Muslim free school closes doors

1 October 2013 Last updated at 17:23 ET By Zoe Conway BBC Newsnight

A Muslim free school accused of imposing strict Islamic practices, such as segregated classrooms, has closed following an inspection by Ofsted.

The BBC understands Ofsted's findings were so damning that the acting head of Al-Madinah, in Derby, had little choice but to shut it down immediately.

The school said the move was due to a "health and safety issue" but expected it to reopen in the "very near future".

Ofsted said it could not disclose its concerns until the inspection ended.

It added it had "made some findings and shared them with the principal". The second day of the inspection is taking place later.

In a statement on the school's website titled "short term closure", interim principal Stuart Wilson said: "Owing to a health and safety issue, I have taken the decision to close the school... until I am confident that all children are safe on site.

"As parents, you will be informed directly, and on the website, when you are able to send your children back to school...

"Assuring you that we have your children's best interests at heart."

In a series of newspaper reports unnamed former staff members of Al-Madinah, which opened as a free school in September last year, had alleged that girls were forced to sit at the back of the classroom.

Continue reading the main story

We are waiting for Ofsted's final report and considering all legal options"

End Quote Department for Education

Unnamed female staff members have also claimed they were forced to conform to a strict dress code including wearing a head scarf or hijab - whether or not they were Muslim.

Immediate inspection

When it opened Al-Madinah claimed to be the first Muslim ethos, all-through [reception, primary and secondary] free school in the country.

The school's first head teacher, Andrew Cutts-Mckay, left the school after less than a year in the job.

Last week, the interim principal told the BBC that he had not received any complaints from colleagues regarding the dress code and that pupils were not being segregated, with girls and boys being treated equally.

Ofsted is not the only organisation with concerns about Al-Madinah.

The Education Funding Agency - from which the school gets its public funding - is investigating alleged financial irregularities.

In a statement, the Department for Education said it was already investigating the school before the allegations became public.

It said: ''We discussed the problems with Ofsted and it launched an immediate inspection. We are waiting for Ofsted's final report and considering all legal options."

The school's closure is likely to be embarrassing for Education Secretary Michael Gove, who introduced free schools in 2010 in an effort to raise standards in education.

Free schools are state funded but operate outside local education authority control and can be set up by parents and community groups in England.

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Peru pair 'may face six-month probe'

2 October 2013 Last updated at 02:20 ET

Prosecutors say two UK women caught trying to smuggle cocaine out of Peru could face a six-month investigation if their guilty pleas are not accepted.

Michaella McCollum, of Dungannon, County Tyrone, and Melissa Reid, of Lenzie, near Glasgow, last week admitted smuggling drugs.

But prosecutor Juan Mendoza told the AFP news agency the women's confessions had not yet satisfied prosecutors.

He made the comments after the women appeared before a judge on Tuesday.

It was the second time the women, both 20, have appeared before a judge at a closed hearing in Lima.

Last week the pair, who face up to 15 years in prison, hoped their admission of guilt would bring their sentences down to six years and eight months.

But prosecutors said they needed to provide more information to get reduced sentences.

Speaking to AFP, Mr Mendoza would not discuss whether the women had explained to them how they got the cocaine or who it was from.

But he suggested the women's confessions had not yet satisfied prosecutors.

McCollum and Reid were caught with the drugs - said to be worth £1.5m - inside food packets at Lima airport in August, and said they were forced into carrying them.

The women had reportedly told the Peruvian authorities they were working in Ibiza and did not meet before they were both kidnapped at gunpoint and forced to travel to Majorca and then Peru.

Meanwhile, an Irish priest who visited the pair in prison on Saturday said the women were in "great form".

Father Maurice Foley also suggested the women might get moved after sentencing to a new prison in the north of Lima, which has an area dedicated for foreigners.

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Sharp drop in profits at Tesco

2 October 2013 Last updated at 03:16 ET

The UK's biggest supermarket chain, Tesco, has reported a 23.5% drop in profits during the first half of its financial year.

Tesco's pre-tax profits in the six months to 24 August were £1.39bn, with UK trading profit up 1.5% to £1.13bn.

