Newsroom

Associated Sites:

MoD spent £811m to fill weapons gaps in Iraq operations

Sector: Defence
Date: 30/6/05
Source: The Financial Times
Link: http:// www.ft.com

The Ministry of Defence has been forced to spend £811 million on urgently needed weapons and equipment to fill gaps in the armed forces' capabilities for operations in Iraq, a parliamentary study reveals today.

Although nearly all of the equipment acquired at the last minute was delivered to troops on time and proved effective, the Commons public accounts committee figures are a £300 million increase from a study issued just seven months ago. This shows the MoD is still spending heavily to fill equipment gaps during peacekeeping operations in southern Iraq.

The report praises the MoD and defence contractors for quickly responding to the orders, called "urgent operational requirements", but criticises the ministry for not planning better, arguing that it was running the risk of sending troops into dangerous situations without needed equipment.

Passport technology will have to be updated

Sector: Central Government
Date: 30/6/05
Source: The Financial Times
Link: http:// www.ft.com

The UK government will have to update the technology planned for new passports and identity cards will have to be updated within the next 10 years or risk the potential for a new generation of fraudulent documents and identity thieves, one of its senior official has warned.

Bernard Herdan, chief executive of the UK Passport Service, said the roll-out of new travel documents involving biometric technologies of facial recognition, iris and fingerprint scanning aimed to make documents less prone to identity theft.

But he acknowledged that the new system would still be prone capable to abuse. “With the existing design of a passport with a digitally scanned photograph, we have detected a tiny number of decent quality frauds taking place. This compares with the older style passports of which there were cupboards and cupboards of forgeries we discovered,” Mr Herdan said.

CBI criticises jail tender 'about-turn'

Sector: Central Government
Date: 30/6/05
Source: The Financial Times
Link: http:// www.ft.com

The government must maintain its commitment to using the private sector for the delivery of public services if companies are to invest in the capacity to deliver, Sir Digby Jones, director-general of the CBI employers' body, warned yesterday.

The warning came as he condemned the government's recent "about-turn" decision not to put out to tender the management of three prisons on the Isle of Sheppey. The tender was postponed after a deal between the Prison Officers' Association and the Home Office to improve performance in all prisons. Home Office officials described it as "a milestone in public service partnership".

‘Complacent’ NHS fails to beat superbugs

Sector: Health
Date: 23/6/05
Source: The Independent
Link: www.independent.co.uk

The NHS is losing the battle against soaring rates of hospital infections because of a combination of inertia and complacency, according to a scathing report.

Ministers, officials and NHS trust managers have failed to get to grips with the threat posed by bugs including MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) which are causing widespread suffering and deaths and undermining public confidence, the Commons Public Accounts Committee says.

Government attacked over inadequate green energy policies

Sector: Energy
Date: 24/6/05
Source: The Guardian
Link: www.guardian.co.uk

The government was warned yesterday that aspects of its policies to develop renewable energy and reduce carbon emissions were “totally inadequate”.

As Tony Blair prepares to tell G8 members at the July summit in Gleneagles that they must do more to reduce greenhouse gases, the Renewable Power Association, the green energy generators’ trade body, said there was a significant gap between rhetoric and reality in Britain.

Hospitals in red despite record health spending

Sector: Health
Date: 24/6/05
Source: The Times
Link: www.timesonline.com

One in four NHS trusts in England is in deficit and the situation is deteriorating despite massive injections of funds into the health service in the past two years.

The financial crisis has led to closed wards, cancelled operations and staff shortages in several hospitals as managers struggle to meet targets and balance their books.

A joint report from the National Audit Office and the Audit Commission shows that the National Health Service as a whole is in deficit for the first time in five years, with some NHS trusts overspending by up to £32 million.

Clarke keen to speed up ID card plan

Sector: Central Government
Date: 27/6/05
Source: The Financial Times
Link: www.FT.com

Charles Clarke wants to speed the roll-out of national identity cards so the government can reap the benefits more quickly, cutting from an envisaged 10 years to eight the time taken to implement the scheme.

The home secretary’s move risks putting up the annual costs of introducing the cards, but Home Office officials believe it could result in swifter public acceptance and earlier security gains.

Serious failures in flagship PFI hospital trigger inquiry call

Sector: PFI
Date: 27/6/05
Source: The Herald
Link: www.theherald.co.uk

An in-depth report into the biggest hospital built in Scotland under the controversial PFI scheme has uncovered a series of failures in its planning and development.

Councillors who carried out a cross-party review of the £184 million Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, plagued with difficulties since its move from the city centre to the outskirts, now want the Scottish Executive to launch an inquiry.

Rising cost of ID card plan fuels unease

Sector: Central Government
Date: 28/6/05
Source: The Financial Times
Link: www.FT.com

The cost of introducing national identity cards could rise to well over £100 a person if Labour meets a commitment to offer discounts for those on low incomes and the elderly, according to internal Home Office estimates.

Charles Clarke, the home secretary, is understood to be trying to contain the rising cost of the ID card scheme in the face of growing unease among labour backbenchers.

Doctors could dump white coats in war on superbugs

Sector: Health
Date: 28/6/05
Source: The Herald
Link: www.theherald.co.uk

Health service staff should abandon their traditional white lab coats and wear ER-style scrubs to help win the fight against hospital-acquired infections, doctors heard.

The move is now to be considered by the British Medical Association amid widespread concern about the number of patients who pick up bugs on wards.

Treasury under attack for failing to hit deadlines on bill payments

Sector: Central Government
Date: 28/6/05
Source: The Financial Times
Link: www.FT.com

The Treasury has come under fire for failing to pay almost one in five of its bills on time, in spite of the government’s repeated exhortations to business to eschew late payments.

Gordon Brown’s department is one of the worst in Whitehall when it comes to the late payment of bills to business suppliers and other creditors, according to official figures released by the Department of Trade and Industry.

Brown borrows record £9bn a month to fund spending

Sector: Central Government
Date: 21/6/05
Source: Telegraph
Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Government borrowing reached a record high last month as tax revenues came in far below Gordon Brown's forecasts, it was announced yesterday.

