LP's blog

Government  

• An accounting rule that has plunged more than two dozen hospital trusts into an irrecoverable financial position is to be ditched, Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary, is to announce today. Now "absolutely confident" that the National Health Service would record a small surplus at the end of this financial year, Ms Hewitt said it could now use part of the £450m contingency reserve that strategic health authorities had built up to find the £179m needed to end a rule that the health department had long ac-cepted was "unsustainable". http://www.ft.com/cms/s/26d60290-dcca-11db-a21d-000b5df10621.html  
• Plans for a new generation of casinos, including the first "supercasino" in Manchester, will be thrown into confusion tonight with knife-edge votes in the Commons and Lords. Defeat in either House will ensure that the order implementing the supercasino and 16 smaller casino locations proposed by an independent panel cannot go ahead and Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary, will have to return to the drawing board. But the Tories decided last night against killing Manchester's hopes in the Lords by backing an amended version of Ms Jowell's legislation which will still allow the 17 casinos to open. The vote is hanging in the balance in the Commons however, where Tory MPs have been given a three line whip requiring them to vote against the proposals, backed by the Liberal Democrats and a hard core of Labour rebels. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1577416.ece  
• The total bill for the Government's failure to pay English farmers their subsidies on time over the past two years could reach £500 million, a committee of MPs is expected to say today. The cost includes up to £305 million in fines from Europe, £156 million on "fixing" the failures at the Rural Payments Agency and £21 million in interest payments to farmers last year. In a long-awaited report which is expected to be critical of the Government, MPs on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs select committee are expected to determine whether responsibility should rest with a wider range of ministers and officials than who have lost their jobs so far. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/28/nfarm28.xml  
• The Tories' lead over Labour has fallen sharply in the wake of the Budget, according to the latest monthly opinion poll for The Independent. The survey by CommunicateResearch puts David Cameron's Conservatives on 35 per cent (down five points on last month), Labour on 31 per cent (+2), the Liberal Democrats on 20 per cent (+3) and other parties on 14 per cent (unchanged). The Tory lead has dropped from 11 points to just four. Labour's recovery is mainly due to a swing back to the party among middle-income groups - a key target of Gordon Brown's final Budget last week. Labour's support among the C2 social group, credited with keeping Margaret Thatcher in power, has risen from 23 per cent to 32 per cent in the past month. Among the next highest group on the scale, the C1s, Labour is up from 27 per cent to 32 per cent. http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2398889.ece  
• The SNP is heading for victory in the Scottish parliamentary elections on May 3, in what would be a severe blow to Gordon Brown shortly before he becomes Prime Minister, an opinion poll for The Times suggests today. Mr Brown could go into the next general election with the Nationalists the largest single party in his own backyard, and facing the prospect of an SNP-led minority executive in Edinburgh seeking to challenge him at every turn. The Populus poll puts the Nationalists ahead of Labour in both the first-past-the-post and proportional-representation sections. They are on track to win 50 seats in the 129-seat Scottish Parliament, seven more than Labour. The Liberal Democrats would have 18 MSPs, the Conservatives 17 and the Greens one.  http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1577453.ece

EU  

Government  

• Ed Miliband, Minister for the Third Sector, today launched the Government's search for a partner to deliver a new £1.2m Innovation Exchange - a programme to support the third sector's capacity to innovate. The Innovation Exchange programme - being put out to tender today by the Office of the Third Sector (OTS) in the Cabinet Office - aims to provide third sector innovators with access to the people and potential capital they need to make their ideas a reality.  
• Secretary of State for Work and Pensions John Hutton today announced a comprehensive review of the health of the working age population, assessing current health levels and providing a benchmark against which to measure future workplace health improvements.  

