Tuesday newspaper round-up: Avon, Google, OBR

(Sharecast News) - Ministers have come under further pressure to expand the financial support for Britons struggling with the cost of living crisis, after a committee of MPs found some had "slipped through the safety net". The cross-party work and pensions committee said that support payments designed to help people cope with soaring household bills had proved insufficient to meet the scale of the problem and offered only a "short-term reprieve" for many. - Guardian Avon, the beauty company famous for building a global business by making house-to-house visits, is to open its first physical UK stores in its 137-year history. The company, known for its "ding dong! Avon calling" slogan used in its ads and by doorstep sales representatives, has had to strategically rethink its business model after its 5 million reps had to stop making Avon house calls during the Covid pandemic. - Guardian

Google gives Apple a 36pc cut of advertising revenue from its searches made in its Safari browser, a court has heard. The previously unknown figure was supposed to remain confidential but was revealed on Monday during the antitrust trial against Google, where it stands accused of illegally maintaining its monopoly. - Telegraph

One of the biggest providers of sustainability ratings appears to give higher rankings to companies that generate better stock market returns, raising concerns that there are conflicts of interest at play in the booming industry. Joachim Klement, an investment strategist at Liberum, a stockbroker, said on Monday that there may be "monetary conflicts of interest at play" in the burgeoning but opaque industry of providing environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings. - The Times

The top official at the Office for Budget Responsibility has hit back at critics by insisting that the spending watchdog takes into account all costs and benefits when examining changes to fiscal policy, and that it is unfair to claim it does not. Professor David Miles, a member of the OBR's budget responsibility committee, said it was fair to query whether the group accurately captured shifts in consumer and business behaviour in response to tax and spending decisions. - The Times