The Office for National Statistics said public sector net borrowing stood at £8.735 billion in May - the highest total since records began in 1993.

Although it is only the second month of the financial year, the deficit was large enough to rekindle fears that the Chancellor would break his fiscal rules.

Plan for super-hospital scrapped after eight years and £14m

Sector: Health
Date: 21/06/05
Source: Guardian
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk

The NHS will axe its biggest ever hospital investment today, scrapping plans for a private finance initiative to build a £1.1billion healthcare and research campus in west London.

Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary, will approve an independent inquiry into how the scheme for a super-hospital in Paddington wasted eight years of effort and almost £14 million in project costs before being cancelled without a brick being laid.

The plan for a Paddington health campus would have brought together Sir Magdi Yacoub's world famous Harefield heart transplant centre, St Mary's hospital, the Royal Brompton hospital and medical research facilities from Imperial College on the giant Paddington Basin residential and retail site in west London.

£10bn rise fears follow soaring deficit

Sector: Central Government
Date: 21/06/05
Source: The Herald
Link: http://www.theherald.co.uk

City economists yesterday forecast taxes would have to rise by about £10 billion after official figures showed the budget deficit surged to a record high in May, raising doubts over whether Gordon Brown can meet his borrowing forecast for the year.

They said it would be equivalent to putting almost 3p on the basic rate of income tax.
Public sector net borrowing in May was £8.735 billion, according to the Office for National Statistics. That was the highest monthly total since records began in April 1993 and well above the forecast of £7 billion.

3i Group invests £150m in PFI fund manager

Sector: PFI/PPP
Date: 21/06/05
Source: The Times
Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk

3i GROUP, the FTSE 100’s only private equity firm, has identified the Government’s Private Finance Initiative (PFI) as being key to its future and paid £150 million for a stake in one of the UK’s largest infrastructure investment fund managers, The Times has learnt.

The venture capital firm has acquired one third of I2, a fund manager set up in November 2003 by Barclays and Société Générale, in a deal that sees 3i investing £150 million in the manager’s first fund.

I2, which manages £450 million with 3i’s contribution, agreed its 30th deal on Friday. It bought the stake of Kajima Corporation, the Japanese construction firm, in a Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs building in Cambridge for just over £10 million.

Deficit of £7.1 billion poses new threat of tax rises

Sector: Central Government
Date: 21/06/05
Source: The Times
Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk

Public borrowing soared to a record monthly high last month, undermining Gordon Brown’s projections for a sustained improvement in the Government’s finances and reviving the threat of tax rises.

The slowdown on the high street hit VAT revenues and spending rose at a faster pace than taxes. The result was a deficit on the current account — which the Chancellor uses to calculate his Golden Rule — of £7.1 billion in May, the highest figure for two years.

The current account deficit, with an unexpectedly large £1.6 billion spent on investment, raised net borrowing to £8.7 billion, the highest figure since monthly records began in 1992.

Public borrowing hits record

Sector: Central Government
Date: 21/06/05
Source: Guardian
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk

The government suffered a record budget deficit last month, official figures showed yesterday, but the government insisted that the public finances had not run out of control.

The Office for National Statistics reported public sector net borrowing of £8.7bn in May, considerably more than the City had expected and the worst since monthly records began in 1993. It was also worse than the £7bn shortfall in May last year.

The Tories leapt on the data: "These figures make grim reading, and vividly illustrate the poor state of the public finances. Gordon Brown borrowed more money last month than at any time during his eight years in office. His claims to be a prudent chancellor are becoming a distant memory," said shadow chancellor George Osborne.

Britain ‘ready to pay fair share to EU’

Sector: Central Government
Date: 21/6/05
Source: Telegraph
Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Britain's contributions to the European Union budget will rise once Europe's finances are reformed and put on a sensible basis, Tony Blair told MPs yesterday.

Although the Prime Minister strongly defended his decision to refuse to give up Britain's £3 billion a year budget rebate, he said it was ready to pay a "fair share" of the costs of enlarging the EU.

After last week's summit in Brussels ended in an acrimonious stalemate, Mr Blair said the current budget arrangements were not "fit for purpose in the 21st century". In a Commons statement, Mr Blair launched a thinly veiled attack on the stance taken by France and Germany, who led the unsuccessful attack on the British rebate secured by Margaret Thatcher 21 years ago.

Referring to suggestions that the failure to reach a deal had deepened Europe's crisis, Mr Blair said the EU's credibility demanded "not the usual cobbled-together compromise in the early hours of the morning but a deal which recognises the nature of the crisis".

Councils ‘hoard’ road repair budgets

Sector: Local Government
Date: 21/6/05
Source: Telegraph
Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Local authorities have been accused of putting lives at risk by underspending their budgets for road repairs.

Almost half of authorities in England are underspending on road maintenance, despite one in five of England's roads being classed as "substandard", new research suggests.

England 's 154 local authorities were asked if they had spent their allocated funds for road repairs. Of the 88 who responded, 47 per cent had underspent, according to research by Real Story, a BBC documentary broadcast last night.

Bill would force Airbus to install missile defence
Date : Mon 20th Jun 2005
Source: Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com


The Financial Times has reported that a senior Republican has introduced legislation in the US Congress that would force Airbus to install technology on its A380 aircraft to counter the threat from shoulder-fired missiles.

A senior Republican has introduced legislation in the US Congress that would force Airbus to install technology on its A380 aircraft to counter the threat from shoulder-fired missiles.

John Mica, Republican chairman of the House aviation sub-committee, last week introduced the bill, which would require aircraft that carry more than 800 passengers to install technology to combat Manpad (man-portable air defence systems) threats such as Stinger missiles.

Reliance escort deal could cost taxpayer more
Date: 20/6/05
Source: Scotsman

THE contract granted to the controversial firm Reliance to transport prisoners in Scotland could end up costing the taxpayer more than it did in the public sector.

One of the country's leading statisticians yesterday claimed the cost of the private prisoner escort service had shot up 20 per cent.

Professor Sheila Bird said her analysis showed that the original £126 million seven-year estimated costs for Reliance had now increased to more than £150 million.

