Primary places revealed amid squeeze

Some children will face longer walks to school than others

More than half a million families are discovering which primary schools their children will attend, amid a growing places squeeze in parts of England.

The day will bring relief for many, but others will be disappointed at learning they have missed out on a first-choice school.

It comes days after council leaders said two in five local authorities would have too few places by 2016.

Some schools have been maximising their capacity by building extra classrooms.

Pressure is growing, particularly in schools on London's fringes and in cities such as Leicester, Nottingham, Reading, Bristol and Peterborough.

And it is likely that more families will miss out on their first-choice school as the places crisis continues to bite.

'Balkanised system'

The crisis has been precipitated mainly by a booming birth-rate, partly by immigration and by families moving specifically to be near popular schools.

The demand for school places has risen steeply in Harrow, which has some very good primary schools. It was predicted to be 12% over capacity by this September but the council said it had worked really hard in its strategy to ensure there are enough places for Harrow children this year.

A spokesman said the crush Harrow was seeing now was very likely to affect other areas around the country soon.

Labour and the National Association of Head Teachers also blame the coalition government's free-school policy, which has allowed some new schools to be opened in areas that already have surplus places.

At the same time, the ability of local authorities to plan for population surges has been reduced by regulations requiring any new schools to be either an academy or a free school, rather than a council school.

NAHT general secretary Russell Hobby said: "Since 2011, the powers of local authorities in planning school places have been significantly reduced without an alternative system to take their place. We have a balkanised system with authorities, academies and central government taking decisions in isolation."

'Reaching the limit'

He added: "There is a desperate need for long-term planning that spans all sectors. With the massive increase in pupil numbers and over-stretched budgets, we cannot afford inefficiency and conflict."

The Local Government Association said the escalating places shortage was one of the key areas that needed to be tackled by the next government.

Earlier this month, it said schools were "reaching their limits and could soon run out of space and money for extra places" and there would be a need for an extra 880,000 pupils at a cost of £12bn.

The Conservatives blame Labour for the problem saying the party "cut over 200,000 primary school places - and even ignored official warnings to provide extra school places after a baby boom".

A spokesman added: "The Conservatives have created over 400,000 school places. There are fewer children in overcrowded primary schools and, most importantly, one million more children in good or outstanding schools since 2010."

'Raise standards'

Labour points out that under the Conservative-Lib Dem administration the number of infant children in classes with more than 30 pupils has more than trebled from 31,265 in 2010 to 102,615 in 2015.

Shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt blamed the Conservatives for spending "hundreds of millions of taxpayers' money on a few free schools in areas where there are no shortages of places".

Liberal Democrat schools minister David Laws said: "It's astonishing that Labour and the Conservatives won't properly fund these children. It will be impossible to provide a place for every child and raise standards unless we protect education budgets.

"Every parent getting an offer today wants to know their child will be attending a great school. Protecting education means we can put a qualified teacher in every classroom, expand early years education and support the children who need extra help."

Has your child got a place at their first choice primary school? Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with your stories.

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Non-passport Syrians granted appeals

The three asylum seekers fled fighting in Syria but were arrested at Heathrow

Three asylum seekers who fled Syria but were jailed after arriving in the UK without passports have been told they can appeal against their convictions.

The men arrived at Heathrow Airport at different times in 2013, saying they had received threats while in Syria.

However, they were arrested for failing to have travel documents and jailed for between eight weeks and four months.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has now said had been wrongly advised to plead guilty and can appeal.

It brings the number of convictions involving asylum seekers and refugees to be referred to the appeal courts in the last three years to 34.

The three new cases are the first involving Syrians to be referred.

Twenty-six people from other countries have already had similar convictions quashed, the CCRC said.

Analysis by home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw

In 2002, when the number of asylum applicants to the UK hit record levels, topping 100,000, then Home Secretary David Blunkett set out plans to stop abuse of the system.

One of the measures involved a clampdown on people arriving without valid travel and immigration papers: they'd face up to two years in jail if caught.

The powers, which came into force in 2004, may well have contributed to the fall in asylum numbers that followed. But they have had an unintended consequence too, leading to dozens of wrongful convictions.

It's a puzzle why that has happened, when the law quite sensibly provides a defence for people fleeing persecution who can't acquire a genuine passport to get out of their home country. The legal and prison costs are considerable, the human cost even greater.

'Death threats'

It said the first of the three Syrians arrived at Heathrow in July 2013, aged 19.

He told an immigration officer he did not have a passport and wanted to claim asylum.

He said he had fled from Syria after receiving deaths threats and travelled to the UK, via Lebanon and Egypt.

But he was arrested and later sentenced to four months' detention in a young offenders' institution.

The men were "wrongly advised" to admit immigration offences, the CCRC has said

The second man arrived in the UK in August 2013, saying he had left Syria one month earlier due to the war and following verbal threats.

However, he was also arrested and was later sentenced to eight weeks in prison.

The third man arrived in the UK in November 2013 without a passport, saying Syrian government officials suspected him of belonging to the Free Syrian Army.

He was also arrested and later sentenced to three months in prison.

'Reasonable excuse'

All three men had pleaded guilty and were sentenced at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court.

