Review of the Papers, Friday 30 March

Government  

• David Miliband, the Environment Secretary, has secured agreement from the Treasury to double the spending on green farming schemes to improve the landscape and increase the number of rare wild birds. English farmers will be able to apply for a share of £3.9 billion until 2013. The funding will help farmers to switch to organic production and will be used to conserve habitats such as hay meadows. The money has been raised in part by a clawback from farmers of handouts from the Common Agricultural Policy. This means that arable farmers in England will have to pay out 12 per cent of their CAP handouts this year to fund the green schemes, rising to 14 per cent from 2009 until 2013. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1588509.ece  
• Ministers are backtracking over plans to restrict the public's right to request official documents under the Freedom of Information Act, it emerged yesterday. The retreat follows opposition from MPs, the media and campaigners, who say the proposals would drastically curb the release of politically sensitive and controversial documents. Lord Falconer, the constitutional affairs secretary, has wanted to make it easier for government bodies to reject requests on the grounds that they are too time-consuming and expensive to answer. http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,2046195,00.html  
• Police deal with a quarter of all incidents by telephone without sending an officer to the scene, a Home Office report revealed yesterday. Watchdogs examining control and command centres in England and Wales found that eight million incidents a year were handled on the telephone out of the 33 million reported. The use of the telephone, often to deal with minor crimes where there was no witness or evidence, has been criticised, but -Beyond the Call,- issued by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary, says that "telephone resolution" will increase as pressures grow. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article1588513.ece