Oil services firm Petroleum Technology Company (PTC), which has an operating base in Aberdeen, has been sold to a Norwegian private equity group.

Herkules, one of Norway’s largest private equity firms, said it had signed an agreement to acquire a majority of the shares in the gas lift and wellhead firm and plans to significantly grow the company. It will work with the current owners of PTC several of whom are members of the management team.

It did not says how much it was paying for the shares but Herkules will inject almost £14 million into the firm as growth capital.

Erling Kleppa, co-founder and chairman of PTC, pictured right, said: “PTC is experiencing strong and increasing global demand. This agreement will position the company well to supply current and future customers with the best possible service while providing a solid platform for growth.”

The news comes ahead of a reception in Westminster on Wednesday, when ministers and MPs will be warned that failure to support subsea technology and skills programmes could impact on UK oil production levels and export revenues.

Trade body Subsea UK will unveil its manifesto which spells out the need for
greater collaboration between industry, government and academia and significant public and private investment in skills and technology research and development.

NEW Bank of England governor Mark Carney, who starts work today, should swap bond-buying for more direct intervention in the British economy, a think tank claims.

A report published today by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) says quantitative easing (QE) is no longer supporting the recovery, while other measures such as Funding for Lending and the UK government’s “Help to Buy” scheme are threatening to create another housing bubble.

NEF is calling for Carney to be given a wider remit than previous governors and adopt “strategic QE” – investing in home building and energy efficiency, infrastructure and small business lending through targeted bonds.

Tony Greenham, head of finance and business at NEF, said Carney’s arrival was the perfect opportunity to review the remit of Britain’s central bank.

“It’s time for the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street to get some new clothes,” he said. “Our research found that the lines between monetary and fiscal policy have already been blurred, but measures like Quantitative Easing and Funding for Lending are not providing the investment boost our economy clearly needs.

“Strategic QE can enable the Bank of England to maintain independence and control over inflation whilst more effectively supporting the government’s economic objectives.”

Today’s report says Britain is caught in a “QE trap”. While the government has saved £55 billion due to QE lowering interest rates on government debt, wages and most pension funds have suffered in real terms as a result.

To make things worse, NEF says that those who have got richer as a result of QE are not investing due to low confidence in the UK economy and future demand for goods and services.

Therefore the bank needs to inject its money directly where it is needed. NEF says a £10bn investment in housing through strategic QE would deliver around 60,000 new homes, with each house creating 1.5 direct jobs and another three jobs in the supply chain.

And Funding for Lending would be more effective if it loaned money to a “British Business Bank” set up to support small firms instead of working through the established commercial lenders, the think tank says.

Its report comes as research shows European banks are in for a slow recovery.

Ernst & Young’s Eurozone
Financial Services Forecast found that the pace of deleveraging in the European economy has not slowed. That means the outlook for lending is worse than expected.

It says business loans are forecast to hit a six year low of €4.5bn (£3.8bn), personal loans will shrink to €595bn, a seven-year low, and there will be £46bn less residential mortgage loans in the market than last year.

Banks continue to deleverage at the same sharp pace as in 2012, shrinking their total assets by another €850bn this year, the accountancy firm claims.

The Aberdeen–based oil and gas engineering consultancy, Optimus, has more than doubled the size of its board with four appointments - Gordon Lamont, Alan Smith and Peter Stock become technical directors and Linda Strachan has been promoted to finance director.

• Orchid – One of Britain’s biggest pub companies has reportedly been put up for sale with a price tag of up to £300 million by Deutsche Bank after it took control of the group last year in a debt–for–equity swap.

• Life sciences, Knowledge & Enterprise (LIKE) conferences – Finance minister John Swinney and health minister Alex Neil have been confirmed as headline speakers at events hosted by law firm Harper Macleod in Inverness and Glasgow.

• McClure Naismith – The law firm has appointed former Semple Fraser partner Scott Kerr as the new head of its Edinburgh-based corporate team.

• MacRoberts – The Scottish law firm has been appointed to four regional lots of the new Legal Services Framework Agreement for the Higher and Further Education sectors managed by Advanced Procurement for Universities and Colleges (APUC), the purchasing centre of expertise for Scotland’s 60 universities and colleges.

• CBI/PwC – Financial services business volumes continued to grow strongly and optimism improved in the three months to June, according to the latest CBI/PwC financial services survey.

The recovery in Britain’s property market will be highlighted this week when housebuilders Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey update on trading, while online retailer Ocado reports results after a buoyant first half.

Tomorrow’s half-year results from online retailer Ocado come after the group’s recent coup in securing a 25-year, £170 million deal with Morrisons to enable the supermarket to sell food on the web.

Ocado, which employs around 6,000 people, also said in May it had seen a strong start to the year, setting the scene for a decent set of interim results. Underlying earnings are expected to rise by a fifth to £18.1m in the first half, thanks to a forecast rise in net revenues to £355.8m.

Meanwhile the UK government’s latest measures to support the housing market south of the Border should help builder Persimmon report more strong growth when it updates on recent trading on tomorrow.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank predict a “significant pick-up in reservations”.

They said: “Persimmon will offer a robust trading outlook and while the statement may refrain from including full-year 2013 guidance we believe strong reservations and margin progression may drive upside to consensus estimates.”

Fellow housebuilder Taylor Wimpey is also set to confirm improving market conditions when it updates on trading on Thursday.

The Buckinghamshire-based company said in April that its total order book was up 18 per cent on the same time in 2012 at £1.2 billion, with prices and margins improving.

Private reservations were up to 0.67 sales per outlet, from 0.62 per outlet a year earlier, with growth led by the buoyant London and the South East markets.

Analysts expect the builder to report more growth - and some analysts expect it may soon start paying a dividend again.

And the new boss of N Brown will face investors for the first time tomorrow as the home shopping group’s customer recruitment drive begins to pay off.

Angela Spindler, the former managing director of Debenhams who joins from discount chain the Original Factory Shop, will say that online sales are expanding strongly, when she faces investors at the company’s annual meeting in Manchester.

Royal Bank of Scotland’s deputy head of media relations Michael Strachan has not had the easiest of jobs in recent years, with the firm rarely out of the public gaze.

