The UK public sector has an expensive technology problem, costing roughly £45 billion a year, by its own estimates. That's taxpayer money poured into patching up outdated systems, renewing old contracts, and keeping legacy software on life support.
Freedom of information requests made by the Guardian show that just 1.55% of parental leave requests made at those employers in the last five years were for shared parental leave (SPL). From 274,755 requests for parental leave across NHS England, Scotland and Wales, HMRC, the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Work and Pensions between 2020 and 2025, just 4,264 were for SPL.
On Tuesday (23 December) the judge in the case, Alexander Kemp, published a certificate of corrections in regards to 11 points in the original judgement which were described as "clerical mistake(s), error(s) or omissions(s)". These included references to other cases and grammar issues, which follow on from a prior update published on 11 December in reference to a false quote attributed to gender critical campaigner Maya Forstater's tribunal case.
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Plans by Reform UK to slash the aid budget by 90% would not cover existing contributions to global bodies such as the UN and World Bank, shredding Britain's international influence and risking its standing within those organisations, charities and other parties have warned. Under cuts announced by Nigel Farage in November, overseas aid would be capped at 1bn a year, or about 0.03% of GDP.
Good morning. With Christmas just two days away, the Westminster tap of news, which normally gushes strongly, is down to a dribble. There is not much on the government's grid today, apart from an announcement about a plan to ensure young people leaving care in England will receive free prescriptions, and dental and eye services up to their 25th birthday, which we've written up here and also confirmation that some former mineworkers are getting a 100-a-week boost to their pensions as a result of a change to the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme announced in the budget.
"We have concluded, after reviewing all the evidence, that it does not meet the criminal threshold outlined by the CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] for any person to be prosecuted," Avon and Somerset Police said in a statement. Police interviewed "approximately 200" members of the public, adding, "We sought specific consideration around the words stated, in terms of the intent behind them, the wider context of how people heard what was said, case law and anything else potentially relevant, including freedom of speech." The investigation is now closed: "No further action will be taken."
You can listen to the full episode with Angela Rayner here You can listen to the full episode with Nicola Sturgeon here You can listen to the full episode with Catherine Ashton here You can listen to the full episode with Andy Burnham here
Palantir is a US company that provides software to integrate and analyse data scattered across different systems, such as in the health service. It also provides artificial intelligence-enabled military targeting systems. The investigation cites an expert report, internal to the Swiss army, that assessed Palantir's status as a US company meant there was a possibility sensitive data shared with it could be accessed by the US government and intelligence services.
Leonardo has warned the UK government that it may be forced to shut down its helicopter manufacturing operations in Britain if it fails to secure a flagship £1 billion Ministry of Defence contract, a move that would threaten the future of the country's last remaining helicopter factory. In a letter to defence secretary John Healey, Roberto Cingolani, chief executive of the Italian defence group, said the contract to replace the long-serving Puma helicopter was central to Leonardo's long-term commitment to the UK.
Trail hunting is set to be banned in England and Wales as part of a new animal welfare strategy to be published by the government on Monday. The practice sees an animal-based scent trail laid for dogs to follow rather than a real animal, while a group of hunters follows the pack on horseback. It has remained legal since the 2004 hunting ban came into force, because it does not explicitly involve the killing of animals.
Prof Liz Sayce, the chair of a scathing review into the government's treatment of unpaid carers, last week called for an overhaul of management and culture at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Days after the publication of the review, the DWP's top civil servant in charge of carers' allowance, Neil Couling, said carers themselves were at fault for the decade-long failures.
How long had you to go: months, weeks, hours? We all know bad news sells. Political reporters cannot handle prime ministers sleeping soundly at night. But the terminal gloom around Keir Starmer's position is absurd. Not a morning passes without rivals being declared, and not an evening without the BBC's Chris Mason dragged from his supper to stand in the cold. He just frowns and forecasts Armageddon.
