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The leader of England’s surgeons has warned that the imminent publication of data about individual performance could destroy careers and harm patients if it is wrongly interpreted.

In his first interview on an issue that is causing considerable concern in the profession, Norman Williams, president of the Royal College of Surgeons, said they were facing “a watershed moment for us” with a degree of trepidation, amid concerns that the use of such data might deter surgeons from taking on risky cases.

“I want to ensure that we get the message out in a positive way and it is not destructive. It is not just a matter of trashing professional reputations and destroying the confidence of the public,” he said.

By the end of June, driven by NHS England, the first sets of outcomes data from 10 specialties – nine of which are surgeons (the others are cardiologists) – will be published online. Death rates will be counted in some specialties, but different measures – such as whether an operation has to be repeated or whether the patient is still in pain – will be used in others.

It is an exercise in transparency intended to drive up standards and better inform patients who put their lives in surgeons’ hands. Cardiac surgeons have been collecting individualised data for years and publishing their results, although not in an easily accessible place. But most other specialties are way behind.

Surgeons generally support the move, said Williams. “We have had a lot of positive responses from people saying, ‘We’re right behind this, we think it is the right way to go’.”

But there are anxieties as to how the information will be interpreted, especially if the data being collated is not completely accurate. Even those surgical specialties that do audit their performance may have gaps in their data.

That was what caused the recent drama at the children’s heart unit of the Leeds general infirmary. Because the full data had not been submitted to a central audit database, the death rate for children at Leeds looked dangerously high, leading NHS medical director Sir Bruce Keogh to intervene. Children’s heart surgery was suspended while a team investigated.

Williams said he thought most surgeons would consent to the publication of their data, which will be on the NHS Choices website. But worries about the quality of the data may make some refuse. Others argue that surgery is teamwork and one individual should not be held responsible for the outcome.

“It is a unique situation. I don’t think there is a country in the world that has done this or will be doing it in the future. It is a very brave move to even broach it,” said Williams.

“I have great admiration for my colleagues who are embracing it and working hard to get this data out, but it has got to be done in a very professional manner.”

What the data is likely to show is that most surgeons will perform to an acceptable standard but that some will be better and some will be worse than average.

“I would expect only a few true outliers – people who are not that good. I’d be very surprised if there were many,” said Williams. “We do have a pretty good training programme.”

When an outlier is identified, it will be important to understand why they appear to be getting worse results than others. “I might be an outlier,” he said.

Williams, a colorectal surgeon working in research before he became president, was doing “some pretty complicated bowel surgery” and remembers vividly the last operation he performed on a patient with Crohn’s disease.

“It took eight hours,” he said. “The patient was very high risk. If that patient had died or got some complication, nobody would have been surprised.”

That was why it was crucial that outcomes were risk-stratified, to account for the patients whose survival was in question, he added.

Surgeons must not be deterred from taking risky cases or trying new techniques, he said, warning that it was important “to protect the patient but nurture the innovator”.

There must be careful investigation of the reasons before it is assumed a surgeon is not good enough, he said. The few in cardiac surgery who had been judged to be genuine outliers, he added, “have often been near the end of their career and they have retired early. Whether they have been poor all their careers is impossible to find out”.

But auditing surgeons’ performance throughout their careers would ensure they would only get better, or know when to quit.

“This will get better and better and better and become second nature and it must drive up standards,” he said.

His biggest fear is that the media will pillory those who appear to be doing badly and surgeons’ reputations will be seriously damaged, which is bad for them and the public.

“The vast majority of patients do have a lot of confidence in their surgeons. If you are having major surgery, you need to have confidence. All the data suggest that most surgeons in this country are very competent,” he said.

Article source: http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/uk/rss/~3/rSFeWKtfXaQ/surgeons-fears-publication-online-data

George Osborne is preparing to set out his plans to return bailed-out Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland to the private sector after the International Monetary Fund called on him to devise a “clear strategy” for the two banks.

The Washington-based body, in London to present its annual health check on the UK economy, also told the chancellor that if the two banks needed more capital to bolster their financial strength he should pour in more taxpayer funds, as it would prove beneficial to the economy.