However, the CCRC, which investigates suspected miscarriages in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, said they had all been wrongly advised by legal aid lawyers that they had no defence to the charge.

The advice was incorrect as the law provides a defence of "reasonable excuse" for people fleeing persecution who don't have passports, it added.

The CCRC says there is "a real possibility" that the crown court could allow all three men to vacate their guilty pleas on the basis that "each was deprived of a defence that was likely to succeed".

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Decision due over peer abuse charge

Greville Janner was Labour MP for Leicester North West and then Leicester West

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) will later announce whether Labour peer Lord Janner will be charged with child sexual abuse offences.

The Times is reporting the prosecution will not go ahead because the CPS has decided it would not be in the public interest.

The peer, a Labour MP for Leicester for 27 years, is 86 and is said to be in ill health.

The CPS refused to confirm The Times' report.

Leicestershire Police has been investigating abuse allegations against Lord Janner dating back to the mid-1970s.

His house was searched in December 2013 and his Westminster office last June.

In 1991, Lord Janner made statements in Parliament asserting his innocence after a man claimed he had abused him.

The claims were made during the trial of care home manager Frank Beck for child abuse.

In recent years, new allegations surfaced and Leicestershire Police began a long investigation.

Police have gathered potential evidence from at least 30 people and the CPS had begun warning them of the coming decision about whether he should be charged.

Mick Creedon (pictured) said he was told not to arrest Lord Janner or search his home

This has become rather controversial because last year a former detective sergeant told a national newspaper that in 1989 he was ordered not to arrest Greville Janner and not to search his home.

That former Leicestershire Police detective is Mick Creedon, now chief constable of Derbyshire Police.

Last month the Independent Police Complaints Commission told Leicestershire Police to begin a review into that earlier investigation.

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Man arrested over Karen Buckley death

Police believe remains found High Craigton Farm farm are those of Karen Buckley

A 21-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the death of Irish student, Karen Buckley, Police Scotland say.

Miss Buckley, from Cork, was reported missing after a night out in Glasgow on Saturday.

Police said human remains had been found at a farm to the north of Glasgow, following a four-day search for the student.

Formal identification of the remains has not yet taken place, they said.

Miss Buckley's relatives have been informed about the discovery, which was made on a farm on the outskirts of Milngavie, six miles from Glasgow city centre.

Specialist police divers, a helicopter crew and search dogs have all been involved in the search for the qualified nurse, who moved to Glasgow in February to study occupational therapy.

Her handbag was discovered in Glasgow's Dawsholm Park on Tuesday and later officers began searching land around High Craigton Farm near Milngavie.

The man was formally arrested after being detained for questioning on Wednesday. He is expected to appear at a private hearing at Glasgow Sheriff Court on Friday.

Police Scotland cordoned off land around the farm and a nearby golf course

Police officers remained at the farm on Wednesday evening

Miss Buckley was seen on CCTV leaving Glasgow's Sanctuary nightclub with a man in the early hours of Sunday.

She had arrived at the nightclub with friends at about 23:45 on Saturday and at about 01:00 she told them she was going to the toilet. She failed to return and did not take her jacket.

Her friends have said she had had a few drinks, but was not drunk.

Police said later that they had traced a man who told them he had travelled with Miss Buckley by car to his flat, but he said she had left at about 04:00 on Sunday.

Miss Buckley's family travelled from Cork to Scotland on Tuesday to make an appeal for information.

A special prayer service was held near her home in Mallow on Wednesday, and a fundraising page set up by Miss Buckley's former classmates to support her family has raised more than £10,000.

Irish consular staff have been helping the family since Miss Buckley's disappearance.

Ireland's minister for foreign affairs, Charlie Flanagan, said the thoughts and prayers of everyone in the country were with the Buckley family.

He added: "On behalf of the government, I wish to express appreciation for all that has been done by the Scottish authorities, and especially Police Scotland in Glasgow, to find Karen and to support the Buckley family throughout this very difficult time."

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NHS finance problem 'being ignored'

The NHS is facing a "substantial financial problem" which politicians are ignoring in the election campaign, the former head of the service says.

Sir David Nicholson, who retired last year, told the BBC the NHS in England was accruing large deficits which would become "crystal clear" later this year.

But he said instead of talking about how to address these, politicians were focusing on expanding services.

He said the situation caused him "very great concern".

In an interview for BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Sir David - who ran the NHS in England for eight years - said that because there was an election period, the NHS was unable to publish the latest report on its financial position.

But he said it was "pretty clear in the NHS that there is a substantial financial problem, particularly in the hospital sector" which would become "crystal clear" in the autumn.

Policy guide: Health and care

This issue includes NHS funding, GP access and social care, particularly of older people.

Sir David predicted the scale of the problem would be bigger than the one he inherited in 2006 on becoming NHS chief executive, when the health service had accrued a £1bn deficit.

"I have not heard in most of the conversations politicians are having at the moment about what they're going to do about that financial hole.

"They want to talk about extra services and extra investment when actually there is a problem there to face."

He said the NHS would have to take "emergency action" such as vacancy freezes.

But he added: "It will also mean the politicians having to suspend some of their ambitions about the new things they want to do while some of the money that's being promised to the NHS is spent dealing with that particular operational problem."

Who is Sir David?

