Should businesses in London ensure that wages match the living wage for staff living in the city?

Argument 1: No – staff can live outside of London and commute into the city to work.

Argument 2: Yes – the alternative would be to force staff to commute, which can lead to increased stress and therefore reduced productivity.

Argument 3: No – if businesses have to pay more for their staff to live where they want, they could end up having to pay for other luxuries such as private health care.

Do schools have an obligation to make sure that students study at least one of the sciences at A-Level? 

Argument 1: Yes – there’s a demand for people experienced in the core sciences in the workplace, so making students take at least one science subject will increase their job prospects. Since schools should prepare students for the real world, they have an obligation to get them on the right track for a good career.

Argument 2: No – it isn’t the school’s responsibility to decide exactly which subjects students choose. Pupils are free to choose the subjects that they want to take, but should be made aware of the possible benefits of studying one of the sciences at A-Level.

Argument 3: No – none of the A-Level students that I’ve met have wanted to do science.

The amount of organised crime in major cities has been increasing year on year. The number of armed police officers has also increased year on year. The government is now debating spending money on a new specialised taskforce for organised crime. A number of ex-chiefs of police have commented positively on this. Is this the correct decision?

Argument 1: No – we can see from the statistics that the increase in number of armed police officers is rising at the same time as the amount of organised crime. A new taskforce would just add to the problem rather than solve it.

Argument 2: Yes – ex-chiefs of police think that it’s a good idea to do it.

Argument 3: Yes – a specialised taskforce could be completely devoted to the problem of organised crime. In the long-term, this might mean that the government could potentially spend less money on armed police, which has the added benefit of having less police officers with firearms in cities.

Out of all the major businesses in London, 90% of them disclose their diversity statistics in an annual report. The rest of the firms are being pressured by investors who believe that a greater focus on diversity would increase annual profit. Should these remaining companies disclose their diversity data?

Argument 1: Yes – everyone else is doing it, so they should too.

Argument 2: Yes – the investors think it’s a good idea, and if the companies refuse to comply with their suggestions, the investors might pull funds from them.

Argument 3: No – increasing diversity isn’t something that companies should have to do since it’s not normal for there to be total equality in terms of ethnicity and gender.

Should nurses trained in the UK, and funded by the NHS, be required to work for a certain period of time within the UK public sector before being allowed to work in the private sector or overseas?

Argument 1: Yes – the NHS funds many of these nurses through training, so they should have to give back for a fixed period of time. This further experience would benefit them as well.

Argument 2: No – this denies them of their freedom where to work. They might as well be in a work camp.

Argument 3: Yes – I find it ridiculous that taxpayers’ money is spent on training these nurses, only for them to go overseas.