UK like-for-like sales - which strip out the impact of new stores - fell by 0.5%.

Rival Sainsbury's reported a 2% rise in like-for-like sales during the second quarter of its financial year.

'Making progress'

Tesco said it had seen a challenging retail environment in Europe, where profits fell 67% to £55m.

It also saw margins being squeezed, in what is already a notoriously competitive retail environment. Group profit margins fell from 5.4% to 4.9% over the period.

The company's shares fell 2.5% in early trading.

The firm's chief executive, Philip Clarke, said Tesco was making progress and was strengthening its UK business, but he saw little improvement in consumers' spending power.

"There is less pessimism around, but customers are still not seeing real disposable incomes improve," he told the BBC's Today Programme.

"They are, perhaps, feeling a little better about the future," he added.

Neil Saunders, managing director of retail consultants Columino, said that as Tesco continued with an organisational overhaul, results needed to show signs that it was moving in the right direction.

"Against this standard it is fair to say that Tesco is making some progress, especially on the UK front," he said.

"However, they also indicate some more worrying signs that there are a number of deep seated issues on the international scene that need to be addressed."

Tesco's results came as the firm announced a joint venture with China Resource Enterprises (CRE) ,

The UK firm will combine its Tesco China business, which includes 134 Chinese stores, with the 2,986 stores held by CRE's Vanguard business.

Tesco will have a 20% stake in the business, which it said would have sales approaching £10bn.

Outperforming

Sainsbury's chief executive Justin King said his firm was the only major supermarket increasing its market share.

"Our groceries online business grew by over 15% in the quarter and is now worth over £1bn in annual sales." he said.

"Our convenience business grew 20% year-on-year as customers topped up more frequently during the warm summer weather."

Sainsbury's said sales of its own-brand products had continued to rise at more than twice the rate of branded goods, with its premium Taste the Difference range growing particularly strongly.

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PM to pledge 'opportunity for all'

2 October 2013 Last updated at 04:25 ET

David Cameron will say "profit, wealth creation, tax cuts, enterprise... are not dirty, elitist words" in his big Conservative conference speech later.

Putting his party firmly on the side of business, he will also promise to make the UK "a land of opportunity".

He will say that "at long last, and for the first time ever" people will be able to "make it" wherever they live, whatever their background.

His speech to close the conference is due to take place at about 11:00 BST.

He will remind party members of the stated aim of the coalition with the Liberal Democrats to wipe out the UK's deficit.

'Profit, wealth creation'

He will add: "But finishing the job is about more than clearing up the mess we were left. It means building something better in its place."

Continue reading the main story

It's seven years since David Cameron first addressed a Conservative conference as party leader. It was 2006, the economy was growing; Mr Cameron called for optimism. "Let sunshine win the day," he said.

But the dark economic clouds soon gathered. When the coalition came to power, the main focus was the deficit. Now, with the economy showing signs of recovery, the prime minister will say: "We don't dream of deficits and decimal points. Our dreams are about helping people get on in life."

His speech will be a staunch defence of business. "Profit, wealth creation and tax cuts are not dirty, elitist words," he'll say. "They're not the problem, they're the solution."

The clear implication is Labour is anti-business; Ed Miliband's plan to freeze energy prices a "quick fix" that won't work.

The prime minister will plead for permission from voters to "finish the job" - and elect a Conservative only government in 2015.

Mr Cameron will seek to go further and explain that his "abiding mission" in politics is that "as our economy starts to recover, we build a land of opportunity in our country today".

He will say that means: "In place of the casino economy, one where people who work hard can actually get on; in place of the welfare society, one where no individual is written off; in place of the broken education system, one that gives every child the chance to rise up and succeed.

"Our economy, our society, welfare, schools all reformed, all rebuilt with one aim, one mission in mind - to make this country at long last, and for the first time ever, a land of opportunity for all."

During the conference, Mr Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne have expressed the aim of running a consistent government budget surplus - meaning the government brings in more in revenue than it spends - by 2020.

Mr Osborne has announced plans to make the long-term unemployed undertake work placements if they want to continue receiving benefits.

