Review of the Papers, Friday 20 July

Government

• The independent status of city academies could be undermined by the increasing trend of local authorities to act as "co-sponsors" of the new schools, an evaluation of the scheme by PwC said on Thursday. The annual independent appraisal of the flagship school programme warned the growing role of town halls in the establishment of academies raised issues that would require further investigation. Those included "the implications for the independent status of academies, alongside the strengths that might flow from academies being more closely aligned to their local authority". The report itself found school autonomy was one of the "critical success factors" of a scheme that PwC, the professional services firm, concluded was showing overall improvement in the performance of pupils in some of the most deprived areas of the country. It said progress in terms of pupil achievement had generally exceeded corresponding improvements at a national level and among other similar schools, particularly in the first-wave schools that opened in 2002 and 2003. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/d54dbb34-3624-11dc-ad42-0000779fd2ac.html
• Ed Balls, Gordon Brown's closest cabinet ally, has urged business leaders to step into the front line of the battle to raise educational standards - by providing classroom mentors for the nation's failing schools. In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Balls, an activist City minister under Tony Blair, showed that his focus remains on the Square Mile despite his elevation to head the newly-named Department for Children, Schools and Families. "If I say every child in the country should have a business mentor, that may sound like a massive challenge," he said yesterday. "But that is the direction in which we should be going." He cites a recent visit to Morpeth secondary school in Tower Hamlets, one of London's most deprived boroughs - transformed, he claims, by a business mentoring scheme. In 1994, the school, where 70 per cent of children receive free school meals, saw 11 per cent achieving 5 A-C GCSEs. The most recent figures show a rise to 76 per cent, well above the national average. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/c62ad724-3659-11dc-ad42-0000779fd2ac.html
• The £9.3bn London Olympics budget contains "significant areas of uncertainty" that could drive costs up, unless effective controls are exercised, the government's spending watchdog warns. The government's dramatic increase this spring in the budget for the 2012 games, almost tripling the £3.3bn cost to the taxpayer estimated at the time of winning 2005 bid, has put the event on a "firmer financial footing", says a report by the National Audit Office. But Sir John Bourn, head of the NAO, warned the government it still had to "work to contain funding and achieve value for money". He highlighted areas of uncertainty affecting costs, including the design specifications and future use of the Olympic venues, the level of price inflation in the construction sector and the contracts negotiated by suppliers. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/7380af00-3620-11dc-ad42-0000779fd2ac.html
• The Crown Prosecution Service has told Scotland Yard that no charges will be brought against the three people arrested in the cash for honours inquiry, bringing to an end a 16-month inquiry that cost £800,000 and rocked the Labour party. Police had arrested Labour's chief fundraiser Lord Levy, another close No 10 aide and a millionaire donor during the inquiry but yesterday they were told by the CPS that there was an unrealistic prospect that the evidence would lead to a conviction. Senior Scotland Yard figures were said to strongly disagree. http://politics.guardian.co.uk/cashforhonours/story/0,,2130915,00.html  
• A huge increase in people evading car and motorbike tax is costing taxpayers more than £217m a year, the National Audit Office reported yesterday. Evasion has jumped by £70m in one year despite a government drive to cut the number of motorists and bikers avoiding tax, suggesting that an "underclass" is taking advantage of the lack of enforcement, according to the report. One in 20 motorists and bikers now avoid the tax despite plans by the government to cut the number of offenders to one in 40. http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,2130732,00.html