Some £65bn of taxpayer money is already locked up in shares in RBS and Lloyds, which both issued stock market announcements to insist they did not need to tap investors – particularly taxpayers – for fresh funds to plug capital shortfalls, estimated to be about £10bn.

The intervention of the IMF forced Osborne to give the clearest indication yet he will outline his strategy for the two banks next month, with speculation focusing on his Mansion house speech in June.

More generally, the IMF said banks should be required to raise equity, cut dividends and show restraint on remuneration rather than cut back on lending.

Osborne said he would reveal his decision on Lloyds and RBS after the crucial report by the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, which is expected to report next month . The report may call for full nationalisation of RBS, already 81% state owned. Lloyds is 39% owned by the taxpayer.

“Having refocused their business, now is the time for a clear strategy on how to return RBS and Lloyds to the private sector in a way that protects value for the taxpayer,” Osborne said.

Shares in the two banks rose after they said their long-running discussions with the new City regulator, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), over capital requirements ended. The banks said they could sell off businesses and cut down on risks rather than raise fresh funds to fill the shortfall.

Lloyds ended nearly 2p higher at 62.96p – above the 61p level the government now sees as break-even – and RBS ended 7.4p up at 349.6p.

The IMF presented a dilemma for Osborne by making clear that value to taxpayers should be central in any sell-off. Shares in both banks are firmly below levels the City regards as break-even: 73.6p for Lloyds and 502p for RBS, levels leaving taxpayers with £17bn of losses..

“Any strategy should seek to return the banks to private hands in a way that maximises the value for taxpayers, strengthens confidence and competition in the sector, and minimises outward spillovers,” the IMF said as it indicated a strategy should be outlined by the end of the year. “In this context, if a sovereign backstop is required to meet a capital shortfall, it should be provided, as this would have a high multiplier.”

The IMF did not indicate when stakes should be sold off and noted that “challenges remain” as the banks had failed to sell the branches which the European Union had demanded should be disposed of in return for £65bn of state aid.

The specific capital shortfalls of Lloyds and RBS were not disclosed but are thought to make up a large part of the £25bn hole identified by the the Bank of England’s financial policy committee in March.

The IMF said the new stress tests by the PRA planned for 2014, following this year’s exercise for the financial policy committee, should provide more detail about the methodology, results and bank-by-bank capital plans.

Lloyds, which analysts estimate has a £3bn shortfall, said it could plug its gap by generating profits and continuing to sell non-core assets, such as problem loans – ensuring taxpayers and other investors would not need to buy new shares or other types of financial instruments.

To underline the point, Lloyds raised £500m just after the stock market closed by selling another tranche of its stake in wealth manager St James’s Place. Since March, Lloyds’ stake in the firm has fallen from 57% to 21%.

RBS said it could fill its capital shortfall by selling off part of its US business, Citizens, and scaling back its investment bank.

The PRA said that further announcements would come from other banks once discussions over capital had been concluded. The City is most concerned about the outcome of discussion with Co-operative Bank.

Article source: http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/uk/rss/~3/lXTON61CRoc/lloyds-banking-group-investors-fresh-capital

David Cameron has issued a blunt warning to Conservative Eurosceptics that his “very clear, very decisive policy” to hold a referendum on Britain’s EU membership by the end of 2017 is not up for renegotiation.

In an attempt to draw a line under a bumpy few weeks in which Eurosceptics demanded a toughening of his policy and Tory traditionalists criticised him for pressing ahead with a gay marriage bill, the prime minister said he would stand firm.

But Cameron, who spoke of his pride in legalising gay marriage, tried to reach out to the right by saying he would now focus on the “big picture” issues of the economy rather than social issues.

“Is this the first now of many other issues like that,” he asked in an interview on the Today programme on Radio 4. “No it isn’t. The government now is going to be absolutely focused on the big picture which is fixing our economy, reforming welfare, making sure there are good schools for our children to go to.”