After almost ten years with the bank through what must rank as some of the most turbulent times in its long history, he will be hoping things are quieter at fledgling rival Tesco Bank, where he will take up the top communications job in the autumn. He will work for chief executive Benny Higgins who, ironically, has applied for the RBS job.

Whispers are now circling about what further change there may be in the RBS comms team when the new chief executive comes in.

He or she may want to appoint new advisers and there is a suspicion the role will be even more London-based. Outgoing boss Stephen Hester, who lives in Oxfordshire and London, is an occasional visitor to Edinburgh.

McPherson on the move

ANOTHER comms mover is Lesley McPherson who ran the PR operation at Edinburgh pensions firm Aegon and is joining City of Edinburgh Council. She has been working for the Association of British Insurers in London since leaving Aegon last year and will head up the council’s comms team from 29 July. At Aegon she worked for a time with Scott White who recently left Royal London.

Hug-a-banker campaign is not all that it seems

Traders at foreign exchange specialist Caxton FX are taking on the job no PR firm wants: rehabilitating Britain’s bankers in the eyes of the public.

The team caused a stir on the streets of the City when they took to the pavements brandishing placards urging people to hug passing bankers. But it has emerged the guerrilla campaign against banker-bashing is nothing but a cruel joke at the expense of the much-derided financial types. Caxton, a relatively recent start up that has used alternative finance to establish itself, says it “has a lot of reason to thank the banks” – its business is based on beating their rates.

Big cheeses seeking prizes

ISLE of Mull cheddar creator Jeff Reade may have passed away in April but the British Cheese Awards are keeping his memory alive by launching a prize in his honour.

The Jeff Reade Memorial Trophy for the Best Scottish Cheese will be awarded on Friday 6 September in Oxfordshire.

More than 80 Scottish cheeses are expected to enter the competition.

Organiser Juliet Harbutt said: “It is important to recognise the local heroes in the cheese world as it is a tough, relentless business; most cheesemakers work long hours, milk their owns cows and often feel very isolated.”

Last week was tough. Marathon negotiating sessions in Europe are made no easier by their mangled use of the English language which seems to require the regular invention of new jargon to satisfy the complexities of the European Union.

When you hit phrases such as “it is in the landing zone” or “it is left in square brackets” coming through in translations, it takes a little while and a degree of guile to work out the first means “decided” and the second is “we are still arguing.”

However, as we now all know the politicians put enough into the landing zone to produce a political settlement on the next common agricultural policy (CAP) and the action moves closer to home with a large amount of devolved decision making.

I have this vision. It is a cartoon with a pile of stones in the centre and they are all marked. One has “coupled payments” written on it, another has ‘environmental policies” scribbled on its side, a third has a label stating “rate of change” and so on; each boulder representing a policy of the next CAP.

Observing this assortment of masonry and looking none too happy about it are a group of Scottish Government civil servants and politicians. They know they will have to construct a building out of the ruckle of stones.

And in the background a Scottish worthy is seen and the speech bubble from him asks, “are you going to mak a kirk or a mill oot o’ it?” and with all the flexibility devolved in the next CAP that is now the crux of the matter.

The gloomy looks on the faces of the civil servants shows they know they face a major task. The president of NFU Scotland remarked on this on his return from Europe where he had seen the tide flow towards more and more local decision making.

He feared meltdown in the civil service. Another observer commented that it would be akin to playing three dimensional chess which is a scary thought for me who struggles with the more common two dimensional game.

The problem for those working for the Scottish Government is, as I see it, two fold. One the one hand, they have a devilishly difficult piece of work to achieve in a tight timescale and on the other they may not have the numbers of people in place who are qualified to create such policies.

This will be largely new work for them as up till now they have been more concerned with policy implementation and, using a really inappropriate comparison, policy creation is a different kettle of fish altogether.

The politicians looking on in the same cartoon will be ultimately responsible for how and where they lay the stones making up the new building or CAP. Publicly they may welcome the devolved decision making but privately they had possibly hoped the decisions would be made elsewhere, leaving them in the glorious position of complaining about anything and everything that did not suit.

No doubt, they will still be able to generate a major moan over the reduced amount of money in the next CAP. Grandly, they will say: “We would have put more money in and made it bigger and better.”

They will also, and with some justification, moan that the CAP building in Scotland should be relatively bigger than it currently is within the UK. In fact this very point has been made but the farmers in the south – ie the English NFU – quickly made it clear they were not going to let a Scottish raiding party come down and loot their CAP.

The politicians will have a great deal of advice on how to put the Scottish CAP edifice together. In fact, they are already being inundated with various templates for it.

Farming organisations such as the NFU are obviously putting forward the view that the structure should be more of a food producing mill as food security and food production and exports will become increasingly important.

Even this approach has its pitfalls as one of the believed cornerstones of such a policy, “coupling support”, does not, according to a poll in a trade paper, have industry support.

Meanwhile environmental bodies such as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds would like so see the Scottish Government’s CAP building blocks turned into a place of environmental worship with little song birds flying in and out of the church spire.

My view is that it will end up resembling neither a church nor a mill but in the best euro fashion a fudge between the two.

FRENCH energy giant EDF has revealed it paid £116 million in corporation tax last year after an MP criticised the firm along with several other multi-national utilities in the UK for avoidance.

Charlie Elphicke, a tax lawyer and Tory backbencher, last week claimed that water, electricity and gas companies have denied the Treasury up to £1 billion through aggressive forms of tax avoidance.

He singled out a number of water companies, including Southern Water and Yorkshire Water, claiming they had abused the interest deduction system in order to evade paying hundreds of millions in taxes to HMRC. But he accused EDF and German-owned RWE npower for paying “no tax ... whatsoever”.

EDF, which operates the UK’s eight nuclear power stations, hit back as it issued a statement which says it paid “all corporation tax due to HM Treasury”. The company added that it invested £1.3bn in its UK business last year, as well as paying over £50m in business rates.

Their newly revealed tax payout compares to £10.5bn in revenues it made on a statutory basis during 2012, as well as £972m in earnings before interest and taxes (ebit), although this would put their corporation tax contribution below the 24 per cent corporation tax rate charged in 2012.