Liberal Democrats  

Government  

• Tougher community sentences and more measures to rehabilitate criminals are among a raft of law and order ideas being unveiled by Tony Blair. The prime minister's policy review will also back units for mentally ill prisoners and a police reorganisation. The Lord Chancellor said the government had to constantly look to improve its approach to law and order. But the Tories accused Mr Blair, who is due to step down, of "grandstanding" in the "dying days of his premiership". http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6498003.stm  
• Local authorities insisted they were "delivering" today as new figures showed council tax will go up over the coming year by an average of 4.2 per cent. The rise equates to around £53 on a Band D property, one occupied by two-adults, and means that the average council tax for such properties will be £1,258 in London, £1,284 in other metropolitan areas and £1,348 in shire areas. Although the increase is the second lowest annual rise since the 1994-95 period, it is still far higher than current consumer price inflation of 2.8 per cent. Councils are doing "everything in their power" to keep bills down, and many people can look forward to a real terms cut over the next financial year, according to the Local Government Association. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=1UCJRSI2ELMMHQFIQMFSFFOAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2007/03/27/ncouncil127.xml  
• The National Health Service is facing a much bigger cash crisis than thought, the Conservatives said yesterday as they unveiled figures showing an overspend of £2.7bn in 2005-06, which will have to be recouped this year and next. The NHS as a whole recorded a deficit of £536m last year, but the Tories claimed the true figure could be five times as high, with frontline services now facing severe cuts in order to make up the difference. The Department of Health spent £74.3bn in 2005-06, £2.7bn more than its original "near-cash resource limit" of £71.6bn. Ivan Lewis, the health minister, told parliament in December the NHS deficit was "the main reason" for the overspend. The Conservatives accused the government of concealing the true extent of the overspend by using "sleight of hand" in the government's accounts. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/8cd7ca90-dbff-11db-9233-000b5df10621.html  
• A former senior civil servant has said the purchaser/provider split in the NHS is not working. Professor Chris Ham, formerly head of strategy at the Department of Health, said the shake-up was hampered by an "Achilles heel" of GPs and primary care trusts' inability to negotiate with big hospitals. http://www.epolitix.com/EN/Bulletins/PressReview/fullpressreview.htm?bulletindate=27-Mar-2007  
• A government programme to help council tenants and lower earners into property ownership has been criticised by MPs. The Commons public accounts committee said shared equity schemes, which cost about £500m a year, wasted money and did not help enough people. Under the schemes, tenants buy part of a property and a housing association, lender or the government owns the rest. The MPs said this did not necessarily serve as a route to full ownership and some "less deserving" people benefited. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6497701.stm  
• London is bidding to be at the forefront of the latest commercial space race by spending £12m to help launch a groundbreaking new satellite. The London Development Agency's backing could help telecommunications satellite company Inmarsat, which is based in the capital, win a £600m satellite development contract from the European Space Agency. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/bfc990c4-dbfe-11db-9233-000b5df10621.html  
• Pupils should be able to suggest suitable punishments for bullies in their school, according to an MPs' report into bullying. The Commons Education Select Committee also warned that children should not be excluded from school for retaliating against bullies. The report called for schools to record all bullying, including homophobic. But the government said this would be too bureaucratic for head teachers - and would shortly issue new guidance. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6496725.stm  