Reliance was the subject of controversy last year after a series of prisoner escapes following the firm's takeover of prisoner escort duties from police. The Scottish Prison Officers' Association called for the service to be returned to the public sector.

O’Donnell urged to make radical civil service reforms

Sector: Central Government
Date: 16/06/05
Source: Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com

Sir Gus O'Donnell is being urged to carry out a fundamental reform of the civil service following his appointment as Whitehall's most senior official.

The new Cabinet Secretary faced calls yesterday to make government more accountable and less hierarchical when he takes up his post at the end of the summer.

The promotion of Sir Gus, who is currently the Chancellor's most senior official, is being seen in Westminster as evidence of Tony Blair's willingness to ensure an orderly handover of the premiership to Gordon Brown.

First Scots marine national park by 2008

Sector: Scotland
Date: 16/06/05
Source: The Scotsman
Link: http://www.scotsman.com

Scotland will have its first coastal and marine national park by 2008 under plans announced by the Scottish Executive yesterday, although its exact location remains a mystery.

Ross Finnie, the Environment Minister, revealed the initiative as he renewed the Executive's pledge to improve the management of the country's coastal and marine environments.

But although the move was welcomed by environmental groups, they also criticised the Minister for not going further to protect waters surrounding Scotland. In particular, they attacked the lack of a marine act similar to that promised in the Queen's Speech earlier this year for the rest of the UK.

MoD abandons £1 billion PFI contract

Sector: PPP/PFI
Date: 16/06/05
Source: Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com

The Ministry of Defence has abandoned a £1 billion Private Finance Initiative contract because it did not offer the best value for money.

The 30-year contract with the Landmark Training Consortium to provide training on tanks and other armoured vehicles is to be abandoned in favour of more "conventional procurement strategies", according to Lord Drayson, the Defence Procurement Minister.

The announcement comes a day after Patricia Hewitt, health secretary, hinted that fewer big hospitals might be built under PFI. Lord Drayson said: "We looked at all the issues and decided that in this case the PFI deal did not offer an acceptable value for money solution."

Green light for new Forth crossing

Sector: Scotland
Date: 15/06/05
Source: Scottish Executive
Link: http://www.scotland.gov.uk

Ministers gave the go-ahead yesterday for a third road bridge over the River Forth.

Nicol Stephen, the Transport Minister, announced that a new crossing will be built near the Kincardine Bridge at an estimated cost of £100-£120 million. Motorists will not be charged to cross the new bridge, at least for the foreseeable future.

The Scottish Executive's decision had been widely expected, as ministers gave provisional backing to the scheme three years ago, pending the outcome of a public inquiry.

NHS organisations flounder despite record funding

Sector: Health
Date: 16/06/05
Source: Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com

More National Health Service organisations have recorded bigger financial deficits for the fourth year running in spite of record levels of NHS funding, figures to be released next week will show.

The figures, to be disclosed by the Department of Health, National Audit Office and Audit Commission, brought a stark warning yesterday from James Strachan, the Audit Commission chairman, that the public sector needed a big improvement in its financial management as the Government introduced more choice, more competition and greater diversity of providers in public services.

Government puts £40m into cleaner electricity generation

Sector: Central Government
Date: 15/06/05
Source: Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com

The government has pledged £40m to support cleaner electricity generation projects, including technologies that capture greenhouse gases and store them under the North Sea.

The money will be used to support a range of technologies, including more efficient electricity generation from coal and gas as well as for hydrogen and fuel cells. Projects to cut emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas blamed for global warming, will be allocated £25m over the next four years with the remainder spent on hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.

Attack on using lottery cash ‘to plug gaps’ in public services

Sector: Central Government
Date: 15/06/05
Source: Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com

The spending of lottery money on areas traditionally funded by the taxpayer came under fire as the government unveiled plans to give the public a greater say in where the money went.

The Conservatives said they would not support the lottery bill, which the government is introducing to ‘streamline’ distribution to ensure more cash reaches good causes and charities.

Hewitt hints at fewer big PFI hospitals

Sector: Health
Date: 15/06/05
Source: Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com

Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary, hinted yesterday that fewer big hospitals might be built under the private finance initiative.

She was speaking ahead of the annual conference of the NHS Confederation, representing trusts, which wants more flexible designs to meet changing needs.

Ministers to spend £40m on plan to store waste gas under sea  

Sector: Environment
Date: 15/06/05
Source: The Scotsman
Link: http://www.scotsman.com

A pioneering plan to tackle climate change by capturing carbon dioxide from power plants and storing it safely in depleted North Sea oil and gas fields was announced by the government yesterday.

Carbon sequestration, as it is known, has long been contemplated as a solution to the problem of global warming.

The energy minister, Malcolm Wicks, has now announced £40 million funding for the development of technologies that can capture C02 from power stations and store it safely. The first such schemes will start in a decade.

One of the side-effects of pumping into oilfields off Scotland could be the recovery of millions of barrels of oil.

Axed asylum plans cost £18m

Sector: Central Government
Date: 15/06/05
Source: The Times
Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk

The Government has spent more than £18 million on its now abandoned plans to set up a network of accommodation centres for asylum-seekers, the Home Office has admitted.

Tony McNulty, the Immigration Minister, told MPs in a written statement yesterday that he has scrapped proposals for four centres — as reported in The Times on Saturday.

He also confirmed that an accommodation centre at Bicester, Oxfordshire, which had been given planning approval, is to be abandoned in spite of £18 million being spent on preparatory works.

Quango kings ‘bonfire’ threat

Sector: Scotland
Date: 13/06/05
Source: The Scotsman
Link: http://www.scotsman.com

The Scottish Executive is pouring £1.68 billion a year more into unelected public bodies than it did four years ago - despite repeated promises by senior Labour politicians to light a bonfire of the quangos.

The massive increase in spending includes an annual salary bill in excess of £4 million to pay for hundreds of officials to sit on quango boards. One couple, Alan and Morag Alexander, between them earn more than £85,000 a year from part-time posts. Lord Eassie, chairman of the Scottish Law Commission, is the highest earner, pulling in £155,404 a year for working 2½ days a week.

