Daily List 098

The voluntary code of practice in the dairy sector: first report of session 2013-14. Vol. 1: Report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence.

House of Commons papers (2013-14) - 155.

Corporate Author:

Welsh Affairs Committee

Author:

David T.C. Davies (chairman)

Dairy farming is of considerable economic and social importance to Wales, accounting for a third of all agricultural production by value and employing thousands of people. The dairy industry in Wales has an estimated total economic output of about £420m, one third (30%) of all Welsh agricultural production. There are 1,901 dairy farmers in Wales who produce 1.5 billion litres of milk per year, 12% of the total UK milk volume. The 224,000 dairy cattle in Wales constitute about 12% of the UK dairy herd. Long-standing cost pressures on dairy farmers came to a head in a crisis in summer last year, 2012, when processors announced a series of milk price reductions to be implemented at short notice. The Committee's key conclusions are: (i) The new voluntary code of practice is an important step forward to redress the balance in the contractual relationship between dairy producer and purchaser; (ii) The Committee urges all dairy processors who have not yet signed the voluntary code to do so; (iii) The code must be given time to work; (iv) Should the voluntary code fail, the UK Government must legislate for a statutory code of contracts.

• ISBN: 9780215057563
• £14.50

Atlas of global development. 4th ed.

Corporate Author:

World Bank

A comprehensive guide to the most critical issues facing our changing world. This completely revised and updated fourth edition of the Atlas of Global Development vividly illustrates the most important development challenges facing our world today. Based upon authoritative data from the World Bank's World Development Indicators, this attractive volume provides a wealth of information on critical global topics. (i) A visual guide to global issues - easy-to-read graphical presentation with every topic presented by colorful world maps, tables, graphs, and photographs; (ii) Topics that are shaping our world - from poverty, population growth, and food production to climate change, foreign direct investment, and international trade; (iii) The latest, authoritative statistics - key social, economic, and environmental data for 208 countries and territories from the World Bank's World Development Indicators database. In addition, the Atlas includes detailed information about targets for the Millennium Development Goals; definitions, sources, notes, and abbreviations of commonly used terms; country comparisons for key development indicators; and a selection of related web links for each map spread. The Atlas comes with an interactive companion online atlas, the World Bank e-Atlas of Global Development, that allows users to customise maps and graph statistical series. Features include worldwide mapping, timeline graphs, ranking tables, comparative mode, the ability to export and share graphics, and easy navigation. New to this edition, a companion mobile app will allow users a robust mobile experience, providing a new and unique take on how we view global development issues.

• ISBN: 9780821397572
• £23.50

Public sector shock: the impact of policy retrenchment in Europe.

Corporate Author:

International Labour Office

Author:

Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead (editor)

After a first series of policy responses to the 2008-09 crisis aimed at sustaining domestic demand through expansionary anti-crisis packages, most European governments - starting with Greece , Ireland, Bulgaria and Romania, and followed by many others - have since put in place a series of restrictive budgetary policies aimed at reducing their budget deficits. With these new policies, a significant number of jobs and wages have been cut in the public sector. A number of expenditure items related to education and training have also been cut. These reforms have given rise to waves of protest throughout Europe. The goal of this volume is to study this 'public sector shock'. While budgetary reforms seek to ensure more balanced and sound economic policy, they may generate new work inequalities among public sector employees, most particularly among women, who account for a considerable proportion of public sector employment. Cuts in education and training may also have an impact on the quality of human capital in both the public and private sectors, despite the fact that the recent crisis has shown the value of education as employees with better skills and training are more likely to maintain their jobs and incomes. On the basis of a comparative and comprehensive assessment, illustrated by case studies in education, health and public administration, policy issues are discussed with the aim of finding the right mix of public sector reforms

• ISBN: 9789221265689
• £53.00

Government finance statistics yearbook 2012. Vol. 36, 2012.

Corporate Author:

International Monetary Fund

The demand for high quality detailed public finance statistics covering a globally representative sample of countries has increased dramatically during the recent financial crisis. Due to the complexity of public finance statistics, however, such data tend to be either available in oversimplified high level aggregates and lacking in methodological transparency, or, available with a great level of detail and a unified methodological approach yet overly complicated to understand. The IMF's Government Finance Statistics Yearbook shows fiscal data of around 140 countries following the Government Finance Statistics Manual 2001 framework. The associated database includes data series covering over an almost 40 year period. The IMF's Statistics Department embarked on several initiatives to improve its accessibility

• ISBN: 9781616354053
• £80.00

Macroprudential frameworks in Asia.

