The Ministry of Defence announced that the new Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability (MARS) tankers, worth £452m, will maintain the Royal Navy’s ability to refuel at sea and provide fuel to warships and task groups. The new tankers will also support deployed amphibious, land and air forces, and will be able to operate helicopters.

The new model will replace the existing Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) single-hulled tankers; the new vessels are expected to enter service in 2016.

Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology Peter Luff announced that Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) is the Government’s preferred bidder for the deal, which represents best value for the taxpayer.

The tankers will be constructed inSouth Korea by DSME. However, British companies can benefit from £150m of associated contracts comprising key equipment, systems, design and support services worth £90m and an investment in customisation, trials and specialist engineering support worth £60m.

Mr Luff said: “This project will inject up to £150m into UK industry and support and maintenance will also be carried out in the UK. The Government remains committed to building complex warships in UK shipyards.”

Capita has announced it has been selected for all four lots of the Government Procurement Services G-Cloud Services framework.

The framework aims to create and distribute ICT services and resources to public sector clients, via the cloud, based on an ‘on demand’ model. The flexible contracts will push to promote the adoption of cloud-based services, which will cut costs, standardise services and encourage collaboration across public sector organisations.

The framework for the public sector has been designed to facilitate faster, more cost-effective and efficient procurement and maintenance of cloud-based ICT systems by providing pre-approved suppliers.

Capita, along with the other approved suppliers, completed a rigorous evaluation process and has demonstrated the required technical capability.

Mark Wyllie, Capita executive director, IT and consulting, said: “The G-Cloud initiative presents a significant opportunity for public sector organisations to consolidate, standardise and meet the current economic challenges through the use of shared facilities.”

Capita has been selected as recommended supplier for the Army’s Recruiting Partnering Project (RPP).

Capita confirmed that the RPP Project Board has endorsed the Army’s selection of Capita as Recommended Supplier (RS) to partner with the Ministry of Defence to deliver the RPP to the Army, and the enabling ICT to the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force.

The RPP is an initiative to find the right quantity and quality of recruits required for the Army’s current and future needs. The contract will modernise army recruiting and deliver significant savings to the taxpayer over ten years.

The contract is expected to be awarded in mid-March 2012 once the procurement process is fully complete and has been approved by Ministers.

The review is part of the Government’s Housing Strategy, and will examine how to boost investment in rental properties – helping support the rapid growth of the private rented sector by increasing the supply of affordable homes.

Launching the call for evidence, Sir Adrian said: “I want to focus on two fundamental questions. Will the changes that the Government has introduced go far enough to generate significant new flows of investment? And, if not, what can be done to accelerate things?”

The review builds on previous work undertaken by the Government including changing the stamp duty on bulk purchases, reforms to residential Real Estate Investment Trusts in the United Kingdom and the Homes and Communities Agency’s private rented sector initiative. So the emphasis is very much on new evidence and fresh thinking.

Sir Adrian is supported in the review by an expert reference group consisting of Vidhya Alakeson (Resolution Foundation), Graham Burnett (Universities Superannuation Scheme), Tim Brown (De Montfort University), Ian Fletcher (British Property Federation), Nick Jopling (Grainger plc), Victoria Mitchell (Savills), Martin Moore (Prudential Property Investment), Nick Salisbury (Consultant), and Peter Vernon (Grosvenor Ltd).

Submissions are sought by 31 March and Sir Adrian plans to report his findings and possible recommendations to Ministers in June 2012.

Commenting on the Ofgem announcement on its liquidity reforms, Mr Davey said: “I welcome Ofgem’s proposals and the momentum that is building behind badly needed reforms of our energy market. Consumers will get the best deals when suppliers face tough competition and that is what both Government and regulator are working to achieve. Right now only six big companies have 99 per cent of domestic customers – energy bill payers in this country need more and better choices.

“We’ve cut red tape for small suppliers to give them a leg up into the market, and we are also working with the Ofgem to deliver clearer bills and simpler tariffs. We have strengthened Ofgem’s own hand by making it harder for energy companies to block licence changes, and we are looking at beefing up Ofgem’s powers further to ensure fairer outcomes for consumers.”