Sir David Nicholson spent more than 30 years working in the health service. His first chief executive post was in 1988 at Doncaster and Montagu Hospital Trust and he moved into regional NHS management in the late 1990s and became head of the Birmingham and Black Country health authority in 2003. Two years later he also took charge of two neighbouring organisations, including the one that oversaw Stafford Hospital. He became chief executive of London's health authority in April 2006, but within months took over from Lord Crisp to run the whole health service - a job he held until last April. He now advises governments across the world about health care.

Sir David also said the financial problems were going to be there for the medium term.

He told the BBC: "We need to institute proper financial discipline in the system... and to make some short-term decisions, to enable us to be in a position where literally we're not building on sand; that actually there is a stable financial base on which you then can take forward the big changes that are needed."

The ex-NHS boss said change would require political consensus.

Analysis

Sir David Nicholson is articulating what those in the health service have been saying to each other throughout this election campaign: that politicians are living in a parallel universe.

All the evidence suggests the NHS needs extra money just to stand still.

But while politicians have promised to cough up, they are all twinning that extra money with promises of more. More doctors and nurses, faster treatment and seven-day services.

NHS staff have met this with a mix of resignation and despair - Unison has already warned of industrial action over the Conservatives plan for seven-day services.

But it will also mean whichever party, or parties, form the next government, the pressure will be on to deliver.

After promising so much, the electorate will be expecting more than many experts predict is possible to deliver.

'Managed decline'

Last autumn Sir David's successor Simon Stevens set out a five-year plan for the NHS in which he said the health service would need an extra £8bn by 2020 - something the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have committed to in this campaign.

Sir David said it would be "helpful" if Labour made clear whether it too would commit to this figure, which he said needed to be spent at the beginning of the parliament.

The call for an extra £8bn a year was on the basis that the NHS could make £22bn of efficiency savings.

But Sir David cast doubt on whether the NHS could deliver this scale of savings, saying it was "a big ask".

"There is no healthcare system in the world that's delivered this scale. But you could get close.

"But it means actually a united political clinical and managerial leadership in the NHS with a proper debate and discussion with the population about what this all means in practice," he said.

Sir David has warned that if the savings are not made, it could lead to a "managed decline", which would involve patients waiting longer for treatment, new drugs not being made available straight away and it becoming more difficult to see a GP.

'Really challenging'

Lib Dem Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said Sir David and his successor were right to expect parties to explain how they would come up with the funding required for the NHS.

He said the Lib Dems had been "very clear" about where the extra £8bn a year would come from, citing plans to change capital gains tax relief and by tying NHS spending to the proceeds of economic growth.

Anita Charlesworth, chief economist at the Health Foundation, said she agreed with Sir David.

She said: "NHS finances can only be described as dire at the moment, three-quarters of our hospitals can't balance their books and at the turn of the year they were running a deficit of £900m.

"The outlook in the medium term is also really challenging, [the NHS] needs extra funding each and every year."

Sir David also defended his role over the Stafford Hospital scandal. He spent 10 months in charge of the local health authority in 2005 and 2006 at the height of the problems and soon after that was appointed NHS chief executive. This involvement led to campaigners and MPs to call for his resignation.

Sir David told the BBC: "Other people will make judgements about my record. I think I made a contribution to improving services. But obviously I regret people suffered. I regret patients did not get the best possible care."

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UKIP to unveil 'serious' manifesto

UKIP's manifesto contains "serious, fully-costed policies", party leader Nigel Farage has said ahead of its launch later this morning.

The party's proposals include an extra £12bn for the NHS, a commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defence and a five-year ban on unskilled immigration.

UKIP, which wants to quit the EU, would hold an in/out referendum "as soon as possible" in the next Parliament.

The Conservatives said there was a "£37bn black hole" in UKIP's proposals.

Key priorities

UKIP

Main pledges

• Rapid referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union
• Control immigration
• Powers for voters to recall MPs
• Extra £3bn a year for the NHS
• No tax on the minimum wage

Last year Mr Farage described the party's 2010 general election manifesto, drawn up when he was not the UKIP leader, as "drivel".

But he said the 2015 version would be for people "who "believe in Britain".

Mr Farage will set out the party's election offerings at 11.15 BST in Thurrock, Essex.

UKIP's policies also include:

• Introducing a points-based immigration system
• Funding 6,000 new jobs for armed forces veterans, in the police, the prison service and at the UK border
• Cutting foreign aid by £9bn
• Removing stamp duty on the first £250,000 for new homes built on brownfield sites
• A cut in business rates for small businesses

The party's head of policy, Suzanne Evans, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme all of the figures had been independently checked, and that it sets a new "gold standard" for manifestos.

"The manifesto that we're releasing today is the only manifesto that is fully costed and has been independently verified.

"We've not just come up with these figures ourselves, we've put our spending plans out to an independent economic think tank, The Centre for Economic and Business Research, and they have been through our figures with a fine tooth comb," she said.

He had the final say on it and there are some things he wanted in it which didn't make it, but the manifesto which Nigel Farage will hold aloft at an Essex hotel is the most important document in his political life.

It represents a moment when UKIP is on the brink. The brink of breaking through. Or the brink of massively disappointing.

