1 More than four in ten maternity units in England offer poor or below-average care, according to a report by the Healthcare Commission. A similar proportion of hospitals fail to carry out proper ultrasound scans to check for problems.

2 Future increases in MPs’ pay are to be agreed without Parliament’s approval. The current pay award (of 2.56 per cent) will be paid in two stages, bringing them in line with public sector workers.

3 Universities are to alert police to extremist behaviour from students and visiting speakers. Bill Rammell, the Universities Minister, wants institutions to compile a national list of guest speakers who should be banned from speaking on campus.

4 Home Office plans to extend detention of terror suspects to 42 days may deter the Muslim community from helping police. An official assessment gives warning of a perception that most people arrested as terror suspects are Muslim.

5 Whitehall staff have been told not to take laptops containing sensitive data out of the office. Reports of 69 laptops and seven personal computers lost over the past year are being investigated by the Ministry of Defence.

6 Police have arrested 25 people in a swoop on a gang trafficking children from Romania to steal and rob in London in so-called Fagin’s gangs.

7 Young ministers were promoted this week after the resignation of Peter Hain. The new jobs are: James Purnell – Work and Pensions Secretary; Andy Burnham – Culture Secretary; Paul Murphy – Welsh Secretary; and Yvette Cooper – Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

8 Speed bumps are helping to destroy the planet, according to a study commissioned by the AA. Drivers are forced to brake and accelerate repeatedly, which doubles carbon dioxide emissions and fuel consumption.

9 Rates of crime recorded by police in England and Wales are falling faster than before, according to official figures, though gun crime rose by 4 per cent. Figures from the separate British Crime survey show a 4 per cent fall in the 12 months leading to September 2007 compared with the previous year.

10 Dementia should be given the same priority as cancer and heart disease in the NHS, the Public Accounts Committee has said. MPs also urged the Department of Health to appoint a dementia czar.

11 More than a million drivers a year are exploiting a loophole in the enforcement of vehicle licensing law that allows them to pay less road tax. The DVLA has been aware of the loophole for at least four years but has failed to close it.

12 More than 20,000 police officers marched through London to protest at the Government’s handling of their pay negotiations. The Police Federation said it would launch a High Court action over the Government’s refusal to backdate a 2.5 per cent pay increase.

13 One in four councils gets more income from charges such as parking than it does from council tax, according to the Audit Commission. Charges overall have risen by 31 per cent in five years.

14 Top-level graduates straight from university are transforming tough inner-city schools, Ofsted has found. The Teach First programme targets high-achieving students who had not considered teaching and puts them in challenging schools for two years.

15 Nearly one in 12 NHS workers has experienced bullying or harassment by managers, according to an official survey. NHS Employers blame the high figures on organisational change and uncertainty last year as trusts faced cuts.

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