On 12 October 2011, the Committee launched an inquiry on the proposed Referendum on Separation for Scotland. The first part of the inquiry focuses primarily on the process and mechanics by which such a referendum would be organised and conducted.

The second part of the inquiry focuses on the many unanswered questions which will need to be addressed if the voters of Scotland are to make an informed choice when they are invited to vote in a referendum – potentially in autumn 2014.

The Chair, Mr Ian Davidson MP, said: “We are calling on the Secretary of State for Scotland to work closely with us to provide the factual, unbiased information that is required for this process to be fair, transparent, and achieve a positive result for the people of Scotland. He should also act to co-ordinate responses across government.”

The Committee will consider how the Government can act strategically in a complex and uncertain world and the Government’s current capacity for strategic thinking.

Particular issues to be explored may include: how the Government defines and advances our national interests; the role of the Treasury in supporting strategic thinking across government; and the work and remit of the National Security Council.

Representatives from Somaliland, Mogadishu, Puntland, the minority clans in South Central Somalia and diaspora from Kenya and Tanzania, as well as representatives from the London Somali Youth Forum and the Council of Somali Organisations attended.

The Prime Minister heard how the Government can best support the Somali UK diaspora to contribute to the support needed on the ground and how all interested groups can work together to secure a long-term settlement in the Horn of Africa.

He assured the round table that the Government was committed to maintaining close cooperation with the Somali diaspora.

Speaking after the meeting, the Prime Minister said: “As we all agreed at the round table, the whole of the world needs to get behind Somalia to turn it into a safer and more prosperous place.

“The London Somali Conference is about recognising the huge amount of effort going on in Somalia to help rebuild the country and what the world needs to do is help that take place and to grow. The Conference is an opportunity to show that we fully support the efforts of the Somali people themselves to build a stronger, safer, more prosperous country. In particular how we forge a new momentum in working together to tackle piracy, terrorism, conflict, poverty and famine.

“For two decades the problems in Somalia have been dismissed as simply too difficult and too remote to deal with. That fatalism has failed Somalia. And it’s failed Britain too. Yes, it’s an incredibly difficult situation but I have great expectations and great hopes for what I think we can achieve in lots of different areas and I’m convinced that the international community can help create a breakthrough. In the end, it’s about giving everyone in Somalia, particularly young people, some hope of a job and a voice and a future.”

The Big Six currently supply around 99 per cent of the domestic retail market and own a large proportion of Britain’s power stations. The result of this is that independent suppliers have found it difficult to compete to win customers, and to buy the wholesale power products that they need in the forward markets. It may also deter new firms from entering the market so reducing competition.

The intention of the roadmap is to enhance competition and ensure independent suppliers can buy wholesale power in the range of products they need more easily.

The three clear objectives are: availability of a range of products which support hedging; robust reference prices showing how much power would cost in forward markets; and effective short-/near-term market.

As progress has only been made on the third objective since Ofgem set out its intention to reform the market in March, they are proposing mandatory auctions to drive open the electricity market and ensure that all three objectives are met. These would require the Big Six to sell a range of different products so independent suppliers would be able to hedge their positions more effectively on the forward markets and therefore compete on a more level playing field.

Ofgem’s proposal does not prevent the industry from taking more action to deliver the three objectives.

Ofgem’s Senior Partner for Markets, Andrew Wright, said: “Since Ofgem announced that the Big Six companies needed to change their ways radically, they have made progress. We have seen pledges to simplify tariffs, moratoriums on doorstep sales and now auctioning of power in the short-term market. This is to be welcomed. However, the needs of independent suppliers have not yet been met and this is why Ofgem is proposing to introduce mandatory auctions to force the pace of change and increase transparency.

“Suppliers do not have to wait until the auctions are in place to act. Ofgem has set out clearly the three objectives we want met and energy suppliers now have the chance to take the lead and deliver this increase in liquidity.”