Update: 12:40

Spending review date to be announced next week
The date of the comprehensive spending review is to be announced next week, Robin Cook confirmed to the House of Commons yesterday. He told Tory former Cabinet minister Sir George Young that the chancellor's CSR statement would not be delivered yet but added: "I anticipate next week you will be made a happy man by hearing the date announced."

College principals' hands tied by funding gap
Further education college principals feel they are working "with their hands tied behind their backs" because of a lack of funding compared with school sixth-forms, Liberal Democrat Simon Hughes told the House of Commons. Junior education minister Ivan Lewis replied that the government wanted to tackle the funding gap but insisted it had been created by a massive boost in money for schools, not a drop in FE funding, which had risen more than a quarter since 1997.