For UKIP devotees it will be an exercise in legitimacy mixed with irrelevance.

They don't like the party for its broad range of policies. For the media and the other parties the test will be does it add up, and make sense.

But crucially, for those thinking they may go over to UKIP in three weeks' time, it will be important for one reason.

Nigel Farage will likely feature on or very near the front page and he either is or embodies all that they like about the party.

UKIP says it will fund the pledges by leaving the EU, reducing funding to Scotland and scrapping the HS2 rail link.

Mr Farage said that on issues including immigration and the economy, the largest parties had "repeatedly and knowingly raised the expectations of the public, only to let us down, time and time again".

He added: "In many ways, this is where UKIP came from.

"A feeling that successive governments were no longer representing the will of the British people."

Despite a slight dip in some recent polls, UKIP has been polling ahead of the Liberal Democrats and is hoping to add to the two MPs it gained in by-elections following defections from the Conservatives.

A Conservative spokesman said UKIP's numbers did not "add up", adding: "We all know that Nigel Farage doesn't have a credible plan for Britain - he just makes it up as he goes along."

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Mosque search over preacher murder

Abdul Hadi Arwani was found with gunshot wounds in a car in Wembley

A second man has been arrested and a mosque is being searched after a Syrian-born preacher was found shot dead in his car in north-west London.

Abdul Hadi Arwani, a British national, was found dead on 7 April in Wembley. He was believed to be a critic of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.

Scotland Yard said a 61-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder.

Earlier Leslie Cooper, 36, appeared in court charged with Mr Arwani's murder.

At Camberwell Green Magistrates' Court Mr Cooper, of Nightingale Road, Brent, was remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey by Thursday.

As part of the ongoing investigation, officers said they were searching a number of addresses including the mosque at the An Noor Cultural and Community Centre in west London where Mr Arwani had been an imam.

Police were called to The Paddocks, in Wembley, north-west London, on 7 April

Mr Arwani was found with bullet injuries to his chest in a parked car at the junction of Greenhill and The Paddocks.

The father of six had been an imam at the An Noor mosque in Acton, west London, from 2005 to 2011, and is believed to have attended protests against the Assad regime outside the Syrian embassy in London in 2012.

In 1982, he claimed he was forced to flee Syria after being sentenced to death for photographing damage in his home city of Hama following government suppression of a rebellion.

The An Noor mosque was being searched by officers

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GP services face 'retirement crisis'

GP services are facing a crisis, with a third of doctors considering retirement in the next five years, a British Medical Association poll suggests.

The survey of more than 15,000 UK GPs also found over a quarter were considering working part-time.

And one in 10 said they were thinking about moving abroad.

BMA GP leader Dr Chaand Nagpaul said the findings showed some of the promises being made about doctors by politicians were "absurd".

Improving GP care has been one of the major themes of debate in the election, with the Conservatives promising seven-day access to services and Labour pledging a 48-hour waiting-time guarantee.

Policy guide: Health and care

This issue includes NHS funding, GP access and social care, particularly of older people.

The findings are in the second tranche of results from the BMA's poll of GPs, in which nearly a third of doctors in the UK took part.

Last week the BMA released figures suggesting excessive workloads were harming care. This batch of results focused on the effect those rising demands were having. It suggests:

• 34% of GPs are considering retiring from general practice in the next five years
• 28% of those working full-time are thinking about moving to part-time
• 9% are considering moving abroad
• 7% are considering quitting medicine altogether

They also cited various factors that had a negative impact on their commitment to being a GP, including:

• excessive workload - 71%
• un-resourced work being moved into general practice - 54%
• not enough time with their patients - 43%

Reality Check: Have GP services got worse?

Nick Triggle: Is there really a GP crisis?

Dr Nagpaul said: "This poll lays bare the stark reality of the crisis facing the GP workforce.

"It is clear that incredible pressures on GP services are at the heart of this problem, with escalating demand having far outstripped capacity.

"GPs are overworked and intensely frustrated that they do not have enough time to spend with their patients.

"In this climate, it is absurd that in the recent leaders' debate, political parties were attempting to outbid each other on the number of GPs they could magically produce in the next Parliament.

"Since it takes five to eight years to train a GP, it is not possible to create thousands of GPs in this timeframe."

Katherine Murphy, of the Patients Association, said: "We know from the many calls to our helpline that patients are not able to access GP services at times when they need to.

"What patients want is a clear and firm commitment that GPs now and tomorrow will have the resources to meet their needs.

"Anything less is just not acceptable.

"We need a 21st Century primary care service with access 24/7."

But a spokesman for NHS England said measures were being put in place to recruit extra GPs through the recently developed workforce action plan.

He said: "NHS England has invested £10m to kick-start the initiatives in the plan, which include incentives to recruit newly trained doctors into general practice, schemes to retain GPs thinking of leaving the profession and a new induction and returner scheme to encourage more GPs to return from to work after a period of absence working abroad or from a career break."

There are currently 9,000 GPs in training, although 14,000 doctors - about four in 10 - are over the age of 50.

Are you a GP considering retirement or working part-time? What is your reaction to the BMA poll findings? You can email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with your experience.

Please include a telephone number if you are willing to be contacted by a BBC journalist.

