Government
- Gordon Brown faces an unprecedented vote of no confidence in the Commons today over his handling of the pensions crisis. While the Conservative motion is certain to be voted down by Labour MPs, the Tories said it would be the first time in nearly a decade as Chancellor that Mr Brown had been forced to the Commons to defend his actions. He faces further embarrassment tomorrow when the Government faces possible defeat over a cross-party attempt to secure improved compensation for the victims of collapsed occupational pension schemes. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/17/npension17.xml
- Millions of patients are "unlikely" to see any "significant clinical benefits" from the National Health Service's £12.4 billion national computer system by the time all of the money has been spent in 2014, MPs warn today. The Commons public accounts committee found that pilot projects on the National Programme for IT were already two years late and there were fears that the project would cost £20 billion - more than three times the original contract cost. Edward Leigh, the committee's chairman, warned that "urgent remedial action is needed at the highest level" to protect the interests of patients and taxpayers. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/17/ncomputer17.xml