Conservatives  

Government  

Government  

• The Government is to dramatically overhaul its strategy on crime by ending its drive for ever-tougher sentences and instead putting more emphasis on rehabilitating offenders and sending fewer of them to prison. Cabinet papers leaked to The Independent show that ministers admit their current approach alone will not solve the complex problem of crime in Britain today. The significant change of emphasis will be welcomed by critics who claim Tony Blair has not lived up to his own rhetoric because he has been "tough on crime" without being "tough on the causes of crime". http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article2393313.ece  
• A postcode lottery still exists in NHS dental care, according to the consumer organisation Which?, with huge variations in the availability of dentists around the country. Fieldworkers posing as patients newly moved into an area contacted 466 dental practices across England - and only about a third (36%) said they were taking on new NHS patients. This is no significant improvement, says Which?, from 2005 when the figure was 31%. The findings are published a year after the government brought in new contracts for dentists that were intended to make NHS dentistry more available. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2042648,00.html  
• Secondary students will be offered cheap school transport under plans to open up popular schools in wealthy areas to pupils from poorer neighbourhoods, as well as to promote eco-friendly travel. Pupils will be charged a maximum of 50p a journey for travelling on school buses or chartered coaches, or for passes for public buses or trains, the Department for Education will announce today. The subsidised travel will be available from September 2008 to all secondary school pupils in 20 pilot local authorities, regardless of ability to pay. Poor children will not have to pay at all. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article1567403.ece  
• Tony Blair and his work and pensions secretary, John Hutton, are to announce today that they want to push through big changes in the government's welfare programme by the summer, including a new role for the private sector. Mr Hutton will outline his timetable today at a conference that will also be addressed by the banker David Freud, who carried out a welfare review for the government. http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,2042642,00.html  
• The UK is set to fall far short of meeting the renewable energy demand of its biggest corporate customers in 2007, even as the government continues to set ambitious targets. About 3,500 of the country's biggest energy customers - from chemical producers to retail chains and banks - want to buy 34 terrawatt/hours (34bn kilowatt/hours) of electricity from renewable sources in 2007. That is three times the 12.2TWh of accredited renewable electricity produced in the UK in 2006 and far exceeds estimates for 2007, a Datamonitor study has found. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/d7d33e20-db10-11db-ba4d-000b5df10621.html  
• Tens of thousands of second-home owners have won an unexpected reprieve, The Times has learnt. But rural campaigners who have been pressing for an extra levy on holiday properties to try to contain local house prices said that it was a "disgrace" that the Government had refused to go ahead with it. The reprieve comes as ministers prepare for more damaging headlines over council tax rises. Tomorrow ministers are expected to confirm rises of more than 4 per cent from next month, with average bills going up by more than £50 to £1,320 a year. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1567423.ece  
• Two of the Government's rising junior ministers urge Gordon Brown today to embark on a radical reform of schools as the Chancellor's leadership campaign gathers pace. Writing in The Times, James Purnell and Jim Murphy suggest that, in an effort to refresh Labour's appeal to aspirational families, able children could be given their own funds to develop their talents in secondary schools. Both ministers are Blairites who are expected to support the Chancellor as leader but their proposals are intended to ensure that his campaign has a broad appeal within the Labour Party and challenges David Cameron's appeal to the middle classes. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1567439.ece
• The government is way behind its target to halve child poverty by 2010, figures due to be published tomorrow will show. Official statistics will show that the government is still struggling to make progress on the issue having missed the first milestone, a reduction of ne-quarter by 2005, by some 300,000 children. In last week's Budget, Gordon Brown, the chancellor, said his planned increases in the child and working tax credits would lift another 200,000 above the poverty line. But the Institute for Fiscal Studies has calculated that an additional £4bn a year will be needed on top of last week's measures if the target of reducing the numbers below the poverty line from more than 4m in 1998, shortly after Labour took office, to around 2m is to be achieved by 2010. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/567577ee-db2e-11db-ba4d-000b5df10621.html
• Ministers risk parliamentary defeat this week over the contentious decision to site Britain's first Las Vegas-style super-casino in Manchester, after a last-minute move by the Tories to oppose the plan. The Conservative U-turn means the government faces tight votes on Wednesday in the Commons and the Lords. Both houses will get a single vote on approving the sites for the super-casino and 16 other new casinos that were recommended by the government's advisory panel earlier this year. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/e3f33346-db2d-11db-ba4d-000b5df10621.html

Conservatives  

Government  

• The chairman of the Commons Treasury select committee has outlined the key themes of Gordon Brown's forthcoming Budget.  John McFall, an ally of the chancellor, said that support for education, families and welfare to work schemes would be central.  
• A timetable for elections to find a new leader when Tony Blair quits is expected to be agreed next week by Labour's National Executive Committee. Mr Blair is expected to announce his retirement as prime minister after the Scottish and Welsh elections on 3 May. There will then be a seven-week contest for the position of Labour leader and deputy leader, the BBC understands.  
•  Nearly £300,000 has been spent in three years on televisions and games consoles for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has said. MPs were told that, since 2005, the Ministry of Defence had spent nearly £260,000 on TV sets and more than £38,000 on Sony Playstations  

Conservatives  

Government

• The government was accused yesterday of losing control of the finances of the London Olympics after it revealed the total budget for the 2012 games has nearly trebled to £9.3bn. There was fury from National Lottery distributors, who will have to contribute £675m - on top of their initial £1.5bn commitment - towards the cost of the Olympics, and a warning that an enduring sporting legacy from the games will be endangered by a £223m reduction in funding for grassroots sport. http://www.guardian.co.uk/olympics2012/story/0,,2035503,00.html
• Private midwives may be forced out of business next year when changes to the medical insurance rules come into effect.
  

