Reform Media Summary

27 March 2008

In today’s Media Summary, Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, said yesterday that “prisons will continue to operate at or near capacity” until 2010 when the Government expects supply to outstrip demand, possible early cut in interest rates after the Bank of England said action was needed to protect the economy from a deepening credit crunch and yesterday, Ed Balls, the Children’s Secretary, said that successful schools will be forced to take a share of disruptive pupils to prevent them from monopolising the best-behaved children.

Home Affairs

Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, said yesterday that “prisons will continue to operate at or near capacity” until 2010 when the Government expects supply to outstrip demand (Telegraph, p.13; Guardian, p.9; Express, p.8).

It is reported that hundreds of officers will be taken off the streets if the Government pursues plans being announced today to curb the spending of five police forces (Times, p.35).

The Government will extend the Human Rights Act to protect up to 300,000 elderly people who have been placed by local authorities in privately-run residential and nursing homes (Guardian, p.10; Telegraph, p.8).

Economy

Possible early cut in interest rates after the Bank of England said action was needed to protect the economy from a deepening credit crunch. When the Treasury Select Committee asked whether market conditions had made the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee more predisposed towards cutting interest rates, Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, answered “Yes” (FT, p.1, p.2; Independent, p.40; Sun, p.52; Guardian, p.27; Telegraph, p.12, B.1; Mail, p.80).

A study by the Centre for Economic and Business Research shows that the average family’s disposable income is now £133 a week, down from £140 in February last year (Times, p.22; Sun, p.8).

The Financial Services Authority admitted yesterday that it made a series of blunders in the run-up to the collapse of Northern Rock and conceded that its supervision was “below the standard we would expect” (Telegraph, p.12, p.27 [Philip Booth], p.27 [leader], B.1; Mail, p.12, p.14 [leader]; Times, p.16 [leader], p.54, p.55; Guardian, p.27, p.36 [leader]; Express, p.4; FT, p.3, [leader] p.14, p.20; Independent, p.32 [leader], p.45 [James Moore]; Sun, p.2; Mirror, p.14).

In its annual report published today, the Fuel Poverty Advisory Group said more than 2.3 million of the most vulnerable households in England alone are now forced to spend at least 10 per cent of their income to heat and light their home (Guardian, p.10).

Gordon Brown has been criticised for misleading the public, with the use of economic data, over the current state of the housing market. Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats said: “The Prime Minister was both complacent and disingenuous in his response to the very real concerns that the housing market is now facing an almost identical situation to that in the 1990s” (FT, p.2).

The marriage rate has fallen to its lowest level since 1862. Experts say this is partly because our tax system encourages people to stay single (Times, p.4; Telegraph, p.11; Mail, p.4).

Plans that will be published by the Department for Communities and Local Government today will increase council tax for millions of homeowners above the rate of inflation (Telegraph, p.1).

Education

Yesterday, Ed Balls, the Children’s Secretary, said that successful schools will be forced to take a share of disruptive pupils to prevent them from monopolising the best-behaved children (Times, p.9; Guardian, p.4; Express, p.11, p.12 [leader]; Telegraph, p.18; Mail, p.26; Independent, p.4).

Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment at the University of Buckingham, says making education compulsory to the age of 18 will lead to alienation and disaffection of large sections of young people (Times, p.9; Telegraph, p.18).

Cambridge University will attempt to recruit more students from poor families by targeting sixth-formers on social networking websites in a campaign funded by a £4 million donation (Telegraph, p.11).

According to a report in the Education section of the Independent, the Government is on track to meet its target of getting all primary schools to teach a modern foreign language by September 2009 (Independent Education, p.8).

The Commons Select Committee on Innovation, Universities and Skills has “lambasted” the Government’s decision to cut off £100 million of funding for second degrees (FT, p.4).

Politics

Further coverage of MPs expenses (Telegraph, p.8; Mail, p.39; Times, p.14; Guardian, p.14; (Independent, p.6, p.36 [Janet Street-Porter]; Sun, p.6, p.12; Mirror, p.4).