Tuesday in Westminster

Today in Parliament & Yesterday in Parliament By Rachel Byrne Programme Editor

Radio 4 guides you around Westminster

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has said he accepts a recommendation that Royal Mail should "forge a strategic minority partnership" with another operator.

Setting out the conclusions of an independent report into the postal service, Lord Mandelson told the Lords that Dutch postal company TNT had already expressed an interest in taking a minority stake in Royal Mail.

The study by Richard Hooper - a former deputy chairman of media watchdog Ofcom - said new minority owners could offer the "confidence, experience and capital" needed to carry out vital changes.

Describing the current Royal Mail as "untenable", the report adds that the universal service is under threat without modernisation.

It also calls on the government to help cut Royal Mail's pension deficit.

When the statement was repeated in the Commons, shadow business Secretary Alan Duncan welcomed the intention to introduce a new commercial partner as "a step in the right direction".

But he accused ministers of planning a "raid" on Royal Mail's pension fund "to bail out government borrowing".

Sats

MPs have been told of the results of an inquiry into the fiasco surrounding this summer's Sats tests in England.

The exams watchdog, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, has been strongly criticised after hundreds of thousands of pupils' test results were delayed and this year's league tables postponed.

Ken Boston, head of the QCA, resigned ahead of the report into the chaos.

Just before Schools Secretary Ed Balls made a statement to the Commons, the QCA said that the National Assessment Agency - the division of the authority responsible for delivering the Sats tests - is to be abolished.

Family justice

Justice Secretary Jack Straw has announced that court rules are to be changed so that journalists can attend family proceedings in England and Wales.

He told MPs that the media would be subject to reporting restrictions, similar to the youth courts.

He said the overall effect would be to increase the openess of family courts, while protecting the privacy of children and vulnerable adults.

Also on tonight's programme:

• High street banks are asked whether they're doing enough to help small and medium-sized businesses through the credit crunch;

• the government's challenged over its pledge to increase access to NHS dentistry;

• and MPs debate energy prices and fuel poverty.

Tune in to Today in Parliament on BBC Radio 4 tonight at 2330 and Yesterday in Parliament tomorrow morning at 0831 on Radio 4 Long Wave and digital radio.

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