But the prime minister adopted a different tone as he rejected calls from Eurosceptics to hold a referendum before the planned date of 2017, or even to hold two votes. David Davis, the former Tory leadership contender, is calling for an initial “mandate” referendum to give the prime minister authority from the British people to renegotiate the terms of Britain’s EU membership.

Cameron said: “On 24 January I set out a very clear, very compelling policy for the country towards Europe, which is to renegotiate our relationship with Europe, to make the European Union more open, competitive and flexible, and then to offer the British people something they haven’t had for decades – an in-out referendum. It’s a very clear, very decisive policy.

“Let me say, this policy, it doesn’t matter the pressure I come under from outside the Conservative party, or in Europe, or inside the Conservative party, this policy isn’t going to change. The question isn’t going to change. The number of referenda isn’t going to change. The date by which we hold this referendum isn’t going to change. The fact is, it’s the right policy for the country.”

The prime minister also joined forces with Nick Clegg in vowing that the coalition would last the full five-year term. He said on Today: “That is absolutely my intention and has always been. To anyone who doubts what life there is left in the coalition, I would argue there is more to come – very bold reforming, and strong government, and that is what we’ll be right up until polling day.”

Clegg urged the Conservatives not to shift to the right in a doomed bid to head off Ukip. The deputy prime minister warned Tory MPs off “arcane, shrill and tongue-twisting manoeuvres in parliament”, saying it distracted the public from the government’s main goal of sorting out the economy.

Speaking at a press conference in Westminster, Clegg told the Conservatives they were wasting their time trying to stir up a leadership crisis in his own party, but admitted long-term differences between the two parties over Europe would continue.

Insisting he was confident of his place in the coalition, he said: “Anyone who is wargaming about what may or may not happen in my party is wasting their time. I am going to be leader of this party up to, through and beyond the next general election. The Liberal Democrats, despite all the predictions to the contrary, have proved to be the calmest, most resilient and most united party in British politics today.”

Article source: http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/uk/rss/~3/6YBiMz4ysMw/david-cameron-eu-referendum

Dramatic footage of the suspected terrorist attack near the Woolwich barracks today that left one man dead has emerged, showing a man with blood covered hands using jihadist rhetoric to justify the violence.

As the government’s emergency committee Cobra convened in central London to assess the implications of the incident, ITV News broadcast footage of one of the alleged attackers.

Brandishing a cleaver and a knife, and with the body of the victim lying yards away, the man said: “We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you. The only reason we have done this is because Muslims are dying every day. This British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”

“We must fight them. I apologise that women had to witness this today.

“But in our land our women have to see the same.

Map showing the exact location of the incident

“You people will never be safe. Remove your government, they don’t care about you.”

The man then walks away and talks to another suspected attacker.

Later footage shows the aftermath after the two suspects were shot by police.

Police at the scene in Woolwich, south London, where a man was killed and two others were taken to hospital with gunshot wounds following a ‘serious incident’. BBC screengrab

The home secretary, Theresa May, called a meeting of the government’s emergency Cobra committee in response to the incident.

It is believed the person died after suffering knife injuries, possibly around the head area.

Two people have been taken to hospital after they were shot by armed police.

There were reports that the man who was fatally attacked was wearing a Help for Heroes T-shirt.

The Woolwich and Greenwich MP, Nick Raynsford, said it was his understanding that one person, a serving soldier, was dead but there was no immediate confirmation of this from the Ministry of Defence.

May tonight confirmed she has been briefed by the Director General of the Security Service MI5 on the “sickening and barbaric” incident.

May said: “It has been confirmed to me that a man has been brutally murdered this afternoon in south-east London. Two other men were shot by armed police and they are currently receiving treatment for their injuries.”

The prime minister, David Cameron, described the killing as “truly shocking” and said he had asked the home secretary to chair a meeting of Cobra, the government’s emergency committee. Cobra only meets for the most serious incidents.

A separate source told the Guardian that the initial version of events was that a man was attacked by two other people. Those suspects were then shot by armed police called to the scene.

Commander Simon Letchford, from Woolwich police, said: “At approx 14.20 we were called to reports of an assault in John Wilson Street, Woolwich where one man was being assaulted by two other men. A number of weapons were reportedly being used in the attack, and this included reports of a firearm.