EDF said: “In response to a recent claim that it pays no tax, EDF Energy wishes to make clear that it pays all corporation tax due to HM Treasury, and paid £156m for 2011 and £116m for 2012.

“This is in addition to investments of £1.1bn in 2011 and £1.3bn in 2012 made to the company’s existing nuclear and coal stations, new generation capacity, gas storage and in its customer supply business. These investments benefit businesses and consumers across the UK.

“In addition, EDF Energy pays business rates in excess of £50m every year. EDF Energy is proud of its record of providing a significant contribution to the UK economy.”

The criticism of the firm comes at an important time for energy policy in the UK. It is thought the government is close to clinching a deal with EDF to build the first new nuclear power station in decades at Hinkley Point in Somerset after announcing £10bn in financial guarantees to the nuclear power industry last week. At the same time energy regulator Ofgem highlighted uncertainty around supply and demand for energy in its latest electricity capacity assessment, which gave rise to fears that Britain could be hit by 1970s-style industrial blackouts unless investment is increased.

Elphicke said that nine different utility companies had collectively made sales of £28bn, generating operating profits of £10bn, on which they had only paid £541m in tax during a debate on multinational companies and corporation tax.

He claimed that EDF and RWE npower have a “collective turnover of £25.6bn, operating profits of £1.7bn and yet no tax paid whatsoever. And it can’t all be explained by capital allowances”.

He estimated that EDF has made £268.4m of interest payments to group companies in the last three years, with a potential tax loss of £70m.

The MP said he wanted “a system where tax avoiding water companies and tax avoiding utility companies are made to give a rebate to hard-pressed customers who have been facing increased bills in recent years”.

Treasury minister David Gauke said HMRC secured £8bn of additional revenues from large companies through tax compliance work in 2012-13 and more than £23bn over three years.

He said: “HMRC does have robust methods in place to ensure that tax compliance by the biggest businesses occurs and the numbers support that.”

Kate Moss is launching her own line of accessories for smartphones in an exclusive deal with retailer Carphone Warehouse.

The supermodel’s “fashion tech” line will launch this summer and will target the £210 million-plus accessories market in the UK. Moss said: “My phone’s as much a part of my look as my bag or shoes, and yet there’s so little choice out there.”

In fact, more than 14 million mobile accessories were sold in the UK last year, but Carphone Warehouse says consumers are “crying out for something different”.

Its research found that women are now driving the mobile market, adopting smartphones at a faster rate than men.

HOLIDAY companies have faced tough times during the recession but Sharon Munro, the boss of Glasgow-based Barrhead Travel, enjoys her job so much sometimes she pinches herself, writes Erikka Askeland.

Munro, 39, has been with the company her father Bill founded in 1968 since she got her first part-time job there as a Saturday girl.

In 2007 she led a management buy out in a succession plan that saw ownership of the group remain with the family. Under her stewardship, the company has seen dramatic growth and faced the challenges brought to the industry by internet booking and low-cost airlines head on.

Next month the firm will open a flagship corporate travel boutique in Glasgow. The move comes as the company is bringing on board £14 million worth of corporate travel business.

The group has also recently developed a customer management technology platform, dubbed Nevis. The platform has provided the company with a means of growing its franchises as it expands the management tools available to fanchisees. Nevis will also prove a beachhead into new markets – Munro has her sights set on licensing the technology to Australian firms as well as looking for acquisitions down under. “We think Nevis has got huge potential,” she says.

But holidays are still the firm’s top priority. Barrhead’s expanding high street presence is an unusual facet of the company’s success, running contrary to the belief that traditional travel agents, where you sit in front of a desk flipping through a glossy brochure, are a thing of the past.

She says: “People have been telling me for years that when the web came along that would be the end of the travel agent. Low cost carriers came along – again they said it was the end of the travel agent.

“More of our business will be transacted online in the future. But there are a lot of products – cruising, long haul – that still need travel agents. We try to offer products that are unique, tours that are a wee bit different. Sometimes I pinch myself, it’s so exciting and no two days are the same.”

Barrhead’s shops usually feature holiday themed fit outs and increasingly the latest technology to showcase dream holiday destinations.

The firm recently upgraded its premises at Silverburn shopping centre, moving into a bigger shop unit, and Munro has plans to revamp Oswald Street in Glasgow at the end of the year.

“We have point and click screens where you can watch a video about the destination, and iPads so customers can use them to browse. If customers want help they can get it, or if they want to book on the iPad they can. We are trying to reinvent ourselves all the time.”

In December, Barrhead acquired Larbert-based The Cruise Specialist, making it the largest cruise retailer in the UK. Meanwhile, in April last year it opened up a call centre in Cumbria after Thomas Cook closed down its operation there.

“We saw an opportunity to pick up some really good quality, experienced people who were knowledgeable about cruises. It takes a long time to train people on the knowledge of the different cruise ships and the different options,” she says.

She agrees that Thomas Cook’s crisis has been Barrhead’s opportunity. The 172-year-old group recently announced it was cutting thousands of jobs after struggling with a slump in sales that has forced it to renegotiate bank loans and sell off planes and stores to lighten its debt load. But Munro is quick to say that she thinks very highly of the group’s new chief executive, Harriet Green.

“Harriet is doing what she has to do to save the business. I think she’s done a great job. I feel for the people who have been made redundant, we have been very sad for them, but for us it has been an opportunity to take on new people. We will be taking on about 20 to 40 Thomas Cook people in the next few months.”

Since Munro has taken the helm, the business has grown rapidly. In 2007, Barrhead had eight high street shops with a turnover of £68m. Munro says the firm is now on track for a turnover of £200m this year and has 52 stores, 27 of which are franchised operations.

Dad Bill remains a shareholder and the chairman. Having a former chief executive as chairman can sometimes prove tricky to manage for any new boss with fresh ideas, let alone one who is also your father.

“We’ve had our moments,” says Munro. “We are both very passionate about the business. He’s still involved in the strategy. It’s great to have him there, he’s got a wealth of knowledge. Sometimes when you are at the top of any business it can be quite lonely. I’m fortunate that I’ve got someone to talk to who has been there.

“It’s my decision and he supports me, He challenges us, acts as a devil’s advocate and makes sure we know what we want to do.”

