Review of the Papers, Friday 13 July

Government

• Revenue and Customs' reputation as a competent government department "looks increasingly threadbare", the Commons public accounts committee said on July 12. The criticism came as the National Audit Office detailed billions of pounds of overpayments in tax credits and another billion being lost to fraud and error. In its annual audit of the department, the NAO said overpayment in tax credits amounted to £6.6bn. Between £1bn and £1.3bn was paid in 2004-05 to claimants not entitled to it, with "no evidence to demonstrate a lower estimate" for 2006. On income tax, the PAYE computer system is struggling to cope with the changing world of work. As a result, the department may not be pursuing some £800m of tax due, while taxpayers are likely to have overpaid by £340m and potentially 5m people are not paying the right amount of tax. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/b94c65b8-30b9-11dc-9a81-0000779fd2ac.html
• Medical leaders yesterday demanded to know what will happen to 13,000 junior doctors who will not get a training post this year. Ministers announced yesterday that 85 per cent of posts had been filled with just 2,320 left available for the next round of recruitment. There were 16,000 junior doctors left without training posts at the end of the last round. Once the extra 1,000 training posts are filled at the end of the process in October, it will leave 13,000 doctors facing a move abroad to find work or stuck in dead-end posts that will not allow them to continue to train towards becoming a consultant or GP. Sources at the Department of Health said that Health Secretary Alan Johnson had asked officials to look at what can be done for the unsuccessful candidates, especially those who have come through UK medical schools at a cost to the taxpayer of £250,000 each. There are about 4,000 UK trained doctors still chasing jobs and some are expected to get posts in the second round of recruitment or among the extra 1,000 jobs created by the former health secretary Patricia Hewitt. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/13/ndocs113.xml
• A flagship government policy intended to speed the treatment of breast cancer has failed women by creating a two-tier service with unacceptable delays, researchers report today. The "two-week wait rule", introduced with a fanfare in April 1999, was supposed to ensure that every woman with suspected breast cancer would be seen by a specialist within 14 days of referral by a GP. Britain had the highest death rate in Europe from breast cancer and the new policy was intended to signal the Labour administration's commitment to modernise the NHS. But almost a decade later, the first long-term study of the policy has revealed an increase in patients whose diagnosis of breast cancer has been delayed. Doctors at the Frenchay Breast Care Unit in Bristol say urgent referrals to the unit leapt by 42 per cent between 1999 and 2005 but the number of cancers diagnosed fell from 224 to 191. http://news.independent.co.uk/health/article2765560.ece
• Taxpayers have been left to pick up a £23 billion bill - £900 for every household in the country - after hundreds of Government projects spiralled over budget, a report reveals today. An analysis of more than 300 public sector schemes - from the national computer system for the NHS to a new generation of submarines - shows that more than half are over budget. The combined overspend in the last two years is equivalent to the amount the Treasury raises each year from taxes on petrol, diesel and other fuel duties. The study by the Taxpayers' Alliance, a pressure group, found that the average cost overrun increased the final bill by about a third. Fewer than one in six projects came in under budget. The new NHS computer system had the worst cost overrun. It was originally estimated that it would cost £2.3 billion but the current forecast is that the final bill will be £12.4 billion - more than five times higher than predicted. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/13/nwaste113.xml
• Pressure to increase the social and environmental obligations of business will be resisted, according to Stephen Timms, the new minister for enterprise and small business. His comments are part of an effort to reassure companies that the government will remain friendly to them with Gordon Brown as prime minister. In his first interview since joining the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, Mr Timms said: "There does not need to be [new regulation]. The strength of the corporate social responsibility movement is that it is business-led." He said existing rules, which require quoted companies to report on employee, environmental and community issues, were adequate. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/4ae28042-30d9-11dc-9a81-0000779fd2ac.html

Other

• It can be greener to drive than catch the train, according to a rail industry study which reveals that trains are losing their environmental advantage. Modern diesel-powered trains are so polluting that a family of three or more would be responsible for at least double the carbon dioxide emissions on many routes when travelling by rail compared with driving in a typical medium-sized car. The study concludes that the Virgin Voyager, the most advanced diesel train on the network, has the highest emissions of any British train and that its performance compared with cars is steadily worsening as motor manufacturers improve efficiency. The study, commissioned by the Rail Safety and Standards Board, urges the Government to electrify key sections of the rail network to allow greener electric trains to replace diesel ones. On several long-distance routes, such as London to Hull, diesel trains run long distances under electric wires because short stretches of track have not been electrified. http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life-and-style/travel/article2067255.ece