Despite pledges dating back to 1995, when Gordon Brown pledged a "bonfire of the quangos", the Executive now has responsibility for 144 public bodies, just seven fewer than in 2001 when Henry McLeish launched an all-out assault on quangos. Between them, they now spend £9.577 billion a year, up from £7.894 billion in 2001 - around £4,560 for each of Scotland's 2.1 million taxpayers.

ID cards will help fraudsters, Blair is told

Sector: Central Government
Date: 13/06/05
Source: The Times
Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk

Leading fraud experts have rejected Tony Blair’s claims that identity cards will help to stem the soaring costs of identity theft.

Dr James Backhouse, a director of the London School of Economics Information Systems Integrity Group, said that identity cards would instead become the new master key for identity fraudsters, who would be able to acquire the cards using stolen documents. An identity theft takes place every four minutes and costs the country an estimated £1.3 billion a year.

It is one of the fastest-growing crimes in Britain. Fraudsters typically use discarded utility bills or bank statements of their victims to apply for loans and credit cards. Mr Backhouse said it would be impossible for the Government to stop fraudsters from applying for identity cards using fake documents.

Cancer research centre for Glasgow

Sector: Health
Date: 13.06.05
Source: The Herald
Link: http://www.theherald.co.uk

Health chiefs yesterday announced the launch of a world-class cancer research institute for Scotland.

NHS Greater Glasgow said the state-of-the-art centre will help shake off Scotland’s reputation as Europe’s worst cancer blackspot.

Designer urges emphasis on ‘healthier buildings’

Sector: Health
Date: 13/06/05
Source: The Guardian
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk

Britain's buildings and public spaces are encouraging obesity and public health problems, according to the government's chief architecture adviser who has demanded that new developments be designed to improve the nation's fitness.

John Sorrell, chairman of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, said a lack of prominent staircases in new commercial and public buildings, inadequate exercise facilities in schools and streetscapes that discourage walking and cycling, are putting unnecessary strain on a public health system which is increasingly being forced to cope with disease caused by sedentary lifestyles.

Businesses ‘ignoring energy efficiency measures’

Sector: Environment
Date: 10/06/05
Source: Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com

Businesses are wasting more than £3bn a year in failing to put in place energy efficiency measures to control their use of electricity, water and materials.

The Environment Agency said yesterday that although businesses had helped to make rivers and bathing waters cleaner than they had been since records began, the opportunities for cutting costs by eliminating waste and inefficiency were still being ignored.

Doubts on funding NHS ‘monuments’

Sector: Health
Date: 10/06/05
Source: Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com

Doubts over the future of the private finance initiative as the means of funding the biggest hospital building programme in the history of the National Health Service have been raised by a senior health department official.

Bob Ricketts, head of capacity planning, said the programme is producing expensive and unnecessary "monuments", rather than flexible health care. The NHS needed "a fundamental rethink about how much we invest in capital, rather than human resources".

Government drive for ‘added value’

Sector: Central Government
Date: 9/6/05
Source: The Telegraph
Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk

The Government's Manufacturing Advisory Service claims it has smashed targets for the "added value" it provides to British industry.

The organisation says its work has been worth £155m to manufacturers over the first three years of its life - well ahead of the £93m target in April 2002.

The benefits have been achieved at a cost of £30m to the Department of Trade and Industry, regional development agencies and the Welsh Assembly.

The east is losing its appeal as a centre for outsourcing

Sector: Central Government
Date: 9/6/05
Source: The Telegraph
Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk

The climate for global outsourcing to offshore locations such as India has changed dramatically in the past year, with clear signs of increasing dissatisfaction at companies that have sent jobs and operations overseas.

A picture of growing numbers of companies prematurely terminating contracts and struggling to obtain the full potential from information technology offshoring deals is painted in a survey by management consulting firm DiamondCluster. The study, which polled 242 outsourcing providers and 210 buyers of their services, came up with results that DiamondCluster describes as "at times frightful".

It concludes: "Outsourcing is an industry at a crossroads. On the one hand, buyers say they are feeling more comfortable that the basic value proposition - quality service at a lower cost - is attainable.

Brown stands firm on rebate with threat to veto EU budget

Sector: Europe
Date: 8/6/05
Source: The Herald
Link: http://www.theherald.co.uk

Gordon brown last night threatened to veto the entire European Union’s budget package for 2007-13 if Britain’s annual £3 billion rebate comes under serious threat at next week’s Brussels summit.

The chancellor underlined the UK’s hardline position at a meeting of the EU finance minister after Jean-Claude Junker, the prime minister of Luxembourg – which currently holds the EU prenidency – put pressure on Britain, urging European leaders to forge ahead despite the rejection last week of the new EU constitution by French and Dutch voters.

Tories to monitor government savings

Sector: Central Government
Date: 8/6/05
Source: Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com

The Conservatives will today launch a watchdog to monitor whether the government delivers its promised £21.5bn of public sector savings. Michael Howard, the party leader, has commissioned David James, the corporate troubleshooter, to head the new body.

George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, said the new body was needed to hold the Treasury properly to account. "The government will say it's doing it [achieving the savings] but seeing whether it's happening in practice is an expert job," Mr Osborne told the Financial Times. He promised that "the findings of what will effectively be a watchdog for taxpayer value for money will be freely available to everybody, including ministers".

The opposition party hopes its initiative will tap into corporate scepticism about the speed and pace of public sector reform. Most businesses believe the government will miss the £21.5bn target for efficiency savings set by the Gershon review, according to a recent survey by the CBI, the employers' body. This week it warned of industry's "growing intolerance" for bearing the brunt of public spending increases.

Competition plan for PFI financing

Sector: PPP/PFI
Date: 8/6/05
Source: Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com

The government is poised to introduce competition into the financing of deals undertaken through the private finance initiative in an effort to save time and cut costs when PFI deals are struck.

The move will not be universally popular with equity and debt providers. But Treasury officials believe a separate competition to provide funds for PFI projects should become the norm rather than the exception. They believe that would provide more transparency and produce better value.

Running a separate funding competition, once the design and risk transfer in a PFI project was agreed, "should become the default option", Richard Abadie, head of PFI policy at the Treasury, told a National Audit Office conference on public/private partnerships in London yesterday.

