Review of the Papers, Monday 26 March

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  

• A panel of business troubleshooters has been recruited by the Tories to monitor and scrutinise the delivery of the London 2012 Olympics. The development follows criticism from the party about the escalating bill for the project, which has reached £9.3bn, and counter claims from the government that Tory sniping is undermining the success of the games. The party insists the panel, which has extensive experience of construction, security and land development, will act in a non-political way - and offer constructive problem-solving suggestions to London 2012's organisers. http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,2042643,00.html