IN THIS ISSUE - Defra called upon to be more ambitious in its reform of waste policy - EA urged to set out business benefits of modern regulation - Weekly focus – Equality and transparency - In the news - Week in review - The week ahead
Defra called upon to be more ambitious in its reform of waste policy
EEF called on the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to focus upon fundamentally reforming whole regulatory domains, rather than achieving an accumulation of small savings as a result of frequent tinkering around the edges. Meeting with the Department’s head of better regulation, Steven Gleave, EEF pointed to waste policy as an early priority and highlighted our concerns that the current review of waste policy, which is underway within Defra, is at risk of missing an opportunity to fundamentally review waste policy. We called on Defra to be more ambitious in its approach.
For further information contact Susanne Baker, Senior Climate and Environment Adviser
EA urged to set out business benefits of modern regulation
This week EEF met with the Environment Agency in a high level meeting to discuss its plans for reform and its future approach to regulation. Attendees included the Agency’s Director of Environment and Business, Ed Mitchell. The EA highlighted plans to reduce the frequency of auditing for best-performing sites providing operators had completed an additional environmental management system module which focuses on permit issues. While we welcome exploration of this approach, we argued for greater clarity of the business benefits and highlighted concerns regarding the markets ability to deliver this.
For further information contact Susanne Baker, Senior Climate and Environment Adviser
Weekly focus – Equality and transparency
In ‘The Equality Strategy – Building a Fairer Britain’ the Government recently set out its vision for improving equality of opportunity, with transparency central to its strategy. Examples are the Government’s stance on the controversial topics of gender pay gap reporting and participation of women at a senior corporate level.
Transparency, the argument goes, is a motor for change. The theme of transparency also underpins Lord Davies’ recently published report ‘Women on Boards’, which the Government has welcomed. It advocates that quoted companies should be required to disclose annually the proportion of women at senior levels. Also, the Review recommends they should establish a policy concerning boardroom diversity, including measurable objectives for implementing the policy, and disclose annually a summary of the policy and the progress made in achieving the objectives.
EEF welcomes the news that, on pay, the Government is consulting on a voluntary approach to transparency rather than compulsion which involves implementing the provision already in the Equality Act 2010 – a measure enacted by the previous Government but not brought into force. However, any approach must reflect the fact that the causes of differences in pay between men and women are complex and in the manufacturing sector a major influence is occupational segregation. Whether voluntary or compulsory, suggestions that companies should publish crude headline statistics on average pay between men and women do nothing to help eradicate the less visible types of unlawful pay discrimination.
EEF has been working hard to ensure a voluntary approach is flexible and helps employers use metrics appropriate to their organisation. We will keep you informed on the transparency debate as it unfolds.
For further information contact Judith Hogarth, Legal Adviser
In the news
A range of topics drove our public comment this week. The latest production data for UK Steel was published showing a bounce back from December though still significantly below pre-recession levels. The figures were reported in the Independent, City AM and Press Association. Our Head of Climate and Environment Policy Gareth Stace had an opinion piece in The Times (subscription required) on why producers should not have to pay for the recovery of goods. We were also quoted by The Guardian in response to the revised GDP figures.
Week in review
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 Public sector finances
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Provisional estimates of the public finances show that (excluding financial interventions) the public sector had a current budget surplus of £8.5bn in January 2011. This compares with January 2010, when there was a surplus of £4.1bn.
Public sector net debt (excluding financial interventions) was £867.2bn (equivalent to 57.6% of GDP) at the end of January 2011. This compares with £720.9bn (50.4% cent of GDP) as at the end of January 2010. |
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 GDP (2010q4, 2nd estimate)
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National Statistics revised down their estimates for GDP, with data now showing a 0.6% contraction in the final quarter of 2010. Output grew by 1.1% in manufacturing, but services and construction output fell. |
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 Business Investment (2010q4)
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Total business investment in 2010q4 fell by 2.5% to £29.6bn when compared with the previous quarter. Manufacturing investment was up 4.6% on the quarter, but overall investment by manufacturers was 6.5% lower in 2010 than 2009. |
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 Index of services
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The seasonally adjusted Index of Services in December 2010 was down 0.6% compared with December 2009, with four of the five components of the services sector contracting. The largest contribution to the decrease was business services and finance where the index fell by 0.8%. Service sector output in December was strongly affected by the weather. |
The week ahead
Mon 28th: GfK NOP Consumer confidence
Tue 1st: Lending to individuals
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