Lethal bug is costing NHS £160m a year – and is spreading at a phenomenal rate

Sector: Health
Date: 8/6/05
Source: Health
Link: http://www.independent.co.uk

Hundreds of hospital wards are being closed and the NHS is losing £160m a year because of the lethal bug Clostridium difficile, affecting thousands of patients.

The Government is facing growing criticism from experts over its failure to tackle soaring rates of the C.difficile infection, which is linked to dirty wards and overuse of antibiotics.

The Independent revealed on Monday that the world-famous Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire has been hit by a virulent new strain of the bug.

Twelve patients at the hospital have died and more than 300 have been infected by C.difficile, which causes severe diarrhoea and spreads quickly from person to person. But a leading microbiologist said the bug was "endemic" throughout the whole of the NHS.

Government told to improve risk strategy on outsourcing services

Sector: IT
Date: 7/6/05
Source: Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com

Big improvements are needed in the way the government handles and shares risk when it outsources services to the private and voluntary sectors, says the National Audit Office.

Departments are slowly getting better at assessing and handling risks when they introduce policies and ways of delivering services, according to the NAO, the spending watchdog.

Tube groups ‘final to deliver’ track, signal and station upgrades

Sector: PFI/PPP
Date: 7/6/05
Source: Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com

The two consortia in charge of maintaining the London Underground under the public-private partnership have failed to deliver the necessary infrastructure up-grades, according to a report by the London assembly's transport committee. Metronet and Tubelines, which were brought in to run the network in 2003 and have 30-year contracts to maintain and upgrade it, have failed to deal with much-needed improvements to tracks, signals, lifts, escalators and stations, says the report.

"It is not just about the infrastructure companies committing more investment that will bring about improvement. There must be an improvement in management from within these companies, especially Metronet," it says.

CBI chief reveals plan to improve public services

Sector: Central Government
Date: 6/6/05
Source: Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com

A standing body to challenge the government over how well it delivers public services will be called for today by Sir Digby Jones, the CBI's director-general, as he warns that business has no stomach for further tax rises to fund them.

Calling for "a profoundly different approach" to achieving value for money, the employers' group chief will set out measures to improve public services and make them more accountable.

Business will not accept further tax rises to cope with any deficit in public spending, Sir Digby will warn, "particularly when the evidence of improvement in public sector productivity is weak".

Treasury in talks on Jarvis contracts

Sector: PFI/PPP
Date: 4/6/05
Source: Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com

The Treasury has admitted it is intimately involved in talks surrounding the rescue of Jarvis, the support services company that has narrowly avoided financial collapse several times since the start of the year.

Its involvement highlights the government's potential exposure to the collapse of the company or its inability to complete Private Finance Initiative projects agreed with the government.

While there is no suggestion that the government intervened in an attempt to put pressure on Jarvis's creditors to keep the company afloat, the Treasury has admitted that the department has been active in encouraging all parties to find a solution and meet their contractual liabilities.

Software supplier pays price for failure to deliver

Sector: IT
Date: 3/6/05
Source: Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com

Dumping a software supplier to a big technology project, such as the National Health Service's £6.2bn programme to create an electronic patient record, can never be ideal.

But the decision by Fujitsu to replace IDX as the supplier of the electronic record for 13m patients in the south and south-west at least shows that the structure of competing suppliers to the 10-year programme, set up by Richard Granger, its director-general, is working.

McCabe threatens takeover of failing councils

Sector: Local Government
Date: 2/6/05
Source: The Scotsman
Link: http://www.scotsman.com

Tom McCabe last night threatened to intervene directly to force failing local councils to improve their services to taxpayers.

The minister for local government’s warning that he would use his emergency powers to step in came after a damning report into one local authority sent shockwaves though councils across Scotland.

Chancellor ‘should change his rule on sustainable investments’

Sector: Central Government
Date: 2/6/05
Source: Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com

Gordon Brown should change one of his fiscal rules to prevent it becoming an arbitrary barrier to investment in public infrastructure, a prominent economist and former advisor to the Treasury said today.

Company due to supply NHS electronic record fired

Sector: Health
Date: 2/6/05
Source: Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com

IDX, the US software company that was to provide the National Health Service's electronic record for 13m people across the south and west of England, has been fired by Fujitsu, the company responsible for installing the new system.

Subject to contract, Fujitsu is to replace the software with Cerner's Millennium product, which is already installed at the Homerton and Newham hospitals in the East End of London.

Inverclyde council given five months to shape up

Sector: Local Government
Date: 2/6/05
Source: The Herald
Link: http://www.theherald.co.uk

A failing Scottish council has been given five months to transform itself or face being taken over by ministers after unprecedented official criticism.

A troubleshooting team will now be sent into Inverclyde Council after the Accounts Commission said "urgent and major remedial action" was needed to fix a weak and rudderless leadership.

The team includes the leaders and chief executives from four other councils, as well as the head of the new local government improvement service.

Firms ‘struggling’ to be ready for new EU directives

Sector: Europe
Date: 1/6/05
Source: The Times
Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk

City lawyers gave warning yesterday that securities firms were scrambling to be ready for two key European directives that will come into force at the beginning of next month.

The directives, one covering market abuse and one covering prospectuses, had already been delayed because some countries were struggling to comply in time.

NHS cash to pay private GPs

Sector: Health
Date: 31/5/05
Source: The Times
Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk

Private companies have been secretly assured more than £1 billion of NHS money to take over the running of GP services as part of a government drive to encourage the independent sector into primary health care.

Senior Whitehall officials had a closed meeting this month where they outlined plans to ring-fence 10 per cent of health trusts’ primary care budgets for contracts with private companies.

Blair set to shelve EU referendum

Sector: Europe
Date: 31/5/05
Source: Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com

Britain is to suspend plans to put the European Union constitution to the vote if the Netherlands follows France and rejects the treaty.

As the shockwaves of the French vote were resounding yesterday, it emerged that Tony Blair and Jack Straw, foreign secretary have decided immediately to freeze plans for a UK referendum if, as expected, the Dutch vote No.