Government  

Government

• Gordon Brown will raise billions of pounds to put education at the centre of next week's Budget with a privatisation of the student loans system. The chancellor will make the announcement of extra billions for education the centrepiece of what seems sure to be his last Budget. The book value of student loans at the end of March last year was £16bn and the Treasury is planning to sell a large chunk of this to a private sector that has an almost insatiable appetite for assets bearing a steady stream of income. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/3b60aba4-d29b-11db-a7c0-000b5df10621.html
• Rail passengers face annual inflation-busting fare rises into the next decade after the government announced a £1bn investment in carriages to ease overcrowding.
  

Government

• Peers have voted for the House of Lords to be fully appointed, setting the scene for a parliamentary battle over reform with MPs. In a series of Commons votes last week there were majorities for either an 80 or 100 per cent elected upper house, with the fully elected option receiving the largest majority. But backing in the Lords for an all-appointed second chamber by 361 votes to 121 (a majority of 240) will lead to a struggle between the two houses.
• Rail commuters have been promised an extra 1,000 train carriages by 2014 in a bid to tackle overcrowding.
  

Government  

• A reorganisation of NHS services for patients needing medical attention outside normal working hours was shambolic and ran hugely over budget, a cross-party committee of MPs says today in a caustic report on one of the government's key health reforms. GPs in England were allowed three years ago to opt out of responsibility for looking after patients during evenings, nights and weekends. But arrangements for primary care trusts to organise alternative medical cover were poorly prepared and cost £70m more than forecast, the Commons public accounts committee found. http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,2033165,00.html  
• An increase in council tax banding to ensure that expensive homes attract a fairer share of the tax burden is likely to be included in a package of measures to be unveiled following next week's budget, it was confirmed last night. But Sir Michael Lyons, in his report on local government finance, is expected to make his proposal for an extra band - possibly two - on top of the existing eight conditional upon the government agreeing to a wider revaluation of English property. Both main parties have ducked this issue as politically explosive. http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,2033425,00.html  
• Douglas Alexander, transport secretary, warned MPs yesterday of "serious consequences" for the UK if it refused to ratify a liberalised air-services accord between the US and the European Union. EU transport ministers are to vote on the controversial draft "open-skies" treaty on Thursday next week. Mr Alexander told the House of Commons transport committee that there was "significant support" for the accord among other member states. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/fc105c30-d1d0-11db-b921-000b5df10621.html  
• Tony Blair has effectively sacked Sir Alistair Graham, a trenchant critic of the Government's ethical standards, as head of the sleaze watchdog. Sir Alistair will step down as chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life when his contract ends in April after the Prime Minister personally intervened to ensure that he left as soon as possible, leaving the body without a successor. The move has heightened fears about the future of the committee. The Government has not left enough time to appoint a new chairman before Sir Alistair's departure, and the committee fears that it will not be able to operate effectively until a replacement is chosen. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1512099.ece  
• Tourism business leaders are offering £20m to promote the industry in the run-up to the London 2012 Olympics if the amount is matched by the government. The offer mirrors the match-funding scheme agreed between ministers and the industry to revive tourism in the wake of foot and mouth disease and the attacks of September 11 2001. Tourism leaders fear the government, far from in-creasing the £47m budget of VisitBritain, its tourism agency, intends to cut its 2007-11 allocation by 7 per cent. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/61ca77ae-d1d1-11db-b921-000b5df10621.html  
• Babies will be assessed on their gurgling, babbling and toe-playing abilities when they are a few months old under a legally enforced national curriculum for children from birth to five published by the government yesterday. Every nursery, childminder and reception class in Britain will have to monitor children's progress towards a set of 69 government-set "early learning goals", recording them against more than 500 development milestones as they go. http://education.guardian.co.uk/earlyyears/story/0,,2033356,00.html   