But is she the boss? “Yes”, she says quietly. “I hate to say it but yes.”

The family tradition that Munro continues to espouse is a healthy scepticism of debt. While Munro had bank backing behind the MBO, she says that’s now all paid back.

A company like Barrhead – growing fast, investing in expansion and technology yet debt free – is probably just the sort that banks would lend to if it wanted to buy a fleet of aeroplanes or swallow a rival, but Munro is reticent.

“The thing about us is we take the responsibility of having 750 employees very seriously. We will continue to grow and expand but we will do that in a controlled way.

“We take calculated risks. We want to be here in another 20 years.”

BACKGROUND

Born: 1972 in Glasgow

Education: Laurel Bank School in Glasgow

First job: I had a paper round while still at school, earning a penny a paper, and also was a Saturday girl at Barrhead Travel.

Ambition while at school: To work with disabled or underprivileged children

Car: Porsche Panamera

Kindle or book? Book

Music: Everything from Pavarotti to Blondie to Daft Punk

Can’t live without: My mobile phone

Claim to fame: I met Richard Gere in Vail skiing a few years ago

Favourite place: Thailand, for the people and the culture

What makes you angry: Lies

Best thing about your job: The people I work with

AT TWO sets down, and with his opponent serving for the match, Andy Murray was staring defeat in the face.

But the Scot’s survival instinct kicked in and with one of the greatest Wimbledon comebacks, he beat Frenchman Richard Gasquet to claim a quarter-final spot.

And with his courageous performance there is little doubt now that Murray, seeded 12th, has sealed his place in the SW19 faithful’s affections.

Until last night, Murray had found the hallowed stands of the All England Club somewhat reluctant to encourage him.

As he progressed towards the business end of Wimbledon, the crowd reaction has been notice ably reserved, at least when compared with the raucous cheering afforded to previous British contenders.

Events, birthdays and anniversaries for 1 July

1 JULY

National day of Canada.

1505: Seal of Cause granted by Edinburgh Town Council to the Incorporation of Barbers and Surgeons to practise their craft. It became the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

1543: England and Scotland signed Greenwich Treaties to secure peace.

1592: Charter granted to Sir Alexander Fraser of Philorth to found a university at Fraserburgh.

1690: The Battle of the Boyne took place near Drogheda in Ireland. King James VII was defeated by the army of William of Orange.

1836: North of Scotland Bank founded by Alexander Anderson and others in Aberdeen.

1843: The Union Bank of Scotland opened in Glasgow.

1858: Charles Darwin announced his theory of evolution in an address to the Linnean Society.

1872: The Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens, London, was unveiled by Queen Victoria.

1897: The Klondike gold rush began in United States.

1910: Union of South Africa became a dominion of British Empire.

1912: The British Copyright Act came into force, protecting authors’ works for 50 years after death.

1916: British and French forces started offensive on the Somme. There were 60,000 British casualties on the first day.

1929: The cartoon character Popeye the Sailor was created by Elzie Segar in the United States.

1937: Telephone 999 emergency service came into operation in Britain.

1946: United States tested atomic bomb over Bikini Atoll in Marshall Islands in the Pacific.

1967: Television in colour began on BBC2. Most of the first seven-hour broadcast was tennis from Wimbledon.

1969: Prince Charles was invested as Prince of Wales at Caernarvon Castle.

1977: Britain’s Virginia Wade won the women’s singles at the centenary Wimbledon, beating Betty Stove of the Netherlands.

1987: Single European Act came into force.

1990: West and East Germany created economic unity and accepted single currency.

1991: The Warsaw Pact was finally abolished.

1991: Compulsory rear seatbelts to be worn by adults.

1994: Yasser Arafat, the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, made a triumphant return to his Palestinian homeland after 27 years.

1999: The Queen officially opened the new Scottish Parliament in its temporary home in the Assembly Hall at the Mound, Edinburgh.

BIRTHDAYS

Debbie Harry, rock singer (Blondie), 68; Olivia de Havilland, film actress, 97; Trevor Eve, actor, 62;Carl Fogarty, motorbike racing champion, 47; ; Professor Sir David Lane, oncologist, 61; Adrian John Charles Hope, 4th Marquess of Linlithgow, 67; Jean Marsh, actress, 79; Tom Robinson, rock singer, 63; Peter Walwyn MBE, racehorse trainer, 80; Jeff Wayne, musician (War of the Worlds), 70.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1872 Louis Blériot, aviator and aircraft designer; 1899 Charles Laughton, actor; 1906 Estée Lauder, founder of cosmetics empire; 1954 Jim Farry, former chief executive, Scottish Football Association; 1961 Diana, Princess of Wales.

Deaths: 1555 John Bradford, Protestant martyr (burnt at the stake); 1589 Christophe Plantin, typographer and printer; 1860 Charles Goodyear, inventor of vulcanised-rubber process.

Mark Carney, new Governor of the Bank of England, starts work today with no shortage of advice and a ton weight of expectation.

He is seen as an outsider with a free hand and with a bias towards more monetary loosening. But the problems he faces are massive and complex. An early toning-down of expectation may be no bad thing.

It should be borne in mind that the Bank has been pursuing the most radical policies in its history. It has slashed interest rates to historically ultra-low levels of 0.5 per cent. It has unleashed some £375 billion of monetary stimulus through Quantitative Easing (QE). And while purporting to target a low level of 2 per cent inflation, it has presided over a breach of this target for most of the past four years. Bank policy since the onset of the financial crisis could hardly have been more radical.

Unlike the central bank of Canada, interest rate policy is set by monthly vote taken by a Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). And it is no pliant tool. In recent months outgoing governor, Sir Mervyn King, was consistently outvoted in his desire for further QE. Mr Carney must persuade the eight other members of the MPC of the merits of his recommendations.

All that said, there is little doubt that improving the flow of bank lending to the business sector should be an early priority to help lubricate economic recovery.

One suggestion today by the New Economics Foundation is that Mr Carney should swap bond-buying for more direct intervention. It calls on the new Bank governor to be given a wider remit than previous governors and adopt “strategic QE” – investing in home building and energy efficiency, infrastructure and small business lending through targeted bonds. “Strategic QE”, runs the argument, would enable the Bank to maintain independence and control over inflation whilst more effectively supporting the government’s economic objectives.

