Former Cabinet Minister, Rt Hon Alan Milburn is to chair PwC’s new Health Industry Oversight Board (HIOB), it was announced today. The HIOB will support fast-growing PwC’s Health Industry sector which already advises the firm’s public health, private health and pharmaceutical and life science clients. Commenting on his appointment, Alan...
April’s lower than expected inflation rate is the first dip in UK inflation since September 2012, according to today’s data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), fell to 2.4% in April from 2.8% in March, with around half of the...
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) today voted to keep interest rates at 0.5% and to hold off injecting further cash into the economy via its Quantitative Easing (QE) programme. That decision was widely predicted amid tentative signals that growth has started to pick up on its own....
By Nick Jones, Global Director of PwC’s Public Sector Research Centre Today's Queen’s Speech, the quaint tradition by which the government of the day sets out its annual legislative programme amid much pomp and no little ceremony, contained few surprises. Nevertheless, it was still of real interest in showing the...
The UK Pensions Regulator (TPR) has warned trustees of defined benefit (DB) pension schemes that setting high deficit repayment contributions could actually impact the financial strength of the employer company. Currently, where the value of a DB scheme’s liabilities is greater than the value of its assets, trustees must set...
Northern Ireland’s beleaguered construction industry showed some tentative signs of recovery in the first quarter of 2013, according to the industry body. The Federation of Master Builders' (FMB) State of Trade Survey revealed that workload, expected workload and inquiries all improved significantly compared to the last three months of 2012....
The UK has narrowly escaped a ‘triple-dip’ recession with the Office for National Statistics today confirming a weak return to growth in the first quarter of 2013. According to the GDP data, the economy grew by 0.3%, with much of this activity down to a resilient service sector, where output...
By John Hawksworth, Chief Economist The latest labour market data from the ONS showed regular pay in the three months to February 2013 up by just 1% on a year ago. Given that the latest consumer price inflation rate is 2.8%, this appears to imply a heavy squeeze on consumer...
The UK’s budget deficit remained stuck at just over £120 billion in 2012/2103, according to the latest public sector finance data, released today. Dr Esmond Birnie, PwC’s chief economist in Northern Ireland, says that when you exclude special factors, the picture doesn’t appear that different to both the previous year's...
The Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment (DETI) has launched the MATRIX Horizon Panel report into Sustainable Energy. The report sets out the current capability of Northern Ireland’s Sustainable Energy technology sector and outlines future global market opportunities for local companies to exploit. The report points to ‘Intelligent Energy Systems’...