Conservatives  

Government 

• The Government's blueprint for tackling climate change was today set out by Environment Secretary David Miliband. The draft Climate Change Bill set out a framework for moving the UK to a low-carbon economy. Key points of the draft bill, published today, include:
• A series of clear targets for reducing carbon dioxide emissions - including making the UK's targets for a 60 per cent reduction by 2050 and a 26 to 32 per cent reduction by 2020 legally binding. 
• A new system of legally binding five year "carbon budgets", set at least 15 years ahead, to provide clarity on the UK's pathway towards its key targets and increase the certainty that businesses and individuals need to invest in low-carbon technologies. 
• A new statutory body, the Committee on Climate Change, to provide independent expert advice and guidance to Government on achieving its targets and staying within its carbon budgets. 
• New powers to enable the Government to more easily implement policies to cut emissions. 
• A new system of annual open and transparent reporting to Parliament. The Committee on Climate Change will provide an independent progress report to which the Government must respond. This will ensure the Government is held to account every year on its progress towards each five year carbon budget and the 2020 and 2050 targets. 
• A requirement for Government to report at least every five years on current and predicted impacts of climate change and on its proposals and policy for adapting to climate change.
• A consultation document on the proposals for enforcement of the REACH Regulation in the UK was published today. REACH, (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals) was agreed by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers on 18 December 2006. The Regulation will come into force on 1 June this year. It will form the EU's framework legislation for the management, control and use of chemicals, replacing much of the current patchwork of over 40 pieces of legislation. The UK is required to have an enforcement and penalties regime in place no later than 1 December 2008. REACH will apply not only to chemicals manufacturers or suppliers, but to any business which uses chemicals - so a wide range of businesses will be affected by the enforcement arrangements proposed.

Conservatives  

Government 

Government

• Gordon Brown will slap down David Cameron's plan to impose strict personal allowances on tax-free air travel as little better than feel-good politics which do not address global warming at the vital level of coordinated international action. On the eve of tomorrow's publication of the Climate Change bill, the chancellor will use a speech to the Green Alliance to demand a "new world order" that can address the need for urgent cuts in carbon emissions in the same way that the Make Poverty History campaign put pressure on institutions such as the UN, EU and G8.

Government

• The government is preparing to publish "a clear programme for further reforms" of public services. At Thursday's cabinet meeting the prime minister introduced the work of one of six policy reviews set up last October. The reviews, which looked at areas including criminal justice and the environment, are intended to guide ministers and departments as they devise future policy. The prime minister's official spokesman said the reviews would start being published this month.
• Heritage Protection for the 21st century - Tessa Jowell publishes Government white paper that proposes a 'simpler and more efficient system'.
  

Government

• John Reid has announced new measures to prevent the employment of illegal immigrants. The enforcement strategy includes a 'watch list' of illegal immigrants to alert agencies if someone applies for services to which they are not entitled, and workplace enforcement teams to identify employers of illegal immigrants. There will also be schemes to use immigration data to ensure migrants pay for hospital care.
• The minimum wage will rise 17p to £5.52 an hour from October, the government has announced. Trade and industry secretary Alistair Darling said the increase, recommended by the independent Low Pay Commission, would mean the minimum wage had gone up by almost 30 per cent more than inflation since 1999.
• New small zero carbon 'eco-towns' built on brownfield land could lead the way in cutting carbon emissions and building affordable homes, Housing Minister Yvette Cooper said.
  

Government

• The Government was forced to climb down and announce an immediate review of the new system for selecting junior doctors for training. The Medical Training Application Service has united doctors young and old into a revolt so powerful that it has forced the Department of Health into retreat. The service is supposed to handle applications for higher medical training, sifting them by a computer-based system to produce shortlists of candidates suitable for interview. About 30,000 junior doctors are competing for 22,000 training places. The British Medical Association and a pressure group, Remedy UK, have denounced the system as unfair.