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Search continues for missing student

Miss Buckley's disappearance is said to be completely out of character

Police are continuing to search the park where a missing student's handbag was found.

Karen Buckley, 24, from Cork in Ireland, left a Glasgow nightclub in the early hours of Sunday morning and went with a man to a flat, where she spent several hours.

She has not been seen since, but her handbag was discovered in the city's Dawsholm Park on Tuesday afternoon.

Officers have said they are "gravely concerned" for her wellbeing.

Miss Buckley's parents have flown to Scotland from their home in Ireland.

Her mother, Marian, told a news conference on Tuesday: "We just want Karen home safely, we are desperate. She is our only daughter, we love her dearly.

"If anybody has any information please come forward, we would dearly appreciate it."

Miss Buckley, whose disappearance is said to be completely out of character, was last seen on CCTV talking to a man outside the Sanctuary nightclub in Dumbarton Road.

The pair travelled in the man's car to his flat in Dorchester Avenue, in the Kelvinside area of the city. It is said that she left the flat at about 04:00 on Sunday and was planning to walk back to her flat in Hill Street, close to the city centre.

The two addresses are about four miles apart.

Police have stressed that the man is helping them with their inquiries, but is not a suspect at this stage.

The Sanctuary nightclub is located in the city's west end - an area popular among students

A handbag which officers believe belongs to Miss Buckley was found in Dawsholm Park, near Dorchester Avenue, on Tuesday afternoon.

The entrance to the park remained cordoned off on Wednesday morning as dozens of officers continued searching the area. The police helicopter has also been involved in the search.

Miss Buckley moved to Glasgow in February and is a first year occupational therapy student at Glasgow Caledonian University. She was previously a nurse at the Princess Alexandria Hospital in Harlow, Essex.

She arrived at the Sanctuary nightclub with friends at about 23:45 on Saturday and at about 01:00 she told them she was going to the toilet. She failed to return and did not take her jacket.

Her friends have said Miss Buckley had had a few drinks, but was not drunk.

Miss Buckley's bag was found in Dawsholm Park by a member of the public

Dozens of officers arrived at the park as darkness fell to continue with the search

Speaking on Tuesday, Det Supt Jim Kerr, from Police Scotland's major investigations team, said: "We've traced the man she was with in Dorchester Avenue. He believes he was intimate with her at his flat consensually in the early hours of Sunday."

The police officer added: "From what we can see, she does not appear to be under duress, there's no signs of a struggle or reluctance on her part to leave the club.

"However, that does not mean that something untoward has happened to her at a later stage."

Miss Buckley is described as white and about 5ft to 5ft 2in tall. She has brown eyes and dark hair which had long black curly extensions in it.

When last seen, she was wearing a black jumpsuit with red high-heeled shoes and was carrying a black handbag.

Despite reports to the contrary, Ms Buckley has not been active on social media since her disappearance.

Ms Buckley spend several hours at Dorchester Avenue before leaving at 04:00 on Sunday

A heavy police presence has been maintained in the area surrounding the block of flats

Police are also keen to find out more about a grey car that was seen on the roads between Milngavie and Drymen north of Glasgow between 11:00 and 15:00 on Monday.

Det Supt Kerr said: "The activity of this grey car on the Monday is something that we're a wee bit concerned about. This car has been seen at various locations on these roads and I want to know why."

He added: "We are gravely concerned that Karen has come to some harm, whether that is down to foul play, criminality or she has taken unwell or had an accident is obviously still to be established."

Her father John Buckley, 62, said the disappearance was "so out of character".

He said: "We are extremely concerned for her. We are desperate to get her back and safe with her family - she is our only daughter, we love her dearly and just want her to come home safe and sound."

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Clegg pledges schools cash increase

Nick Clegg will set out five key priorities in the manifesto, including increased funding for education

The Liberal Democrats will pledge an extra £2.5bn for England's education budget in their election manifesto.

The party said the cash would ensure spending was protected "from cradle to college" and went beyond other parties' commitments on education.

Leader Nick Clegg will say the plans are all about boosting opportunity.

But the Conservatives said the Lib Dems offered "uncertainty for parents" while Labour said Nick Clegg's party had "broken their promises" in government.

The Lib Dems are the last of the three largest Westminster parties to launch their manifestos after Labour and the Conservatives.

The BBC's assistant political editor Norman Smith said he expected it to be a "minimalist, pared-back" document, with a focus on a few key priorities, after the party was unable to deliver its main commitment on tuition fees from 2010.

In other election news:

• UKIP is also launching its manifesto, with a pledge to employ 6,000 former army veterans in the police, prison service and Border Agency and spend 2% of national output on defence
• Labour is launching what it calls its women's manifesto, with a pledge to allow working grandparents to share unpaid parental leave
• The SDLP, which had three MPs in the last Parliament, is publishing its general election manifesto
• Former Cabinet Secretary Lord O'Donnell says civil servants will be preparing for "all sorts of outcomes" to the election, telling the BBC that minority government can be "made to work"
• The latest TNS opinion poll gave the Conservatives a two-point lead over Labour while a YouGov poll gave Labour a one-point lead over the Conservatives

The Lib Dems have previously said they would protect the education budget, by ensuring spending rises in line with inflation.

