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That's according to a report by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee Vulnerable people are increasingly being placed in poor-quality supported housing in a system left open to “unscrupulous landlords” and in need of reform, MPs have warned. Fraud is also still going largely unaddressed in the sector and gaps in regulation mean some providers face less scrutiny, a report by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) found. The public spending watchdog said […]

That's according to the RAC Vehicle breakdowns caused by potholes have reached a record high due to the “substandard state” of local roads, figures suggest. The RAC said it received 5,978 call-outs to breakdowns due to poor road surfaces in the UK between July and September. That was the most for that quarter since the RAC began recording the data in 2006. It represents a 46% increase from the 4,085 […]

A major bank has issued a warning about crypto investment scams, with victims standing to lose more than £10,000 on average and young adults often being particularly at risk. Lloyds Bank has recorded a 23% rise in reports of cryptocurrency investment scams by customers in its banking group (including Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland) between January and September 2023, compared with the equivalent period last year. Victims are […]

Offering more bursaries to trainee teachers can help with recruitment challenges, a report has suggested. High bursaries for shortage subjects, such as physics, are effective and should be retained to tackle teacher shortages, according to a report by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER). Increasing bursaries to boost teacher numbers is particularly cost effective where bursaries for a subject are currently low, the analysis said. It found that teachers […]

A hotel which inspired Charles Dickens’ first novel and counts the Beatles and King George II among its former guests has been named as a historic site at risk of being lost forever. Over the past year, Historic England has added 159 buildings to its Heritage at Risk Register under threat from decay, neglect or inappropriate development – while 203 sites have been rescued. Holmfirth Conservation Area in West Yorkshire, […]

John Lewis has released an upbeat tale of a young boy whose grow-your-own Christmas tree turns out to be a mischievous Venus flytrap as it firmly sidesteps the nation’s woes for the festive season. The highly anticipated advert – a long-established feature of the UK’s festive retail landscape – is titled ‘Snapper, The Perfect Tree’ and follows the boy as he lovingly nurtures the plant from a seed bought at […]

Almost 300,000 women are to be offered a drug to reduce their risk of developing breast cancer, NHS officials have announced. Some 289,000 post-menopausal women in England who are deemed to have a moderate or high risk of breast cancer will be offered anastrozole in a bid to prevent them from developing the disease. Trials have shown that the drug reduces breast cancer cases by 49% over 11 years among eligible women. Officials have estimated […]

The number of fuel thefts from filling stations in Britain has soared, new figures suggest. Data obtained by the RAC Foundation indicate that forecourt owners attempted to trace offenders over 39,563 incidents between July and September. That is up 77% from 22,335 during the same period last year, and represents more than a fourfold increase on the total of 8,558 in those three months during 2019. The RAC Foundation said the rise could be […]