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A review of Cameron's year with ConservativeHome's Paul Goodman

Mr Cameron will continue this theme when he says "what matters is the effort you put in, and if you put the effort in, you'll have the chance to make it".

He will accuse rival parties of "wishing" for change but not doing enough to achieve it, and advocate a greater sense of personal responsibility.

He will say: "If you expect nothing of people, that does nothing for them."

In a pro-free market message, Mr Cameron will add "profit, wealth creation, tax cuts, enterprise" are not "dirty, elitist words", but the means to greater shared prosperity.

'Bigger society'

Distancing his party from the Lib Dems, he will say: "When the election comes, we won't be campaigning for a coalition, we will be fighting heart and soul for a majority Conservative government - because that is what our country needs...

"This party at its heart is about big people, strong communities, responsible businesses, a bigger society - not a bigger state."

The speech is expected to last about an hour and will be delivered from a podium, with the prime minister using an autocue.

In a BBC interview on Tuesday, Mr Cameron said a budget surplus, which has not been achieved since 2001, would be the sensible option, as another banking crisis could tip the UK "over the brink".

Economists say the target will not be met without more cuts after 2016, but the prime minister said it could be met by freezing spending - or even with higher spending if the economy boomed.

Labour says the failure of government strategies to produce significant growth means it will borrow billions of pounds more than originally envisaged over the lifetime of the current parliament.

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Labour demands apology from Mail

2 October 2013 Last updated at 04:25 ET

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The Daily Mail's Jon Steafel and Alastair Campbell clash on Newsnight

Labour has demanded an apology from the Daily Mail after the newspaper said using a photo of Ed Miliband's father's grave had been an "error of judgement".

The admission came after the Labour leader accused the Mail of lying by claiming the late Marxist academic Ralph Miliband had "hated Britain".

Mail deputy editor Jon Steafel said the picture was removed from its website after Mr Miliband complained to him.

But he told the BBC's Newsnight programme he stood by the reporting.

The Labour leader's office said it had received 10,000 e-mails supporting Mr Miliband's decision to speak out against the newspaper, more than on any other issue.

Continue reading the main story

We continue to believe that the article... and a subsequent article... were smears. The deputy editor of the Daily Mail showed tonight he could not justify either of them"

End Quote Labour Party spokesman

In Saturday's article, journalist Geoffrey Levy questioned whether the beliefs of Ralph Miliband, who died in 1994, may have influenced the Labour leader.

In a right of reply in Tuesday's Mail, Mr Miliband said his father, a Jewish refugee who fled Belgium aged 16 to escape the Nazis, "loved" Britain and had served in the Royal Navy.

'Bad aspects'

"There is no credible argument in the article or evidence from his life which can remotely justify the lurid headline," he said.

Interviewed later in the day, the Labour leader said he was "appalled" that having allowed him to respond, the paper then repeated its original article and wrote an editorial which described his father as having had an "evil legacy".

The Press Complaints Commission has received 32 complaints about the article but not one from Mr Miliband himself.

Mr Steafel said the original article's headline - "The man who hated Britain... The answer should disturb everyone who loves this country" - was "justified" when read in conjunction with the whole article .

He told Newsnight: "[Ralph Miliband's] views on British institutions from our schools to our royal family, to our military to our universities, to the Church to our great newspapers ... what he said was that he felt that all of those things were bad aspects, were unfortunate aspects of British life...

"If you take those things together and you combine them with an espousing of a Marxist ideology, that in our view represented someone who hated British values," Mr Steafel said.

Ed Miliband has said he does not share his father's ideology but the Daily Mail has maintained it was fair to scrutinise the beliefs of his father as the Labour leader has talked of him being an influence.

However, Mr Steafel confirmed he had agreed to remove the picture of the grave, which included the caption "grave socialist", after he had taken a call from Ed Miliband when the article was first published on its website on Saturday evening.

"I think using that picture was an error of judgement and that's why we didn't use it in the paper," he said.

Heated exchanges

In a series of heated exchanges with Mr Steafel on Newsnight, Alastair Campbell, the former director of communications at Downing Street under Tony Blair, said the Daily Mail was "the worst of British values posing as the best" and the articles were "not defensible".

