Well, I'm not sure that was worth the effort.
By my count, the coalition has broken 33 of its promises.
But these assessments are so subjective that I think they are of little value. And of course a policy kept is also not necessarily a good one. Some of the assessments of this document will no doubt focus on the coalition's policy mistakes. David Cameron and Nick Clegg have made plenty of those, but implementing bad policy is not the same as breaking a promise. Arguably, implementing bad policy is worse.
Cameron claimed credit for publishing the document. But it would be easier to give him credit for this if he had actually acknowledged where the coalition has not met its pledges. What's frustrating about this document is that, even where a pledge has clearly been broken, it does not say so.
I rather feel that I've wasted three hours of my life.
Time to go home.
Final two.
Transport
Kept: 7
On course: 5
Broken: 0
Universities and Further Education
Kept: 5
On course: 1
Broken: 1
This is another area where looking at the promises made in 2010 illustrates the limitations of this exercise. All the coalition agreement said about the Browne review, that led to the tuition fee increase, was that the government would consider its recommendations in the light of the need to increase social mobility, to take into account the impact on student debt, to ensure universities are properly funded, to advance scholarship and to attract more students from disadvantaged backgrounds into higher education.
The government did consider these issues, and so I suppose in theory the pledge has been kept. But the pledge gave no indication that fees would rise to £9,000. Technically, this might not be a broken promise. But it will feel like one to many students, which is why I marked it in the Broken column.
Time to whip through the final sections.
Pensions and Older People
Kept: 6
On course: 1
Broken: 0
Political Reform
Kept: 15
On course: 9
Broken: 3
This is an area where some of the kept promises, like those relating to Lords reform or the AV referendum, related to policies seen as coalition, or, more specifically, Lib Dem disasters.
The three broken promises relate to funding 200 all-postal primaries, putting a limit on the number of special advisers and given residents the power to instigate referendums on any local issue.
Public Health
Kept: 1
On course: 3
Broken: 0
Schools
Kept: 13
On course: 4
Broken: 0
Social Action
Kept: 3
On course: 4
Broken: 0
Social Care and Disability
Kept: 0
On course: 5
Broken: 0
Taxation
Kept: 3
On course: 4
Broken: 2
One broken promise relates to air passenger duty. The coalition agreement said this would be switched to a per-plane duty, but the audit says this has been dropped "given concerns over legality and feasibility". The coalition agreement also said capital gains tax rates would be raised to "similar or close to those applied to income". But the higher rate of capital gains tax was just raised to 28%, which is not at all close to 50% or 45%.
Back to the document.
Jobs and Welfare
Kept: 10
On course:0
Broken: 1
The coalition agreement said JSA claimants facing the most significant barrriers to work would go on the new welfare to work programme immediately, but the audit says they get referred to the programme after three months.
Justice
Kept: 6
On course: 2
Broken: 1
The coalition agreement said the government would extend anonymity in rape cases to defendants. (It was never quite clear why. None of the parties made this an issued in the general election.) Today's audit says the government dropped the idea because it found there was insufficient evidence to justify it.
National Security
Kept: 3
On course: 1
Broken: 1
Again, this is a tricky call. Given the fiasco over Abu Qatada, the coalition agreement statement that "Britain should be able to deport foreign nationals who threaten our security to countries where there are verifiable guarantees that they will not be tortured" reads like a promise that has been broken. But the government would say that it is trying to deport Qatada, and the audit says 959 dangerous individuals have been extradited since April 2010.
Health
Kept: 10
On course: 14
Broken: 5
This was the area where Ed Miliband had most fun when he raised the audit at PMQs. He pointed out that the coalition agreement promised no top-down reorganisations of the NHS. That is obviously one for the Broken column, athough the blurb in the audit just says the Health and Social Care Act will deliver better health care. The Act implements reforms that were finalised after the coalition agreement was written, and that is why there are so many broken pledges. For example, two coalition agreement pledges related to the role of primary care trusts (PCTs). But PCTs were subsequently abolished under the Act.
I've finally found a link to the report.
