Review of the Papers, Wednesday 08 August

**Government  **

• Humans are to blame for carrying the foot and mouth virus from laboratories in Pirbright, investigators into the outbreak in Surrey believe. The initial, inconclusive report from the Health and Safety Executive says there is a "strong probability" that the origin was either the government-funded Institute of Animal Health laboratory or the commercial Merial facility, which share the same site. Both were working on the strain involved in the farm outbreak, although Merial was producing it in large quantities while the IAH was using tiny amounts for research. "There are various routes for accidental or deliberate transfer of material from the site," the report says. "We have investigated site management systems and records and spoken to a number of employees. As a result we are pursuing lines of inquiry." It adds: "Release by human movement must ... be considered a real possibility." HSE investigators need another week's work to analyse the exact virus types used by each organisation. Both organisations insisted they had found no evidence of a breach in biosecurity. Researchers said there was no evidence of working practices or incidents such as lab spillages which could have caused a release of the strain. http://www.guardian.co.uk/footandmouth/story/0,,2143811,00.html
• Motorists could soon be driving on a giant 10-lane superhighway through central England, under plans unveiled by the Highways Agency yesterday. Proposed changes to a 50-mile stretch of the M1 between Leicester and Chesterfield could give motorists an extra lane in each direction, and allow them to drive on the hard shoulder during busy times. Environmental campaigners described the plans as "dreadful", saying they would exacerbate global warming while doing nothing to ease congestion. The move would see "active traffic management" systems used as part of a £2.5bn scheme to widen the M1 from junction 21 to 30. The Highways Agency website says: "M1 J21-J30 widening ... Work on this section of the scheme is planned to commence in 2012. Consideration is currently being given to the use of active traffic management similar to that utilised on the M42 south of Birmingham." http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/aug/08/transportintheuk.motoring
• Four out of ten pupils could not read, write and add up properly by the time they left primary school this summer, the Government said yesterday. The national curriculum results for this age group improved slightly on last year, but the figures showed that 166,500 pupils did not meet the standard expected in writing, 67,000 failed to make it in reading, 54,000 could not reach it in science and 105,000 could not add up to the same level. Lord Adonis, the Schools Minister, hailed the test results as the best ever, but critics said they showed that there had been little real improvement in recent years and that the literacy and numeracy strategies had run out of steam. Overall, the proportion of 11-year-olds reaching Level 4 at Key Stage 2, or the nationally expected level, improved for all subjects by one percentage point, with the exception of writing, which stalled at 67 per cent. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life-and-style/education/article2218142.ece
• Boys are closing the gender gap in English national curriculum tests for 11-year-olds and forging ahead of girls in maths, results showed yesterday. Figures showed they had cut the gap in reading by two percentage points and in writing by one - while they are now two percentage points ahead of girls in maths. The trend, part of an overall improvement in results, was welcomed by ministers who have poured millions into giving one-to-one coaching to pupils. http://education.independent.co.uk/news/article2843969.ece
• Nearly 50,000 fewer people are receiving dental treatment on the NHS a year after controversial reforms were brought in, according to the latest Government figures. The report claims there are only 47,000 fewer patients receiving NHS dental care and 500 fewer dentists working on the NHS now than before the new dentist contracts were introduced in April 2006. But patients groups and dentists have critised the report, which also claims the new system has improved services, saying access to dental care under the NHS has not improved and people are struggling to be seen. Citizens Advice says there are two million people trying to registers with an NHS dentist but have been unable to get on the books. And the British Dental Association said these figures were extremely conservative and were likely to actually be significantly higher. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/08/ndentists108.xml
• BBC staff were paid almost £20m in bonuses last year, it emerged yesterday. The director general, Mark Thompson, refused to accept a bonus last year because of a cost cutting programme which led to 6,000 job losses, but his staff were paid a total of £19,429,853. The data, released yesterday following a freedom of information request, showed that nearly half of the BBC's 23,000 employees received bonuses during the period from July 2006 to June 2007. Most of the bonuses were paid last August and the BBC said the total amount, an increase of more than £2m on the previous year, represented less than 2% of its wage bill. The average bonus totalled £1,805, an increase of £237 on the previous year, with 4,107 staff receiving more than £1,000. Only members of the BBC executive board are required to reveal how much they are paid, with the likes of BBC1 controller Peter Fincham not required to do so. The figures show that one employee was paid a bonus of £100,739 and at least 10 others took home £40,000 or more. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk-news/story/0,,2143752,00.html
• The gambling industry is to be allowed to screen advertisements during sporting events in return for a pledge to remove its logos from children's replica football shirts. Television adverts for bookmakers, casinos and gambling websites will be allowed for the first time from next month as new laws take effect. It emerged yesterday that James Purnell, the Culture Secretary, has won a battle to impose a 9pm watershed on the adverts when the gambling industry published a voluntary code of conduct before the liberalisation on September 1. He has allowed an exemption for sporting events screened earlier in the day, to the dismay of campaigners. In return, the gambling industry says it will include a commitment in its new code of conduct not to include the logos on children's replica football shirts. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2218141.ece
• Creep over the speed limit, and you might get a £60 fixed penalty and three points on your driving licence. Really put your foot down in a built-up area, and the magistrates could relieve you of up to £1,000. And that's assuming you don't injure anybody. But go up a ladder without approved ladder training to install one of those flashing roadside speed indicators, and the bench could have £5,000 off you, plus costs, for working at height without consent. Height in this context could mean 3ft (90cm) off the ground, but you could still end up in the Crown Court. Even if you didn't break your neck falling off. Health and safety regulations are now the overarching power in the land, as Lancashire County Council has discovered in its attempt to improve road safety in the northwest by installing electronic speed indicators which are regarded as effective in shaming drivers into slowing down. Thirty of the devices lie waiting to be put up on their roadside poles, but the council has found that it does not have enough staff qualified to go up ladders to install them. These days to go up a ladder you have to comply with the Health and Safety Executive's Working at Height Regulations 2005 (amended 2007) which are the offspring of the EU's Working At Height Directive born in Brussels in 2001. Last year about 350 road deaths were ascribed to speeding. In the same period 14 people died after falling off ladders. http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life-and-style/driving/article2217990.ece
• The growing dangers of Britain's "surveillance society" were raised yesterday amid fears that more and more private information is being shared out without people's knowledge. Richard Thomas, the information commissioner, published new guidance on the Information Commission's website (www.ico.gov.uk) to warn consumers that "in some cases, information may be shared without you even knowing about it". Under the Data Protection Act 1998, organisations can legally pass on data held about individuals where they have just cause. Examples given by the new information commission guidance included credit checks by lenders verifying someone's financial standing, a hospital sharing information with a local GP, and a local authority sharing information with the Department for Work and Pensions to allow it to work out a benefit payment. But the new guidance comes amid claims from privacy campaigners that there was "almost zero [public] awareness" over the scale of information sharing. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/08/nbigbro108.xml

Conservatives

• The new European Union treaty contains only 10 changes to the 250 proposals originally outlined in the former EU constitution, according to the first authoritative analysis of the English translation published yesterday. A guide to the treaty, produced by the Conservatives, shows that, apart from presentational changes, the constitution had been brought back with a sweeping transfer of powers to Brussels over 90 per cent intact. William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, said it was "the EU constitution by another name" - after the original version was rejected by voters in France and Holland two years ago. He quoted Miguel Angel Moratinos, the Spanish foreign minister, who reportedly said: "The wrapping has been changed, but not the content", while Bertie Ahern, the Taoiseach, said: "Thankfully, they haven't changed the substance - 90 per cent is still there." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/08/neu108.xml