“Officers including local Greenwich officers arrived at the scene and shortly after firearms officers arrived on the scene. On their arrival at the scene they found a man, who was later pronounced dead. At this early stage I am unable to provide any further information about the man who has died.

“Two men, who we believe from early reports to have been carrying weapons, were shot by police. They were taken to separate London hospitals, they are receiving treatment for their injuries.”

Chiefs at the Woolwich barracks were understood to be trying to account for military personnel, amid reports the dead person may have been connected to the military. The incident happened 300-400 metres from the perimeter of the barracks.

The barracks is home to the Princess of Wales regiment and the Kings Troop, which is a ceremonial unit, that relocated to Woolwich last year.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating the shooting by police, which is standard in cases where officers open fire.

In a statement the IPCC said it had “been made aware by Metropolitan Police Service of an incident in Woolwich, south London. IPCC investigators have been deployed to the scene and to the post-incident process. The IPCC has declared this as an independent investigation.”

Earlier Raynsford said: “The incident occurred early afternoon. One individual is dead, two others are seriously injured and in hospital.

“We think a serving soldier was the victim. We don’t know the circumstances surrounding the incident.

“We do know a number of weapons have been seized. They include a gun, various knives, and a machete, apparently.”

Article source: http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/uk/rss/~3/Q5ITWIEE35s/police-respond-serious-incident-woolwich

A disqualified driver fleeing police was jailed for 10 years and six months on Wednesday for killing a couple he mowed down in a car as they rode their tandem bike.

Nicky Lovell, 38, pleaded guilty to causing the deaths of “perfect couple” Ross Simons, 34, and wife Clare, 30, by dangerous driving in the crash at Hanham, near Bristol, on 27 January.

Lovell, of Oldland Common, Gloucestershire, was also banned from driving for life when he was sentenced at Bristol crown court. He had also admitted driving while disqualified during a previous hearing.

Lovell’s partner, Louise Cox, 35, who owned the Citroen Picasso he was driving at the time, was jailed for one year after pleading guilty to a charge of perverting the course of justice.

Cox, also of Oldland Commonprovided police with a false name and description when she was asked to identify who had been driving her car. The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating as Lovell was driving away from an Avon and Somerset police patrol car moments before the collision.

Officers had indicated for Lovell to pull over as he was driving at speed along the residential street. But Lovell sped off and officers followed the Citroen, which hit another vehicle before ploughing into the Simons’s tandem, causing fatal injuries.

The couple, from Staple Hill, Bristol, were killed less than 24 hours after celebrating the news that they had been accepted for fertility treatment to start a family.

Speaking after their deaths, Ross Simons’s sister, Kelly Woodruff, described the pair, who had been married for 18 months, as “two peas in a pod”. She added: “They were such a magical couple.”

Prosecuting, Andrew Macfarlane described them as “the perfect couple”.

He said they had met through a mutual friend in 2001 and married on May 20 2011 – meaning they would have celebrated their second wedding anniversary on Monday.

Macfarlane told the court: “Ross, who was 34, and Clare aged 30, have been described by those who know them as special people with special qualities.

“It was said they were the perfect couple. They loved each other unconditionally. They were never heard to say a bad word about anyone.

“Friends said they were like two peas in a pod. You could never stop them from having fun.”

The prosecutor said the couple had bought the tandem – “something they had always wanted” – shortly before Christmas.

On the day of the tragedy, they had been cycling to a family birthday party after buying a birthday present for their nephew earlier that day.

Lovell, who has 69 previous convictions, was driving in Lower Hanham in Bristol with his partner of four years, Cox, her 12-year-old son and their 16-month-old son.

He was spotted on the road by PC Philip Busvine, who was driving a marked Mercedes Vito van, after conducting inquiries in the area on another matter.

Busvine had known drug addict Lovell for two years and knew him to be disqualified – so put on his blue lights and began to follow him.

He pulled behind the Citroen Picasso at a junction, where it was indicating right, and believed it would pull over.

