British Politics Thread

The student loan system has been so inaccurate in forecasting the cost to the taxpayer there must be an "urgent review", says a report from MPs. There are so many problems that its "continued existence" is under threat, says a report from the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee.

The Government loses 45p on every £1 of loans to students, says the report. A business department spokesman said there was "no immediate pressure on the system".

Committee chairman Adrian Bailey warned of a "potential black hole" in the budget. But the spokesman from the Business, Innovation and Skills department said its costs were based on long-term projections which could "fluctuate" in the short term. The increase in loans to students, driven by tuition fees of up to £9,000 per year, means that in 30 years the total debt will be £330bn, says the report.

But M Ps are warning that there is insufficient control on how much is likely to be repaid - with the amount likely to be lost much higher than had been projected.

Students do not have to pay back until they are earning £21,000 and debts are written off after 30 years - and M Ps questioned the efficiency of the Student Loans Company's collection process. The report warns of a "worrying record of miscalculation" on how much the loans system is costing.

When fees were increased to £9,000, it was forecast that 28p would be lost for every £1 of student loans - but this latest report from M Ps puts the figure at 45p.

An "aggressive Islamist agenda" was being pursued in some of the so-called Trojan horse schools in Birmingham, says a Department for Education report. Peter Clarke, a former counter-terror chief, is publishing the findings of his inquiry into allegations of a hardline Muslim "take-over" of schools.

Mr Clarke found a lack of intervention from the local council and weaknesses in the oversight of academies. He said the council viewed the issue from the "prism of community cohesion".

Mr Clarke has delivered the findings of a report commissioned by the former Education Secretary Michael Gove. His successor, Nicky Morgan, presented the results of the investigation to the House of Commons.

The education secretary warned that a fear of being accused of racism and Islamophobia had allowed a "small number of people with a shared ideology" to take over schools. Ms Morgan announced there would be an education commissioner for Birmingham - and there would be a wider inquiry into the governance of schools in the city, which would report later in the year.

Teachers in the schools could face misconduct charges, she told MPs.

Much of the report had already been leaked - and representatives of schools facing allegations claimed they had faced a "co-ordinated and vicious" attack from the government.

The British government has decriminalized online video game, music and movie piracy.

Software piracy is more often than not a service issue - wherein pirates provide a better (or, in some cases, the only) service than legitimate outlets. Furthermore, singling out random people who pirate and dumping massive fines on them isn't really helping the problem, as the British government has found out. Starting in 2015 in Britain, persistent file-sharers will be sent four warning letters explaining their actions are illegal, but if the notes are ignored no further action will be taken.

This new anti-piracy measure has been dubbed the "Voluntary Copyright Alert Programme" (VCAP) and is the result of years of talks between IS Ps, British politicians and the movie and music industries. Geoff Taylor, chief executive of music trade body the BPI, said VCAP was about "persuading the persuadable, such as parents who do not know what is going on with their net connection."

He added: "VCAP is not about denying access to the internet. It's about changing attitudes and raising awareness so people can make the right choice." VCAP replaces some much harsher planned regulations, which included cutting the internet connections of persistent file-shares, and fines.

The British government will still strive to close and stem funding to file-sharing sites, but from the looks of things, the days of going after individual users with massive fines are over.

The former head of Haringey children's services Sharon Shoesmith has been awarded £679,452 following her unfair dismissal claim.

Ms Shoesmith was sacked after a damning report into the 2007 death of Peter Connelly, known as Baby P, who was subjected to months of abuse.

The payments, previously been rumoured to be a six-figure sum, emerged in the London council's accounts.

Gamers who steal virtual items in online games, such as swords and wizard robes, should be punished in the same was as 'real-life' thieves, an MP has suggested.

Mike Weatherley, MP for Hove, East Sussex, and Prime Minister David Cameron’s chief adviser on intellectual property, put forward the idea in Parliament on Wednesday.

He asked Mike Penning, the Minister of State for Justice, to bring forward legislative proposals which would see cyber criminals who steal online items with a real-world monetary value receive the same sentence as offline criminals.

Mr Weatherley is one of the 7.6 million people worldwide subscribed to play the hugely popular World of Warcraft, a so-called massively multiplayer online role-playing game, or MMORPG.

Other popular MMORP Gs include Runescape, and Guild Wars.

Players can spend large amounts of real-word money on items that only exist online, and should be offered the same protection as any other victims of theft, Mr Weatherley said.

"The video games industry has raised concerns with me on behalf of gamers who have clearly being targeted by hackers and while I’ve not personally been a victim of online theft, but certainly sympathise with those who have had something stolen from them," Mr Weatherley told The Independent.

“Legitimate in-game theft of something with a real-world monetary value should be treated in the same way as people who steal physical items. Small individual thefts might seem trivial, but if targeted and carried out hundreds or thousands of times it does present a serious problem," he added.

Responding to Mr Weatherley’s parliamentary question, Mr Penning said those who commit theft or fraud online can be prosecuted and “face severe maximum sentences.”

“Sentencing for individual cases is a matter for the courts,” he added.

Mr Weatherley’s said Mr Penning's response "rightly highlights that theft and fraud online do face prosecution and severe maximum penalties."

But he added: "I have raised the point before in Parliament that crimes committed online should not be treated differently from crimes committed offline, as I believe that it sends out the wrong message."