MPs approve expenses review date

7 July 2011 Last updated at 20:06 GMT Ipsa was created by the 2009 Parliamentary Standards Act following the expenses scandal MPs have agreed changes to a committee which will seek to change their independently run expenses scheme.

The old Members' Allowances committee - which has been dormant since the new scheme began - is being renamed the Members' Expenses Committee.

It will review the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009, which set up the new expenses body, by 31 December.

After the expenses scandal, all parties agreed that the old system of self-regulation of expenses must end.

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority has been running the new expenses scheme since the general election.

'Needs amendment'

But many MPs have expressed anger at the way the new system has been run complaining it is too bureaucratic, too complex and time consuming and that they are having to fund some of their expenses out of their own pockets.

Although Ipsa is independent - MPs have decided to review the legislation which set it up, with a view to making changes.

Shadow Commons deputy leader Helen Jones said the scheme "clearly needs amendment": "It is imperative that we get to a sensible position which both maintains confidence in the scheme and does not use up too much time of honourable members, who are, I think, fast becoming the highest paid data-inputting clerks in the country."

A National Audit Office report out on Thursday says Ipsa is safeguarding public money - but should do more to address the amount of time MPs and their staff were spending inputting claims and the "labour intensive nature of certain elements of the claims process".

Deputy Commons leader David Heath said the government was "keen that the committee is set up without any more unnecessary delay and gets on with the important work the House has tasked it with."

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Labour urges rail contract review

3 July 2011 Last updated at 04:51 GMT Bombardier is the UK's last train-making factory The decision to award a ?1.5bn rail contract to a German rather than a UK manufacturer had dealt a "body blow" to the sector, Labour has warned.

Shadow business secretary John Denham and shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle have written to PM David Cameron urging him to review the decision.

They said it threatened thousands of jobs at Derby-based Bombardier.

The Department for Transport awarded the contract for 1,200 new carriages for the Thameslink line to Siemens.

The German company is due to construct the trains for the line between Brighton, London and Bedford at Krefeld, in the industrial Rhineland region.

Bombardier's Litchurch Lane plant in Derby - where about 3,000 people are employed - is the last rolling stock manufacturer in the UK with a 150-year history.

Mr Denham and Ms Eagle wrote: "It is our belief that the loss of the contract could critically damage Britain's last train manufacturing company.

"It could affect the inward investment that Bombardier makes in its own operations across the UK, and to the many suppliers which rely on it.

"And it raises serious questions about Britain's ability to be a world-leading base for manufacturing."

They added: "It is essential that we do all that we can to support our manufacturing businesses. If we do not, British companies will continue to lose out to our global competitors."

They said a "full independent review" must take place to take into account the effect on the UK economy that the loss of this contract would create.

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Mary Portas to head shops review

17 May 2011 Last updated at 10:38 GMT Watch: Mary Portas on the death of the town centre

TV retail guru Mary Portas is to carry out a government-backed review aimed at halting the "decline of the High Street" in England.

She will look at the problem of empty shops and how to prevent the growth of "clone towns" dominated by chainstores.

Ms Portas, the star of Mary Queen of Shops and Secret Shopper, is due to present her findings in the autumn.

Labour has also made increasing the diversity of High Street shops a priority in its current policy review.

Leader Ed Miliband has suggested the party could push for changes to planning to law to prevent towns becoming dominated by multinational retailers and to give local people "more of over what happens on their High Street".

Ms Portas's review, carried out for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, will involve visits to several town centres and "engagement events" with shopowners and customers.

She said: "With town centre vacancy rates doubling over the last two years the need to take action to save our High Streets has never been starker.

"I am calling on businesses, local authorities and shoppers to contribute their ideas on how we can halt this decline in its tracks and create town centres that we can all be proud of."

'Wasted opportunities'

A report published on Monday by the Ernst & Young Item Club suggests UK High Street spending will not return to pre-recession levels until 2013.

It also said consumer spending is expected to rise by only 2% a year up to 2020.

Ms Portas will present her report to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, the aim being "to identify what government, local authorities and businesses can do to promote the development of more prosperous and diverse High Streets".

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Independents are a vital part of an attractive retail mix but so are the big names”

End Quote Stephen Robertson British Retail Consortium Mr Clegg said: "Empty High Streets are a blight on the local economy. Vacant shops are also a wasted opportunity with far reaching consequences.

"When goods and services start to disappear, our sense of community can be weakened and undermined. It is vital therefore that we examine what steps can be taken to revitalise and reinvigorate High Street shopping centres across the country."

Prime Minister David Cameron said: "The High Street should be at the very heart of every community, bringing people together, providing essential services and creating jobs and investment; so it is vital that we do all that we can to ensure they thrive.

"That is why I am delighted that Mary Portas has agreed to take on this review and I am confident that her straight-talking, no-nonsense approach will help us to create vibrant and diverse town centres and bring back the bustle to our High Streets."

'Real say'

Labour said people must be able to influence the make-up of High Streets in their areas and proposed legislation on giving local communities more powers currently being debated by MPs could be used to protect small traders and promote retail diversity.

MPs say many High Streets need to be revitalised

"We need to put the heart back into Britain's High Streets," shadow local government minister Jack Dromey said. "Labour wants to give communities a real say over the future of their high street and the power to make the changes they want enshrined in law."

A former creative director at Harvey Nichols retail group, Ms Portas has since become known as a TV expert on transforming under-performing shops, starring in the BBC's Mary, Queen of Shops before moving to Channel 4, where she presents Secret Shopper.

Previously Ms Portas has blamed supermarkets for "killing" Britain's smaller shops by making it impossible for them to compete on price.

The British Retail Consortium said the review must take into consideration the interests of all retailers, whatever their size.

"The government is right to recognise the future of our High Streets cannot be left to chance but it must take a positive approach that supports retailers of all types and sizes," its director-general Stephen Robertson said.

"Independents are a vital part of an attractive retail mix but so are the big names. This review should not seek to restrict that choice by making life harder for any particular category of retailers."

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