Mr Clegg will now say that once the deficit has been eliminated in 2017-18, funding for two to 19-year-olds would increase in line with economic growth, which was 2.8% over the course of 2014.

Even with pupil numbers taken into account, the party said this increase would ensure the amount of money per child was protected over the course of the Parliament, amounting to an extra £2.5bn.

Analysis by Sean Coughlan, BBC education correspondent

The Liberal Democrats are trying to stake out a claim to be the party that makes education a spending priority, by the promise of an extra £2.5bn.

Their education-friendly image had taken some hard knocks from the tuition fee U-turn and being in a coalition government that frequently clashed with the teachers' unions.

But they have put forward a spending plan which they hope will out-flank both the Conservatives and Labour.

Labour pledged to protect school budgets against inflation, while the Conservatives' offer was to protect per-pupil spending at a time of rising pupil numbers.

The Liberal Democrats' pitch is to combine both - promising to protect per-pupil spending in real terms , including for an extra 460,000 pupils.

But there is a tough warning from the Institute for Fiscal Studies that school costs are rising much faster than inflation and a looming school funding shortage will face whoever wins the election.

It said the cash was the equivalent of 70,000 teachers and 10,000 learning support assistants and amounted to £2.5bn more than Labour and £5bn more than the Conservatives would spend.

Pressure on education budgets is expected to increase in the next five years due to a sharp rise in enrolment in state schools, with the number of pupils under the age of 15 expected to go up by 9% by 2020.

The Conservatives have said they would protect the budget for 5-16 year-olds in cash terms, so that funding rises in line with pupil numbers but not in line with inflation or economic growth.

'Cradle to college'

Labour, on the other hand, has said it would ensure the budget for 0-19 year-olds increased in line with inflation but not in line with increases in pupil numbers or economic output.

The Lib Dems have said the extra funding will help limit class sizes and increase the availability of one-to-one tuition.

Key priorities

Lib Dems

Main pledges

• Balance the budget fairly through a mixture of cuts and taxes on higher earners
• Increase tax-free allowance to £12,500
• Guarantee education funding from nursery to 19 and qualified teachers in every class
• Invest £8bn in the NHS. Equal care for mental & physical health
• Five new laws to protect nature and fight climate change

Promising to protect the budget "from cradle to college", Mr Clegg will say: "The manifesto has one simple ambition and word at its heart - opportunity.

"It's a very old, liberal idea, the idea that everybody should be able to live out their life to the full regardless of the circumstances of their birth, regardless of the income of their parents, regardless of where they come from."

The manifesto is also expected to include pledges on balancing the books by 2017-18, raising the threshold at which people start paying tax to £12,500 and "parity of esteem" between mental and physical health services in the NHS.

Schools minister David Laws, who helped write the document, said it was underpinned by "sensible and cautious" assumptions on funding, with contingency funds in place if the economy did not perform as well as expected.

He told the BBC that his party was "committed to delivering" its key priorities whatever the outcome of the election, arguing that it had fulfilled the "vast majority" of its pledges from 2010.

UKIP has said its manifesto is "serious and costed"

Mr Clegg told the Guardian that no party would win an outright victory and the Lib Dems would be a "rock of stability" in any prospective coalition or alternative governing arrangement.

A Conservative spokesman highlighted the drop in per-pupil funding during the first phase of the Lib Dem education plan, when the budget would be linked to inflation.

"The Conservatives are the only party who are prepared to protect the money that schools get for each pupil," he added.

Labour said the Lib Dems had "broken their promises and backed the Tories all the way".

UKIP's pledges, also to be unveiled on Wednesday, include an in/out referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union "as soon as possible", a five-year ban on unskilled migrants coming in to the UK and £12bn for the NHS.

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PM pledges right-to-buy extension

Mr Cameron will say he wants to spread the "dream" of home ownership more widely

A Conservative government would extend the right-to-buy scheme for housing association tenants in England, David Cameron will say, as he unveils his party's general election manifesto.

The PM will say up to 1.3 million tenants could buy their homes at a discount as a result, insisting the Tories are the party of working people.

The Conservatives will also pledge a fund to help build 400,000 new homes.

Labour said the right-to-buy pledge would cost £4.5bn and was "unfunded".

The Conservative launch in Swindon comes the day after Ed Miliband put forward Labour's version - promising to improve the lives of Britain's workers and not to pay for any policies through additional borrowing.

The BBC's assistant political editor Norman Smith said the Tory manifesto may also include a pledge to take all those on the minimum wage out of income tax altogether.

In other election news:

• The Green Party will launch its manifesto, pledging to "take back" the NHS from the private sector
• The Liberal Democrats are due to highlight their own housing policies, which involve the government commissioning the building of new homes, and a pledge of at least 10 new garden cities in England and 300,00 new homes a year.
• Nick Clegg has told the BBC he will not work with the Conservatives after the election if they insist on £12bn of welfare cuts
• The latest Ashcroft and Populus opinion polls put both the Conservatives and Labour on 33%

Property 'dream'

A key pledge of the Conservative manifesto will be the extension of right to buy, a flagship policy of Margaret Thatcher's government in the 1980s, for tenants of housing associations - private, not-for-profit bodies that provide low-cost housing.

