5 bits of bad news the PM snuck out as Parliament suspended before King's Speech
Parliament has been officially suspended as MPs and peers vacated Westminster until the King's Speech in 12 days' time.
Just two weeks after returning from the conference recess, both the Commons and the Lords closed for the end the current parliamentary session - known as prorogation - which began in spring 2022. Both chambers are not due to sit again until the State Opening of Parliament and the monarch's address on November 7.
It follows a bruising few weeks for Rishi Sunak who suffered two by-election losses in traditionally safe Tory strongholds to Keir Starmer's Labour. The King's Speech - Charles III first as monarch - will give the failing Conservative leader the chance to set out his priorities in the build-up to next year's likely general election.
Before that the Tories have been busy rushing out policy papers, statistics and announcements. Here The Mirror looks at some of the bits of bad news ministers and officials published on the last day of Parliament before prorogation.
Tories threaten councils over 4-day working week
Ministers announced on Thursday they are putting councils who are piloting 4-day working weeks - in exchange for longer shifts for staff - "on notice".
Teachers, civil servants and train drivers walk out in biggest strike in decade
The Department for Levelling Up told local authorities to "cease immediately" despite reports showing the policy could reduce stress and burnout for employees. Minister Lee Rowley said: "Those councils who continue to disregard this guidance are now on notice that the Government will take necessary steps in the coming months ahead to ensure that this practice is ended within local government."
Polling released by the campaign group a fortnight ago showed over four million over 55s would be more likely to stay in work or return to the workplace if offered a 4-day week. Director of the group Joe Ryle said at the time: "The Government should take seriously all of the potential benefits of a four-day week and consider how it could be implemented to help get people back into work."
Self-harm and suicides surge in prison
Self-harm in women’s jails has soared by almost two-thirds in the last year, damning official figures revealed. There were 64,348 self-harm incidents in the 12 months to June 2023, up 21% from the previous 12 months. This included an 8% increase in male establishments and a considerable 65% increase in female establishments, the Ministry of Justice said.
In the same year, there were 23,557 assaults, a 15% increase from the previous 12 months. Of these, 2,704 were serious assaults, up 21%. Rates of assault and serious assault per 1,000 prisoners increased 9% to 277 and 16% to 33 respectively in the latest 12 months. In the year leading up to September 2023, there were 92 self-inflicted deaths, a 24% increase from the 74 the year before.
Andrew Neilson, Director of Campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, said the figures revealed "how pressure on people living and working in our overcrowded and under-resourced prison system has been allowed to build and build". “It is also concerning that women’s self-harm is rocketing when, proportionally, the numbers of women in prison are rising more quickly than men. In the circumstances, it is imperative that the Ministry of Justice reduces the number of women suffering in prison,” he said.
Benefits blunder costing millions
In a written statement to Parliament, the DWP minister Tom Pursglove revealed the government has paid out £74milliuon in backdated payments to people on disability benefits.
It follows a 2019 Supreme Court ruling that thousands of people on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) benefits may have been underpaid historically. The DWP has identified 326,000 cases needing a review. The department said as of 31 August 79,000 were completed, with 14,000 arrears payments - totalling £74million - being made to claimants.
The minister said: "On 20 September 2021, the department started an administrative exercise, looking at PIP claims since 6 April 2016 to check whether claimants may be eligible for more support under PIP. This is a complex exercise. We have identified around 326,000 unique cases we need to review.
"Given the complexity of the exercise we started at a relatively small scale, prioritising terminally ill and recently deceased claimants, testing our processes and communications with claimants, to ensure they are effective before ramping up." A further update will be published next year, the DWP said.
NHS GPs and dentists complaints reach 10-year high
Complaints to the NHS about GPs and dental care have more than doubled in the past ten years, with a stark rise in complaints from patients struggling to get appointments, shocking new figures have revealed.
Richard 'shuts up' GMB guest who says Hancock 'deserved' being called 'd***head'
There were 125,584 complaints about primary care including GPs and dental in 2022-23, an increase of 138% from ten years ago. There was 52,703 complaints in 2012-13.
Lib Dem Health and Social Care spokeswoman Daisy Cooper said: “These soaring levels of complaints show that patients have been badly let down by this Conservative government and they know it. Everyday, thousands of people across the country are struggling to book an appointment with their GP or dentist. It is simply unacceptable.
“Ministers have brought the health service to its knees, failed to recruit the GPs we need and made seeing a dentist on the NHS almost impossible. It is absolutely fundamental that people can see their doctor in time. That is why the Liberal Democrats are calling for patients to be given a legal right to see their GP within a week or 24-hours if in urgent need.”
Prison figures delayed by four months
With the prison overcrowding at tipping point, the Ministry of Justice has delayed crucial projections on inmates by FOUR months. Billed as looking at the years 2023-2028, the data had been due to be released on 26 October, but will now not be published until February 2024.
Ministers blamed the delay on new measures unveiled last week, including some low-level offenders handed sentences of less than a year being spared jail. Some criminals will also be released up to 18 days early in a desperate bid to free up spaces.
But Labour's Shadow Prisons Minister Ruth Cadbury said: “No delay of publication can hide the fact that the Tories have completely botched the management of the prison estate over 13 years. She added: “The Conservatives must come clean with the public about whether there will be enough prison places to hold criminals in the future – keeping them off the streets and behind bars where they belong. No more hiding and no more delay. The public deserves the truth. Failure to publish it will further undermine confidence in the already-blighted criminal justice system.”
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
