This morning in response to questions from Paul Holmes MP, Liberal Democrat Member of the Education and Skills Committee, 3 out of 4 expert witnesses called for a year's delay in the introduction of the new 14-19 Diplomas which are scheduled to begin in 2008. This followed evidence of major concerns over the speed at which such a major and radical set of new courses were being introduced. Paul Holmes MP commented:
North Downs East Councillor David Callahan has resigned the Liberal Democrat group on Shepway District Council. Councillor Callahan has announced that he intends to sit as an independent councillor in future.
Commenting on today's [Tuesday] Public Accounts Committee report on the Department for Work and Pensions' support for disabled people, Liberal Democrat Disability Spokesperson, Danny Alexander MP said:
Britain's secret intelligence service, MI6, has challenged the government's claim that a major corruption inquiry into Saudi Arabian arms deals was threatening national security.
The government has come under repeated fire after it emerged that 27,500 files of Britons who have offended abroad, including 540 for serious crimes, had not been entered on the police national computer. A senior civil servant has been suspended pending an investigation. About 70 of the Britons who were left off police records may have reoffended in the UK, the BBC has learned. The Observer yesterday publicised the case of Dale Miller, convicted of violent offences abroad, not entered onto the police computer, who committed murder back in the UK. During questions in the Commons today, Nick Clegg challenged the government on this issue.
Not enough is being done by the Government to help disabled people get jobs and keep them, an influential group of MPs has said. More than a million people on incapacity benefit say they want to work, but only 160,000 take advantage of state-funded support schemes.
