Annual Report 2010 2011

Despite the impressive performance of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in representing the UK's interests across the globe with what is, in Governmental terms, a particularly small budget, the Foreign Affairs Committee believes that the FCO is under-funded. This situation has been exacerbated by the Spending Review 2010 and the lack of detail provided by the FCO and the BBC World Service as to exactly how the spending reductions target will be met is disappointing. There are concerns about the steps taken by the FCO to adjust to its reduced budget: reductions in the deployment of UK-based staff overseas and the optimistic planned programme of property sales will have a detrimental impact on the ability of the UK to protect its interests overseas. The establishment of the European External Action Service (EEAS) will place a further strain on the FCO's resources. The Committee welcomes the appointment of Lord Williams of Baglan to the post of "International Trustee" with responsibility for the BBC World Service, but reiterates its belief that a formal concordat governing the World Service's budget and output should be drawn up setting out the World Service's independence from budgetary pressures elsewhere in the BBC. The budget cuts faced by the British Council will lead to the Council becoming a substantially different organisation by the end of the Spending Review period. The greater emphasis that the British Council will place on commercial activity risks a diminution of the UK's influence and soft power.

While DFID's total budget is increasing, the Department will both restrict operating costs to 2% by 2014-15 and reduce its administrative costs by a third in real terms, from £128 million in 2010-11 to £94 million by 2014-15. This report warns that capping operational costs and staff numbers may not reduce overall costs or improve effective delivery of development assistance. The International Development Committee also raises concerns that cost pressures are driving DFID to use consultants to deliver its programmes, rather than in-house expertise. The Department spends £450 million on technical cooperation per year. Much of this is good work, yet it was unclear exactly what this money was spent on, or how effective it was and the extent to which external providers were used. DFID needs to improve its assessment of which projects and services it should use consultants for; and assess more carefully the use of consultants to manage the Department's own delivery programmes. In its efforts to reduce administrative spending DFID might be 'exporting' these costs to other organisations, including NGOs and multilateral aid organisations, with higher real administration costs. The Department should assess the best and most effective way to deliver development assistance as it may be able to do it more cheaply and effectively than external organisations. The report recommends that the Department improves its tracking of and reporting on the total cost of administering its aid programme with the aim of quantifying how much aid actually ends up reaching recipients.

TERI Energy Data Directory Yearbook, or TEDDY, is an annual publication brought out by TERI since 1986. TEDDY is often used as a reference in other peer-reviewed books and journals for energy and environment-related data. It gives an annual overview of the developments in the energy supplying and consuming sectors as well as the environment sector. It also provides a review of the government policies that have implications for these sectors of the Indian economy. The book provides extensive data collated from the various government ministries, on the energy supply sectors including coal and lignite, oil and gas, power, and renewable energy sources and technologies; energy demand sectors, namely, agriculture, industry, transport and domestic sectors; along with information related to environment and climate change. Graphs and maps have been used extensively to explain facts, that makes the book an interesting read. Besides, detailed tables have been provided at the end of each chapter, making TEDDY a comprehensive data book. Each edition of TEDDY contains India’s commercial energy balances for the past four years that provide comprehensive information on energy flows within different sectors of the economy and how they have been changing over time. These energy balances and conversion factors are a valuable ready reckoner for anybody working on energy and related sectors. This is the 25th anniversary edition of the book and a number of refinements have been made in the content and presentation to reflect the changing needs of the readers. At the same time, care has been taken to ensure that continuity of information is preserved so that researchers can study the trends over time in the energy sector.

Ofsted today publishes the Annual Report 2010/11, drawing on over 31,000 inspection visits across the schools, early years, children's social care and learning and skills sectors in England. Launched by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector Miriam Rosen, this in-depth analysis provides an insight into the quality of those services for children and learners, what is working well and what needs to improve. The report highlights how an inadequate inspection judgement, whether for a children's home or a school, a college or a nursery, can be an important catalyst for change. For example, the total number of schools in a category of concern - that is judged to be in special measures or being given a notice to improve - reduced from 553 at the end of last year to 451 at the end of August 2011. Over a fifth of schools judged inadequate at their previous inspection were found to be good or better when inspected again this year. In addition, schools are now emerging from special measures faster than the previous year - after an average of 18 months rather than 20. In inspections of local authorities'; children's social care, where Ofsted completed the second full year of unannounced inspection of contact, referral and assessment arrangements, weaknesses identified the previous year had been addressed in the great majority of cases.

One of the prime purposes of accounting is to communicate and yet, to date, this fundamental aspect of the discipline has received relatively little attention. The Routledge Companion to Accounting Communication represents the first collection of contributions to focus on the power of communication in accounting. The chapters have a shared aim of addressing the misconception that accounting is a purely technical, number-based discipline by highlighting the use of narrative, visual and technological methods to communicate accounting information. The contents comprise a mixture of reflective overview, stinging critique, technological exposition, clinical analysis and practical advice on topical areas of interest such as: The miscommunication that preceded the global financial crisis The failure of sustainability reporting The development of XBRL How to cut clutter With an international coterie of contributors, including a communication theorist, a Big Four practitioner and accounting academics, this volume provides an eclectic array of expert analysis and reflection. The contributors reveal how accounting communications represent, or misrepresent, the financial affairs of entities, thus presenting a state-of-the-art assessment on each of the main facets of this important topic. As such, this book will be of interest to a wide range of readers, including: postgraduate students in management and accounting; established researchers in the fields of both accounting and communications; and accounting practitioners.