All posts tagged: scrapping

what scrapping single-word inspection grades will mean for teachers

what scrapping single-word inspection grades will mean for teachers

Published by skeptic

The government has announced that Ofsted, the schools inspectorate, will no longer give schools a headline grade of outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate. Instead, state schools will this year receive grades in a number of sub-categories, such as behaviour and attitudes and leadership and management. A new “report card” system will be rolled out from September 2025. There has long been debate over Ofsted’s single-word judgments – and this increased after the death by suicide of headteacher Ruth Perry in January 2023. The coroner for the case ruled that an Ofsted inspection, which saw Perry’s school downgraded from outstanding to inadequate, had contributed to her death. Our current research focuses on examining submissions published by the Education Committee Inquiry into Ofsted, which began in 2023 after Perry’s death. The submissions came from current or former teachers, inspectors, academics, education charities, teaching unions, school and college groups and occasionally, pupils, parents, grandparents and others who were anonymous. Our analysis shows how Ofsted inspections and its judgments were described as unfair and unhealthy by many respondents. …

Scrapping admissions cap signals alarming lurch towards religious privilege

Scrapping admissions cap signals alarming lurch towards religious privilege

Published by skeptic

The government is planning to abolish the rule requiring faith-based free schools in England to offer half their places without any reference to religion. This means that for the first time, religious groups will be able to receive 100% state funding for schools with 100% faith-based admissions. Many faith schools, known as voluntary aided (VA) schools, can already select all pupils based of faith. But while the running costs of a VA school are fully state funded, the religious body that runs the school usually owns the land and buildings. However, the Government’s new reforms will secure total taxpayer funding for faith schools that religious leaders can prevent your child from attending. The policy shift comes at the behest of Catholic bishops who have disingenuously argued that not allowing the schools they run to admit children from exclusively Catholic backgrounds unfairly discriminates against Catholic students. This is untrue – there is no way the 50% cap could result in a child losing a place at a Catholic school because they are raised Catholic. Faith schools …

‘This hits the wrong people’: holiday let owners say Hunt’s scrapping of tax relief won’t affect rich | Second homes

‘This hits the wrong people’: holiday let owners say Hunt’s scrapping of tax relief won’t affect rich | Second homes

Published by skeptic

Jen Boyle, a 64-year-old widow from Falkirk, owns and runs two small holiday lets on the Scottish island of Cumbrae, home to about 1,300 people. In the last tax year, the properties generated £15,000 in turnover, though Boyle’s personal profit was only around £5,000 after expenses. “I pay for heating, water rates, internet, new bedding, occasional repairs and for using the local launderette; I employ local cleaners, gardeners, a local guy who takes out my bins,” she says. “I only charge £420 a week in the high season. People who come to the island tend to be from the Glasgow area and generally don’t have a lot of money, so increasing my rates is not really an option.” Boyle and her late husband bought the properties for about £30,000 each a few years ago. “They are tiny, essentially a room and kitchen,” she said. “I think if I sold them it’s highly unlikely that anybody on the island would want to live in them, they’re just too small.” Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, however, is hoping …

The Tories Are Thinking Of Scrapping ‘Non-Dom’ Status. Here Are All The Times They Said That Was A Bad Idea

The Tories Are Thinking Of Scrapping ‘Non-Dom’ Status. Here Are All The Times They Said That Was A Bad Idea

Published by skeptic

Jeremy Hunt is apparently considering scrapping the tax rules which allow wealthy foreigners living in the UK but who are officially “domiciled” in their own countries to cut their tax bills. The so-called “non-dom” status means that they do not pay UK tax on money they earn abroad, potentially saving them millions of pounds in tax. The Chancellor could end the scheme – which is estimated to cost the Treasury around £3.2 billion a year – in next week’s Budget as he tries to find enough cash to pay for pre-election tax cuts. The move would be politically explosive because Labour has already said it would end non-dom tax status if it forms the next government. Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has said Labour would spend the money raised on, among other things, improving the NHS. But it would also open the Tories up to accusation of hypocrisy given how critical senior party figures – not least Jeremy Hunt himself – have previously been of the policy. In November 2022, shortly after be became Chancellor, he …

After scrapping nuclear reactors, Germany to spend billions on new gas power plants – POLITICO

After scrapping nuclear reactors, Germany to spend billions on new gas power plants – POLITICO

Published by skeptic

The government has described the fossil gas power plants as “modern, highly flexible and climate-friendly” because they will be capable of conversion to use clean-burning hydrogen gas produced from renewable sources. The plants are projected to produce up to 10 gigawatts of electricity. Tenders for the projects will begin soon. German energy firm Uniper, which expects to be involved in the construction, said it was “relieved” that the coalition had reached a political consensus on the new plants, adding that “swift action is urgently needed because the approval process and the actual construction of power plants and storage facilities will take several years.” Environmental groups remain skeptical, however, with Greenpeace denouncing the strategy as a “perfect example of how the hype around hydrogen is just a smokescreen for more fossil gas.” Similar schemes elsewhere in the EU have also prompted a backlash from climate activists. Last week, French energy giant Engie was given approval to build a 500 megawatt gas plant near the city of Nijmegen in the Netherlands, even though some 2,000 residents had signed …