The problem here is that it assigns to the Bank decisions that properly reside in the realm of fiscal policy and would considerably shorten the arm of central bank independence. It would also open the Bank to intense lobbying from other sectors who might feel more deserving of the Bank’s largesse. And there is no guarantee that funds so targeted would automatically be taken up. It is confidence or the lack of it that has been holding back business investment, not shortage of capital by itself.

However, Mr Carney could usefully start by seeking answers to searching questions on why QE and Funding for Lending are not working as expected – before resorting to a further increase in both – and what might be done to enable them to work in the manner intended.

A prayer answered

For ambitious Church of Scotland ministers, struggling with a modest stipend and beleaguered by divisions and controversies, the advertisement for a new minister of St Columba’s at St Helier on Jersey with its sunshine, 20 per cent tax rate and no VAT, cannot but appeal. What other posts around the world might similarly tempt ministers?

New Zealand would seem to offer considerable attractions. And there may be opportunities for plenty of sun and low tax in Dubai, though women ministers may find the prevailing culture problematic. However, the

following may be the dream post for many:

“A vacancy has arisen at the Sunnyside Kirk, Seven Mile Beach, Grand Cayman for an enterprising Church of Scotland minister with the appropriate physique and skill sets.

“The islands have a population of some 56,000 souls, representing a mix of more than 100 nationalities. The islands are almost exclusively Christian with large numbers of Presbyterians.

“Grand Cayman enjoys a tropical marine climate, with warm sunshine. The church is close to the capital of George Town on the south west coast.

“The islanders enjoy the highest per capita living standards in the Caribbean. The successful applicant will pay no income tax, capital gains tax, or corporation tax Potential drawbacks: A major natural hazard is the tropical

cyclones that form during the Atlantic hurricane season from June to November. And the successful applicant will need strong arms, to polish every day the several hundred brass name plates on the kirk door as Grand Cayman has more registered businesses than people.”

Chris Fujiwara and Ken Hay had a contented air about them as they presided over the end-of-term prizegiving at the Filmhouse on Friday.

The two most senior figures at the Edinburgh International Film Festival had good reason for a spring in their step.

Neither were around two years ago when a series of dire post-mortems were being delivered.

But they have had to work to a grim backdrop of the 2011 debacle since they were brought on board just a few months later.

And I don’t think it’s over-egging things to say they might just have exorcised the majority of those “death of the festival” demons.

Hay, chief executive, certainly underlined how things have changed at the opening gala – even though he couldn’t resist a dig at “our friends in the media”, as he recalled how the previous festival had won back much of the lost goodwill from 2011 by simply going back to basics.

So, how does this year’s report card read?

The critics who flocked to the event in impressive numbers this year – as with the Fringe, anyone with a laptop can be one these days – will have their own views.

However the majority of films I’ve seen reviewed appear to have gone down well – with a couple of very notable exceptions – and there has been no escaping the positive buzz about the event on social media, a crucial measurement these days.

Mercifully, all the awards brutally ditched two years ago are back in place, and the festival has shed its bizarre loftiness about red carpets. I suspect the result is more positive media coverage than at any time in the last five years.

There was an air of assurance and confidence, while a show of strength from big-hitters like Robert Carlyle, Kevin McKidd and Brian Cox meant no-one was asking “Where’s Sean?”

Mark Cousins, the former director implicated for much of what went wrong with the 2011 “rethink”, made a triumphant return as a film-maker. Scotland on Sunday’s film critic Siobhan Synnot, whose words cut deeper than most two years ago, was welcomed on to a prize jury.

How times have changed.

If – at the time of writing, final admission figures remain unknown – the festival has not quite attracted the same audience again as it had in 2008 or 2009, then it is definitely back on its feet and possibly punching above its weight for the first time in recent memory. Dare I say it, it might finally have settled into its early slot in the calendar.

But it’s clear from speaking to both Hay and Fujiwara they are far from content with where the festival is now at. It is not the player it once was and substantial funding will be required to improve its standing.

The festival has managed to attract new sponsors, but artistic director Fujiwara’s budget of around £1.6 million is still well short of the £1.9m available to Hannah McGill during her final year in charge in 2010. That should be the bare minimum for 2014.

The Edinburgh International Festival will not thank me for drawing comparisons, but its 2012 budget was more than £10m, around half from the public purse.

If the city and Scottish Government are serious about restoring EIFF’s status within the global industry, they need to think seriously about bridging the gulf in backing for these two events.

The EIF director, Sir Jonathan Mills, turned to megaphone diplomacy not long into his tenure to help make the case for protecting its status. His rabble-rousing tactics worked a treat, particularly in terms of government support.

A decade ago, the then Fringe director Paul Gudgin, scornful of its public funding, was even more blunt: “We need more money or we will go bust.” It very nearly did, but its public funding is now 10 times as much.

I get the sense that the film festival is keen to start turning up the heat.

It need only look at other events for inspiration, rather than feelings of envy.

Parental love is unconditional, absolute and enduring. Our children, and our undeterred attitude to protect them from anyone or anything that may harm them, is the one thing that all parents share no matter our personalities or our views – we all go out to bat for our kids.

So strong are the emotions surrounding parents and their children, that the thought of outliving them is hard to bear. Indeed there is no word in the English language for parents whose children have pre-deceased them, perhaps because it is too awful to contemplate.

Think then how much worse it is if your child is murdered and instead of having time to grieve and mourn the loss, the next 20 years is spent trying to find out what happened and why. And, just as those responsible are identified and punishment doled out more evidence is uncovetred, suggesting that the very people who should have been helping you were all the time thwarting your endeavours for justice.

Doreen and Neville Lawrence have had to endure just that. For 20 years they have had to fight for the truth about the murder of their son Stephen and at the same time fight for justice from the system that was suppose to help them do that, but seemingly, got in their way deliberately.

It is a massive blow to those already tortured parents to hear the allegations aired last week, that a former undercover police officer, Peter Francis, posed as an anti-racism campaigner after Stephen’s murder and was asked to find “dirt” on the family in a bid to discredit them.

