I am very pleased to announce that the ABC is now on the list for receiving the latest news from the Scottish National Party (SNP). Special thanks to Susan Ruddick on the corporate side for getting us on inside track.

We hope to bring you more news about jobs, economy, benefits and state pensions from Scotland and the SNP Conference as we go. 

If you are worried about Scotland getting 'blown away' You can check that they are still with us on WindyTV. We are techno junkies and we just cannot get enough of it.

Live on the ABC website

House of Commons- Work and Pensions Select Committee

EVIDENCE SESSION: In-work progression in Universal Credit 

 9.30am, Wednesday 3 February, Grimond Room, Portcullis House

This is the first of three planned evidence sessions in this inquiry

Purpose of this session

The Committee will consider: the case for some form of in-work support within Universal Credit; the claimant groups which are most likely to be in low-hours, low-paid work and therefore require help; appropriate objectives for in-work progression, and how success should be measured; potential alternatives to a JCP-run, interview-based approach; how more employers can be persuaded to support in-work progression; how to take account of variations in local labour markets; and the likely effectiveness of Universal Credit’s financial work incentives.

• Inquiry: In-work progression in Universal Credit
• Work and Pensions Committee

Witnesses:

At 9.30 am

• Tony Wilson, Director of Policy and Research, Learning and Work Institute
• David Finch, Senior Economic Analyst, Resolution Foundation
• Emma Stewart MBE, Joint Chief Executive Officer, Timewise Foundation
• Dr Anthony Rafferty, Senior Lecturer in Employment Studies, Alliance Manchester Business School
• Julia Waltham, Head of Campaigns and Policy, Working Families

The ABC has asked the Competition and Markets Authority to assess – is it fair that one company should have all the business from the DWP supplying clothing and footwear to claimants for interviews and starting jobs. Is there a proper tendering process for suppliers, and why should benefit claimants not be allowed to purchase from alternative stores, and buy the clothes and shoes they want and they feel comfortable in?

Vouchers can stop people from shopping around (which reduces competition) and if Ian Duncan’s Smiths idea is to simulate the world of work with Universal Credit, then allowing people the freedom to shop where they want to buy, should be part of that process.

SME’s ought to be able to compete and be encouraged to participate.

The ABC does not want to support companies that get business from the government that are domiciled in tax havens where the owners commute regularly by tax deductible private jet from places like Monaco, choking up the environment.

We can all make a start by complaining.

Our response from the Competition and Markets Authority

We have sent your correspondence to our Pipeline and Intelligence Team who analyse and assess the information we receive and advise on which cases offer the best prospect to make real differences for consumers, enabling us to decide which cases to take forward.

You will appreciate that, like any public authority, we have finite resources so we have to prioritise which cases we pursue. We decide this on the basis of our published prioritisation principles. You can find more about these as well as about our current cases and projects on our website.

The CMA has an advocacy role working with government departments and public bodies to ensure they think about how polices might affect competition. What you have sent us will help us consider whether we should make more detailed enquiries. We will get in touch with you if we need more information, but as I am sure you will understand, we cannot engage in further correspondence with everyone who contacts us. Even where we do not immediately take up a case, the information you and other people provide to us is valuable in helping us to build up a fuller picture of how markets are working and may in time lead to us taking some further action.

My Lady Christina, a 200ft super yacht owned by Matalan’s founder, Monaco based John Hargreaves.

Competition and Markets Authority

Victoria House

Southampton Row

 London WC1B 4AD

Tel: 020 3738 6000

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

www.gov.uk/cma @CMAgovUK

Live on the ABC website

House of Commons- Work and Pensions Select Committee

EVIDENCE SESSION: In-work progression in Universal Credit 

 9.30am, Wednesday 3 February, Grimond Room, Portcullis House

This is the first of three planned evidence sessions in this inquiry

Purpose of this session

The Committee will consider: the case for some form of in-work support within Universal Credit; the claimant groups which are most likely to be in low-hours, low-paid work and therefore require help; appropriate objectives for in-work progression, and how success should be measured; potential alternatives to a JCP-run, interview-based approach; how more employers can be persuaded to support in-work progression; how to take account of variations in local labour markets; and the likely effectiveness of Universal Credit’s financial work incentives.

• Inquiry: In-work progression in Universal Credit
• Work and Pensions Committee

Witnesses:

At 9.30 am

• Tony Wilson, Director of Policy and Research, Learning and Work Institute
• David Finch, Senior Economic Analyst, Resolution Foundation
• Emma Stewart MBE, Joint Chief Executive Officer, Timewise Foundation
• Dr Anthony Rafferty, Senior Lecturer in Employment Studies, Alliance Manchester Business School
• Julia Waltham, Head of Campaigns and Policy, Working Families

David Cameron is said to be close to securing a deal for the UK to freeze in-work benefits to people from other parts of the EU

The UK has been pursuing a deal that would allow it to deny in-work benefits to people from other parts of the EU for up to four years.