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Ed Miliband: ''I'm not willing to see my father's good name undermined in this way''

He said its editor Paul Dacre should have appeared on Newsnight himself.

After the broadcast, a Labour Party spokesman said: "The deputy editor of the Daily Mail tonight admitted that it was an 'error of judgement' to publish a picture of Ralph Miliband's grave accompanied by a crude pun. The newspaper should now apologise for this error of judgement."

He added: "We continue to believe that the article headlined 'the man who hated Britain' and a subsequent article which described Ralph Miliband's legacy as "evil" were smears. The deputy editor of the Daily Mail showed tonight he could not justify either of them."

Ken Livingstone, former Labour MP and Mayor of London, told BBC Radio 4 Ralph Miliband was "completely committed to the country he lived in".

He said: "The idea that you take something that someone writes at 17 and twist it in this way… it does not define what you're going to be as a grown up."

Wednesday's edition of the Daily Mail devotes four pages to the ongoing row and includes an abridged version of its editorial from the previous day.

It also highlights the support given to Mr Miliband from the prime minister and deputy prime minister on Tuesday for defending his father, as well as reflecting views from both sides of the debate by other political figures and its readers.

A new editorial says the story is "not just a personal issue. It is a fundamental question of ideology and enormous public interest".

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Minimum wage increases to £6.31

30 September 2013 Last updated at 19:11 ET

The national minimum wage for adults increases by 12p an hour to £6.31 from Tuesday.

The rise, first announced in April of this year, follows the recommendations of the independent Low Pay Commission.

Unions are calling for a steeper jump, however, with the TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady saying a "far bigger increase" is needed.

"The UK's lowest-paid workers are now facing an historic living standards crisis," she said.

The rate for 18-to-20-year-olds is increasing by 5p to £5.03 an hour, while it is going up by 4p to £3.72 for the 16-to-17-year-old age group.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said he would ask the Low Pay Commission, which advises the government on the national minimum wage each year, to "look at what economic conditions would be needed to allow the national minimum wage to rise in the future by more than current conditions allow".

Cost of living

The Resolution Foundation, a think tank which focuses on standards of living, said that the minimum wage was in effect falling - in spite of the increase - because of the pace of inflation.

Inflation, measured by the consumer prices index (CPI) fell to 2.7% in the year to August, from 2.8% in July.

It means prices are still rising faster than wages, which rose by 1.0% on average over the same period.

The Office for National Statistics said the drop was due to air fares, petrol and diesel, and clothing prices rising more slowly than in August 2012.

Living wage?

In recent years wage campaigners have sought a so-called "living wage" for employees, arguing the minimum wage does not reflect the real costs of living, especially in the capital.

The Living Wage Foundation argues that companies should pay £7.45 an hour in the UK as a whole, and £8.55 in London.

Rhys Moore, director of the Living Wage Foundation, said: "We believe that a voluntary living wage, working alongside a strong national minimum wage, is the most effective way of getting to grips with the low-wage economy."

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Breast cancer 'research gap' warning

30 September 2013 Last updated at 20:01 ET By Helen Briggs BBC News

Ten "critical" gaps in knowledge about the development of breast cancer must be addressed, say leading experts.

Finding out how breast cancer spreads and evades therapy is a key concern, they report in Breast Cancer Research.

Plugging the gaps in research would lead to improved clinical care for patients within five years, their review of evidence suggests.

Projections suggest 185,000 UK lives will be lost by 2030 at current progress rates, say cancer charities.

In their review of recent progress in research, more than 100 scientists, doctors and healthcare professionals looked at how limitations in knowledge of breast cancer are affecting the setting of priorities for the future.

They identified 10 key gaps that need be plugged:

• better understanding of genetic factors
• pinpointing sustainable lifestyle changes
• targeted breast screening to those who will most benefit
• understanding how breast cancers grow and spread
• understanding how cancer cells with different characteristics form within a tumour
• tests to measure how well patients will respond to chemotherapy or radiotherapy
• improving drug regimens
• developing better imaging techniques
• practical support
• tissue donation and analysis

Prof Alistair Thompson, of the University of Dundee, co-author of the analysis, said advances in science had transformed knowledge of breast cancers over the past four or five years.