They should not have to go through this – and they would not have to if those in charge cared enough and truly wanted to help.

The sad fact is, though, that they are not alone: look at the parents of those who died at the Hillsborough football ground disaster in 1989.

The death of 96 football fans at Sheffield Wednesday’s stadium led to numerous inquiries and investigations, but because no-one in power was determined enough to get to the bottom of things, it took more than 20 years to establish any kind of truth.

Parents don’t give up, though. Did any anyone think they would? Neville and Doreen Lawrence won’t give up; the Hillsborough Justice Campaign didn’t give up; and even when the odds of securing the truth and justice are truly stacked against them, as in the case of Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was a passenger on Pam Am Flight 103 when it exploded over Lockerbie in 1988, they don’t give up.

No-one should have to go through what the Lawrences are still going through. Losing a child is bad enough.

If the current government have the empathy they should have, they certainly have the power to save the parents of Stephen Lawrence any more pain and grant them what they want: a public inquiry led by a judge – after 20 years they at least deserve that.

An official statement on Scotland’s strategy for EU entry offers some cause for concern, writes Brian Montieth

Sometimes the most unassuming politicians are the most dangerous. Who would have thought David Lidington, that quiet brain box, twice-over University Challenge winner, now minister for Europe at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, would be the person to bowl a googly that would so flummox the First Minister’s carefully coiffured position on an independent Scotland’s membership of the European Union?

There are bigger beasts – like Boris Johnson, David Cameron and even Alistair Darling – who have a habit of throwing all sorts of bouncers and Yorkers that the great ducker and diver himself is able to deal with comfortably at the Scottish crease. But David Lidington? Who he?

Well, he came to Edinburgh on Friday and made a fairly important speech. Getting into the detail, as one would hope and expect that a minister for Europe might, Lidington posed six questions to the SNP government and Yes campaign.

He presented all of the problems on EU membership, a Scottish currency, the Schengen Agreement on borders and passport controls, the Scottish contribution to the EU budget, Scotland’s possible negotiating strength on issues such as financial services and agriculture compared to the UK’s, and finally Scotland’s security within Europe, Nato and the wider world. These are all straightforward issues and ones that I couldprovide a column on each.

It is the level of debate we have been asking for: making probing, searching and detailed points.

Instinctively, and naturally for all our interests, the media corps wanted a response from the First Minister – how would he answer the six questions David Lidington had asked? How in particular would the other members of the European Union agree to all the things that the SNP says we can keep and it assures we can get – such as open borders with England, retaining Margaret Thatcher’s discount to the EU membership contribution and staying out of the Euro? Here’s what his spokesman – who has the authority to speak in his name and has, as of now, not been corrected – said: “Apart from anything else, do other countries want to be blocked from access to the North Sea?

“Do Spanish and Portuguese fishermen, and others for that matter, want what would become Scottish waters to be blocked off to their fisherman? I don’t think so, but if that’s what’s being suggested then it strikes me as a bit self-defeating.”

What? A newly sovereign and independent Scottish Government would take as its negotiating stance to gain entry to the EU at the best terms possible the position of mounting a blockade against entry to Scottish fishery waters by boats of members of the European Union – until it won the concessions it wanted? Spain and Portugal being mentioned in particular.

Are we to take it that the First Minister believes we should run what is tantamount to an aggressive naval operation so Scotland can bully its way into the European club that was designed to ensure peace across the continent? And this the same Alex Salmond who has also expended much political capital distancing himself from those warmongers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

Will we yet see the day when Salmond’s bathtub armada of glorified tugs will trawl the North Sea looking for Spanish Weapons of Mackerel Destruction?

The cackles of incredulity and hilarity of Scottish political hacks – and the twittersphere that spread the unbelievable news – could surely be heard in the Michelin-starred seafood restaurants of Lisbon, Madrid and Barcelona (oh, how ironic). And here’s why.

Whether you believe him or not, Michael Moore, the Scotland Secretary, waded in to joke that there were no Spanish or Portuguese trawlers in Scottish waters.

Some blockade then; a bluff already called.Seeking to check this allegation, I asked Struan Stevenson MEP, a seasoned European politician and vice-chairman of the European Parliament’s committee on fisheries and he explained to me that the Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch had bought up the quotas of Scottish fishermen that they needed and thus used our boats to land the catches that were destined to go to the continental markets.

What this means is that even if there are no boats from EU member states to blockade, the fish will still reach the best restaurants of Europe – unless Salmond’s three-boat flotilla keeps his fisherman friends in their harbours or forces them to dump their highly prized and expensive catches at great cost to the environment and employment in his own constituency. You could not make this herring pickle up.

But let’s not get carried away. The point is that a blockade of the North Sea can only be mounted against members of the European Union by Scotland if it is outside the EU – no trade blockades are permissible by member nations against each other. Such actions are highly frowned upon, subject to punishment including heavy fines paid for by the taxpayer – and hardly the position to be taken by a nation wishing to join. In fact, in one simple soundbite the spokesman had confirmed what we have known all along – that Scotland will be outside the EU looking in, waiting to join.

Such a bellicose attitude would prolong entry – not help it.

The statement told us that the SNP has not thought through its negotiating position with 450-odd days before a referendum and is already talking about bullying other states.

It also told us that it has complete ignorance of how North Sea fishing is conducted – and it blew the gaffe on Alex Salmond as the great friend of the Catalans, our Scandinavian neighbours and the peace-loving world.

David Lidington must have laughed all the way back to Aylesbury. What a catch for Better Together! Who says the Tories have nothing to say in the debate?

The day David Lidington comes back to Scotland and asks more questions is not a day too soon.

A GOVERNMENT review into the UK’s nuclear deterrent options will show alternatives other than a like-for-like replacement of Trident exist, Danny Alexander has said.

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury said the two-year review, expected to be published this month, does not come to any conclusions but will show there are choices available to the country.

He said these alternatives would help nations move on from the “Cold War postures of the past”.

The Liberal Democrat party leadership is against the £20 billion like-for-like replacement of the continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent – based at Faslane on the Clyde – and demanded an official review into other options when the coalition with the Conservatives was formed.

But the report is expected to show that the alternatives are either impractical or more expensive.