Time to speed up now
Families and Children
Kept: 1
On course: 11
Broken: 1
I've put child poverty down as a broken promise. The coalition agreement said the goverment would "maintain the goal of ending child poverty in the UK by 2020". Technically ministers are still committed to this, but they are also consulting on changing the definition of child poverty and experts like Alan Milburn, the govenrment's social mobility adviser, have said ministers should just admit that the 2020 target will never be hit, and so it is hard to see it as anything other than a broken promise.
Foreign Affairs
These are particularly vague, and so it is easy for the government to say it is on course or keeping its promises.
Kept: 3
On course: 6
Broken: 0
Government Transparency
Kept: 8
On course: 3
Broken: 2
One broken promise relates to pursuing a detailed agreement on reforming party funding and removing "big money from politics". Talks on this have stalled, and seem to be going nowhere.
The other relates to a promise in the coalition agreement to require public bodies to publish the salaries and job titles of all senior staff. Some pay transparency has been introduced, but it does not go as far as the coalition agreement implied.
Immigration
Kept: 6
On course: 0
Broken: 1
The coalition agreement said there would be a dedicated Border Police Force. Instead there will be a border policing command within the National Crime Agency. But this is a 50/50 call and if you were to define that as a Kept, I would not object strongly.
International Development
Kept: 13
On course: 4
Broken: 1
The coalition agreement said that the government would "create new mechanisms to give British people a direct say in how an element of the aid budget is spent". An aid match pilot scheme has been set up, but this has only affected the use of £40m. Given that the aid budget will be £11.3bn this year, this is such a tiny sum that it does not meet the spirit of the pledge.
Back to the document. We're now on Europe.
Kept: 4
On course: 4
Broken: 1
This is another section that illustrates the the problems with trying to assess whether promises have been kept. The coalition agreement said the government would "ensure that the British government is a positive participant in the European Union". Many commentators would say that Britain has been anything but. Yet David Cameron does turn up at the meetings, and in the audit there is a long list of things the government has done (confirming my point about long lists - see 4.20pm.) Reluctantly, I've marked this as a Kept.
The broken promise relates to the line in the coalition agreement saying the government would "examine the case for a United Kingdom Sovereignty Bill". The audit says the European Union Act 2011 makes it clear that the ultimate authority for UK legislation rests with parliament, but I've scored it as a Broken because the coalition agreement clearly suggested that there could be a UK Sovereignty Bill, and we haven't had one.
My colleague Nicholas Watt has filed a story about today's pledge audit.
Here's how it starts.
The coalition has declared that it is on course to meet its central economic pledge after omitting a "supplementary" element of the government's fiscal mandate from an audit of its achievements.
Labour said the government was guilty of an "astonishing" omission after failing to mention George Osborne's pledge in his emergency budget of 2010 to ensure that debt is falling as a share of GDP by 2015-16.
In the lengthy audit – dubbed full, frank and "completely unvarnished" by David Cameron – ministers said the Office for Budget Responsibility had judged last month that the government is "on course to meet our fiscal mandate".
The OBR said at the time of last month's autumn statement that the government was "more likely than not to meet the mandate" – the elimination of the structural budget deficit.
But in his autumn statement on 5 December the chancellor admitted that the OBR had also said in its assessment that he would fail to meet the "supplementary" element of the fiscal mandate – that debt should be falling as a proportion of GDP by 2015-16. This did not technically count as failing to meet the fiscal mandate because the debt target was defined as a "supplementary" element.
Next, Equalities.
Kept: 1
On course: 5
Broken: 1
This relates to fair pay. The coalition agreement said that the government would undertake a fair pay review in the public sector "to implement our proposed '20 times' pay multiple". But the review rejected the idea of fixed pay multiples. Instead, as today's audit says, it recommended the publication of information about top-to-pay median.
Next, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Kept: 7
On course: 10
Broken: 1
The broken promise relates to fox hunting. The coalition agreement said the government would bring forward a motion allowing MPs a free vote on repealing the Hunting Act. Over Christmas Owen Paterson, the environment secretary, said this would not happen.
Next, Energy and Climate Change.
This was particularly hard to mark. But here are my score:
Kept: 10
On course: 13
Broken: 1
The broken promise relates to EU emission targets. The coalition agreement said it would "support an increase in the EU emission reduction target to 30% by 2020". But instead today's audit says the government has agreed to a directive cutting EU energy consumption by 20% by 2020.
