Policy Announcements, Tuesday 03 April

Government  

• All pregnant women in England will be given the option of a home birth under plans launched by health secretary Patricia Hewitt. Hewitt unveiled Labour's vision for the future of maternity services in England and said that expectant mothers will be guaranteed a "full range of birthing choices" by 2009. She acknowledged a current shortfall in midwives but said 1,000 were in training and would qualify in the next couple of years. And she insisted that the ambitious "gold standard" plans would not be financed by cuts elsewhere in the NHS. Women will also be able to choose how to access maternity care when they first discover they are pregnant, such as going directly to a midwife or a GP.  
• The FiReControl project has just taken a step forward with the signature of the contract to supply the technology infrastructure. This project is creating a national network of Fire and Rescue Service control centres which will handle all 999-calls to the Fire and Rescue Service and mobilise resources to incidents locally, regionally and nationally. The contract with EADS Defence & Security Ltd is worth £200 million plus.