Mr Alexander, who has been leading the review for the past nine months, told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show: “That review was completed two weeks ago and submitted to the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. The question it is trying to answer is, ‘Is complete renewal of Trident and the way previously planned the only way to protect our country in the future?’

“While the review doesn’t come to any conclusions, I think when we publish the results in a few weeks time people will see that there are choices available to this country.

“There are alternatives where we can – as President Obama said in Berlin last week – move on from the Cold War postures of the past and try and set out a new future for this country with a deterrent that is credible, but where this country can play a role in supporting disarmament in future.”

Research for a parliamentary committee last week found more Lib Dem voters back replacing Trident if a cheaper alternative is not viable than those who would oppose it.

In a series of polls for the public administration select committee, Lib Dem backing for four new submarines reached 47 per cent after voters were shown information about Trident and asked to decided what they would support if the government rules that alternative systems are not an option, while 42 per cent wanted disarmament.

The research by YouGov was commissioned to look into “deliberative polling”, which repeatedly asks voters the same set of questions but presents additional information and arguments throughout the process.

MPs urged the government to use the system to build up a more accurate picture of voter beliefs which could then be used to influence policy-making.

John Woodcock, MP for Barrow where Britain’s submarines are built, said: “The Liberal Democrats now seem to want to change the way the UK deploys the nuclear deterrent instead of scrapping Trident itself – that is a big climb-down after years of peddling the fantasy that we could save billions by switching to some kind of mini-deterrent.

“But after wasting taxpayers’ money on a review that has shot their preferred Trident alternative to pieces, few will take the Liberal Democrats seriously if they claim Britain could make do with a part-time deterrent.

“Ending Britain’s commitment to continuous at-sea deterrence – having at least one submarine carrying the deterrent operational at all times – would save relatively little money and make the UK much more vulnerable in the event of a nuclear threat in future decades.”

David Cameron became the first serving Prime Minister to visit Kazakhstan yesterday, as he began a visit to the mineral-rich country with hopes of boosting British trade.

Discussions were set to focus on trade and using Kazakhstan as an exit route for British equipment, as combat forces withdraw from Afghanistan. But the Prime Minister confirmed he would raise allegations of human rights abuses when he holds talks with President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

An open letter to the Prime Minister, signed by Human Rights Watch’s UK director David Mephan, said the group had been documenting human rights abuses in Kazakhstan for over 15 years. Amnesty International UK’s head of policy and government affairs Allan Hogarth said: “Kazakhstan might be knee-deep in oil and gas wealth, but David Cameron shouldn’t let lucrative energy deals prevent him from raising human rights during his trip.”

The Prime Minister responded by saying: “On human rights, in all the relationships we have, there’s never anything off the table.

“We raise and discuss all these issues and that will be the case in Kazakhstan as well.”

Stressing the economic benefits of the visit for the UK, Mr Cameron said: “We are in a global race for jobs and investment. This is one of the most rapidly emerging countries in the world.

“I have over 30 British businesses with me. We’re hoping to sign over £700 million worth of deals. That means jobs back at home and also investment in this rapidly growing economy.

“That’s what this is about. But of course nothing is off the agenda including human rights.”

Earlier, on a visit to Pakistan, Cameron promised to “stand together” with the country in the fight against terrorism following talks with his newly-elected counterpart Nawaz Sharif.

The Prime Minister said the battle required “tough and uncompromising” action but also efforts to combat the roots of extremism and radicalisation.

Mr Cameron also urged Pakistan to co-operate in creating a stable Afghanistan and pledged to go “further and faster” in boosting trade links between the two countries.

Speaking at the Pakistani Prime Minister’s official residence, Mr Cameron said both countries had a shared interest in the “battle against terrorism”.He said: “This is a battle that requires a tough and uncompromising security response.

“But it is also a battle that has to go so much wider.

“Countering extremism and radicalisation, investing in education, tackling poverty, dealing in all the issues that can fuel extremism and radicalisation.”

He added: “In this battle the friends of Pakistan are friends of Britain and the enemies of Pakistan are enemies of Britain.

“We will stand together and conduct this fight against extremism and terrorism.”

Labour’s 13 years in power delivered major improvements in public services and reduced social inequality but failed to tackle the pay gap between the rich and the poor, according to academics.

Researchers found that despite the “myth that Labour spent a lot and achieved nothing” Tony Blair and Gordon Brown left the Coalition with a legacy of lower poverty and a widely improved public sector.

The London School of Economics and Political Science’s study found that although spending went up by 60 per cent under Labour, the pre-crash levels were “unexceptional” domestically and internationally and national debt levels were lower than when the party took office.

Access and quality in public services improved, according to the LSE’s Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (Case) report, Labour’s Social Policy Record: Policy, Spending and Outcomes 1997-2010.

Most of the extra spending went on improving services, including new hospitals, schools, 48,000 extra full-time equivalent teachers, 3,500 new children’s centres, and more doctors and nurses.

These areas of policy are devolved to Scotland and the Westminster government’s policies had a direct effect south of the Border.

But the Scottish administration received extra cash as a result of Barnett formula, much of which was ploughed into schools and health.

Overall, Labour saw results in the areas it targeted with cash, including reducing rates of child and pensioner poverty, cutting hospital waiting times, improving teacher-pupil ratios and boosting neighbourhood facilities.

But there was no real change in overall levels of income inequality, wage inequalities grew at the top and poverty for working-age people without children increased.

Ruth Lupton, coordinating report author, said: “There is a myth that Labour spent a lot and achieved nothing.

“The evidence shows that outcomes improved and gaps narrowed on virtually all the socio-economic indicators that were targeted.

“Labour left the Coalition with a legacy of more equal outcomes on many measures, less poverty and expanded public services.

“However, their reliance on the labour market to improve the situation for working-age people with no children did not pay off – some outcomes for this group got worse.”

Labour had “by no means reached its goals” by 2010, however, with wide gaps in achievements between disadvantaged children and those from wealthier families, particularly at higher attainment levels.

The party also achieved “substantial returns” on its large-scale investment in the NHS in healthcare quantity, quality and satisfaction but variations in performance continued, including “well-publicised concerns about incidents involving sub-standard care, coupled with regulatory failure”.