But instead the car pulled left and fled down the busy High Street – increasing speed before driving down a narrow lane.

Macfarlane said Busvine put on his lights and siren and had his “accelerator pedal to the floor” but could not catch up with the Picasso.

Busvine later described Lovell’s driving as “exceptionally erratic, fast and dangerous”.

The car veered at a fast speed across the road, hitting a parked car.

It then spun out of control and hit the tandem side on, with the bike breaking into pieces.

Cox’s son, who was a rear passenger in the car, told police Lovell drove at speeds of between 50 and 60mph.

Macfarlane said that after the police attempted to flag the car down, the boy heard Cox tell Lovell to pull over in order that she could get behind the wheel.

“He believed that Lovell was having trouble with steering and it collided with a parked vehicle, veered across the road and hit the tandem,” he said.

“He said the vehicle came to a stop on a grassed area.

“He had struggled to get out of the vehicle because he couldn’t get his seat belt unlocked.”

Lovell then fled from the vehicle, leaving Cox and her two sons by the car.

Macfarlane added: “He then said that his mother informed the police that the person driving the vehicle was called ‘PJ’ and she gave a description that didn’t fit Lovell.”

Witnesses at the scene desperately tried to help revive the Mr and Mrs Simons but they had sustained horrific injuries and were pronounced dead at the scene.

Article source: http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/uk/rss/~3/MUqctjbquro/driver-mowed-down-tandem-jailed

A collection of tattered scraps of paper, some picked up half a century ago from the floor of the Abbey Road recording studios before they were thrown away as rubbish, now valued at just under £1m, have been presented to the nation by the Beatles biographer Hunter Davies.

“In the 1960s, these were of interest to me, the final versions of songs I’d seen the genesis of in the Beatles’ homes, but they had absolutely no value,” Davies said as he handed them over to the British Library. “Now I could have sold them for a fortune, obviously – but then they’d just have gone into some American billionaire’s bunker and never been seen again. I wanted them out where people can see and enjoy them.

“In the 1970s our house was burgled, and they got all my signed Beatles albums. At the time I put them down for insurance at £2 each. Recently a friend of mine sold an autographed copy of Sgt Pepper for £57,000, and one lyrics sheet went for nearly £1m.

“The further we get from the Beatles, the bigger they get.”

The gift was itself a point of cultural history, the first donation to a national collection by a living owner in return for tax breaks. Until now the only concessions have been from death duties, and the scheme to encourage giving by living owners, administered by the Arts Council, has taken years of argument with the Treasury to work out. If Davies earns enough – “I’ll have to get working. If I die tomorrow, it’s nothing gained” – he can offset the yellowed pages of letters and lyrics, one written on a torn piece of Lufthansa notepaper, against up to £300,000 of income tax over the next three years.

Some of the documents, including a rambling and apparently none too sober four-page letter from John Lennon, written in 1961 to Stuart Sutcliffe, “the fifth Beatle” who dropped out of the band that year to stay on in Hamburg, have been on loan to the British Library for decades. They have been displayed in the Treasures gallery alongside the Magna Carta and the Shakespeare First Folio, and some have toured the world.

“To be honest, I wasn’t sure they’d take them when I approached them first in the 1980s,” Davies said. “A mate of mine had just offered them some Graham Greene material and been told to go and try the Bodleian instead.”

The lyrics include heavily crossed-out and rewritten early versions of classic Beatles tracks, including the first draft of In My Life, showing that it was originally a nostalgic trip through the streets of John Lennon’s boyhood Liverpool, with references to Strawberry Fields, and “the Dockers’ Umbrella”, a railway line demolished in the 50s. All were dropped from the final version of the song, although the Beatles would later famously revisit Strawberry Fields.

Some of the previously loaned pieces have never been displayed in full, including the letter to Sutcliffe, which features scrawled portraits of the Fab Four and Lennon’s Aunty Mimi, and begins “I remember a time when everyone I loved hated me because I hated them, so what, so what, so fucking what”.

“Typical teenage angst and self pity,” Davies said fondly. “He was very young.” Lennon clearly thought better of posting the letter in the cold light of the morning after, and gave it to Davies instead.

