Review of the Papers, Thursday 17 May

Government  

• The Government is severely criticised today by a Labour-dominated Commons committee for failing to back its own inquiry on A-level and GCSE reform. MPs on the Education Select Committee say exam reforms would be "more coherent" if ministers had agreed to proposals by the inquiry led by the former chief schools inspector Sir Mike Tomlinson. Instead, they warned compromise plans could reinforce the divide between academic and vocational qualifications. Under Sir Mike's proposals, an overarching diploma covering academic and vocational qualifications would have replaced the existing system. Instead, Tony Blair vetoed the idea - and insisted on introducing a range of specialised diplomas to sit alongside A-levels and GCSEs instead. http://education.independent.co.uk/news/article2553937.ece
• Up to half of all hospital accident and emergency departments face cuts or closure under plans to improve patient care, presenting Gordon Brown with a massive dilemma as he takes over as Prime Minister. Ninety-two out of 204 A&E departments are under threat if guidance attributed to the Department of Health by NHS trusts is followed, the Conservatives claimed last night. Some NHS organisations are already using the guidance, which calls for A&E departments to serve a minimum population of 450,000 patients, to justify closures in smaller catchment areas. The average A&E unit currently serves just under 250,000 people. But the plans are proving hugely unpopular, even though they have been promoted as in the interests of patients and NHS staff. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1801190.ece
• Civil liberties and homelessness campaigners last night sharply criticised plans to give the police powers to "shut and seal" all premises, including flats, pubs and clubs, generating yobbish behaviour. The home secretary, John Reid, announced at the Police Federation conference in Blackpool yesterday that the powers would form part of a criminal justice bill to be introduced in the next few weeks, before Tony Blair leaves Downing Street. Mr Reid said the criminal justice legislation - the 54th such bill since Mr Blair came to power - would also include violent offender orders restricting those released from jail. The curbs would affect where such people could live and with whom they could associate. Mr Reid also announced that more police officers would be issued with 50,000-volt Taser stun guns as part of a limited 12-month trial involving specially trained police not already working as authorised firearm officers. He said the trial would involve officers dealing with severe or threatened violence. http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2081390,00.html
• Software glitches threatened yesterday to scupper the launch of Home Information Packs in June as ministers came under further pressure to delay the proposals. Although the Tories failed to block the reforms in the Commons, the continuing dispute over the packs led to calls for a 12-month postponement. Faulty software has thrown many of the training programmes for energy inspectors into disarray. It emerged yesterday that IT programmes to measure home energy ratings have failed to analyse the correct data. One estate agent told that a huge number of energy inspectors will have been trained on faulty software. Although two suppliers have had their software approved, two others - Property Tectonics and Northgate - are said to be still waiting, two weeks before the deadline on June 1. Critics, including the Consumers Association, said yesterday that pilot schemes to test the packs had not been evaluated and that the proposal should be delayed for at least a year. http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life-and-style/property/article1801140.ece
• Gordon Brown is to launch a £300 million raid on "dormant" bank accounts to fund a new national network of sports, youth and arts centres, under plans to be announced today. Money that has sat untouched for at least 15 years in bank accounts is to be distributed by the Big Lottery Fund to build about 700 new centres across the country. Government officials last night denied that the money was being taken from private accounts in order to repay the Lottery Fund, which is having to provide an extra £675 million to meet the soaring costs of the 2012 Olympics. The move to use the Lottery Fund to bail out the Olympics project was controversial, as charities and other organisations said they were being deprived of lottery cash. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/17/nyouth17.xml
• Trade and industry secretary Alistair Darling will today confirm that he will close 2,500 post offices, mainly in rural areas, although their particular locations will not known for up to 18 months. The government has declared the present 14,000 post offices to be unsustainable, with many dependent on as few as 100 customers. Various attempts to transform such offices into community hubs have been only partly successful. The trade and industry department has set fresh criteria for location of post offices so that 99% of the population are within three miles of one, and 90% are within one mile. This will result in a big cut in rural offices, and an outcry among those that claim such offices act as the focal point of village life; in consequence, ministers deferred any decision until after the May elections. The criteria set out in December proposed that in the most remote areas 95% of the population would be within six miles of a post office. http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,2081515,00.html
• Gordon Brown was warned yesterday that he could face a "summer of discontent" from more than 1 million public sector workers as civil servants, NHS staff and postal workers prepare to take strike action over pay, privatisation and job cuts. Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the 300,000-member Public and Commercial Services Union (PCSU), gave the warning at the union's annual conference in Brighton. Meanwhile, nurses' leaders were poised last night to ban unpaid overtime throughout the NHS in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, forcing trusts to pay up to £13m a week for agency staff to provide alternative cover. The governing council of the Royal College of Nursing agreed to ballot on national industrial action for the first time since the union was founded in 1916. It will ask 300,000 members to say whether they are ready for action to force the government to increase pay by 2.5% from April 1, as recommended by an independent review body. http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,2081232,00.html