"We're beginning to understand some of the greater complexities of what we're having to deal with and unpick some of the mechanisms by which cancer cells work, divide and spread," he said.

Continue reading the main story

If we look at the impact of doing nothing, of not moving forward, then by 2030, we'll have more than 1.2 million women living with breast cancer, and, between now and then, we will lose around 185,000 lives"

End Quote Baroness Delyth Morgan Breast Cancer Campaign

Prof Thompson said the most important gap in research was to find out how cancer progresses.

One "real" advantage to patients with breast cancer that had spread was to take a biopsy of the secondary tumour to see how much it had changed, he said.

This would enable treatment to be better targeted in one in six women, which could "transform" care, he said.

Prof Sue Eccles, of the Institute of Cancer Research, co-author of the analysis, said it was also important to focus on prevention.

"We need to understand more about preventing breast cancer in the first place and how women, particularly those of high risk, can be best informed about the lifestyle changes they might make or interventions available to them to reduce their risk.

"For people unfortunate enough to suffer from breast cancer, we need to find better ways of diagnosing it earlier and following it through, from screening or imaging.

"And finally we have to provide practical and effective support for all of those affected by breast cancer."

Future hopes

Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive of the charity Breast Cancer Campaign, said funding for breast cancer research had fallen in recent years.

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Adrienne Morgan says she assumed her diagnosis was "a death sentence"

"Time is pressing," she said. "If we look at the impact of doing nothing, of not moving forward, then by 2030, we'll have more than 1.2 million women living with breast cancer, and between now and then we will lose around 185,000 lives, and that's what we're up against if we do nothing."

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, with about 50,000 women diagnosed each year.

It is the second biggest cause of death from cancer in women, with about 12,000 losing their lives from the disease.

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Teachers in strike action over pay

1 October 2013 Last updated at 03:39 ET

Members of the two biggest teaching unions are striking in a row over pay, pensions and workloads.

The walkout is affecting schools in 49 authorities in the east of England, the Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber.

It is part of a continuing campaign of rolling regional strikes involving members of the NUT and NASUWT.

The government said the strike action would disrupt pupils' learning, inconvenience parents and damage the reputation of teachers.

Between them, the two unions represent nine out of 10 teachers. They are angry about changes to their pensions, increased workload and about government plans to bring in performance-related pay, from this autumn.

'Relentless attacks'

NUT general secretary Christine Blower, said: "No teacher takes strike action lightly but the intransigence of this education secretary has left teachers with no choice.

Continue reading the main story

Teachers are saying 'enough is enough' - we have to do something about this"

End Quote Ian Lever NUT, Leicester

"We cannot stand by and watch our profession be systematically attacked and undermined.

"There needs to be a change in the government's attitude to teachers and education."

Susi Artis, a spokeswoman for the NUT in Nottingham, said: "I recognise that for a lot of parents this is really inconvenient and we're very sorry for that. Striking is very much a last resort."

Ian Lever, from the NUT in Leicester, said: "Teachers are very angry about what is happening to the education system in this country and are prepared to make a stand on it.

"These are relentless attacks from this government, not just on our pay and conditions, but on the education system in general.

"As professionals, as people who care about education, teachers are saying 'enough is enough' - we have to do something about this."

'Share childcare'

Jane Lucas, a parent from Coventry, said one of her children is at home and one at school.

She said: "Luckily, there's a couple of mums that we've managed to rally round and we're going to share the childcare today.

"It's difficult because I do support any worker who wants to fight for the right of their pensions and pay, it's just unfortunate that it's affecting children."

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, said: "Strike action is a last resort, teachers have been left with no choice but to demonstrate their anger and frustration in the face of their genuine concerns being dismissed and trivialised.

"Teachers of course deeply regret any disruption to children and families.

"Such action would have been unnecessary had the Secretary of State been prepared to engage in genuine discussions."

A Department for Education spokesman said: "It is disappointing that the NUT and NASUWT are striking over the government's measures to allow heads to pay good teachers more.

