File on Four

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Janet Downs: Supply teachers paid by offshore firm – taxpayers may foot bill for the lost millions in unpaid employers’ NI contributions

HMRC is losing millions in unpaid employers’ national insurance (NI) because employees are on the payroll of offshore companies, an investigation by Radio 5 Live has found. The programme revealed how employers, whether recruitment agencies, local authorities or schools, employed supply teachers who were actually paid by an offshore company outsourced to pay supply teachers’ wages. And this company was ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Andy: "Thank you Ricky. You, as you usually are, right. Apologies to all readers for inadvertantly switching the terms around, other than that the thrust of the comments remain unamended and a fair reflection of the situation. PS the rumour ......"

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Janet Downs: Watchdogs on the side of the angels

Two watchdogs which investigate whether the Government spends taxpayers’ money wisely, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the National Audit Office (NAO), appeared on BBC Radio 4’s File on Four four months after the NAO published its report describing the risks and opportunities of delivering public services through market mechanisms. Margaret Hodge, PAC chair, told the BBC that “due diligence” was missing in ... read more and comment →

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Janet Downs: “Huge profits being earned by major private companies at taxpayers’ expense,” says BBC

BBC Radio 4’s “File on Four” investigated outsourcing in the light of failures such as the collapse of West Coast mainline plans and the G4S Olympic fiasco. The rush to sign outsourcing contracts, the BBC concluded, could lead to undesirable consequences such as being tied into contracts which delivered inferior services and offered poor value. Margaret Hodge, chair of the Public ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "Last night's Channel 4 Dispatches, Getting Rich on the NHS, (shown again tonight at 8pm on 4seven) investigated Virgin Care. The programme featured one surgery where the number of full-time GPs had fallen and opening times were not extended ......"

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Janet Downs: Is it time to call time on Ofsted?

Tribal, a firm employed to carry out Ofsted inspections, revealed that it doesn’t keep details of the backgrounds of its inspectors (TES 20 July 2012). This followed an earlier admission by Ofsted that it didn’t know how many HMI inspectors, who are directly employed by Ofsted, had experience of schools leadership or whether they had worked in secondaries or primaries. Ofsted ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Paul Robson: "It should be shut, tomorrow. You can't reform it or reorganise it, too many vested interests. I sometimes look at OFSTED reports, but only to get actual information about a school, not to know what it is like. It's judgements ......"

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Rebecca Hanson: OFSTED: File on 4 (Tuesday 26th June)

This excellent program will be available until at least next Monday 4th July:My son's school's being inspected tomorrow and Friday. My notes at the bottom of the form I had to return today concluded - xxxx school is an excellent organisation which is a credit to society UNLIKE OFSTED. Let's hope the get an inspector who's capable of understanding what ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Paul: "I had an interesting discussion with an OFSTED person on the TES. He did not seem to grasp that people would be put off complaining or questioning in the feedback because of the possibility that OFSTED would take revenge in ......"

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