Review of the Papers, Thursday 26 July

Government

• Defence companies and politicians were furious last night after the Prime Minister axed an organisation responsible for promoting Britain's arms exports. On a day of major announcements, Gordon Brown said that the Defence Export Services Organisation (DESO) would be scrapped. UK Trade & Investment, the Government body responsible for general promotion of British companies, will take on defence trade promotion. The move was made without Britain's main defence exporter, BAe Systems, being consulted. The company said it was "disappointed" at the decision. DESO was caught up in claims that it was involved in the payments to Saudi Arabia for fighter aircraft contracts. The alleged bribes scandal in the £43bn Al-Yamamah arms deal was investigated by the Serious Fraud Office, which halted inquiries after being shown advice from intelligence agencies that Saudi Arabia would cut off co-operation with Britain in the fight against terrorism. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/07/26/cndeso126.xml
• Construction of two aircraft carriers, the largest warships to be built in Britain, was approved yesterday, at a cost of £3.9bn and after nine years of debate. The long-awaited government statement, on the eve of the parliamentary recess, overshadowed the announcement that total spending by the armed forces will increase by an annual average of just 1.5% over three years in real terms, taking inflation into account. The defence budget will rise to £36.9bn in 2011, when it be a smaller percentage of total public spending than now. Defence officials said yesterday they fought hard to get even that modest increase. http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,2134763,00.html
• Thousands of patients are feared to be dying needlessly every year because of poor communication between hospital staff, faulty equipment and a lack of skills. An analysis of errors has found that some staff failed to make basic checks and that others did not see that their patient's condition was quickly deteriorating, with fatal results. The National Patient Safety Agency study, which investigated the circumstances in a sample of deaths, also found that there were problems with resuscitating some of the patients. Publication of the study's findings coincides with new guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence on how health workers should manage sudden declines in patients' health. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life-and-style/health/article2141382.ece
• Gordon Brown yesterday announced a four-fold increase in funding for a range of measures to help Muslim groups tackle violent extremism in their communities. Over the next three years, the government will set aside £70m to support local authorities and community groups to improve how they deal with the threat of terrorism in their midst, he said. The measures include lessons on citizenship in Britain's 1,000 madrasas, or Islamic religious schools, sponsorship of English-speaking imams and a proposal for interfaith bodies in every community. http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,2134636,00.html`
• Ministers face a string of legal challenges after announcing that 35 councils are to be scrapped in a move to streamline services and save £150 million a year. John Healey, the Local Government Minister, announced yesterday that ten new larger unitary authorities would be created by abolishing 35 councils and merging their services. But the reorganisation, planned for 2009, is likely to involve thousands of redundancies and has been widely opposed by those councils duem to disappear. Although there is no right of appeal, several town halls are expected to seek a judicial review. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article2141408.ece
• More than 100,000 students are dropping out of degree courses after their first year, according to the results of an investigation that are published today. Youngsters studying for much-needed maths, science and engineering qualifications were the most likely to drop out, according to the figures. Those opting to study medicine were the most likely to complete their courses. Nearly a quarter of all students (22.4 per cent) in the UK fail to complete their courses. The findings, which come in a survey of student retention rates by the National Audit Office, coincide with research claiming almost one in four youngsters now believes going to university may be a "waste of time" because of increased student debt. http://education.independent.co.uk/news/article2802629.ece