Review of the Papers, Monday 30 April

Government

• Tony Blair will mark his decade in office this week with "big regrets" at his inability to move more quickly to reform Britain's public services, one of his closest cabinet allies has claimed. As the prime minister puts the finishing touches to his resignation statement, in which he will declare that Labour has transformed schools and hospitals, Lord Falconer, the lord chancellor, told the Guardian that up to three years were lost after the 1997 election victory. "One of Tony's big regrets, I think, would be that we didn't realise quick enough that if you genuinely wanted to change the way the public service delivered for the public you needed to embark upon a process of cultural change," he said in an interview to mark Mr Blair's 10 years in Downing Street. http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour/story/0,,2068454,00.html
• Private security staff who operate prison vans will decide from today whether young adults awaiting trial in London are mentally strong enough to survive in the toughest prisons. Up to 80 youngsters aged 18 to 20 are to be held on remand in Brixton, Wandsworth and Wormwood Scrubs prisons while they await trial or sentence alongside some of the most hardened career criminals for the first time from today as the jail system struggles with overcrowding.Serco private escort officers staffing the vans which move prisoners between courts and prisons in London will decide whether a young adult on remand is too much of a suicide risk to be held at an adult prison and should be sent instead to Feltham young offender institution. Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said she was horrified that the private escorts were being entrusted with deciding who might not make it through the night in an adult jail when even experienced mental health professionals struggled to assess the risks. http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2068657,00.html
• A blueprint for a shake-up of the NHS in England when Tony Blair's successor takes over as prime minister in the summer has been provided by Labour in its campaign for this week's elections. Plans for full health checks for all men at 40 and free vaccination for girls against cervical cancer are among a dozen new policies in the party's programme for Scotland. They are strikingly different from policies being pursued in England by Patricia Hewitt, who is not expected to remain as health secretary if Gordon Brown becomes prime minister. Her successor will need fresh ideas to erode a Conservative lead in opinion polls on the NHS. http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,2068492,00.html
• Lessons are to be introduced into secondary schools aimed at teaching fair play, respect and good manners. The classes in "social and emotional intelligence" will become part of the national curriculum in an attempt to reverse the rudeness and violence that many feel has become endemic among the young. Pupils will be given "golden rules" such as "we are gentle, we are kind, we work hard, we look after property, we are honest, we do not hurt anybody". Plans for the lessons, called the social and emotional aspects of learning, will be announced by the schools minister Jim Knight. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/30/nschools30.xml
• New rules to prevent the publication of politically damaging memoirs by former politicians and civil servants will not be in force until after Alastair Campbell's diaries are released. The Government was due to announce restrictions on the publication of memoirs, diaries and biographies that "may cause damage to the confidential relationships between ministers" last September. The move was in response to the controversial memoir by Sir Christopher Meyer, which called ministers who visited the US "political pygmies" and quoted John Prescott talking about war in the "Balklands" and "Kovosa". But the proposals have failed to materialise, despite a promise from Sir Gus O'Donnell, the head of the Civil Service, in February that they would be released "within a week or two". The delay has outraged opposition politicians, who suspect that Tony Blair is personally delaying their introduction to allow Mr Campbell's diaries maximum room for manoeuvre. The book is expected to fetch £1 million in serialisation rights and is being published by Random House, which is run by Gail Rebuck, the wife of Mr Blair's polling guru, Philip Gould. The first extracts are expected at the end of July. For the first volume, the former director of communications and strategy has covered some of the most controversial periods of the Blair Government. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1723198.ece