ID card costs ‘could rise to £300 a head’

Sector: Central Government
Date: 30/5/05
Source: The Herald
Link: http://www.theherald.co.uk

An independent study of the government’s identity cards plans has suggested they could cost £300 a head, more than three times ministers’ estimates which have been rising steadily.

In evidence which will be seized on by opposition MPs and civil liberties groups, experts at the London School of Economics, who spent months studying the scheme, have estimated that the true cost of introducing ID cards could be more than £18 billion.

Government reviews private sector role in Prison Service

Sector: Date: 30/5/05
Source: Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com

The government is reviewing the future role of the private sector in the Prison Service, while putting on hold further building under the private finance initiative.

The rethink was signalled last week when Charles Clarke, home secretary, decided to postpone until the autumn plans to privatise the first cluster of three state-run prisons. Although the private sector has built and run prisons under PFI, these would have been the first group of older prisons to be taken over by independent companies.

Private prisons plan put on hold

Sector: Central Government
Date: 23/05/05
Source: The Guardian
Link: http://www.theguardian.co.uk

The home secretary, Charles Clarke, has halted plans to privatise the first cluster of three state-run prisons, after reaching a new agreement with the unions to drive up standards throughout the prison system estate in England and Wales.

The three jails, Elmley, Standford Hill and Swaleside, on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, together hold 2,000 male inmates and have an annual budget of £37m. They would have been the first group of public sector prisons to be offered to the private sector under a "contestability" deal.

Private forests cost taxpayers £40m

Sector: Central Government
Date: 23/05/05
Source: The Guardian
Link: http://www.theguardian.co.uk

Wealthy aristocrats, the royals and foreign timber companies are among those receiving grants worth £40 million a year from British and EU taxpayers to plant and maintain new forests in the UK.

The Forestry Commission has released details of the grants for the last two years, showing that Scotland's largest landowners and companies from Denmark, Finland, Canada, Holland and Austria have scooped the cash for tax-free investments in new plantations.

Barroso opens fire in EU budget battle

Sector: Europe
Date: 20/05/05
Source: Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com

Europe 's budget battle intensified on Thursday when José Manuel Barroso, European Commission president, attacked plans to cut spending on areas such as research and regional aid.

Mr Barroso's spokesman said revised budget plans presented by the EU's Luxembourg presidency were "disappointing" and Mr Barroso would oppose moves to create "a cut price Europe".

£80m debt written off as Argyll and Clyde health board is axed

Sector: Health
Date: 20/05/05
Source: The Scotsman
Link: http://www.scotsman.com/

A health board facing debts of up to £100 million is to be scrapped, Health Minister Andy Kerr has announced.

The responsibilities of NHS Argyll and Clyde will be divided between NHS Greater Glasgow and NHS highlands.

EU budget proposal to freeze UK rebate

Sector: Europe
Date: 19/05/05
Source: Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com

Britain's rebate from the European Union budget will be preserved but frozen possibly at close to Thursday's level of €4.6bn (£3.16bn) a year under a compromise plan aimed at brokering a deal on the next EU spending round.

The plan also proposes big cuts to the draft €1,000bn European Union budget in an attempt to bridge the gap between the main contributing countries such as Germany and Britain and the big recipients of EU funds in southern and eastern Europe.

Council plans £10m upgrade of city parks

Sector: Local Government
Date: 19/05/05
Source: The Scotsman
Link: http://www.scotsman.com

Glasgow council has unveiled a £10 million package to give the Dear Green Place the most beautiful parks in the world.

Emboldened by the success of the regeneration of Glasgow Green, which has attracted huge visitor numbers and massive investment, city councillors pledged to spend £5 million. And they are confident of procuring matching funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to pay for the first phase of a project to revamp the city’s main public parks by next year.

Whitehall quizzes suppliers on value for money

Sector: Central Government
Date: 19/05/05
Source: The Telegraph
Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk

The Government is to require its key suppliers to reveal more information about their supply chains to ensure that taxpayers get value for money and that smaller businesses get access to contracts.

The Office of Government Commerce, the central buying department which spends around £120 billion a year, has consulted on the proposals and plans to release new guidelines next month.

Government bid to control key select committees

Sector: Central Government
Date: 19/05/05
Source: The Guardian
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk

Labour MPs are braced for an attempt to impose newly-retired ministers at the head of key select committees, in a move that would tighten the government's grip on parliamentary opinion.

Nick Raynsford, Chris Mullin, John Spellar and Denis MacShane are among the still-energetic ministers who were dropped or resigned in Tony Blair's post-election reshuffle. MPs fear they could be offered a "soft landing" with a £13,100 a year chairmanship.

McCabe’s public service stand angers unions

Sector: Scotland
Date: 18/05/05
Source: The Herald
Link: http://www.theherald.co.uk

The Scottish finance minister has angered union leaders by saying it was "pointless" debating whether the public or private sector was better at delivering services.

Tom McCabe said people had to dump their pre-conceived ideas and celebrate the private sector's successes.

His statement confirmed the Scottish Executive's continued embrace of private firms and trashed the union theory that the public sector's philosophy of care will always trump the market's focus on profit.

McConnell’s grand savings plan dealt blow by watchdog

Sector: Scotland
Date: 17/05/05
Source: The Scotsman
Link: http://www.scotsman.com

Jack McConnell’s pledge to cut back Scotland’s burgeoning bureaucracy and redirect funds to front-line services was thrown into doubt by a "damning indictment" of his public-sector efficiency drive. Audit Scotland, the public-spending watchdog, delivered a stern rebuke to the Executive, telling civil servants that attempts to monitor the efficiency programme must be significantly improved and that they were in danger of ‘double-counting’ claimed savings and ignoring extra costs of the programme.

Brown’s warning over EU trade

Sector: Europe
Date: 17/05/05
Source: The Guardian
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk

Gordon Brown was set to warn that Europe’s sluggish economic performance is a significant risk to the outlook for Britain and was also expected to serve notice that he will try to drive reform forward during Britain’s forthcoming presidency of the EU.

