PRESS DIGEST - Financial Times - July 9

Financial Times

SCOTLAND RULES OUT PRIVATE NHS MOVES

Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish health secretary, said on Tuesday the Scottish National Party government planned to close "a legal loophole" that allows health boards to open contracts with commercial companies. Speaking at the British Medical Association's annual meeting, Sturgeon received a standing ovation after she declared herself "firmly opposed to the commercialisation of healthcare" and said she would legislate "to make sure there is no privatisation of GP services by the back door". The Scottish approach is different to that followed in England, where there is a presumption that if primary care trusts introduce new services or make significant changes to existing ones, the service should be put out to tender.

MORTGAGE LENDING SHOWS SLIGHT RISE

The latest data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders has revealed lending for house purchases rose by four percent in May to 52,700 and by two percent by value, compared with April, while new loans for remortgages dropped by 14 percent to 71,000. Affordability of mortgages appears to be improving marginally, as first-time buyers borrowed 3.3 times their income, compared with 3.39 times in July 2007. The overall loan volume was 44 percent down on a year earlier, while interest-only mortgages comprised 16 percent of all mortgages, the lowest level in nearly two years. It appears that borrowers whose fixed-rate mortgages are coming to an end are finding it harder to refinance their loan as lenders have tightened their lending criteria.

MINISTERS ATTACKED ON E-CRIME RESPONSE

The Lords science and technology committee said on Tuesday there was still a lot of work to be done with regard to the scale of lawlessness on the Internet, and they criticised an "unsatisfactory response" from the government. They acknowledged the government had begun to move in the right direction following embarrassing data losses by Revenue & Customs, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and the Ministry of Defence, but suggested the issue of Internet security was "more a matter of promises for the future than achievements in the present". The report was a follow-up to one in August, to which the government response had been that e-crimes were standard offences "facilitated by new technology, rather than new types of offence". Due to e-crimes requiring particular investigative skills, the committee said his response missed the point.

MONEYSUPERMARKET WARNS OF PROFITS BLOW AS FIRSTPLUS CLOSES

Shares in Moneysupermarket.com (MONY.L: Quote, Profile, Research) fell by 32.2 percent on Tuesday after a trading update warned that profits would be hit by Barclays' (BARC.L: Quote, Profile, Research) decision to close its FirstPlus secured loans business to new customers next month. FirstPlus provided more products to the price comparison Web site than any other partner, with gross profit margins of around 70 percent. Moneysupermarket chief executive Simon Nixon said revenues would be affected by up to 7 million pounds, though trading across the rest of the group would be in line with previous expectations.