Designated Public Place Orders, which will restrict the consumption of alcohol in public places throughout North East Lincolnshire, will be discussed by Select Committee in February.

Residents of North East Lincolnshire are being offered the chance to express their views on whether alcohol consumption in public places should be restricted through the introduction of a Designated Public Places Order (DPPO) across the borough.

DPPOs give the police extra powers to help them crack down on drinkers who disturb and intimidate other residents through anti-social behaviour.

The order does not ban drinking in public places but allows police officers to ask people to stop drinking when they have reason to believe that alcohol-related nuisance and annoyance is likely to occur. The police also have the power to confiscate alcoholic drinks.

An offence is committed when a request from a police officer to stop drinking is ignored or refused.

The orders will be discussed by the council’s select committee on February 15, 16 and 17, before a report is submitted to the community protection committee by April 4, 2011.

Councillor Les Bonner, chairman of the select committee for drinking in public places, said:

“The DPPO is not intended to disrupt people’s peaceful activities but to tackle the anti-social behaviour that can sometimes be associated with drinking in public areas.

“The committee will look at what effect the DPPO would have on the area and its residents, and investigate how the orders have worked in other council areas across the country. We will also be weighing up the potential for improved health in the area.”

Residents who would like to be involved in the decision should fill in a form to submit their written evidence, for or against the DDPA, and return it by noon on Friday, February 11.

Forms are available electronically by emailing scrutiny@nelincs.gov.uk or by calling the Scrutiny hotline, on (01472) 326134.

Completed forms should be sent to: North East Lincolnshire Council Scrutiny Team, Municipal Offices, Town Hall Square, Grimsby, DN31 1HU, business reply license number: RLZE-TTGE-SGRY. No stamp is needed.

Alternatively, people can email their comments directly to scrutiny@nelincs.gov.uk

“Today, Ed Balls firmly confirmed his credentials a deficit enthusiast, denying that Labour ran the biggest structural deficit of the G7.”

Commenting on Ed Balls interview on the Andrew Marr Show today, Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Treasury Committee, Stephen Williams, said:

“Today, Ed Balls firmly confirmed his credentials a deficit enthusiast, denying that Labour ran the biggest structural deficit of the G7.

“Whilst the OECD, the IMF and the Bank of England support the Government’s plans to deal with the empty coffers Labour left behind, Ed Balls denies he had anything to do with the toxic state of affairs the Coalition inherited.

“This former City Minister, who repeatedly praised the light-touch regulation that failed to reign in the banks’ reckless and careless attitude, now refuses to take responsibility for egging Gordon Brown on to spend and spend, leaving us with the biggest structural deficit of the G7.

“It is clear that Labour have no regrets, no apologies and no answers. It is time Ed Balls left his Never-Neverland and started supporting the plans to get this country back on it’s feet.”

Residents of North East Lincolnshire are being offered the chance to express their views on whether alcohol consumption in public places should be restricted through the introduction of a Designated Public Places Order (DPPO) across the borough.

DPPOs give the police extra powers to help them crack down on drinkers who disturb and intimidate other residents through anti-social behaviour.

The order does not ban drinking in public places but allows police officers to ask people to stop drinking when they have reason to believe that alcohol-related nuisance and annoyance is likely to occur. The police also have the power to confiscate alcoholic drinks.

An offence is committed when a request from a police officer to stop drinking is ignored or refused.

The orders will be discussed by the council’s select committee, of which I am the chair, on February 15, 16 and 17, before a report is submitted to the community protection committee by April 4, 2011.

The DPPO is not intended to disrupt people’s peaceful activities but to tackle the anti-social behaviour that can  sometimes be associated with drinking in public areas.

The committee will look at what effect the DPPO would have on the area and its residents, and investigate how the orders have worked in other council areas across the country. We will also be weighing up the potential for improved health in the area.

Residents who would like to be involved in the decision can email their comments directly to scrutiny@nelincs.gov.uk, or they can fill in a form to submit their written evidence, for or against the DDPA, and return it by noon on Friday, February 11.

Forms are available electronically by emailing scrutiny@nelincs.gov.uk or by calling the Scrutiny hotline, on (01472) 326134.

Completed forms should be sent to:

North East Lincolnshire Council Scrutiny Team,

Municipal Offices,Town Hall Square, Grimsby,

DN31 1HU,

business reply license number: RLZE-TTGE-SGRY.  No stamp is needed.

