Review of the Papers, Monday 20 August

Government

• Family doctors have been warned that unless they agree to open at evenings and on Saturdays, private companies will be contracted to take over their practices. A letter sent to local NHS organisations has ordered them to improve surgeries' responsiveness to the public, along with people's access to and choice of GP services. This includes the option of seeking alternative providers, including private companies, instead of GPs. The Times understands that the letter, from Mark Britnell, Director of Commissioning at the Department of Health, was altered before being sent to tone down references to "competitive tendering" - which would include offering GP contracts to private sector companies. But doctors' leaders said that the final draft sent to health trusts remained "very aggressively-worded" and a clear sign of a government mission to bring more private practice into the NHS. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2289417.ece
• Thousands more teenagers are likely to break their GCSEs into smaller chunks under proposals from exam watchdogs. Changes outlined by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) would bring assessment of GCSEs more in line with A-levels, which have been modular since 2000. Pupils would be able to complete up to half their GCSEs before the end of their two-year courses and have the option of resitting individual modules or units to improve their marks. More than 600,000 teenagers will get their GCSE results on Thursday but repeated challenges to the exam over the past 20 years have prompted a revamp. The changes in structure would coincide with plans to limit coursework and ensure it is done under supervision following fears over plagiarism. http://education.guardian.co.uk/gcses/story/0,,2152213,00.html
• Companies are being forced to give teenagers remedial lessons in literacy and numeracy because they leave school with such a poor grasp of the three Rs. Half of employers said some teenagers were "unable to function in the workplace" claiming they cannot make simple calculations in their heads, speak in an articulate manner or understand written instructions. In a critical report published today, the Confederation of British Industry says that an obsession with iPods, mobile phones and the internet has boosted the computing skills of the "Generation Text". But the improvements have come at the expense of the three Rs as many struggle to read and write properly, it claims. The conclusions come as 600,000 16-year-olds prepare to receive GCSE results on Thursday. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=4ACFLMJWEGFOLQFIQMGSFFWAVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2007/08/20/nedu120.xml
• NHS foundation trusts are setting up various forms of charity, joint venture or other arrangements with the private sector to bring in extra income. The deals are designed to get round legislation that bars trusts from earning a higher proportion of their income from private patients than they did in March 2003, when the law creating the self-governing bodies was before parliament. A number of foundation trusts and applicants - which behave more like freestanding businesses than the National Health Service trusts they replace - are now earning up to the limit on income from private patients. They are looking at business deals to bring in extra income, in ways that do not have to be counted against the cap in their accounts. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/eaee2e76-4eb4-11dc-85e7-0000779fd2ac.html
• Inspectors are being trained to "snoop" on desirable properties across England in an attempt to revalue millions of homes for council tax. They have been told to look for houses in "small pleasant rural villages", within good school catchment areas or with decent access to parks. Double glazing, central heating and fixed kitchen units could all help boost the price of a property, according to guidelines issued in a Government training handbook. The Conservatives claimed it showed people were to be punished for trying to improve their homes. Eric Pickles, the shadow local government secretary, said: "This will be a stealth tax on quality of life and hard work." The Liberal Democrats said the Government was being "dishonest" by denying plans to revalue property but going ahead with preparations anyway. The 120-page handbook, updated in June, has been issued to caseworkers by the Valuation Office Agency, part of HM Revenue & Customs. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/20/nctax120.xml
• The likes of Cheryl Cole and Victoria Beckham need look no further when debating whether to insure their Jimmy Choo shoes before jetting off on holiday. According to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Charlotte Mears, the fiancée of the Tottehnam Hotspur footballer Jermain Defoe, has the answers to the travelling quandaries of all wannabe WAGs. As part of the Know Before You Go campaign, the 22-year-old model has written the WAG's guide to travel which, according to the FCO, is "vital for any self-respecting wannabe WAG planning to travel stylishly, but sensibly and without hassle this summer". WAGs became the term for the wives and girlfriends of footballers at last year's World Cup in Germany. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2290292.ece

Conservatives

• David Cameron, the Conservative leader, will return to the political fray today focusing the party's message on his modernising agenda of health, education and social care. After a week in which the Tories grabbed the headlines with proposals to cut tax by £14bn and slash red tape on business, Mr Cameron will defy party critics by returning to the centre-ground issues of the National Health Service and schools. The Conservative leader suffered a torrid few weeks before departing on holiday, criticised by senior party figures for putting style and publicity stunts over substance. His visit to Rwanda was marred by criticism he should have stayed in Britain, which had been hit by floods. With recent polls showing Gordon Brown has opened up a 10-point lead, Mr Cameron also faced growing demands to return to more traditional themes of tax cuts and Europe, or at least spell out in more detail his big ideas for government. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4057c8cc-4eb5-11dc-85e7-0000779fd2ac.html

EU

• A group of Europe's "wise men" has pronounced that the European Union treaty agreed by Tony Blair in June is substantially the same as the constitution rejected two years ago. The elder statesmen's verdict was seized on yesterday by critics who insisted that Gordon Brown must honour the Government's promise of a referendum on the document. The group, led by the former Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato, and including Lord Patten, the former Conservative minister and European Commissioner, concluded that the new treaty was only symbolically different to the proposed constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005. The so-called Amato group's assessment carries weight because the 16 senior politicians include two members of the convention that drew up the constitution - Mr Amato and Jean-Luc Dehaene, the former Belgian prime minister - as well as former leaders of the Netherlands, Finland and Greece. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2289229.ece