On 17 October 2014, the European Commission informed HM Treasury that the UK would have to make an additional contribution to the EU budget of approximately 2.1 billion euro. This additional contribution had been prompted by revisions to EU Member States' historic Gross National Income (GNI) data, dating back to 1995. Member States make several annual contributions to the EU budget, by far the most significant being a levy on GNI. This levy is charged as a percentage rate on Member States' annual GNI, with the rate set at a level designed to cover exactly the portion of the EU Budget which remains unfunded once the other sources of income - namely Traditional Own Resources' and VAT-based resources - have been taken into account. The result is that an individual Member State contributes to this portion of the budget in proportion to its share of total GNI across all Member States. In 2013, GNI-based contributions amounted to 74 per cent of the EU's total budget. Emerging from the ECOFIN summit of 7 November 2014, the Chancellor claimed to have "halved the bill" of £1.7 billion demanded by the EU. He later described this as the result of "hard-fought negotiation" with the Commission to ensure that the consequential change to the UK's rebate would apply. The calculation of the rebate, and the circumstances in which it applies, are embedded in EU law. This is set out in detail in Council Decision 2007/436/EC and the supporting Council document on the UK correction. These documents establish the precise method for calculating the rebate. On the basis of the evidence the Committee has seen, it should have been unambiguously clear to the Treasury, well in advance of ECOFIN on 7 November 2014, that the UK was entitled to a rebate on any additional budget contributions that could arise from the GNI revisions.

Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) form a large part of the UK economy. According to official statistics, there were 5.243 million private sector businesses at the start of 2014. 5.236 million had 0-250 employees and are classed as SMEs, of which 5.204 million had fewer than 50 employees and are classed as small businesses. SMEs account for 60 per cent of all private sector employment, and registered an annual turnover of £1.6 trillion at the start of 2014-47 per cent of the private sector total. A large majority of SMEs are sole traders-76% of all businesses are non-employers. The Government believes that access to finance for SMEs is 'key to the recovery and long term growth of the economy'. Research by National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) in 2009 found that the '6 per cent of UK businesses generated half of the new jobs created by existing businesses between 2002 and 2008. This report offers a number conclusions and recommendations covering: the state of the SME lending market; RBS Global Restructuring Group (GRG); mis-sale of Hedging Products; and alternative finance

On the evening of 27 March 2014, the Daily Telegraph published an article on its website describing a forthcoming thematic review by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) into the life insurance market. The same story appeared in the print edition of the Telegraph the following day. The story, based on an advance briefing given by the FCA to the Telegraph earlier that week, gave a misleading impression of the scope of the life insurance review, and was published before the FCA had made any official announcement of its own. When the markets opened on 28 March, the share prices of several leading life insurers began to fall heavily. Only when the FCA published a clarifying statement about the scope of the review - several hours later that day - did share prices begin to recover. On the day following the publication of the Telegraph article, the Chairman of this Committee called for a "full and transparent explanation about how such an apparently serious mistake came to be made by our financial services watchdog--the body appointed by Parliament to enforce high standards of conduct". Simon Davis, Partner at Clifford Chance LLP, was subsequently appointed to conduct an investigation, and reported his findings in December 2014. The Committee records its thanks to Mr Davis for undertaking this work and for the evidence he gave to it.

The Treasury has again been unable to provide all the information needed by deadlines agreed with the OBR. The Government may, as the Chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility suggested, have decided that for political reasons this was a "price worth paying." This would set an undesirable precedent. The work of the Office for Budget Responsibility depends on the Treasury meeting the agreed deadlines. The Committee welcomes the OBR's innovation of providing uncertainty ratings for policy costings. The Committee recommends in future that the OBR publish a breakdown of the uncertainty rating assessment against the three criteria for all announced measures at Autumn Statements and Budgets. The Committee also welcomes the Government's continued publication of the distributional analysis of the Government's policy changes and recommends that the next Government continue with this important aid to transparency. The current inflation target set by the Government is symmetrical, and is 2 per cent at all times. Several witnesses alluded to the risks of very low inflation and subsequent deflation, including the Chancellor. The Chancellor has publicly welcomed the current level of inflation. This is not likely to help anchor inflationary expectations. The Governor of the Bank of England is required to write to explain to the Chancellor why inflation has fallen below 1 per cent. It is important to avoid mixed messages on inflation targeting. The Bank of England should undertake research on the effect of net migration, and the potential for future net migration, on the supply of labour and wage growth as part of the work on meeting the MPC's remit. The Treasury should ensure that discussions within Government on immigration policy fully consider the requirements of the economy.

Virtually all large banks and other financial institutions in the UK and internationally are public limited liability companies whose shares are listed on one or several stock exchanges. As such, their corporate governance and, in particular, the incentives faced by their directors and senior managers are to a significant extent determined by corporate and securities law rules such as directors’ duties, directors’ liability in insolvency, takeover regulation, disclosure obligations, shareholder rights and rules on executive remuneration. At the same time, systemically important financial institutions in the UK are licensed, regulated and supervised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). This book explores the relationship between, on the one hand, the broader corporate law, corporate governance and securities law framework and, on the other, the prudential regulatory framework. Although the book’s main focus is on UK law, much of the policy argumentation is relevant globally and therefore appropriate international comparisons are drawn, and analysis of EU law and regulation is included. The book argues that the corporate law regime, which focuses on shareholder empowerment and profit maximisation, operates as an antithesis to prudential regulatory objectives thus undermining the safety and soundness of banks and other financial institutions by encouraging risky behaviour that may be in the best interests of their shareholders, but is clearly not in the public interest.

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Every day thousands of people are killed and injured on our roads. Millions of people each year will spend long weeks in the hospital after severe crashes and many will never be able to live, work or play as they used to do. Current efforts to address road safety are minimal in comparison to this growing human suffering. This report presents a comprehensive overview of what is known about the magnitude, risk factors and impact of road traffic injuries, and about ways to prevent and lessen the impact of road crashes. Over 100 experts, from all continents and different sectors -- including transport, engineering, health, police, education and civil society -- have worked to produce the report. Charts and tables.