Review of the Papers, Monday 12 February

Government

• Senior government figures have played down any chance of Labour increasing the taxation of City bonuses after a prominent cabinet minister said they were creating a "grotesque" wealth gap in the UK. Peter Hain, Northern Ireland secretary and a candidate for the Labour deputy leadership, launched an assault on the bonus system, insisting recipients should hand over two-thirds of the money they receive to boost deprived communities.But although Mr Hain's attack was one of the fiercest on this subject from a senior Labour figure in recent years, it will not effect Treasury policy. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/433a5a44-ba3d-11db-89c8-0000779e2340.html

• A call from Beverley Hughes, children's minister, for the right to request part-time or flexible working to be extended to all workers has been rejected by business leaders. Ms Hughes, writing in a series of essays to be published by the Institute for Public Policy Research, says that extending flexible working rights would help parents balance their working lives around their children. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/60936cd8-ba3e-11db-89c8-0000779e2340.html

• The school meals tsar Prue Leith admits that she has just three years to convince Britain's seven million schoolchildren to adopt healthy eating habits. Otherwise, she fears that people will "lose faith" in the campaign to improve school meals. If that happens, nutritional standards in school dinners could slip back to the level of neglect that has dogged the service for the past two decades. http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/food-and-drink/news/article2261498.ece 

• Schools will be required to provide at least four hours of sport for pupils every week under plans outlined by Gordon Brown. His proposals envisage schools being opened during holidays and weekends to allow youngsters and older people to use their facilities. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article1368816.ece

• A big extension of the use of private companies to help the Government to try to get a million more people off welfare benefits and into work is planned by ministers. Single parents could face tougher conditions and earlier work tests to encourage them to take jobs. At present half the lone parents in Britain work. A range of measures to reduce the stark figure of 4.9 million people of work age who claim benefit will be brought forward in a review for the Work and Pensions Department this month. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1368903.ece

• Downing Street is backing plans for an overhaul of the welfare state which would force single parents back into work much earlier than at present and make English lessons compulsory for people who cannot get jobs because they struggle with the language. http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2011051,00.html

• Ten areas in England are considering road pricing schemes as 60,000 London residents brace for an extension of the capital's congestion charge. The pressure on the government over road pricing increased yesterday, with the number of people who have signed an anti-road pricing petition on the Downing Street website passing a million. http://environment.guardian.co.uk/travel/story/0,,2011135,00.html

• State funding of political parties could rise to £28m a year under one of the proposals being put forward by the former civil servant charged with seeking a cross-party agreement on cleaning up the system. Sir Hayden Phillips has drawn up proposals under which parties would earn 60p for every vote they received in general elections or byelections for Westminster seats. Up to 30p would be earned for each vote in European or Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland assembly elections. http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,2010997,00.html

• Tony Blair will hold a mini-summit with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, in Berlin tomorrow amid growing optimism that he can crown his 10-year premiership with an international breakthrough on climate change in June. Aware that his influence in domestic policy is dwindling, Mr Blair has decided to focus on four foreign policy issues during his remaining months in power in the belief that he can make progress on the environment, global trade talks, the Middle East peace plan and Africa. http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,2011130,00.html

• An NHS hospital with an international reputation for medical excellence has been thrown into financial disarray by the government's health service reforms. After overspending by about £900,000 in the first half of the year, Moorfields eye hospital in London got a risk alert from the regulator and had its borrowing limits halved. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk-news/story/0,,2011088,00.html

• Universities will be encouraged to build up funds of billions of pounds from former students and philanthropists under plans to be unveiled by Tony Blair this week. Drawing on the experience of US institutions that raise huge sums from alumni, the government will give £1 for every £2 donated to English universities in an attempt to embed a "culture of charitable giving" across higher education. http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/news/story/0,,2011140,00.html

• Courts in England and Wales are expected to be affected by a two-day work-to-rule by angry criminal law solicitors this week as opposition mounts to government plans to change the way legal aid services are paid for. Lawyers said the proposals, which stem from a government commissioned review of the legal aid system by Lord Carter of Coles, would accelerate the flight of lawyers from legal aid work. The age profile of those doing criminal legal aid shows most are in their late 40s and 50s and few younger solicitors are attracted into a field that pays poorly compared with other legal work. http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/story/0,,2011165,00.html

• One in three households across Britain is now dependent on the state for at least half its income, it has emerged. Official government figures showed that more than seven million households are getting most of their income from government handouts. The figures also reveal the huge gulf in welfare dependency between single parent and two-parent households. The report is scathing about how New Labour welfare policy has been designed to "create beholden voters rather than independent people". http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=J12TIETDSUHHLQFIQMFSFFWAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2007/02/12/nwelfare12.xml 
• Failing care homes which have been ordered to shut down are able to defy the sector's watchdog by remaining in business following serious allegations of neglect. In the wake of allegations of abuse, homes can exploit a loophole in the law, allowing them to continue to operate by entering a lengthy appeals process. The latest concerns about standards of care for thousands of elderly residents come in advance of a BBC Panorama documentary which will broadcast allegations tonight of abuse and neglect at two homes in Yorkshire. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/12/nold12.xml 
• A dire shortage of midwives is forcing maternity units to turn away expectant mothers, a survey has found. Figures show that centres across England closed temporarily for a total of 170 days last year, during which time women would have had to go elsewhere for help. The survey, collated by the research organisation Dr Foster, found that 24 of the 39 maternity units forced to close had to do so for periods of 24 hours or more. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/12/nbirth12.xml 

Olympics

• Attempts to finalise a revised budget for the 2012 London Olympics are being bogged down by negotiations over this summer's tight spending round, according to Whitehall insiders. A number of government departments is involved in the talks to agree both the increase needed to the original £2.375bn budget and - crucially - how that cost overrun will be funded. The Treasury and Department for Culture, Media and Sport are co-ordinating talks over the budget with the relevant external bodies, such as the Olympic Delivery Authority. But several other departments are affected by the overruns. Some of their ministers are understood to be reluctant to commit to additional Olympics funding without getting a corresponding increase in their departmental spending limits for 2008-09 onwards, due to be set in this year's comprehensive spending review. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/655c839e-ba3e-11db-89c8-0000779e2340.html

EU

• Local authorities will have to build new and politically sensitive incineration plants for waste or face heavy fines from Brussels, a Conservative MEP has warned. The European parliament is expected to debate a new directive on waste later this week, which will change some main definitions of what constitutes waste and underline obligations on member states to send less rubbish to landfill. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/9cb7af9a-ba3d-11db-89c8-0000779e2340.html 
• Businesses in the European Union are to be promised a radical overhaul of the rules governing the cross-border trade in goods as part of an ambitious drive to eradicate remaining national barriers and boost competition. Under a package of proposals due to be unveiled by the European Commission on Wednesday, companies wishing to export to another member state will no longer have to demonstrate that their products comply with that country's rules and standards. Instead, it will be the duty of the receiving country's authorities to produce "scientific evidence" showing that a restriction is necessary and that it does not violate EU principles. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/6622e26e-ba3e-11db-89c8-0000779e2340.html