A postcard sent from India by Lennon and his first wife Cynthia will also go on display for the first time – addressed to Hunter and Thingy Davies. Thingy was and is Davies’ wife, the distinguished novelist and biographer Margaret Forster, and she wasn’t best pleased.

Article source: http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/uk/rss/~3/YqvSSu0rYXw/beatles-scraps-gift-nation

• Victim ‘knifed by two attackers’ on London street
• Local MP Nick Raynsford says dead man was a soldier
• Armed police shoot two men ‘carrying weapons’
• Cobra emergency committee meets amid terrorism fear
• Follow live updates

Article source: http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/uk/rss/~3/DlyU3cNnlyg/woolwich-two-shot-in-police-incident-live-coverage

The news that younger women than ever are resorting to Botox as a “preventive measure” has got me thinking about the time a few years ago when I went to stay with a friend. The face she greeted me with was not her face. One of her eyelids sagged, giving her a strange lopsided smile. Distress bubbled up inside me. Had she been struck down with Bell’s palsy? Had a stroke? Why didn’t she tell me?

“What’s happened to your face?” I blurted out, feeling the tears rise in my eyes.

“It’s no big deal,” she said, brushing me off with a wave of the hand. “It’s just a bit of Botox gone wrong. It’s not permanent or anything.”

It took me a while to fully process her answer. My startlingly confident, formidably intelligent, beautiful 31-year-old friend was getting Botox? And Botox had caused her eye to sag as though she’d had a stroke? Of course, I knew film stars and celebrities forked out in order to have this paralysing poison injected into their faces, but it wasn’t something I’d anticipated someone I actually know would do.

Fast forward a few years and Botox seems far more common. I have other friends with the tell-tale shiny foreheads, though I’ve never again encountered a droopy eye. Yet Botoxed faces all have something in common. A strange vacancy, a peculiar dullness. Despite the glimmering smoothness of the skin – the odd way that light reflects off an unlined surface – there’s a kind of deadness around the eyes. All my Botoxed friends look faintly angry, with a touch of indifference. It’s a particular expression, rarely found in an unneedled face, and it takes some getting used to.

Lately, I’ve found myself feeling uneasy after spending time with these shiny-faced friends. The sense of connectedness we’ve always shared seems impeded by their impenetrable faces. In short, I miss their micro-expressions. I feel cut off from them, and come away lonely and disturbed. I worry how these frozen faces serve them in other parts of their lives. How do their partners feel? What about their children?

I know why women feel they need Botox. I understand the pressure on us all to maintain a youthful appearance. The relentless bombardment of media images and meta-messages. Our invisibility once past a certain age. The very real ramifications of ageing as a woman in our culture. But I can’t help wondering about the costs of Botox, and not just as far as one’s wallet is concerned.

There’s no argument that Botox paralyses facial muscles. That’s how it works. It minimises micro-expressions, those brief, involuntary facial expressions that reveal our unconscious feeling of anger, happiness, disgust, embarrassment or pride. In a sense, communicating with someone who’s had Botox is like communicating with a static image – much of the body language involved is silenced. Considering that body language, mostly consisting of facial expressions, makes up at least half of any message being communicated, this is a significant loss.

But this facial paralysis also inhibits the ability of the Botoxed to mimic the facial expressions of others, which is critical in the formation of empathy. Facial micro-mimicry is the major way we understand others’ emotions. If you are wincing in pain I immediately do a micro-wince, which sends a message to my brain about what you are experiencing. By experiencing it myself I understand what you are going through. This suggests that not only do I find my Botoxed friends hard to read, but they are also hindered in their capacity to read me. An unfortunate feedback cycle. The possible implications of this are frightening.

There has been a study into the effects of Botox on the ability to empathise, but nothing that specifically addresses the impacts on friendship, or the mother-infant bond. The absence of discussion around the effect of Botox on mothering is troubling considering that a mother’s display of emotions is how the infant learns to interact with the world. Psychologists have a method for testing infant distress at unresponsive faces called the “still face paradigm”. Any alarm bells ringing?