"Industrial action will disrupt pupils' education, hugely inconvenience parents and damage the profession's reputation in the eyes of the public at a time when our reforms are driving up standards across the country.

"In a recent poll, 61% of respondents supported linking teachers' pay to performance and 70% either opposed the strikes or believed that teachers should not be allowed to strike at all."

A further regional strike is planned in London, the North East, South East and South West on 17 October.

Plans for a national one-day walkout before Christmas have also been announced by the two unions.

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Miliband in row over Mail 'smear'

1 October 2013 Last updated at 03:40 ET

Labour leader Ed Miliband is locked in a row with the Daily Mail over an article on his Marxist academic father headlined "the man who hated Britain".

He says the story about the late Ralph Miliband's political beliefs was a "character assassination" and "smear".

In a response in the paper, Mr Miliband says the Jewish refugee, who fled Belgium aged 16 to escape the Nazis, "loved" Britain and served in the Navy.

The Mail says in an editorial it will not apologise and stands by the story.

In Saturday's article, journalist Geoffrey Levy questioned how the beliefs of Ralph Miliband, who died in 1994, may have influenced the Labour leader and his brother, former Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

'Adolescent diary'

It highlighted a diary entry Ralph Miliband wrote at the age of 17 saying that the English were "perhaps the most nationalist people in the world... you sometimes want them almost to lose [the war] to show them how things are".

Continue reading the main story

There is no credible argument in the article or evidence from his life which can remotely justify the lurid headline and its accompanying claim "

End Quote Ed Miliband

It goes on to say "how passionately he would have approved today of his son's sinister warning about some of the policies he plans to follow if he ever becomes prime minister".

In his piece in Tuesday's edition, Ed Miliband says it is "part of our job description as politicians to be criticised and attacked by newspapers".

But he adds: "There is no credible argument in the article or evidence from [Ralph Miliband's] life which can remotely justify the lurid headline and its accompanying claim that it would 'disturb everyone who loves this country'."

He says Britain for his father "was a source of hope and comfort for him, not hatred".

"Fierce debate about politics does not justify character assassination of my father, questioning the patriotism of a man who risked his life for our country in the Second World War," Mr Miliband says.

He says the diary entry described the "suspicion he found of the Continent and the French when he arrived here".

"To ignore his service and work in Britain and build an entire case about him hating our country on an adolescent diary entry is, of course, absurd".

Mr Miliband says his father joined the Navy as he "was determined to be part of the fight against the Nazis and to help his family hidden in Belgium. He was fighting for Britain".

He adds: "My father's strongly left-wing views are well known, as is the fact that I have pursued a different path and I have a different vision...

"The idea of me being part of some 'sinister' Marxist plot would have amused him and disappointed him in equal measure and for the same reason - he would have known it was ludicrously untrue. I want to make capitalism work for working people, not destroy it."

He says: "My Dad loved Britain, he served Britain, and he taught both David and me to do the same.... they say 'you can't libel the dead' but you can smear them."

'Menacing response'

The Daily Mail's editorial - published alongside Mr Miliband's response and an abridged version of the original article - is headlined "an evil legacy and why we won't apologise".

The paper says it stands by "every word" of its article, adding that Mr Miliband wanted to "vent his spleen" in a "tetchy and menacing response".

"We do not maintain... that the iniquity of the fathers should be visited on the sons. But when a son with prime ministerial ambitions swallows his father's teachings, as the younger Miliband appears to have done, the case is different," the Mail said.

It suggests that Mr Miliband's plans to freeze energy prices, give councils powers to purchase land from developers, and his support for press regulation backed by law were signs of his "own Marxist values".

BBC political correspondent Carole Walker says it is not unusual for a Labour leader to disagree with the Daily Mail but the row is highly personal.

Prime Minister David Cameron was asked about the row on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, but said he had not read the original article of the response from the Labour leader.

He added, though, that "if anyone had a go at my father I would want to respond vigorously" so totally "understand what Ed's done".

In a statement, the Labour Party said: "Ed Miliband wrote his right to reply article because he wanted to state clearly that his father loved Britain.

