Monday Doctors and health charities urged MPs to back a ban on cigarette and tobacco displays in shops. The ban is one of the recommendations in the Health Bill being debated by Parliament. In a letter to The Times they say that smoking-related illness “kills more people than alcohol, obesity, illegal drugs and road accidents put together.”

Tuesday The audit by Sir Thomas Legg into MPs’ expenses resulted in letters being sent out to politicans detailing what, if anything, they had to repay. Gordon Brown was asked to return £12,415 and Alistair Darling £554. Mr Brown said he would repay the money and urged other MPs to do likewise. Meanwhile David Cameron and George Osborne were asked to provide more details about mortgage interest claims. MPs were angry though, claiming that Sir Thomas had “changed the rules” retrospectively when he set limits on claims such as for cleaning and gardening.

Wednesday More than a third of voters believe that British troops should be withdrawn immediately from Afghanistan. The Populus poll conducted for The Times shows that support for a return of the troops has grown from 29 per cent to 36 per cent since mid-September.

Breathing problems, chest pains, falls and passing out accounted for three quarters of the seven million emergency calls made to the ambulance service last year. An analysis by the Ambulance Service Network showed that annual growth in emergency calls in England is 6.5 per cent, or 300,000 calls a year.

Thursday A report by the Care Quality Commission found that almost half of hospital trusts fail to meet core standards of care. The Commission warned that more than 40 trusts risked not being issued with licences to operate in April. Failings include high numbers of operations cancelled and poor heart disease care.

Two thirds of children who are seriously injured or killed are known to social services. An Ofsted report on 219 serious case reviews published in the past year found that one in five affected children was on an at-risk register. In 68 per cent of cases there had been contact between the children and social workers.

Times Recommends

• Minister in talks with Saudis to protect creditors
• Premier Inn hits back in £29-a-room row
• Bankers hit back at 'populist' bonus supertax