Shadow business secretary says talk of him becoming Labour leader is ‘absurd’

Shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna today insisted he finds talk of him becoming Labour Party leader “absurd”.

The MP was asked if he could become Britain’s first black prime minister and about his appearances at several Labour Party constituency events.

Mr Umunna said he helps colleagues at fundraisers in marginal and target seats because without a Labour government running the country, he will not be in a position to help businesses.

Asked if he would like to lead Labour should the opportunity arise, Mr Umunna said: “I’ve been a member of Parliament for three years. I find all this chit-chat rather absurd.

“At the end of the day, I think you’ve got to keep yourself grounded, you have to remember why you go into politics and that is to change things – to change people’s lives. It’s not about the soap opera, who’s up, who’s down, who’s this or that.

Last September Mr Umunna declined to rule out a future Labour leadership bid.

The former employment lawyer insisted it would be “arrogant” to say he would be the right man for the job but raised the prospect of there being a vacancy in “two or three years”.

When asked if he hoped to reach Labour’s top job, Mr Umunna sidestepped the question, replying: “I feel so uncomfortable with these questions.

“It would be incredibly arrogant for me, or anyone else to say, in two or three years I would be the best person to lead this country. I feel deeply uncomfortable about that.”

PRINCE Charles was last night facing mounting pressure to pay his “fair share” of tax after an MP pointed to growing “concerns” over his financial arrangements.

Increasing scrutiny is falling upon the Prince of Wales’ estate, which provides heirs to the throne with a private income, after Margaret Hodge, the chair of a powerful Commons committee, questioned whether it was returning enough money to taxpayers.

Ms Hodge, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said Charles’s Duchy of Cornwall estate should pay taxes in the same way as other businesses, adding that no one should be allowed to simply make a voluntary corporation tax contribution.

It comes as the Prince’s finances are to be further investigated courtesy of a Channel 4 Dispatches programme tonight, which claims to disclose several property deals, including one which generates the estate several million pounds a year from supermarket giant, Waitrose. Labour MP Ms Hodge yesterday drew a parallel between the £763 million estate – which pays no corporation or capital gains tax – and the “immoral” Starbucks, which has been the subject of widespread criticism over its financial dealings.

She said: “We’ve just had the example of Starbucks voluntarily agreeing to pay £20m in corporation tax, and while the payment of some tax is welcome, I don’t think anybody should pay a voluntary contribution.

“It should be a fair system that is transparent and is set and you pay your dues. And I think that goes for everybody.

“There are concerns over why the Duchy of Cornwall doesn’t pay corporation tax and whether a fair share of tax is paid from the profits and income raised in the Duchy.”

The committee has already announced a parliamentary hearing into the Prince’s tax affairs, scheduled for a fortnight’s time. William Nye, Charles’s principal private secretary, and Keith Willis, the estate’s finance director, will appear before MPs on 15 July.

Ms Hodge is just the latest figure to call for greater transparency of how the estate conducts its business.

Yesterday, Labour peer Lord Berkeley said there should be an independent review of the Duchy’s housing policy after it emerged it is charging some tenants on the Isles of Scilly double what council tenants pay.

He said: “There’s a common perception that the Duchy is expensive and I think it only right that we investigate exactly what it is charging compared to other landlords.”

The estate, from which Charles received a record private income of £19m last year, boasts a significant portfolio of more than 50,000 hectares of land as well as numerous investments.

Accounts published last week showed that the Prince’s funding from the taxpayer fell year on year by 47 per cent, from £2.1m to £1.1m.

However, a spokeswoman for the Duchy of Cornwall estate defended the way its business was conducted. She said: “The Duchy of Cornwall is a private landed estate. It is not a public body, nor is it funded by the taxpayer.

“The Prince of Wales chooses to use his income from the Duchy, rather than public money, to cover the great majority of the cost of the public duties of both himself and the Duchess of Cornwall, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.”

health secretary Alex Neil has spoken of how doctors saved his son’s life after he contracted septicaemia, and how the ordeal strengthened his commitment to the NHS.

Mr Neil was speaking ahead of the 65th anniversary of the formation of a health service free at the point of delivery.

And he contrasted it to the world of health insurance, and payment first, treatment second, of the US, where he and his family had lived for a time.

Mr Neil’s son Michael, who is now in his 30s, was just 14 when he needed urgent treatment for the potentially fatal blood infection. It was an experience the SNP politician has described as the worst of his life.

Doctors told him his son was hours from death and they needed to carry out an emergency operation.

Michael, who made a full recovery, spent three-and-a-half weeks in hospital.

“When I visit NHS services across Scotland I never cease to be impressed by the stories of the dedication and compassion provided by staff,” Mr Neil said.

“They have my admiration and gratitude. Not least because I have the NHS to thank for saving my son’s life, and, as health secretary and a father, I couldn’t be prouder of what our health service does for the people of Scotland each and every day.

“I am absolutely committed to the founding values of our NHS. I can promise that, in Scotland, your healthcare will move with the times and develop as our society changes, but while this government is in charge it will be free at point of access for everyone.”

Michael was treated at Ayr Hospital.

Speaking about the family’s ordeal, Mr Neil revealed they were initially told he had leukaemia. “The NHS saved our boy’s life so I owe them big time. Michael wouldn’t be here today without the excellent staff at Ayr Hospital,” he said at the time.

The NHS turns 65 on Friday and the Scottish Government is launching a website with personal stories from 65 Scots about how the service has helped them.

The 65-lives project includes the experience of Gillian Currie, from Dunfermline in Fife, whose daughter Niamh needed specialist care at birth.

“Eighteen weeks into my pregnancy, a hospital scan revealed that our baby had spina bifida,” she said.

“From the moment we received this diagnosis the NHS foetal medicine team at Forth Park Hospital in Kirkcaldy were hugely supportive and provided us with advice and guidance whenever we needed it, also referring us to a number of additional spina bifida organisations.

“When Niamh was born she contracted meningitis, and required specialist care at the Sick Kids Hospital in Edinburgh.

“The care she received here was also incredible, and all staff members made a very difficult time as easy as possible.

“Niamh is now two years old and we still visit the hospital regularly for check ups.”