Government  

• Communities Minister Phil Woolas offered grants totalling more than £4.3 million to 343 organisations to promote a common sense of citizenship. Ministers have set out the challenge for all living in a multicultural Britain of learning to celebrate our shared heritage while doing more to understand our individual differences. The announcement recommends funding groups with practical solutions to build capacity among faith communities to support inter faith work. The announcement follows bids from more than 1,200 organisations to the Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund. This is the second round of a £13.8 million fund to help organisations promote community cohesion and shared citizenship at a local community level.
• Plans to split up the Home Office could undermine attempts to improve Britain's national security apparatus, a report has warned. A study released by Demos on Tuesday concluded that home secretary John Reid's proposals for a security ministry and a separate justice department are "counter-intuitive" and could be "counter-productive". It also called for a national strategic vision which can co-ordinate the work of all government departments.
• Nine out of ten people support the idea of staying in education or training until the age of 18 - with the strongest support coming from grandparents - according to research published today by Education Secretary Alan Johnson. In a speech to the Sector Skills Development Agency Mr Johnson highlighted the research which shows public support for extending compulsory education.
• Greater clarity is needed on the government's plans to overhaul the post office network, MPs have said.A report from the Commons trade and industry committee questioned whether a proper analysis of the needs of the network had been undertaken. The current 14,263 is viewed as unsustainable by ministers, and trade secretary Alistair Darling has announced plans to close thousands of branches.
• Ministers and civil servants need take a more strategic view of policy and be more honest about future challenges, a report has claimed. MPs have called for parliament to receive regular reports of long-term policy thinking, a greater role for department heads in strategic planning, and better training for civil servants. The report from the Commons public administration committee - based on evidence from ministers, civil servants and experts - has been published as the government's policy review and process comes to a close.
• A new drive to cut long waits across the country for hearing services, was announced by Health Minister, Ivan Lewis. Improving Access to Audiology Services in England is published today and was developed in close consultation with a range of organisations, including the Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID).
• Public Health Minister Caroline Flint today announced that the Government is to fund a major study looking at why some gay men appear to be taking more risks with their sexual health in recent years. The results of the study will help the NHS and gay men's health organisations with their work to promote safer sex amongst the most at risk groups and assist with improvements to sexual health services for gay men.

Conservatives  

Government

• Gordon Brown has lifted the tax burden to breaking point and must slash public spending or risk plunging Britain's national accounts dangerously into the red, the International Monetary Fund warned. The alarm was sounded after the level of taxes reached its highest since the mid-1980s. The IMF urged the Chancellor to cut spending and to make "disciplined choices" in this summer's Comprehensive Spending Review. For the first time, the Washington-based institution said explicitly that it would be perilous to increase taxes any further, without driving away businesses and putting more pressure on households. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=PIR5RBYPYVW11QFIQMGCFFOAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2007/03/06/ntax06.xml
• Motorists could find themselves facing a ceiling on the amount of carbon they are allowed to emit under proposals being considered in Whitehall. One option would see drivers buying and selling their personal carbon allowances if the Government succeeds in persuading the European Union to extend the emissions trading scheme to the roads. The idea was floated in a speech by David Miliband, the Environment Secretary, last night. Addressing an audience in Cambridge he said: "We need to consider whether surface transport could become part of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/06/ncarbon06.xml
• Young children are failing to get a good education in half the nursery and primary classes for three to five year olds, school inspectors warn in a report. They are making insufficient progress in language and literacy, the most able are not being challenged and boys are already falling behind girls, says Ofsted. Girls are achieving rapidly by engaging in creative activities but in too many classes boys are allowed to play with equipment or chase each other in "raiding" games. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/06/neducate06.xml

Conservatives

Government  

• The Government presented a package of actions to deliver the step change needed to ensure that supply chains and public services will be increasingly low carbon, low waste and water efficient, respect biodiversity and deliver wider sustainable development goals. The UK Government Sustainable Procurement Action Plan, allied to the Treasury's recent "Transforming Government Procurement" report, forms the key response to the business-led Task Force report.  The Action Plan puts in place clear lines of accountabilities and reporting, and develops plans to raise the standards and status of procurement practice in Government which will strengthen delivery of these targets. Alongside the Action Plan, Government is also publishing an improved set of mandatory environmental product standards, that will ensure Departments procure the most sustainable commodities.  
• Jack Straw has said his proposal for a hybrid House of Lords can command a consensus among MPs. Ahead of the debate and votes in the Commons this week on the make-up of the second chamber, the leader of House has appealed for supporters of reform to compromise with each other. In an article for this week's House magazine, he said MPs must not risk a repeat of the process in 2003 when no one option commanded majority of support.  
• The home secretary has announced new funding for a series of anti-domestic violence initiatives. John Reid unveiled nearly £2m of cash for 40 multi-agency risk assessment conferences (MARACs) to continue their work and for a further 60 to be set up by March next year. The conferences involve local police, probation education, health and housing services sharing information and working with the voluntary sector on individual cases. In a pilot project for the scheme in Cardiff the level of reported repeat victimisation dropped from 32 per cent to less than 10 per cent in two years.  

Conservatives