Targets for hospitals and schools to end

More than two thirds of performance targets imposed on hospitals, schools and town halls are to be scrapped in a purge of Whitehall red tape. All but 30 of more than 100 top-down targets imposed by central government in 2004 are to be culled, Andy Burnham, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, is expected to announce today in a speech at King’s College London.

The performance indicators, which include raising the GCSE pass rate and reducing the fear of crime, will be replaced by making heads of local services set performance targets, and making them answerable to local communities.

Regional assemblies to be scrapped

The eight English regional assemblies responsible for housing and planning are to be scrapped and their powers handed to unelected quangos, ministers have announced, (Jill Sherman writes).

The assemblies, set up by Labour in 1998 and made up of councillors and industry representatives, have blocked several housing developments in the East and the South East.

The announcement by John Healey, the Local Government Minister, was described by Keith Mitchell, chairman of the South East England Regional Assembly, as transferring powers to “a quango of yes-men”.

Terror suspects freed

More than half of those arrested on suspicion of terrorism since September 2001 have been released without charge, latest Home Office figures show. A total of 669 of the 1,228 people arrested were freed by police. Of the rest, 224 have been convicted in terrorism-related trials, 114 are awaiting trial, and 195 face other offences, such as fraud. A total of 11 have been dealt with under mental health laws.

Year-old body found

A woman with a history of mental illness lay dead in her bed for almost a year before she was discovered, an inquest has heard. Sandra Drummond, 44, lived in an upstairs flat in Hulme, Manchester. When police gained access to the property her body was in such an advanced state of decomposition it was impossible for pathologists to establish a cause of death, the Manchester corner heard. Verdict: open.

Rise in drink-drivers from Eastern Europe

More than one motorist in ten sent on a drink-drive rehabilitation course is from Eastern Europe (Ben Webster writes).

Eastern Europeans given roadside breath tests are also twice as likely as the average drink-driver to be 2½ times over the legal alcohol limit, according to TTC, Britain’s largest provider of drink-drive rehabilitation courses. The figures come a month after the Motor Insurers Bureau, which handles claims from crashes caused by uninsured drivers, said that the number of claims against Polish drivers had more than tripled in the past two years.

Unhappy wards

Morale among nurses is at its lowest point for ten years, a survey has found. Optimism about job security, career progression and training have also plummeted to their lowest levels since 1997, according to the Royal College of Nursing, which said that nurses’ goodwill was “at breaking point”. The survey comes as the RCN conducts a ballot in England on industrial action over pay.

Criminals avoid court

Fewer than half of the criminals brought to justice by prosecuting authorities in England and Wales now go to court, the Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate revealed. Instead, offences are dealt with by fines or cautions. Stephen Wooler, chief inspector of the CPS, said: “Typically, prosecutions now count for between 40 per cent and 50 per cent of the offences brought to justice.”

Judges’ makeover

The fashion designer Betty Jackson is to design the new robe to be worn by judges when they dispense with wigs from next year. Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, the Lord Chief Justice, said that she was doing the design “pro bono”, or free, after being approached by a designer who is married to a Court of Appeal judge. “Our new gowns will be the envy of the Commonwealth,” he said.

Straw tries to break deadlock with judges

Jack Straw moved to defuse the deadlock between ministers and judges last night with a pledge to fight for their funding and defend their independence (writes Frances Gibb).

The Justice Secretary made the conciliatory comments in front of the Lord Chief Justice and several hundred judges at the annual dinner hosted by the Lord Mayor of the City of London. The senior judges are locked in a dispute with ministers over the creation of the new Ministry of Justice. They are concerned that the funding for the courts will be plundered to meet the needs of prisons, which are now in the same department.

Credit card millstone

One in ten credit-card holders makes the minimum repayment, meaning that they could be paying off the debt for 30 years, a report from uSwitch.com shows. It says that consumers’ “debt sentence” could be halved to 15 years and interest payments cut by £5.5 billion if repayments on the balance were increased from 2 per cent to 3 per cent a month. Credit card debt in Britain has reached £54 billion.

Race riot convictions

Five men and a boy aged 15 were found guilty of criminal charges in connection with race riots in the Lozells area of Birmingham in 2005. Much of the violence was captured on film. A seventh defendant was cleared at Birmingham Crown Court of riot and alternative charges of violent disorder and affray. Those convicted – three of whom were cleared of attempted murder – will be sentenced later.

Drug rival’s murder

A drug dealer who shot dead a teenage rival in front of shoppers has been jailed for at least 30 years for murder. Nathan Williams, 17, was killed at the Bridgeway Shopping Parade in the Meadows housing estate, Nottingham, last September. Courtney Hunt, 21, targeted Williams after he started dealing heroin and crack in competition with him, Nottingham Crown Court was told.

Smoking ban reprieve

An administrative mistake by Fareham Borough Council in Hampshire means that the national smoking ban does not yet apply in its pubs and workplaces. It failed to agree the bylaw at last month’s full council meeting, so it cannot come into force until July 27. The local authority has not publicised the fact that the town is an exception to the ban, which was introduced nationwide on July 1.

Rise in foreign university staff

More than a quarter of academics appointed at British universities last year were from overseas. About 15 per cent of the 31,477 full-time higher education staff in Britain in 2005-06 were foreign, with the majority coming from Germany, China and the US, says a report by Universities UK, the umbrella group of vice-chancellors.

Glass ceiling for women doctors

Women doctors are being discriminated against in education and research and are less likely than men to end up in senior posts, a new study of 1,162 doctors by the British Medical Journal found. One in five medical schools does not have a single woman professor.

MFI adverts get 100 complaints

Television advertisements for MFI have prompted more than 100 complaints, according to the Advertising Standards Authority, which is investigating the retailer’s set of five advertisements. Viewers found them “disturbing” because they featured heated rows.

Green town bans the plastic bag

The campaign to ban plastic bags from shops is gathering pace, with Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, the latest town to sign up to the cause. From September, 109 shops will ban the bags and the Coop is giving a free Fair Trade cotton bag to every household.

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