Review of the Papers, Tuesday 27 March

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  

• Tory leader David Cameron will be urged to sign up to a new ministerial code to ensure a government led by him is open and accountable to Parliament. The party's democracy task force, led by former chancellor Ken Clarke, wants to see a return to "proper" Cabinet government if the Tories get power. Mr Clarke said the Conservatives must end the "presidential" and "sofa-style" style of Tony Blair's government. The Tory priority must be to restore voters' trust in politics, he says. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk-politics/6497751.stm