£2.50 · only £2 to subscribers · Sunday Newspaper of the Year
July 16, 2017 · Issue no 10,062 · thesundaytimes.co.uk
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Schools chief CORNISH CREAM AT WIMBLEDON warns about impact of new GCSEs
THE SHARPEST WRITING ON THE BIGGEST EVENTS ANDREW PARSONS
Sian Griffiths Education Editor Schools facing tougher GCSE exams, taken for the first time this summer by about 700,000 pupils, are threatening children’s chances of getting a “broad and balanced education”, the chief inspector of schools warns today. Amanda Spielman said she was concerned that schools were drilling pupils too narrowly for GCSEs and were already extending courses from two years to three years to try to ensure good results. Spielman said this meant subjects such as art, music, sport, humanities and drama were being squeezed as children were forced to decide which subjects to study or drop aged just 13. In one school she visited she was horrified — and said parents would be “surprised” — to see a class of 11-year-olds taken through GCSE mark schemes instead of being taught geography. “The real substance of education is getting lost in our schools,” she told The Sunday Times. In her first significant report at Ofsted she has ordered inspectors to review what is being taught in lessons. Experts have long warned that the UK has some of the most tested and stressed children in the developed world, yet ministers have pushed through exam reforms in an effort to raise standards. This summer 16-year-olds in England have been guinea pigs for the tougher maths and English GCSEs, which will be graded on a 9-1 scale, replacing the previous A* to G grading system. Far fewer children are expected to score the top grade of nine than achieved an A* in the past, and more than half are not expected to reach new national benchmarks. Already, according to one poll last week, 10% fewer pupils in half the maths departments surveyed have signed up for A-level maths next year after sitting the new Continued on page 2 →
PM slaps down Hammond in austerity row Tim Shipman and Caroline Wheeler
Television viewers may be shocked by the salaries paid to popular presenters when the BBC discloses its leading earners on Wednesday — but perhaps not as shocked as the stars who discover they are not doing as well as they thought. “Some of the biggest egos in the land are there and they will discover what the other big egos are paid,” said Peter Sissons, the former News at Ten presenter, who warned that things might get ugly
Philip Hammond has declared that public-sector workers are “overpaid”, as a bitter cabinet war erupted over austerity. At a heated cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the chancellor refused to lift the 1% cap on wages for publicsector workers on the grounds that they earn more than those in the private sector, along with generous taxpayer-funded pensions. But Hammond left his colleagues thunderstruck at the language he used. “Public-sector workers are overpaid when you take into account pensions,” he declared. The chancellor also described train drivers as “ludicrously overpaid”. The comments will fuel public anger that the Tories are out of touch with the public mood and will plunge Tory MPs into despair at the chancellor’s political tin ear. More than 5m public-sector workers have seen their incomes fall in real terms over the last seven years and a majority of ministers blame the freeze for the Tories’ poor performance at the general election. In an interview with The Sunday Times, Steve White, the chairman of the Police Federation, warns today that failure to give officers a proper pay rise will lead to a recruitment crisis that would compromise public safety. Last night the Treasury confirmed the chancellor told his colleagues that public-sector workers enjoyed a “10% premium” in income over private-sector workers because of their pensions but
Eleanor Tomlinson and Aidan Turner, stars of the BBC series Poldark, at Wimbledon yesterday to see Garbine Muguruza beat Venus Williams in the women’s final Reports, Sport
And finally ... here’s what I earn Nicholas Hellen Social Affairs Editor
Chancellor says public sector is ‘overpaid’
between the corporation and any miffed millionaires. The day of reckoning for television talent follows Theresa May’s new rules requiring the BBC to identify staff earning more than £150,000 a year — close to the prime minister’s salary. Huw Edwards, the News at Ten lead presenter, will learn how much more (or less) he is paid than his understudy, Fiona Bruce, who also hosts the Antiques Roadshow. No one will be surprised if John Humphrys, who once said his Mastermind quizmaster’s fee was
“money for old rope”, is near the top of the magic money tree. But how many branches further down are his co-presenters on Radio 4’s Today programme, Mishal Husain and Sarah Montague? Earnings will be declared in £50,000 bands with Graham Norton, the chat show host and Eurovision Song Contest presenter, expected to top the list around the £2.5m mark. The BBC will announce that about 100 top earners were paid a total of £29m last year. A few on more than £500,000 earned a combined £7.3m.
NEWMAN’S VIEW
SEX LIES & SMEARS
CABINET AT WAR, PAGE 13 denied he had used the word “overpaid”. However, five separate sources say Hammond did use the word and revealed that the prime minister and foreign secretary reprimanded him for doing so. A cabinet source said: “Philip used a fairly inflammatory phrase. He said they were ‘overpaid’. That caused some general astonishment. His overall tone was that we shouldn’t give them more cash because they are overpaid. Later in the meeting both Boris Johnson and the PM said we should not say public-sector workers are overpaid.” Justine Greening, the education secretary, also used Tuesday’s cabinet meeting to press for more public spending on health and education, backed up by Karen Bradley,
the culture secretary, and James Brokenshire, the Northern Ireland secretary. But Hammond won support from Liz Truss, the chief secretary to the Treasury, who said it was important to maintain fiscal discipline. Official figures compiled by the Office for National Statistics show that until 2003 private-sector workers earned more than those in the public sector. Since then, public-sector workers have opened up a big lead. By 2016 the pay gap stood at £22.30 a week. The row is likely to damage Hammond’s chances of becoming prime minister if Theresa May stands down. It comes after it emerged that the chancellor made sexist comments in the meeting about female train drivers. The Treasury’s opposition to public-sector pay rises was confirmed by Steve White, who met Amber Rudd, the home secretary, on Tuesday. “She told me the Treasury view is that the police have had a very good deal already,” he said. The Police Federation has asked for a 2.8% rise and is awaiting the decision of the Police Remuneration Review Body, which could come this week. White claimed failure to drop the pay freeze would lead to further shortages of officers and leave Britain vulnerable to more terrorist attacks. He said: “This year we have seen troops on the streets because we didn’t have enough cops. We will soon have members of the public picking up the phone desperate for help from the police service and Continued on page 2 →
‘Life sentence’ for acid attackers Caroline Wheeler and Robin Henry The home secretary today warns acid attackers they face life behind bars, saying their victims must not be the only ones who serve “life sentences” with their injuries. In an article for The Sunday Times, Amber Rudd says those who carry out such attacks will “feel the full force of the law” as she sets out a strategy aimed at ending a spate of horrifying incidents. Acid was used in five assaults on delivery workers in
London in the space of 72 minutes on Thursday night. “We will seek to ensure that everyone working within the criminal justice system, from police officers to prosecutors, have the powers they need to severely punish those who commit these appalling crimes,” she adds. The Home Office will consider tougher sentences for the culprits as part of a review that will also look at restricting the sale and possession of corrosive substances. Amber Rudd, page 4
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