The coalition agreement also said the government would cancel the third runway at Heathrow. I've marked this as a Kept, because the third runway has not been built, but the audit says the government now accepts the need to "address the issue of future airport capacity".
Now we're on to the biggie - Deficit Reduction.
Here's my score.
Kept: 6
On course: 2
Broken: 2
The problem is that the two broken promises are the big ones.
The coalition agreement said it would "significantly accelerate the reduction of the structural deficit over the course of a parliament". Today's audit says the government has set out plans to balance the budget at the end of a rolling five-year period but, for reasons set out well here by Stephanie Flanders, this has to be in the Broken column.
And the coalition agreement said the government would "introduce arrangements that will protect those on low incomes from the effect of public sector spending pay constraints and other spending constraints".
Today's audit says low earners have been protected from the public sector pay freeze and from the rise in public sector pension contributions. But, not least in the light of the welfare benefits uprating bill impact assessment published yesterday, this has to be in the Broken column too.
Defence was easy.
Kept: 6
On course: 1
Broken: 0
Next, Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport.
Even Michael Dugher will have to concede that it's fair to mark "ensuring a safe and successful Olympics" as a Kept.
Here''s the tally.
Kept: 7
On course: 3
Broken: 2
The two broken promises are quite technical.
The coalition agreement said the government would restrict administrative costs charged by National Lottery distributors to "5% of total income". The government says gross processing costs are being capped at 5%, but gross costs are being capped at 8%.
And the government also said in its coalition agreement that it would 'examine the case for moving to a 'gross profits tax' for the National Lottery. The audit says that, having examined the case for this, the government has decided not to pursue it. Technically, I suppose, this is not a breach of the promise to "examine" the case. But the pledge strongly implied that the government would do this, and so I've marked it as a Broken.
Back to the report. Crime and Policing is dull.
Kept: 11
On course: 6
Broken: 0
Here's the Press Association story on the audit.
The Government today published a 119-page audit of its record since coming to power in 2010, which acknowledged that it has not fulfilled some of the promises made when the coalition was formed.
Prime Minister David Cameron promised that the document would deliver a "full, frank ... and completely unvarnished" assessment of how the coalition has performed and said it would show "a record to be proud of".
But Labour released its own "audit of broken promises", listing 40 areas in which it said the coalition had failed to live up to its pledges.
The Conservative-Lib Dem document, entitled Programme for Government Update, was produced as an annexe to the coalition's Mid-Term Review, unveiled with great fanfare on Monday.
But it went unmentioned during a Downing Street press conference with Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.
Its existence only came to light when one of the Prime Minister's aides was spotted in Downing Street yesterday carrying a document which appeared to suggest its publication was delayed to avoid overshadowing the favourable media coverage they expected to receive from Monday's event.
The audit does not divide the promises from the 2010 Coalition Agreement into those which have been met or missed.
But it notes that the planned cull of badgers to help control bovine TB had been "postponed", a free vote on repealing the hunting ban has "not yet been taken forward", and that, after pledging to cancel a third runway at Heathrow, the Government has set up a commission to look at "all the options" for future airport capacity.At the first session of Prime Minister's Questions of 2013, Labour leader Ed Miliband branded Cameron "PR man who can't even do a relaunch", and said that the Government had broken a number of promises since coming to power.
Top of the list of broken promises identified by Labour was the failure to balance the nation's books within five years - something which is not now expected to happen until 2018 at the earliest.
But today's audit said that the independent Office for Budget Responsibility had confirmed the Government was "on course to meet our fiscal mandate" of balancing the books, which was based on a rolling five-year period and not on the fixed target date of 2015.
On energy and climate change, the coalition agreement included a commitment to seek to increase the target for energy from renewable sources, "subject to the advice of the Climate Change Committee".
However following committee's advice, it said the target would not be raised and it would focus instead on achieving the current 2020 renewables target.
The agreement promised to "cancel" the third runway at Heathrow and to refuse permission for further runways at Gatwick and Stansted.
The document however said that while they had "not proceeded" with the runway at Heathrow a commission had been set up to look at "all the options" for future airport capacity.