Under current rules, about 800,000 housing association tenants have a "right to acquire" their homes under smaller discounts, but the Conservatives would offer those people the same reductions as for those in local authority homes.

And they would extend the scheme to those who currently have no purchase rights at all, estimated to be about 500,000 people.

The move would be funded by new rules forcing councils to sell properties ranked in the most expensive third of their type in the local area, once they become vacant.

The Conservatives say every house purchased will be replaced "on a one-for-one basis" with more affordable homes and no-one will be forced to leave their home.

Right-to-buy details

• People living in council houses are entitled to purchase their homes at a discounted rate, which depends on the type of property and how long they have been a council tenant
• The terms and discounts available vary in different parts of the United Kingdom
• The maximum discount is £77,900 across England, except in London boroughs, where it is £103,900
• It is being abolished by the Scottish government and also faces abolition in Wales, where the Labour administration says it wants to protect housing stock

The party said 15,000 homes would be sold and replaced every year as a result, and that the proceeds would also cover a fund to help councils bring derelict land back on brownfield sites to use.

Mr Cameron will say 400,000 new homes would be built over five years as a result and that "the dream of a property-owning democracy is alive".

Key priorities

Conservative

Main pledges

• Eliminating the deficit
• Cutting taxes by raising basic and higher rate starting points
• Helping people to own their own home and have financial independence in retirement
• Providing an education system that helps children reach their potential
• Holding a referendum on Britain's EU membership

Home Secretary Theresa May said the plan would be made possible by local authorities "managing their housing stock better" and selling their most expensive properties, some of which were occupied by a single family.

"That means more families can be housed. That is the key thing," she told BBC Breakfast.

In his speech, Mr Cameron will say the Conservatives offer "security at every stage of your life" and warn of the risk of electing Labour.

"My message to Britain is this: we have come this far together. Let's not waste the past five years," he will say.

Ed Miliband's party has its own plans to encourage banks to fund 125,000 new homes for first-time buyers, as part of a plan to build 200,000 new homes every year by 2020.

Analysis by economics editor Robert Peston

As the election looms, David Cameron - who in his early leadership days seemed to present himself as more the heir to Blair than Thatcher - wants a bit of Margaret Thatcher's election-winning magic dust.

So he has nicked and reworked her totemic policy of flogging council houses to their working-class tenants - some of whom redefined themselves as a new generation of aspirant Tories.

Read Robert's full blog

Emma Reynolds, Labour's shadow housing minister, called the right-to-buy pledge "yet another uncosted, unfunded and unbelievable announcement from the Tories", saying it would cost £4.5bn a year.

Ruth Davison, from the National Housing Federation - which represents housing associations - said it was "the wrong solution" to the UK's housing shortage as it would benefit "some of the most securely housed people in the country on the lowest rents".

"You can no more force housing associations to sell their assets at less than they are worth than you could force Tesco to sell their assets or Cancer Research," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"Housing associations would have to be fully recompensed for any sale. There will be a cost to the taxpayer - at a conservative estimate £5.8bn".

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Supermarkets are 'fighting back'

Supermarkets are mounting a fightback, according to the BRC

Supermarkets are mounting a "slow but steady fightback" as new figures indicated a sharp rise in retail sales last month.

Like-for-like sales rose by 3.2% compared with March 2014, according to the survey by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG.

That was the strongest growth since January last year.

However, the period covers the five weeks to 4 April and was flattered by pre-Easter trading.

Total food sales recorded their strongest growth since July 2013 with a 1.8% rise as shoppers stocked up ahead of the Easter break.

However, on a like-for-like basis, food sales fell by 0.4% compared with March last year.

David McCorquodale, KPMG's head of retail, said there were signs of recovery in the grocery sector.

However, he added: "Price deflation continues to dog the sector, and while supermarkets may be selling more, they are pedalling hard to stand still. There is a long way to go before like-for-like food sales are back in positive territory."

The increase for March was the third consecutive month of higher retail sales, and followed a fall in December. Like-for-like sales were up 0.2% in both February and January.

The March numbers also showed that physical stores contributed more to growth than online sales for the first time since August - on a three-month average basis.

Furniture and household appliances provided the second-highest contribution to the rise in retailing, helped by the booming housing market.

Colder weather than in the same period in 2014 meant that clothing sales were subdued last month, particularly for womenswear, as buyers left spring and summer ranges on the racks.

BRC director-general Helen Dickinson said: "Retailers can also be satisfied with the consumer response to their Mother's Day and Easter offerings, but it is important to note that April figures will be impacted by the absence of Easter this year."

Howard Archer, chief economist at IHS Global Insight, said: "Given the importance of consumer spending to the economy, a solid BRC survey for March following on from the very healthy retail sales in February would be reassuring for hopes that GDP growth held up reasonably well in the first quarter."

According to the most recent Office for National Statistics figures, UK retail sales rose by 0.7% in February compared with the previous month.

Compared with February 2014, sales were 5.7% higher, the ONS said.

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Breath test for stomach cancer risk

A simple breath test could help predict whether people with gut problems are at high risk of developing stomach cancer, an early study shows.

It detects chemical compounds in people's breath, in an attempt to distinguish unique "breath prints" in those with risky pre-cancerous changes.