Bid to cut curbs on foundation hospitals

Sector: Health
Date: 16/05/05
Source: The Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com

Tony Blair is prepared to press for greater powers for foundation hospitals in a move that could inflame his critics on the backbenches and reignite a row with Gordon Brown over their freedom to borrow.

The upcoming Queen's Speech, outlining the legislative programme for the new parliamentary session, is expected to leave room for a bill to extend the role of the private sector in primary care. That bill could also lift restrictions on foundation hospitals.

Hygiene Bill to tackle MRSA

Sector: Health
Date: 14/05/05
Source: The Telegraph
Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Hospitals are dirtier than food factories, Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, suggested as she acknowledged the extent of the MRSA crisis.

In her first speech in her new job, she said the Government would introduce a Hygiene Bill in the summer that would create tougher standards for hospital cleanliness.

In a move that angered the unions, Miss Hewitt also gave an uncompromising commitment to press ahead with plans to increase the role of the private sector in providing care for National Health Service patients.

Scientists call for plan to deal with UK’s nuclear waste

Sector: Central Government
Date: 14/05/05
Source: The Independent
Link: http;//www.independent.co.uk

No decision about building new nuclear power stations in Britain should be taken until a solution to the problem of nuclear waste has been outlined, a committee of scientists has told the Government.

Nuclear power gains an edge

Sector: Central Government
Date: 14/05/05
Source: Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com

Alan Johnson, the new trade and industry secretary, raised the prospect of an early commitment to build a new generation of nuclear power stations as he set a shorter than expected deadline for the government to complete a review of energy policy.

While stressing that no decision had yet been taken, Mr Johnson told the Financial Times the government would examine its options “some time this year”. A verdict would have to be reached “in plenty of time” to replace Britain's ageing fleet of nuclear stations, all but one of which will have reached the end of their lives by 2023.

Hewitt warns that failing hospitals will be closed

Sector: Health
Date: 14/05/05
Source: Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com

Hospital services that fail to attract patients in the new market-driven National Health Service will be allowed to close.

Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary, issued the warning as she announced a near doubling in the private sector's provision of non-emergency care to the NHS.

The unsustainable and environmental cost of power from a tidal stream

Sector: Central Government
Date: 14/05/05
Source: Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com

Extracting electricity from tidal stream is technically feasible but expensive, environmentally controversial and will only have a minor impact on reducing carbon dioxide pollution, according to the findings of a study by a leading UK engineering group.

The comments by Engineering Business, a Northumberland-based group, come as the Department of Trade and Industry prepares to launch final details of its £42m support fund for wave and tidal energy projects, to stimulate more research and development.

DTI loses its dippy new title after one week

Sector: Central Government
Date: 14/05/05
Source: The Guardian
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk

The rival worlds of politics and business succumbed to a mixture of relief and derision yesterday as they raised their lunchtime glasses to confirmation that the Department of Trade and Industry has got its name back after a week with a silly new title.

In Whitehall the hunt began for the as-yet-unidentified bright spark who caused it to be briefly retitled the Department for Productivity, Energy and Industry. Both No 10 and the restored DTI remain coy about the renaming, though it was definitely hatched in Downing Street or next door in the Cabinet Office.

Blair goes full speed ahead on reform of public services and tackling yobs

Sector: Central Government
Date: 13/05/05
Source: The Herald
Link: http://www.theherald.co.uk

Tony Blair said yesterday he would accelerate his programme of public service reform as he outlined a ‘bold’ legislative programme for his third term in office.

Hewitt’s £3bn deal to double use of private sector in NHS anger union

Sector: Health
Date: 13/05/05
Source: The Guardian
Link: http://www.theguardian.co.uk

The NHS is to more than double its use of the private sector to operate on patients on waiting lists in England, the health secretary Patricia Hewitt is due to reveal in a speech signalling unremitting health service reform.

She will announce new contracts for private healthcare corporations worth more than £3 billion over five years. They will secure about 2 million extra operations a year, helping the government to achieve its target of cutting the maximum wait for treatment to 18 weeks by 2008.

Buy-to-let salescrackdown

Sector: Central Government
Date: 13/05/05
Source: Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com

The government has launched a crackdown on large buy-to-let property schemes which have helped fund a multi-billion pound building boom in high-rise apartment blocks.

McConnell unveils plans to overhaul council tax bands

Sector: Scotland
Date: 13/05/05
Source: The Scotsman
Link: http://www.scotsman.com

Scotland’s council tax bands will be completely overhauled, leading to higher bills for those in bigger and more expensive houses and savings for those at the middle and the bottom end of the scale, under plans being put forward by Jack McConnell.

However, the First Minister has decided he will not commission a full-scale property revaluation which would have hit Scots who have seen their house’s value soar in the property market boom.

Scots ‘miss out on 3400m savings’

Sector: Scotland
Date: 11/05/05
Source: The Times
Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk

Wendy Alexander, the former Scottish Executive minister, yesterday attacked a government efficiency drive north of the border by saying it was not as ambitious as the one being undertaken in England.

Ms Alexander said that if the Scottish Executive programme had been as wide-ranging as the one being overseen by Gordon Brown for England and Wales, an extra £400 million of savings could have been found.

Councils back call for chewing-gum tax to pay for clean-up

Sector: Local Government
Date: 10/05/05
Source: The Scotsman
Link: http://www.thescotsman.com

Thirty-five local authorities across Britain are backing a campaign for a tax on chewing gum to fund the cost of cleaning it from the streets.

Edinburgh is among those to have joined the move by Westminster Council in London to call for gum producers to help meet clean-up costs.

Local authorities currently face an annual cleaning bill of £150 million, while a UK-wide education campaign would cost about £9 million, the equivalent of a penny-a-packet litter tax, according to Westminster Council.

Executive plan for efficiency is ‘guesswork’

Sector: Scotland
Date: 9/05/05
Source: the Herald
Link: http://www.theherald.co.uk

Ministerial plans to invest in frontline services with a £745m efficiency drive were under fresh attack last night from the adviser to Holyrood's finance committee.

Arthur Midwinter said that some of the underlying ideas were little more than crude "guesswork". Professor Midwinter told MSPs that scores of unanswered questions remained over the drive, which is a cornerstone of Scottish Executive spending for the next three years.

