The Conservatives are publishing a consultation paper which would mean elected commissioners would control budgets, targets and policing plans. Chief constables would maintain "operational control".

Conservative leader David Cameron said: "We are not talking about merging police forces but making them more accountable to local people. I think people are fed up of a government which produces policies just for newspaper headlines. I'm absolutely determined we are going to take this steadily throughout and get it right."

The consultation paper suggests that a national serious crime force should be established if the 43 police forces in England and Wales cannot co-operate more on serious crime. It goes on to say that police cannot carry out their duties properly due to a combination of: "excessive bureaucracy and central intervention, an inflexible workforce, inefficient processes and political correctness". Further suggestions are performance-related pay and a cut in the £243 million bill for the 8,000 officers on full pay for restricted duties.

Nick Herbert the Tory police reform spokesman said: "People don't feel they're getting value for money, people want to see officers on the streets and at the moment they're spending more time doing paperwork than on the streets and that's unacceptable."
 

q.  Should we have elected police commissioners?

The Army

Former British Army commander General Sir Michael Rose has said our soldiers are suffering "considerable and quite unnecessary risk" following cuts Tony Blair has forced on defence spending.
Sir Michael said: "In the past six years, the prime minister has presided over a near-catastrophic decline in defence spending. For fighting insurgencies such as those in Afghanistan and Iraq we need rather large numbers of soldiers on the ground, proper protection and tactical mobility, including helicopters. In return for being prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice, our servicemen and women should expect to be better supported by the country than they have been."
But he praised President Bush saying he "put his money where his mouth was" by giving resources and support to his troops.
An MoD spokesman said: "Defence spending has been steadily increasing. Last year alone we spent more than £700m on improvements to service housing, announced the introduction of a new £2,240 operational bonus and invested millions more in new equipment, including body armour and armoured vehicles."
The Navy

Six destroyers and frigates and two other vessels are expected to be mothballed, to save more than £250m.
Defence sources have disclosed that the armed forces have been told to save more than £250m this year, and £1 billion by April 2008.
The MoD will also cancel the last two of the eight Type-45 destroyers the navy was supposed to get to replace the 15 major ships cut in 2004.
Conservative defence spokesman, Julian Lewis, said the fresh cuts were “absolutely devastating stuff” and that cutting the number of Type-45 destroyers would be “catastrophic”.
“You can’t have a navy without ships. This government is absolutely hell-bent on the destruction of the Royal Navy.”
In the 19th century, the Royal Navy was as large as the seven next biggest navies combined. At the start of the 20th century the Royal Navy remained twice as large as the US and German navies.
But the 2004 cuts reduced it to its smallest since before Trafalgar in 1805, and there are suggestions that Portsmouth Naval base may close as the Navy now requires only two major bases.
 

The UK has one of the worst problems in Europe with a fifth of children aged 11 to 15 drinking at least once a week.
The Public Policy Research (PPR), the journal of the IPPR think-tank, says it is time to practice "tough love", such as reviewing the minimum drinking age. Others say Britain should consider making the legal drinking age 21.

Jasper Gerard, a columnist in the PPR says: "When it comes to booze, society seems to have lost its senses." If the drinking age is raised he believes: "It is at least possible that those in their early and mid teens will not see drink as something they will soon be allowed to do so therefore they might as well start doing it surreptitiously now."

Mr Gerard has also proposed that if the drinking age is not raised, then 18-year-olds should carry smart cards to record how much they have drunk each night, with a legal limit of three units of alcohol.

A spokesman for Alcohol Concern said: "There is a sense that the regulatory landscape is lopsided. Licensing reform, resistance to a debate on taxation, the cancellation of the Alcohol Misuse Enforcement Campaigns which raised the profile of underage drinking issues - all happening at a time when alcohol-related harm is rising - seem to suggest the government is more concerned about making sure the drinks industry operates with as little interference as possible than with seriously grasping the nettle."

David Poley, chief executive of the Portman Group, said: "What we really need to do is change the drinking culture through education rather than making drinking a social taboo by raising the legal drinking age."

A government spokesman said: "The majority of people drink sensibly and responsibly and the government has no plans to raise the minimum drinking age. Instead, we are using a combination of effective education and tough enforcement to change the behaviour of the minority that don't."

The number of under-18s taken to hospital with alcohol related diseases and injuries rose in 2005-2006 to 8,299, a jump of 40% on figures three years ago. Alcohol Concern found in 2005 that more than one in five 11-year-olds admitted to drinking. By the age of 12, drinkers start to outnumber non-drinkers.

q.  Should the legal drinking age be raised to 21?