1 English and Scottish schoolgirls are among the most violent in the world, according to a World Health Organisation study. A little over 29 per cent of English and Scottish girls aged 11 to 15 report that they have been involved in fighting in the past year, behind girls in Hungary, Estonia, Lithuania and Belgium.
2 Plans to help 1 million incapacity benefit claimants back to work over 10 years have been unveiled by John Hutton, the Work and Pensions Secretary. The Green Paper on welfare reform also outlined proposals to oblige single parents to attend job interviews more frequently than at present.
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3 Eighteen NHS trusts have been “named and shamed” by the Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, for having severe financial problems. External firms of accountants will be sent in to put their budgets back on track.
4 Two fifths of people in the UK think that intelligent design (ID) should be taught in school science classes as an alternative to evolution, according to a poll by the BBC. ID is the notion that some complicated structures in cells could not have evolved and must have been placed there by a divine creator.
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5 The row over the merging of police forces has intensified with the publication of the Police and Justice Bill. The Bill is aimed at improving police accountability and allowing communities to tackle antisocial behaviour, but it also outlines powers for the Home Office to intervene in the management of poorly performing parts of the police.
6 Armed Forces personnel have called for the creation of a federation to campaign for their rights. The proposals are in response to concerns about the treatment of servicemen and women, including the shortage of equipment during the war in Iraq.
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7 Your chances of surviving cancer still depend on where you live, according to a Parliamentary Select Committee. There has been “significant progress” in meeting targets to end postcode prescribing, but cancer death rates are still highest in poorer areas.
8 Street crime is still rising, new police figures show. Robberies apparently rose by 11 per cent, although this is at variance with separate figures contained in the British Crime Survey, which measures people’s experience of crime. The discrepancy has prompted the Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, to announce a cross-party review into the way in which the statistics are compiled.
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9 The Commons Education Select Committee has demanded reforms to the Education White Paper. The committee’s critical report includes a call for a new role for local authorities in overseeing admissions policies.
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10 Children under 16 will be allowed to obtain abortions, contraception and sexual health advice without their parents’ knowledge. The High Court rejected a case brought by Sue Axon against the Government as she sought to prevent the possibility of her daughters getting an abortion without her knowing.
11 Rail passengers may be offered a loyalty card to replace saver fares, which were introduced after the privatisation of the railways to ensure some cheap tickets. The Rail Passengers Council is consulting rail users on the idea.
12 An estimated 80,000 civil servants working in Jobcentres went on strike last week to protest against job cuts at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), according to the PCS, the Civil Service union. The DWP, however, puts the number on strike at 40,000.
13 The non-white British population rose by more than 500,000 in two years to 7.1 million in 2003, according to the Office for National Statistics. In the same period the white population fell by 100,000.