"He wanted the Daily Mail to treat his late father's reputation fairly. Rather than acknowledge it has smeared his father, tonight the newspaper has repeated its original claim. This simply diminishes the Daily Mail further."

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PM promises more flexible GP hours

1 October 2013 Last updated at 03:55 ET

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David Cameron: ''This is about getting services right''

David Cameron says he wants to offer more patients the chance to visit a GP in the evening or at weekends.

Under a scheme to be piloted in nine areas of England, surgeries will be able to bid for funding to open from 8am to 8pm seven days a week.

The prime minister said the £50m project would mean doctors "fit in with work and family life".

Mr Cameron has also denied his plan for a budget surplus in the next Parliament will lead to further spending cuts.

The prime minister said the 2008 banking crisis had brought the UK economy "to the brink" and it would be irresponsible not to put money aside for a "rainy day" when the economy improved.

Mr Cameron's announcement on GP hours comes on the penultimate day of the Conservative Party's annual conference in Manchester.

The city is already piloting an extended-hours scheme, with GPs grouping together to offer extra care, in what is being billed as an attempt to prevent "unnecessary" visits to hospital A&E wards.

'Skype appointments'

The wider scheme will see practices applying for a share of a £50m "Challenge Fund", with surgeries becoming "pioneers" in each of nine regions, starting in 2014/15.

Mr Cameron is also promising more "flexible access", including email, Skype and telephone consultations for patients who prefer this to face-to-face contact.

Continue reading the main story

Extended opening hours for GPs. Sounds familiar? It should.

The Labour government encouraged practices to open later in the evening and on weekends - offering them extra money if they did so.

Most GPs gave it a go. But the problem was that in many places there was just not the demand and so the funding was reduced and hours cut.

There are still plenty of surgeries that offer out-of-hours appointments, particularly in large urban areas.

But the truth is that the people who are most likely to make use of the service - those that work - are the least likely to need a GP.

He told the BBC: "Many hard working people find it difficult to take time off to get that GP appointment, so having these pilot schemes... is, I think, a very positive step forward.

"It also links to the problems we have seen in our accident and emergency departments because the number of people going to A&E departments is up by four million since the changes to the GP contract that Labour put in in 2004.

"What we need to do is enable the right people with the right ailments, as it were, to either go to a GP or to accident and emergency."

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "We live in a 24/7 society, and we need GPs to find new ways of working so they can offer appointments at times that suit hard-working people.

"Cutting-edge GP practices here in Manchester are leading the way, and we want many more patients across the country to benefit."

'Social care collapse'

The Royal College of GPs said doctors were keen to do more, but were already struggling with their workload.

Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said: "Under the Tories, hundreds of GP surgeries are shutting their doors earlier after David Cameron scrapped Labour's successful extended opening scheme.

"Patients are also finding it harder to get appointments, and turning to A&E instead, after he removed Labour's guarantee of an appointment within 48 hours."

He added: "So I sincerely hope Jeremy Hunt isn't expecting applause on GP hours, given how they have taken the NHS backwards from the position they inherited from Labour. An apology for the inconvenience they have caused to millions would be more appropriate.

"I also hope he won't claim that this will solve David Cameron's A&E crisis. It is the collapse of social care that is driving vulnerable, older people into hospital in ever greater numbers and this is the crisis they continue to neglect."

'No splurge'

In his speech to the conference on Monday, Chancellor George Osborne said he planned to continue the government's policy of fiscal restraint throughout the next parliament - if the Conservatives are re-elected - with the aim of achieving a budget surplus.

Mr Cameron said this would require tough decisions for the next six or seven years but did not "necessarily mean" there would have to be more cuts on top of those announced up to 2016.

"What it definitely means once those years are over you cannot sort of plan another spending splurge. We are going to have to be responsible in our country for very many, many years into the future."

The government was right to focus on containing spending, he added.

"I don't think you tax your way to a strong recovery and we need to recognise that hard working people need more money in their pockets to spend as they choose."

The prime minister also insisted that the government would find the money to freeze fuel duty until 2015, describing help for motorists as a "real priority".

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