Corporate Author:

International Monetary Fund

Author:

Steven Barnett (editor), Rodolfo Maino (editor)

This Departmental Paper portrays a cross-country dimension of macroprudential policy implementation in Asia, advancing a comprehensive overview of institutional arrangements and instruments deployed by individual countries to address systemic risk, including risk concentration and interconnectedness. The book is the first comprehensive collection of papers assessing the existing institutional arrangements for macroprudential policies in Asia. The papers were presented by Asian authorities at a Monetary Policy Workshop on Strengthening Macroprudential Frameworks, which was organized by the IMF Regional Office for Asia and Pacific with financing from the Government of Japan. It was held in Tokyo in March 2012

• ISBN: 9781475517194
• £20.00

Assessing reserve adequacy in low-income countries.

Occasional paper 276.

Corporate Author:

International Monetary Fund

Author:

V. Crispolti (editor)

Low-income countries routinely experience exogenous disturbances-sharp swings in the terms of trade, export demand, natural disasters, and volatile financial flows-that contribute to higher volatility in aggregate output and consumption compared with other countries. Assessing Reserve Adequacy in Low-Income Countries presents the findings of an analysis of a range of external shocks faced by these countries, beginning with a discussion of the impact of external shocks on macroeconomic growth, volatility, and welfare. Although sound macroeconomic and prudential policy frameworks are the first line of defense for limiting vulnerability, international reserves constitute the main form of self-insurance against such shocks. The evidence suggests that low-income countries with reserve coverage above three months of imports were better able to smooth consumption and absorption in the face of external shocks compared with those with lower reserve holdings. The analysis also points to the importance of country characteristics and vulnerabilities in assessing reserve adequacy

• ISBN: 9781616354121
• £26.00

Access to clinical trial information and the stockpiling of Tamiflu: Department of Health.

House of Commons papers (2013-14) - 125.

Corporate Author:

National Audit Office.

This review reports whether medicines regulators and NICE have access to the clinical trials evidence they require when licensing Tamiflu and other medicines for use in the NHS, and whether the Department of Health stockpiled Tamiflu for influenza pandemics on the basis of clinical evidence. The NAO has set out a number of recommendations: (i) NICE and the MHRA should work together, with the EMA where necessary, to ensure that arrangements are in place to allow NICE to access the evidence underlying regulatory decisions to avoid the necessity for duplicated effort by NICE; (ii) NICE should require manufacturers to give assurances that they have confirmed at a global level that the evidence submitted is complete; (iii) NICE should align its policies for the publication of information across single and multiple technology appraisals of medicines or treatments; (iv) When making decisions about the stockpiling of pandemic medicines, the Department and its agencies should concentrate on building up knowledge about the added value of stockpiling through reducing complications and deaths; (v) To reduce the risk of unnecessary write-offs, NHS England and Public Health England should ensure that all providers of antivirals in a pandemic have robust antiviral storage and quality control in place during a pandemic; (vi) The Department should review its guidance and methods for ensuring that those in need of Tamiflu receive it quickly enough for it to be of use.

• ISBN: 9780102981445
• £16.00

Can the Work Programme work for all user groups?: first report of session 2013-14.

House of Commons papers (2013-14) - 162.

Corporate Author:

Work and Pensions Committee

Author:

Dame Anne Begg (chairman)

The Work Programme has the potential to work well for relatively mainstream jobseekers but is unlikely to reach the most disadvantaged long-term unemployed people. The Government spent some £248 million less on the Work Programme than anticipated in 2012/13, due to providers' under-performance in a "payment-by-results" programme. In the short term, the Committee urges the Government to use the unspent Work Programme budget to: extend proven, alternative provision for disadvantaged jobseekers, such as the Work Choice programme for disabled people; extend and continue to promote Access to Work to help disabled people overcome the practical difficulties of starting a job; and provide further support for individuals who complete their two-year attachment to the Work Programme without finding sustained employment. The Committee also highlights that people with the severest barriers to work, such as homelessness and serious drug and alcohol problems are often not ready for the Work Programme and need support first to prepare for it. It recommends that DWP pilots ways of providing this additional support to prepare these groups for effective engagement with the Work Programme before they are referred. In the longer-term, the Committee calls on DWP to consider moving away from the current differential pricing model, which is based on the type of benefit a participant is claiming, to a much more individualised, needs-based model. The Report recommends that DWP should assess how a needs-based pricing structure could determine the appropriate level of up-front funding and the types of services required to support individual jobseekers.

• ISBN: 9780215057600
• £23.00