A new report from the British Bankers Association (BBA) says that the UK’s debt advice system should be made simpler, and should also be reformed to protect individuals from unscrupulous operators.

The two main proposals in the report are the formation of a single body to regulate debt advice, and simpler debt remedies to help to streamline the process of debt management.

The report, entitled ‘A New Model for Dealing with Personal Debt’, says that people who are struggling with debts should have a clear range of options, and that there should be greater consistency in the way creditors deal with people who are in financial difficulties and consistency in the way debt advice is provided.

The report comes at a time when personal debt in the UK stands at nearly £1.5 trillion and personal insolvency rates have risen to record levels.

Individuals who are struggling to keep up with their debts currently face a confusing range of options, including both informal and formal solutions, while some groups offer free advice and others charge for it.

The report has highlighted a number of options to make the current proposed plans on debt advice easier to understand.

As part of the suggestions, the it is proposed that the system should be tailored more towards consumers’ financial circumstances and should include the option to postpone loan payments for people in temporary financial difficulty to give them extra time to make up for outstanding debts.

Other options would include drawing up Debt Repayment Plans, under which interest and charges would be frozen in exchange for people making partial repayments each month.

In some cases, creditors could use people’s assets as a security against their debt to give them breathing space at a time when their income has fallen, and s a final course of action, debts could still be written off by going through bankruptcy if there were no alternative funds available from the consumer.

The plans would also stress the importance of early intervention to try and help people reduce their debts before they get unmanageable.

The report also calls for the creation of a single body to regulate the debt advice sector, which would be responsible for granting a debt management licence.  This would replace the current system under which advisers can hold either an insolvency practitioner’s licence or a consumer credit one, and firms are regulated by either the Ministry of Justice or the Office of Fair Trading.

The publication of the report comes as the Office of Fair Trading announced that 35 debt management companies have lost their consumer credit licences as a result of a compliance review. This also follows a warning to 129 firms in September after the OFT’s review of the debt management sector found widespread problems with compliance.

Paul Ross, BBA policy director and co-author of the report, said:

“Our vision is to provide a clear and coherent process to help people facing debt difficulties, to intervene early where possible and to provide a simple debt resolution solution if those early attempts do not succeed. We want to unravel the red tape to bring about a more financially responsible solution for customers.”

The report has been welcomed by the industry. Delroy Corinaldi of the Consumer Credit Counselling Service, said:

“Those struggling with debt are often stressed and confused about their situation and need clear, independent advice and support of the highest standards. It appears that this is still not the case within the fee-charging debt management sector.

“Many households will be pushed closer to the edge this year. I fear that more people who may be just about managing to make ends meet now will find themselves unable to keep up with their credit commitments as the year progresses, and worried and unclear as to what help is available, will end up paying for debt advice.”

On 27 January the National Fraud Authority (NFA) published its second Annual Fraud Indicator (AFI). One of the findings of the report is that fraud is estimated to cost the UK over £38 billion a year.

The new estimate and comprehensive data breakdown is the result of improved methodologies and cooperation across Government and industry, and it also shows the real impact fraud has on individuals, businesses and Government.

Estimates losses to fraud by sector:

• Public – £21 billion
• Private – £12 billion
• Individuals – £4 billion
• Charity – £1.3 billion

The public sector is the source of the highest proportion of the fraud loss at £21 billion, or 55% of the total figure.  For the first time this estimate includes new and more accurate figures for procurement (£2.4 billion) and grant fraud (£515 million).

The size of the estimate fraud in the public sector for is, in part, due to diligence in reporting fraud loss data, combined with more comprehensive measurement techniques than those used in other sectors. It is also important to note that this figure represents a relatively small percentage when taken in context of the public sector’s overall spending and income.

A better understanding of fraud in the public sector has led to the Cabinet Office setting up a cross-Government Counter-Fraud Taskforce which is overseeing a number of pilots to develop and establish counter fraud techniques that can be rolled out across the public sector.  In addition to this, the NFA is progressing 15 different projects, many of which form a part of the Taskforce work, to help central and local government cut key fraud risks and deliver savings.