The UK could in effect put an "emergency brake" on payments. An emergency brake applied to benefit eligibility. But it is not an emergency brake on migrant numbers.

However, the UK would have to show its welfare system was overwhelmed and it would need approval from a majority of EU states. Other EU countries could also use the brake.

David Cameron is due in Brussels later for talks on his EU renegotiation aims.

The restriction on in-work benefits for EU migrants is one of the prime minister's key demands for reform in his renegotiations of the UK's EU membership. Cameron will have to sell his idea to his Euro-sceptic members of his party. That might not be so easy? 

Priime Minister David Cameron

The DWP Committee will be discussing the progress of Universal Credit on Wednesday 3 February 2016 Meeting starts at 9.30am. You can watch it live here

Witnesses: Tony Wilson, Director of Policy and Research, Learning and Work Institute, David Finch, Senior Economic Analyst, Resolution Foundation, Emma Stewart MBE, Joint Chief Executive Officer, Timewise Foundation, Dr Anthony Rafferty, Senior Lecturer in Employment Studies, Alliance Manchester Business School, and Julia Waltham, Head of Campaigns and Policy, Working Families.

Ministers had proposed reducing the Employment Support Allowance payments to those judged unfit to work but well enough to attend interviews aimed at getting them back into the jobs market by £30 a week.

Labour, Lib Dem and independent peers defeated the cuts by 283 votes to 198.

It was argued that the cuts would incentivise claimants to go back to work Crossbench peer Lord Low said: “There are things that can encourage disabled people into work but cutting their benefits is not one of them.”

The £30 cut would have come into force in 2017, and affected new claimants placed in the Work Related Activity Group of the Employment and Support Allowance.

This group are classed as being unfit for work but able to undertake activities to help them move towards work.

Baron Low of Dalston, CBE (born 23 September 1942) is a British politician, law scholar and member of the House of Lords.

In November 2015 Facebook was told by a Brussels court to stop tracking its users once they leave the Facebook site by using cookies. But the ruling contains some English words — cookie, homepage and browser among others. That, Facebook claims, is contrary to a Belgian law that says all rulings must be in the official languages of the country, and means the whole ruling must be annulled. 

Sourse: Politico

Committee questions DWP minister Baroness Altmann on bereavement expenses and help available

In December last year the Committee launched an inquiry into the help that is available to people on lower incomes to cope with funeral expenses and the loss of essential income that can come with losing a family member.

Committee Members have heard that one claimant had to have her son frozen whilst she saved because she was unable to pay for the funeral. The Government provides Social Fund payments to help people unable to pay for funerals, but these are paid in retrospect and do not cover the full costs.

Factors such as lack of burial space, rising funeral director’s fees and the increase of private crematoria have all been cited as reasons for the increasing cost of funerals.

 Tomorrow Wednesday 27 January 2015 the at 9.30 am in the Wilson Room, Portcullis House, the Committee will question Simon Cox of Royal London Group, followed by DWP Minister Baroness Altmann on the issues raised by the inquiry, including:

Funerals

• The rationale for a cap of £700 for “other funeral expenses” which must cover collection and care of the deceased, coffin, Minister’s fee etc. The cap has been in place since 2003.
• Whether changes to Social Fund funeral payments could help to curb the number of Public Health Funerals. An FOI by the BBC suggests that the number Public Health Funerals is increasing

Bereavement benefits

• Whether changes could be made so that cohabiting couples with children are also eligible for the new Bereavement Support Payment.  Currently only married couples or couples in a civil partnership are eligible, even if couples have dependent children together
• Why the Bereavement Support Payment is only paid for a year whereas Widowed Parent’s Allowance is payable for a number of years and the impact this could have on bereaved children

The Minister of Entertainment (we wish) at the Conservative Party, Boris Johnson, has been writing today about how we should not blame Google for their tax avoidance. ‘It’s the ‘UK’s’ fault that this is happening’ says Boris.

Mr Johnson, does not mention that a major user of tax havens are hedge funds, one if not the biggest source of Conservative Party donations - or that over half the world’s tax havens are of British  origin, and that the City of London with its links to all these destinations, is a form of tax haven itself.

Moreover, that 6% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions comes from the aviation industry, and those who live in Monaco for example and commute by private jet each week, are hardly helping the environment - while the tax that they don't pay has to be paid by everyone else.  Those flooded out of their homes recently might have a view about global warning by now and how we all need to change our lifestyles to ones that are not simply selfish and self-focused.  

The ABC argues: That only by staying in the EU can we hope to tackle these injustices.