University of Aberdeen staff to vote on strike action after scrapping of single degrees in modern languages | UK News

University of Aberdeen staff to vote on strike action after scrapping of single degrees in modern languages | UK News

Published by skeptic

Staff at the University of Aberdeen are being balloted over potential strike action after the institution scrapped all of its single degrees in modern languages. From the next academic year, students will no longer be able to take French, German, Spanish or Gaelic alone and will instead have to choose a joint degree if they wish to study languages. The university court backed the decision in December, based on a recommendation from the senior vice principal, Professor Karl Laydecker. The university’s management said low uptake of the courses meant the current model is not sustainable. The University and College Union (UCU) says about 30 people are at risk of redundancy due to the changes. A UCU ballot on industrial action is opening on Wednesday and will run until February 7. Read more from Sky News:Scottish government reflecting on ‘poor set of results’ as country slips down education rankingsSchools urged to teach children how to use AI from age of 11 Dr Rachel Shanks, UCU branch chair, said: “Cutting single honours degrees from the university would …

Tories consider scrapping inheritance tax and helping first-time buyers | Tax and spending

Tories consider scrapping inheritance tax and helping first-time buyers | Tax and spending

Published by skeptic

Conservative ministers are considering tax cuts and help for first-time buyers in the coming months in the hope of giving Rishi Sunak a pre-election boost as it was announced that the spring budget would be delivered on 6 March. Downing Street officials are thinking about completely scrapping inheritance tax in three months’ time, according to the Telegraph, as the prime minister ordered a “gear change” on tax. Senior figures in No 10 were last considering the tax cut in September, before the autumn statement, but were warned of a backlash from “red wall” Tory MPs over focusing on tax cuts for the rich rather than helping ordinary families with the cost of living. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the wealthiest 1% of individuals in the UK would receive almost half of the benefit of ditching inheritance tax. It would, however, create a point of difference with Labour. The shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has not explicitly committed to reversing an inheritance tax cut if Labour won power. The Tories are also aiming to woo …

Revealed: UK ministers ‘misled public’ when scrapping air quality regulations | Air pollution

Published by Sam

Ministers have been accused of “misleading the public” after documents obtained by Ends Report and the Guardian revealed they ignored their officials’ advice when scrapping key air quality regulations. On 31 December, two key air quality regulations will drop off the statute book under the Retained EU Law (REUL) Act. The rules being revoked are regulations 9 and 10 of the National Emission Ceiling (NEC) regulations, which set legally binding emission reduction commitments for five key air pollutants. Regulation 9 requires the secretary of state to prepare a national air pollution control programme (NAPCP) to limit pollutants in accordance with national emission reduction commitments. Regulation 10 requires that before preparing or significantly revising the NAPCP, the secretary of state must consult the public. Caroline Lucas, the Green party MP, has asked ministers to “urgently take steps to prevent these regulations from being stripped from our statute book in just a few weeks’ time”, and has asked them to “explain why they felt this decision was in the interests of people and planet”. Ruth Chambers, from …

Sunak sparks Tory civil war with scrapping of HS2 Manchester leg | Rishi Sunak

Published by Sam

Rishi Sunak unleashed a Tory civil war on Wednesday by announcing the scrapping of the northern leg of HS2 as the former prime minister David Cameron said the decision showed the country was heading in the wrong direction. After days of frenzied speculation over the future of the flagship levelling-up project, Sunak confirmed he was axing the Birmingham to Manchester line and would use the £36bn of savings to fund a number of other transport schemes, described as “Network North”. Cameron led a torrent of criticism of the announcement, which it emerged was made without consulting the cabinet, parliament, local councils or Network Rail, saying it passed up a once-in-a-generation opportunity. “It will help to fuel the views of those who argue that we can no longer think or act for the long-term as a country; that we are heading in the wrong direction,” he warned. Cameron said the announcement threw away “15 years of cross-party consensus, sustained over six administrations, and would make it much harder to build consensus for any future long-term projects”. …

What Rishi Sunak scrapping HS2 – and promising a new ‘Network North’– means for the north of England

What Rishi Sunak scrapping HS2 – and promising a new ‘Network North’– means for the north of England

Published by skeptic

UK prime minister Rishi Sunak has confirmed he is cancelling phase two of the long-standing high-speed rail network project, High Speed 2 (HS2). This comes two years after the government scrapped the eastern Leeds branch of the project. In a speech to the Conservative conference in Manchester, Sunak promised that “every single penny” from the £36bn he says will be saved by scrapping the Manchester leg of the rail network will, instead, be spent on hundreds of transport and connectivity projects around the country. Included in those he listed were revamped motorways, resurfaced roads, new stations and keeping the £2 bus fare in place for the whole of the country. We asked the University of Liverpool’s Tom Arnold, an expert on regional policy and infrastructure at the Heseltine Institute for Public Policy, Practice and Place, to explain what this means for the north of England. Sunak has said HS2 in the north will be replaced with a new project, dubbed Network North. What is your initial reaction? At this stage it is unclear what Network …