Collaboration with the charitable sector has enabled the NFA, for the first time, to provide an accurate estimate of the level of fraud within this sector.  The figure of £1.3 billion was identified in a survey the NFA conducted gauging how fraud affects the sector, to which over 1,000 charities responded.  This estimate represents around 2.4% of the total charity sector turnover.  The NFA and the Charity Commission are working closely together on a number of counter-fraud prevention initiatives to encourage charities to build improved fraud prevention measures into their operations and to develop a stronger counter fraud culture in this sector.

Private sector losses to fraud of £12 billion make up 31% of the total annual figure.

• The financial services industry recorded the highest loss to fraudsters at £3.6 billion. This is a slight decrease on the 2010 AFI figure of £3.8 billion due to improved fraud prevention methods involving plastic card (£440 million) and cheque fraud (£30 million)
• Online banking, however, has seen an increase of 14% (£60 million). The sector continues to invest heavily in counter fraud systems and solutions to help stay one step head of the criminals
• Mortgage fraud (£1 billion) and insurance fraud (£2.1 billion) remain high.
• A new inclusion in the AFI is fraud losses to SMEs at £780 million. The NFA and the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) worked together to produce this estimate – the first of its kind. It is hoped that raising awareness of the scale of loss will spur new fraud prevention initiatives in this sector.

Individual citizens’ losses accounted for 10% of the overall fraud figure (£4 billion), covering loss from mass-marketing fraud such as share sale, lottery and advanced fee frauds as well as newer frauds such as online ticketing and rental fraud.  This additional information along with data included from Action Fraud, the national fraud reporting centre run by the NFA, widened the scope of last year’s figure (£3.5 billion) to produce an increased figure within this AFI.  Action Fraud saw over 70,000 contacts made by the public and 10,000 crimes reported totalling £93 million lost by individuals over the past 12 months to fraudsters.

The NFA and law enforcement are working together to build increased capacity for disruption of criminal attacks against individuals, as well as better intelligence sharing and analytics to support enforcement action. 

Cross-government and industry work also continues to increase public awareness of fraud and how to protect against it.

Dr Bernard Herdan, Chief Executive of the NFA, said: 

“Victims of fraud are found in all sections of society.  Whether it is the public, private and charity sectors or as individual citizens, it is vital we join together to take action to stem the rising tide of fraud.  The Annual Fraud Indicator is our blueprint. It enables us to gain a perspective and judge the scale of the problem and target our actions accordingly.

“Tackling fraud will not solely be achieved through more investigation, prosecution and punishment of fraudsters.  The NFA is working with its partners to promote greater fraud awareness and self-protection, encourage organisations to adopt fraud proof systems, enable fraud reporting and facilitate better sharing of intelligence on fraudsters.  We want to develop a stronger counter fraud culture, which helps to disrupt fraudulent activity across the UK and globally.”

Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, said: “

The latest National Fraud Authority estimate shows that 55% of fraud – a massive £21 billion – is committed against the public sector. That’s the equivalent of building 800 secondary schools, or employing over 615,000 nurses and it’s a problem that we are not going to ignore.  Ripping off the taxpayer will not be tolerated.

“Contrary to what many people think, fraud and error is not just confined to benefits and revenue.  It affects every Government department and impacts on the Government’s ability to deliver better public services, while stripping the civil service of vital resources.  We can’t and won’t allow this to happen anymore.  Our Counter Fraud Champions will begin work immediately to crack down on fraud across Government and public services.

“We know this zero tolerance approach works.  The pilots being run by the Counter Fraud Taskforce, which I set up last year, are already making serious savings.  HMRC has already saved £1m from stopping single person allowance fraud, where 300 people have been identified as actually living with a partner.  If rolled out nationally, this exercise could save £500m – £1bn over the next 18 months.”

According to a report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), three-quarters of a million people are set to become higher rate taxpayers as a result of Government reforms to the system, a report indicated today.

Around 750,000 people will begin to pay the higher rate of income tax of 40% of their earnings from April 5 because of the decision to reduce the income tax threshold at which the higher rate starts to £35,001, from £37,400 this year.

As well as this around 500,000 people will stop paying income tax altogether, due to of the £1,000 increase in the amount people can earn tax-free, raising the threshold to £7,475.

The Government is also increasing the main rate at which National Insurance is charged from 11% to 12% from the start of the new tax year, while people will also be charged 2% not 1% on earnings above £42,484.

The IFS saiys that the reforms will hit higher income households the hardest, with some people in this group also likely to be affected by the new restrictions on how much can be paid into a pension tax-free each year.

