017 is being delivered by a partnership comprising The Ministry of Defence (MOD), Help for Heroes, and The Royal British Legion.

The full team list can be found on the Help for Heroes website.

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HM Government