Experts say if proven in large trials, it could spot patients on the brink of cancer so they can be treated earlier.

But more work is needed to validate the test, which appears in the journal Gut.

Stomach cancers affect about 7,300 people each year in the UK.

But in most Western countries it is diagnosed late when the chance of survival is poor. This is partly because symptoms - such as indigestion and pain - can be mistaken for other diseases.

Scientists believe earlier detection may help improve the prognosis.

The new "nanoarray" breath test builds on earlier work from researchers in Israel, Latvia and China.

It relies on the idea that people with cancer may have unique breath signatures - containing minute chemical compounds that are not found in the breath of people free from the illness.

Researchers studied breath samples from 145 patients. Around 30 of these were already known to have stomach cancer.

The rest had been referred for investigations because of concerning symptoms. They did not have full-blown cancer - but some had worrying changes that doctors call "pre-cancerous" that could develop into malignancies.

Scientists tried out the test on a number of different scenarios.

It was fairly good at spotting cancerous samples from non-cancerous ones.

And it showed some promise at identifying worrying pre-cancerous changes that were at high risk of developing into the disease.

But it was not accurate in every case - some patients were misdiagnosed as being at high risk.

Scientists say more work is needed before it is ready to use in clinics.

Dr Emma Smith of Cancer Research UK, said: "Diagnosing cancer in its early stages offers patients the best chance of successful treatment, so research like this has potential to help save lives.

"But we would need to be sure the test is sensitive and accurate enough to be used more widely."

Research involving thousands of European patients is now under way.

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Greens pledging to 'take back' NHS

Natalie Bennett and Caroline Lucas will launch the party's election manifesto

The Green Party is launching its election manifesto with a call to "take back" the NHS from the private sector.

Party leader Natalie Bennett and MP Caroline Lucas will also highlight a new 60% rate of income tax and a 10% cut in public transport fares.

The Greens are fielding a record number of candidates - 571 - on 7 May and they claim a surge in membership numbers.

Ms Bennett will say the manifesto represents a "genuine alternative" to "business-as-usual politics".

The party will call for a free nationwide insulation programme to tackle cold homes, specifically in areas blighted by fuel poverty, which it says affect two million children.

'No coalition'

The Greens will also demand an extra £1.3 billion on the NHS budget to deal with the associated costs of cold homes.

"We believe if we invest in insulating people's homes, we can get their fuel bills down on a permanent basis," Ms Lucas told BBC Radio 4's Today programme

"It would also get our climate change emissions down and could create hundreds of thousands of jobs.

"And crucially, for every £1 invested in this programme, it's estimated that £1.27 comes back to the economy in terms of the benefit in jobs and reduction on the NHS bill."

Ms Lucas said the government had "a woeful record on energy insulation", with the installation of energy efficient measures in UK homes falling by 80% over the last two years.

The Green Party says it has attracted thousands of new members over the past year. The challenge in this election will be to see that surge in support translate into parliamentary success.

Victory in Brighton Pavilion, where Caroline Lucas has been the party's sole MP, is vital to ensure the Greens' stint at Westminster isn't just seen as a blip.

The party will publish its manifesto calling for a "peaceful political revolution" to end austerity and tackle climate change.

But after promising a fully costed manifesto, the party should expect a deep analysis of its policies and significant scrutiny of the costs involved.

The Green Party has called for a "progressive alliance" with the SNP if it has MPs at Westminster in the next Parliament.

But Ms Lucas said the Greens would not get involved in a "formal coalition" with any major party, claiming support on "a case by case basis is a much more effective way for a smaller party to make inroads.

"We've ruled out being a coalition government," she told Today. "When you look at the experience of the Liberal Democrats in their coalition with the Tories, it's not a model that's been a huge success for them - you end up losing your identity and possibly, your integrity as well.

"We're a party committed to redistribution, social justice and to crucially recognising that we live on a planet of finite resources, and unless we have that understanding at the heart of all our policies, then we're not going to be able to live in a safe way into the future."

Scrap road building

Recently, Ms Bennett said the party's policy of a Citizens' Income of £72 a week for every adult in Britain would feature in the manifesto, but that it would take longer than one parliament for it to be implemented.

The cut in public transport fares would be paid for by scrapping new road-building programmes, while the party is also expected to pledge free social care for the elderly.

At the weekend, Ms Bennett said the 60% top rate of tax would apply to people earning over £150,000 and that it would raise £2bn a year.

Taxation

Green

Main pledges

• Close taxation loopholes and crack down on tax avoidance
• Introduce a wealth tax of 1-2% on people worth £3m or more
• Salaries above £150,000 a year incur 60% income tax rate
• Introduce a financial transaction tax (a "Robin Hood" tax) on banks

Ms Lucas said the Greens would not rule out banning the Grand National if there was sufficient evidence of an animal welfare issue.

At the manifesto launch in East London, Ms Bennett is expected to promise to reverse what she calls the "creeping privatisation" of the NHS.

She will say: "Austerity has failed and we need a peaceful political revolution to get rid of it.

"Our manifesto is an unashamedly bold plan to create a more equal, more democratic society while healing the planet from the effects of an unstable, unsustainable economy."

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