Labour

A senior police officer has said that he is "absolutely certain" that further limiting the DNA database, as in Scotland, would mean there "offenders who could still be out there committing further serious offences".  The Conservatives have said they “would implement the Scottish system”.

“I’m absolutely certain that there are cases where had these un-convicted people been removed from the database there would be quiet serious crimes that weren’t solved by police and offenders who could still be out there committing further serious offences.” 
Chief Constable Chris Sims, ACPO lead on Forensic science and West Midlands Chief Constable, The Politics Show, 21 February 2010 

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The top economist at the EEF manufacturers association has warned that Conservative plans to change the business tax system “would be a disaster” for manufacturing. 

“Reducing the level of capital allowances would be a big problem for manufacturers … cutting the rate to 12.5 per cent [from 20 per cent] would be a disaster for us.” 
Jeegar Kakkad, senior economist at the EEF manufacturers’ organisation, Financial Times, 18 January 2010 

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The independent Institute for Fiscal Studies has said that the Conservatives would need to take tax credits away from households with incomes of £31,000 to raise the money that the Conservatives have promised. 

“At its 2009 party conference, the Conservative Party proposed to start the withdrawal of the family element of the child tax credit at an annual family income of £40,000, rather than the current threshold of £50,000. An early estimate of the savings from this reform was produced by researchers at IFS and cited by the Conservative Party, and this was that the change could save £0.4 billion a year. However, the government has estimated that the threshold would have to be cut by more – to £31,000 a year – in order to save £0.4 billion. 
“It is likely that the estimate from the government is more accurate, because the IFS estimate assumed full take-up of the child tax credit. Without access to HMRC’s data, it is not possible for us to say precisely how much money would be raised by the Conservative Party’s proposal having allowed for incomplete take-up, but it can be stated confidently that it would be less than £0.4 billion (because that would require lowering the threshold to £31,000), but more than £45 million (which is what would be raised if the threshold at £50,000 were replaced by a cliff-edge, as this is the total amount to which families with incomes exceeding £50,000 are entitled).” 
Institute for Fiscal Studies, The IFS Green Budget, 3 February 2010, p. 168 

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The head of the Swedish version of Ofsted has warned that the Swedish plan that the Conservatives want to copy “has not led to better results” in Sweden. 

"This competition between schools that was one of the reasons for introducing the new schools, has not led to better results," he said. "The lesson is that it's not easy to find a way to continue school improvement." 
It was noticed a few years ago that standards across all schools were slipping.  Perplexed, the Swedes carried out international comparative studies, as well as detailed national research, which confirmed the decline.  It is not understood why, but the slide began at around the time the schools were introduced. 
"The students in the new schools they have in general better standards, but it has to do with their parents, their backgrounds. They come from well-educated families," Mr Thulberg said. 
Per Thullberg, General Director of the Swedish National Agency for Schools, 8  February 2010 

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