It estimates that the richest 10% of people will lose 3% of their net income from April 6, compared with a 1% loss for the population as a whole.

Those with the highest incomes have already been hit by the new 50% tax rate for people earning more than £150,000 and the loss of the personal tax allowance for those on more than £100,000.

James Browne, a senior research economist at the IFS, said:

“Further reductions in household income are inevitable as Government policies aimed at helping to reduce Government borrowing from its post-Second World War high are introduced.

“The set of changes coming in April is complex and the pattern of gains and losses reflects this.

“Perhaps less remarked upon are the changes in marginal tax rates. While taking 500,000 out of tax altogether, the way that the Government has increased the personal allowance to ensure that higher rate taxpayers don’t gain will increase the number of higher rate taxpayers by 750,000.

“We calculate that a further 850,000 would be brought into this higher rate bracket by 2014-15 if the Government reaches its ambition of a £10,000 allowance in the same way.”

A Treasury spokesman said:

“Stable, balanced public finances benefit everyone as they create the right conditions for growth and help keep interest rates down. The Government have had to make tough choices but have always been clear that those with the broadest shoulders should carry the greatest burden.

“It’s a matter of fairness. We cannot justify taxing the poorest to pay benefits such as tax credits and child benefit to higher earners. The changes to be made in April mean that tax credits will be targeted at those who need them most.

“At the same time personal tax changes will remove nearly a million of the lowest earners out of tax altogether, and around 23 million basic rate taxpayers will gain by £170 per annum on average in 2011-12.”

The following article was written by Paul Sinclair and was originally published on the Yes to Fairer Votes Website:

The UK may be debating electoral reform this year, but you won’t hear the BBC referring to it that way. According to an internal memo leaked to the Independent, the BBC won’t be referring to the upcoming referendum as “reform,” because it’s too positive a word:

In an internal BBC memo leaked to The Independent, Ric Bailey, the corporation’s chief political adviser, says:

“Please can we make sure that we don’t describe this – in our own scripts, headlines, etc – as the referendum on ‘electoral reform’. When the BBC’s Guidance is published ahead of the referendum period, it will make clear that, in the context of the referendum, that is not an impartial term – ‘reform’ explicitly contains a definition of ‘improvement’.”

This is ridiculous, but consistent behaviour from the management of the BBC. If BBC management are suggesting that by using the word ‘reform’ in electoral reform they are implicitly recommending it to viewers and listeners, then by their own standards they have spent the last week advocating the government’s NHS reforms and the government’s education reforms before that because that is what they have called the measures.

Adopting the Alternative Vote is electoral reform. There is no other way to describe it.

The reality is that the YES! to Fairer Votes campaign has unfortunately had problems of impartiality before with the BBC. For months, we have seen the BBC and the No campaign dictate which of our representatives speak out for fairer votes.

But we know that our supporters only fight harder when they’re pushed into a corner. That’s why it’s more important than ever to spread the word about the YES! Campaign, and get your friends and family involved today.

Let’s tell Mr. Bailey that we actually agree with him one thing: this reform is about improving the system, whether he wants to say it on the BBC or not.

The following article by Leader of the Liberal Democrats in Local Government, Richard Kemp, originally apperaed on his website 

I don’t know whether many of you saw the article in last week’s Inside Housing from SAVE about the Welsh Streets. I have never read such absolute twaddle since I read one of Grant Shapp’s speeches on housing.

SAVE and Grant have the same problem. They cannot understand that housing is not about buildings and money (although these are, of course, vital). Housing is about people, neighbourhoods, communities and life chances.

Let’s look at the Welsh Streets and the Housing Market Renewal Initiative. The HMRI was started not as the result of some nasty plot by the Labour Government but as a result of discussion in Liverpool with the government in which I led for us and Charlie Falconer led for the government. It was predicated on a fact – Liverpool has too many two up two down Victorian properties for which there would not be a market to the current extent even if they were modernised.

We actually went and asked a vital group of people a simple question in 1998, “Why did you move out of Liverpool?”  The answer was complex but compelling. They were moving because our services were crap and the housing did not meet their aspirations. They wanted to live in 3 bed roomed detached and semi-detached homes in a nice clean area with a good school. We didn’t provide any of these things.