Double-counting error blows £3m hole in Highland health board budget

Sector: Scotland
Date: 6/5/05
Source: The Scotsman
Link: http://www.thescotsmans.com

An accounting error will force a health board to reduce its budget by £3 million, it has been revealed.

The mistake was made by NHS Highland when money for treating patients from England was counted twice.

£30m cash row over PFI flagship hospital

Sector: Health
Date: 5/05/05
Source: The Herald
Link: http://www.theherald.co.uk

Scotland’s biggest private finance initiative scheme is at the centre of an unprecedented £30 million legal battle which opponents claim exposes fundamental flaws in the policy.

Health managers have gone to the Court of Session in an effort to block a demand for more payments by Consort Healthcare, operator of the £184 million Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

Consort asked the health board for £1.1 million a year on top of the £7.5 million it is paid for providing support services at the new infirmary. Opponents of the Private Finance Initiative said the row exposed flaws in the policy.

FoE anger at leaked planning law changes

Sector: Scotland
Date: 04/05/05
Source: The Guardian
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk

Environmentalists have accused the Scottish executive of a ‘naked power grab’ over reported planning proposals which could make it almost impossible for the public to object to major projects such as motorways, waste sites and nuclear power stations.

Friends of the Earth say leaked cabinet papers suggest ministers want to centralise Scotland's planning, giving themselves unprecedented powers over major projects.

Schemes deemed of national significance could only be challenged on location or detail, not on need, say FoE officials.

NHS cuts agency staff costs

Sector: Health
Date: 04/05/05
Source: The Guardian
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk

The NHS has succeeded in halting a breakneck increase in spending on agency nurses and other temporary staff, according to figures yesterday from the independent healthcare analysts Laing & Buisson.

The cost of agency staff was threatening to destabilise NHS accounts. It rose by 31% in 2001-02 and 28% in 2002-03 as hospitals struggled to recruit enough permanent staff to carry through expansion of the service. Some trusts were spending more than a quarter of their total wage bill on temporary staff who were often unable to provide the continuity of care wanted by patients.

Laing & Buisson said the cost of agency staff in NHS hospitals throughout the UK fell in 2003/4 for the first time in memory - dropping 1% to £1.63 billion. It attributed the turnaround to a dramatic drop in spending on agency nurses in England.

Council plans to listen in on street life

Sector: Local Government
Date: 04/05/05
Source: The Telegraph
Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk

A local authority is planning to attach 24-hour surveillance microphones to its lamp posts in a move that raises the spectre of George Orwell's Big Brother on Britain's streets.

The first microphones, which are linked wirelessly to Westminster council's headquarters, are designed to monitor rowdy bars and nightclubs in central London. They will also be installed in housing estates in an attempt to stop nuisance neighbours.

Westminster council said the microphones, which will be installed next to existing wireless CCTV cameras, would not be used to snoop, but would allow its inspectors to take prompt action against anti-social behaviour.

Blair rejects NI rise for NHS

Sector: Health
Date: 04/05/05
Source: Financial Times
Link: http://www.ft.com

Tony Blair recently gave his clearest indication yet that Labour will not raise National Insurance contributions to pay for a boost to health spending in the latter half of this decade if it wins the general election.

As the three main party leaders come to the end of a campaign in which taxation and spending on public services have been central issues, the prime minister said the £8 billion annual increase in NI introduced in 2002 “takes care of the catch-up that was needed for the NHS”.

Labour introduced the increase in NI three years ago after a report by Sir Derek Wanless set out how the UK should catch up with the European average in health spending. Asked by Channel 4 News last night whether there was any possibility of another review in the next parliament calling for a further NI increase, Mr Blair replied: “No.”

£6 million special needs school

Sector: Education
Date: 04/05/05
Source: The Herald
Link: http://www.theherald.co.uk

A specially-designed £6 million school for children with severe sensory impairment was approved by Glasgow City Council yesterday.

Council tries to slam door on right-to-buy

Sector: Local Government
Date: 04/05/05
Source: The Herald
Link: http://www.theherald.co.uk

Tenants in one of Scotland’s most affluent areas will be denied the right to buy their council homes, if a local authority succeeds in its attempt to retain its dwindling social housing stock.

Figures published this week revealed one Scot in every 100 has applied to be registered as homeless, and East Renfrewshire is to apply to the Scottish Executive for Pressured Area Status (PAS), which would suspend tenants’ right-to-buy for five years.

Unions call for equality with Europe over orders

Sector: Europe
Date: 03/05/05
Source: The Times
Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk

Unions and politicians last night called for British companies such as Marconi to be given a level playing field, after recent evidence that some European countries reserve major contracts for local firms.

Amicus, the UK’s largest manufacturing union, stepped up its calls for competitive and open tendering across Europe before its meeting with the management of Marconi. The two sides are expected to discuss job losses at the telecoms group.

Public purse spending more on sweets than fruit

Sector: Education
Date: 03/05/05
Source: The Herald
Link: http://www.theherald.co.uk

Scottish schools, hospitals and prisons spend nearly twice as much on confectionery than on fresh fruit and vegetables, a new report has revealed.

The research also found that as little as one-fifth of food bought by the public sector is sourced in Scotland, with products routinely shipped in from as far away as Australia.

Unions call for equality with Europe over orders

Source: Times
Date: 3/5/05

UNIONS and politicians last night called for British companies such as Marconi to be given a level playing field, after recent evidence that some European countries reserve major contracts for local firms.

Amicus, the UK ’s largest manufacturing union, stepped up its calls for competitive and open tendering across Europe before its meeting today with the management of Marconi. The two sides are expected to discuss job losses at the telecoms group.

GSK achieves US drug fix

Sector: Health
Date: 29/04/05
Source: The Independent
Link: http:///www.independent.co.uk

GlaxoSmithKline will return two of its best-selling drugs to the US market within the next few weeks, it was said yesterday, after agreeing plans to fix problems at its Puerto Rican drug factory.

US regulators seized defective supplies of the drugs last month and they have been off the market since then, costing GSK about £200 million in lost sales.

<TOP>