Review of the Papers, Monday 23 April

**Government  **

• Some of the UK's most senior arts and sports administrators yesterday united to warn that cuts in lottery funding to pay for the Olympics would undermine the future of their institutions and actually reduce participation in sport. They spoke out as it emerged that four of the country's main voluntary organisations are demanding a Commons debate on the scale of the cuts. At the moment, the proposals are likely to be rubber-stamped before the end of this parliamentary session by a special ad hoc committee. Tessa Jowell, the culture, secretary, insisted yesterday that the Olympics were a "once-in-a-lifetime good cause". But the government's plans to divert an additional £675m from the National Lottery to fund the event has galvanised the cultural and sporting worlds. http://www.guardian.co.uk/olympics2012/story/0,,2063338,00.html  
• However, nearly £2bn of National Lottery money earmarked for good causes is languishing in banks, according to figures seen by the Financial Times. Lottery distributors had promised to speed up distribution of the proceeds from ticket sales, but the latest recorded figure of £1.9bn in unspent cash at the end of January is £400m higher than they promised three years ago. Among the worst offenders are the Arts Council and Sport England. The money sitting in lottery distributors' acc-ounts threatens to undermine their argument that they are suffering from the government's decision to divert funds from the lottery to pay for the 2012 Olympics. The National Lottery Distribution Fund passes on cash raised in ticket sales to 15 distributors for allocation to good causes. But three years ago the National Audit Office accused them of holding onto the cash, and taking years to pay grants. Distributors had promised ministers in 2001 that balances, then standing at £3.4bn, would fall to £1.5bn by 2004. But progress has been slow, with the amount piled up in banks falling to only £2.7bn. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/ad18f3e6-f136-11db-838b-000b5df10621.html
• Increasing numbers of patients are paying for private "top-up" treatments alongside NHS care, meaning the health service is no longer free, a report by leading doctors warns today. The doctors have written to all three main political parties, and the Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt, outlining their concerns that the idea of a free health service is a "political mirage". The study was written by three doctors, including Karol Sikora, professor of cancer medicine at Imperial College School of Medicine for the group Doctors for Reform, which has nearly 1,000 members, all working for the NHS. It says that patients are developing "sophisticated approaches to purchasing upgrades to their care", including in key areas such as cancer and heart disease. http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health-medical/article2474429.ece
• Increasing numbers of children with learning difficulties are being sent to education "sin bins" - to be taught beside badly behaved and often violent pupils. Figures from the Conservatives show that the number of children with physical and emotional problems who are schooled in so-called "pupil referral units" has more than doubled since 1997. It comes despite warnings from Ofsted, the education watchdog, that the units - which normally educate children expelled from mainstream schools - are the worst possible settings for children with special educational needs. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/23/nedu23.xml
• Hundreds of thousands more homes will be blighted by low-flying aircraft when flight paths are redrawn to deal with 1 million extra flights a year over Britain by 2015. The airspace to be redesigned is the most complex in the world, involving aircraft that use Heathrow, Stansted, Luton and smaller airports such as London City, Northolt, Southend and Biggin Hill. Several new flight paths will be introduced and National Air Traffic Services (Nats) will create new stacks, in which aircraft circle while waiting for landing slots. Some of Heathrow's present four stacks are likely to be moved. Hundreds of thousands of homes in London and the Home Counties will be affected by the changes, which are due to come into force by 2009. The changes are being made because Terminal Control North airspace has almost reached its capacity. Nats handled 2.4 million flights last year and, on the present trend of 4 per cent growth a year, will handle 3.4 million by 2015. The Government is supporting the expansion of dozens of airports to allow passenger numbers to double by 2030 to 470 million a year, an average of eight flights per person. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1690728.ece
• An American-owned education company is to take over the senior management of a London comprehensive school in what is thought to be the first case of its kind for a local authority school. Part of the three-year £1m package for Edison Schools will depend on pupils at Salisbury school in Enfield, north London, achieving better GCSE grades and scores in national tests for 14-year-olds, as well as ensuring there are fewer exclusions and making school popular with parents. The decision to contract out the posts of head teacher and two deputies for a school that is not even failing marks a new departure for the state system, where such outside management has so far been a feature of academies which are independent of local authorities. New trust schools will also soon have freedom to form partnerships with private companies. http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2063220,00.html
• The state now has 266 powers to draw upon when its agents want to enter homes, according to research. A report from the Centre for Policy Studies says that an Englishman's home is less his castle and more "a right of way'' for police, local government officials and other bureaucrats. In the 1950s just 10 new powers of entry were granted by statute. In the 1980s and 1990s an extra 60 were added. For the first time, Harry Snook, a barrister and the author of the study, Crossing the Threshold, has drawn together the full list of entry powers in the state's possession. Force can be used in most cases. The research comes at a time of heightened concern over the lengthening arm of the state, with ID cards around the corner and more sophisticated surveillance equipment being used to watch people. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/23/nhome23.xml

Conservatives

• A Conservative government will not do everything for its citizens, David Cameron will warn voters today, arguing that it is time for individuals to take responsibility for themselves and others. The Tory leader will accuse Labour of treating people like children, and attack the media for demanding government solutions to problems better tackled by the community. But he will admit there will be "wobbles and crashes" as a Conservative administration seeks to make people more independent and less reliant on the state.