All the bad news buried before Christmas – including sacked Gavin Williamson’s payoff
MPs have left Parliament for a break lasting almost three weeks after a wounding year.
We’ve seen three Prime Ministers, a slew of scandals, a botched mini-Budget, Partygate, the end of Covid rules, skyrocketing inflation and the war in Ukraine.
So you’d be forgiven for wanting to slump to the end without noticing the last embers of 2022 politics.
But there’s been a familiar trickle of information being published by the government, either online or in written statements to Parliament, just before the Christmas break.
We wouldn’t want any bad news to be buried, would we?
So we have highlighted some of the documents to make sure nothing slips through the net. Enjoy.
School buildings are now ‘very likely’ to collapse
Buried in the Department for Education annual report is some grim news.
It’s now “very likely” that “one or more blocks in some schools” will collapse – and that rose from “likely” last summer. The crisis for blocks built from 1945 to 1970 is “worsening”, the report says.
It says 500 school buildings will be rebuilt in a decade, and helpfully, it reassures readers: “There are no open schools or college buildings where we know of an imminent risk to life.”
But Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “Eighteen months from the Department of Education knowing that school buildings were ‘very likely’ to collapse and six months since these buildings were revealed to pose ‘a risk to life’, Ministers will still not tell parents where dangerous school buildings are.
“This Conservative Government is risking its most basic duty: to keep our children safe from harm.
“The Secretary of State needs to come to the House of Commons as soon as possible and tell parents where these buildings are and that they are urgently being made safe.”
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Getty Images)
Sacked Gavin Williamson got £17k payout last year
Gavin Williamson was sacked as Education Secretary by Boris Johnson last year, after two years in which he came under fire for his handling of the schools beat.
He was criticised over exams chaos, U-turns on free school meals, last-minute Covid school closures, and confusing footballer Marcus Rashford with rugby player Maro Itoje.
We already knew it hadn’t stopped him being awarded a knighthood by Boris Johnson.
Now we can also confirm it didn’t stop Sir Gavin getting a payoff of £16,876.
Nearly all ministers who leave office are eligible to claim three months’ salary, even if they’re sacked – and the Department for Education annual accounts, published in the last few days, show Sir Gavin took the money in full.
He’s already said he won’t take a separate severance payment due to him this year after he resigned amid bullying claims.
Tory Lord Frost’s Brexit benefit
In a quirk of the system, peers who leave ministerial office get an even higher loss of office payment.
So it was that former Brexit minister Lord Frost trousered £26,090 when he resigned in protest against Covid measures under Boris Johnson.
Many aspects of Brexit still aren’t resolved, with negotiations ongoing between London and Brussels over the Northern Ireland Protocol. But that sort of nicety isn’t covered by the law on ministerial golden goodbyes, so he sails off into the sunset with his money.
The move, contained within Cabinet Office accounts, was reported earlier by The Guardian.
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PA)
Energy bills news for business ‘stolen by Grinch government’
Stricken businesses are in limbo after the government delayed an announcement on what help they’ll get with energy bills.
Under Liz Truss, firms were offered six months of subsidies lasting until March 31. Officials vowed to say “by the end of 2022” who’ll get stripped-back help from April 1.
But Treasury minister James Cartlidge admitted deep in a Commons debate on Monday: “We will announce the outcome of the review in the new year.”
Martin McTague, National Chair of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “What’s supposed to be a festive period bringing back the small business spirit has now sadly been stolen by a Grinch government.
“[They are] under the illusion that small firms can plan on a less than three-month horizon and survive this bleak winter without any indication whatsoever whether their energy relief will continue or not.”
Green targets will be ‘challenging’ to meet
Environment Secretary Therese Coffey has finally confirmed the Government’s green targets – after missing a deadline almost two months ago.
The 13 targets include clearing up air quality, halting the decline in biodiversity, increasing woodland cover and improving water wastage.
But she admitted in a ministerial statement the targets are “stretching” and will be “challenging” for the Government to meet.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan also described the targets as “disappointing” and said 2040 was “too long to wait” for cutting the most harmful air pollutant to human health – PM2.5 – by 2040.
He added: “Missing the legal deadline for setting the vital new Environment Act targets did not inspire confidence in this Government’s green credentials, but the targets themselves are even more disappointing”.
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EPA)
Council tax rises are baked in to keep up with inflation
Michael Gove announced cash-strapped councils will get a 9% or £5billion rise in “core spending power” – just about letting them keep up with inflation (give or take a few per cent).
But that includes raising council tax – which has already skyrocketed under the Tories – by 5% a year, higher than was previously allowed.
Without a council tax rise, authorities are only guaranteed a spending power increase of 3%, the Levelling-Up Secretary announced.
James Jamieson, Chairman of the Local Government Association, warned: “Many still face significant challenges when setting their budgets and trying to protect services from cutbacks.”
He added “shire district councils – which provide vital services like planning and waste and recycling collection – will also see a lower core spending power increase next year”.
Carl Les of the County Councils Network added “the overall level of resources is slightly below expectations for some of our member councils”.
Levelling up fund delayed
A letter to MPs sent just before Christmas admitted the second round of a levelling-up fund has been delayed.
From Levelling-Up Minister Dehenna Davison, it said: “We had hoped to announce the successful bidders for round two of the Fund by the end of the year, with at least £1.7 billion allocated to bids in this round.”
But “having received such a high number of quality applications, the announcement has been delayed until the New Year to allow us to allocate additional funds – meaning up to £2.1 billion will be granted to successful bids in this round.
“It is vitally important that we give ourselves enough time to consider the outcome of assessments carefully before a final decision on applications is made.
“We will therefore announce results of the second round by the end of January.”
A senior official at a northern council branded the delay “frustrating and counterproductive”, telling the FT: “It is putting projects at risk.”