On that basis we looked in detail at who owned what housing and what the demand for it was. The answer was also clear all over the city there was a preponderance of poor quality terraces. Terraces like those in the Welsh Streets that had been built in the 1870s quite shoddily for a 50 year life and we had renovated them twice. We had preponderance at the other end of newish concrete monstrosities – particularly maisonettes which had been damp from the day they were built. So we published the facts and went to discuss them with the communities where there was an oversupply of the wrong type of accommodation. They overwhelmingly supported limited demolition. In the Welsh Streets for example after a 3 year consultation process 68% of local residents voted for a demolition programme and only 15% voted against. That’s democracy in action. In total only 10,000 out of 220,000 properties were scheduled for demolition over 12 years. This implies that current housing in Liverpool will have a 200+ years life span. Even in those areas where demolition proceeded they were a minority of the areas’ housing.

You can read the rest of this article at http://ow.ly/3MKCc

Britain’s biggest credit reference agency, Experian, has been accused of misleading those who subscribe to what is  supposed to be a free service to check their financial records.

Experian advertises the service on its website, inviting people to “Get your free Experian credit report.  The UK’s No1 credit report!”

People who would like to take up the offer then have to provide personal information, including their address and credit-card details, but after receiving their online credit report, customers are automatically signed up to a full service charging them £14.99 a month.  Many people claim that it is very difficult to opt out of the payments.

One customer said:

“I searched for hours on the Experian website to get out of paying any money.  I couldn’t even locate the freephone number which they say you have to ring to unsubscribe, and even when I said I didn’t want to pay I was offered another service costing £7.99 a month.”

Experian’s profits have risen recently as consumers use its online service to check their credit-worthiness during the economic downturn, and it has also seen an increase in the number of users who have checked their profiles after having their debit or credit card cloned.  Credit reports are one of the main sources used by financial institutions when deciding whether to offer loans.

Experian has admitted that the wording on their website which states that the customer has been charged immediately was misleading and has promised to remove it.

In the past 18 months, 360 people have complained to consumer rights organisation Which? about the UK’s three credit agencies, with many of them saying they have been sold unwanted products such as identity fraud insurance or have had trouble correcting false information about their financial history.

Consumer Focus is urging customers who have not taken advantage of their refund from npower for gas bill overpayments during 2007, to claim their share of more than £20 million that has not yet been claimed.

On October 1st 2010 npower and Consumer Focus announced that npower would be offering £70 million of refunds to customers.  Since then almost 1.2 million customers have been paid over £51 million in total and Consumer  focus is urging the remaining 700,000 people who have not claimed their refund to make sure they get the money they are entitled to.  With payments of up to £100, and an average of £35 plus VAT and interest, the payment could make a big difference to cash-strapped consumers.

Christine Farnish, Chair of Consumer Focus, said:

“It is great news that over fifty million pounds has now been put back into the pockets of over a million people by npower.  We want to encourage all those consumers still entitled to a refund to get the cash that’s rightfully theirs.

“We urge anyone with a payment letter at home from npower to take it to their local post office now and get their refund. Anyone else who thinks they may be due a refund should call the npower helpline on 0800 975 7938 to see if they are eligible.”

Volker Beckers, Chief Executive Officer of npower, said:

“We are working closely with Consumer Focus to maximise the number of eligible customers and former customers who claim their payment. We are still seeing redemptions running at more than £1 million per week and we hope that those who have unredeemed letters will redeem them soon.”

npower is offering repayments to a total of 1.89 million households. These customers are likely to have paid for more higher-priced gas units than they expected to in 2007 after the company changed the way it charged for these units but did not communicate the changes effectively.  npower has worked closely with Consumer Focus to ensure a fair amount is paid back to the customers affected.

npower have written to all existing customers and to the last known address for all former customers. They have offered payment through a bar-coded letter that can be cashed at any Post Office.  Payment letters to the value of £60 million have been sent to 1.5 million customers.  Following a reminder letter to current customers 82% of people who have received a letter have taken up their refund. Consumer Focus is urging anyone who has been contacted by npower to make sure they cash in their payment at the Post Office as soon as possible, as the payment letters are only valid for six months from the date of issue.

Many former npower customers who were affected have moved house as well as supplier, and are much harder for the firm to contact about the refund available. Therefore unsurprisingly a lower proportion (49%) of previous npower customers, have taken-up their refund.⁵

The watchdog is urging people who were customers of npower in 2007, but have since left the supplier or  moved house, to call npower’s helpline on 0800 975 7938 or visit npower’s website to find out if they are entitled to a refund.