Empathy is a cornerstone of our relationships, vital to both building and maintaining positive interactions with others. That many women are presenting themselves as a still image is disturbing and worthy of consideration. The poker face, by definition, doesn’t express anything. With the proliferation of “selfies” and the focus on static representations of women’s faces, are we forgetting how much of who we are is communicated through facial expressions? Are we, in some sense, choosing a form of silence far more insidious than women have ever known in the past? Who benefits from the silencing of women’s faces? And what is the cost?

Article source: http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/uk/rss/~3/FSOzEj0QHx0/botox-silences-womens-faces-empathy

The average asking price for a home in London has crashed through the half a million pound barrier according to figures from property website Rightmove. Here we look at what you can get for your money

Article source: http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/uk/rss/~3/ZuC5HlElFkQ/what-will-500k-buy-you-london

The government needs a “clear strategy” to privatise Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday, as the two bailed-out banks attempted to reassure the City that they would not need to tap investors – or the taxpayer – for fresh capital.

But the IMF told the government that if the banks did need more capital to bolster their financial strength it should plough more taxpayer funds into the banks on top of the £65bn already propping them up as it would prove beneficial to the economy.

The Washington-based fund also presented a dilemma for George Osborne as he mulled over the options for the two banks.

“Any strategy should seek to return the banks to private hands in a way that maximises the value for taxpayers, strengthens confidence and competition in the sector, and minimises outward spillovers. In this context, if a sovereign backstop is required to meet a capital shortfall, it should be provided, as this would have a high multiplier,” the IMF said as it indicated a strategy should be outlined by the end of the year.

Shares in the two banks rose as they said their discussions over capital with the City regulator, the Prudential Regulation Authority, had ended. Lloyds was up 2p at 62.88p – above the important 61p level the government now sees as break even – and RBS up 6p at 348p – still below breakeven points ranging from 407p to 502p for the taxpayer.

The chancellor is facing calls from some Liberal Democrats to hand shares in the bailed out banks to taxpayers for free – which may be harder to prove is value for money – but is also considering options such as selling stakes to City investors with a Tell Sid-style privatisation for the public.

The IMF did not indicate when it thought the banks should be returned to the private sector and noted that “challenges remain” as the banks had failed to sell off the branches that the European Union had demanded should be disposed of in return for £65bn of state aid.

The intervention of the IMF came just hours after Lloyds, 39% taxpayer owned, and RBS, 81% taxpayer owned, attempted to end weeks of speculation about their capital positions by telling the stock market they would not need to tap investors to plug capital shortfalls.

While their specific shortfalls have not been published, the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee warned in March that the banking industry had a £25bn capital shortfall.

Lloyds, which analysts estimate has a £3bn shortfall, said it could plug its gap by generating profits and continuing to sell off non-core assets, such as problem loans – ensuring taxpayers or any other investors will not need to buy new shares or other types of financial instruments.

Lloyds’ share price has been trading just above 61p for the last few days – a price seen as significant because it has been set by the Treasury as the level at which it will consider paying out a bonus to the bank’s chief executive, António Horta-Osório, if a third of the stake is sold off above this price.

As he announced the end of the discussions with the PRA, he said: “We are pleased with the substantial progress being made in the delivery of our customer focused strategy. Our strong capital position enables the group to actively support growth and lending in the UK economy as well as delivering sustainable results for our shareholders.”

Stephen Hester, the chief executive of RBS, was similarly upbeat. “We are pleased with RBS’s progress and momentum. Our balance sheet has been transformed and our core business has plentiful surplus funding to support continued growth in lending,” Hester said.

The bank can fill its capital shortfall by selling off part of its US business, Citizens, and scaling back its investment bank.

The PRA said: “The two banks have advanced their plans to a position where disclosure

is appropriate. Once discussions have concluded with all banks, more information will be provided along with confirmation that, where necessary, banks will take appropriate steps to ensure that they meet the FPC’s recommendation on capital.”

Article source: http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/uk/rss/~3/lXTON61CRoc/lloyds-banking-group-investors-fresh-capital