A commitment to replace air passenger duty with a per-flight duty, had been dropped due to concerns over "legality and feasibility".Cameron's official spokesman said that today's document showed that the Government had achieved or was making progress on "the vast majority" of its commitments.
The audit makes no mention of Britain's slip into double-dip recession under the coalition or of the fact that Chancellor George Osborne has been forced to borrow far more than he intended.
But Cameron's spokesman said that these figures were freely available, and that it was not the intention of the new document to repeat them.
"The aim of the document is to go through one by one each of the commitments made by the Government," he said.
The spokesman denied that the Government was failing to live up to its promises on transparency by publishing the audit without any clear indication of how many of the 399 pledges have been broken.
Asked why the document did not include a red/amber/green system to alert voters to promises which have been missed, are under way or have been met, he told reporters: "We are not giving a numerical update.
"What we have done is set out, against every single one of the commitments, progress to date."
The spokesman said that the audit was not ready for publication alongside the Mid-Term Review on Monday because the process of "copper-bottoming" its accuracy had not been completed.
Next Consumer Protection.
Kept: 0
On course: 8
Broken: 1
The broken promise is one to give Post Office Card account holders the chance to benefit from direct debt discounts. The audit says that this was not pursued because the cost would have been "prohibitive" and because universal credit is going to change the way benefits are paid anyway.
To anyone tempted (or mad enough) to do their own analysis of the figures, here's a tip: the longer the "what we have done" blurb is, the more questionable the achievements seem to be. In this section, there is almost a full page explaining what the government has done to "introduce stronger consumer protections". Yet many of these meaures, like "consulting on clarifying and enhancing basic consumer law" and working with the industry on revised codes of practice, are very vague. Being a fair minded sort of chap, I marked this as an On course.
Still no sign of the government audit on the Cabinet Office website.
Next Communities and Local Government
Kept: 22
On course: 5
Broken: 1
The broken one involves bailiffs. The coalition agreement said the government would ban orders for sale on unsecured debts of less than £25,000. But today's audit says that when the government consulted, responses indicated that £25,000 was too high. Instead a £1,000 threshold is being introduced.
This section also illustrates well a drawback with my methodology. I've marked the elected mayor pledge as a Kept, because the government promised to create elected mayors in 12 cities, "subject to confirmatory referendums". But in most of these referendum people voted against as elected mayor, so generally this policy is seen as a bit of a failure.
And I've done Civil Liberties.
Kept: 11
On course: 2
Broken: 1
The broken promise is a bit of a whopper. The coalition document says the government will "end the storage of internet and email records without good reason". Yet the government is trying to pass legislation that would significantly extend internet surveillance. In the audit document, the government says its draft communications bill will "provide clarity over what types of personal data are required to be stored by communications and internet service providers".
I suppose that's one way of putting it ...
My take on Business
Kept: 9
On course: 9
Broken: 2 (The coalition document said that IR35 would be reviewed, with a view to it being replaced, and that the government would look at creating a Post Office Bank. But IR35 has been retained, and there is no Post Office Bank.
There are 31 sections in the coalition agreements. Each one contains a series of bullet point (some of which contain specific pledges, some of which contain more than one, and some of which are a bit vague.)
The document out this afternoon takes each bullet point and alongside it includes a paragraph under the heading "what we have done".
I'm going to go through each section and, for each bullet point pledge, I will score it either as Kept, On course or Broken.
For example, here's the first one
Banking
Kept: 7
On Course: 3
Broken: 1 (Creating an agency to tackle economic crime - the document says the government has decided to let the SFO and the OFT play a role investigating economic crime.
To avoid being accused of being too partisan or cynical, I'm being a generous marker. For example, the coalition agreement said the government would "bring forward detailed proposals for robust action to tackle unacceptable bonuses in the financial services sector". The FSA has introduced new rules on bonuses (and so, being charitable, I marked this as a Kept.) But you could argue that the FSA rules are not particularly robust.
Similarly, the coalition agreement said the goverment would take measures to ensure the flow of credit to SMEs. The government has taken various steps to improve the flow of credit to business, and so I marked this as an On course, but small business owners are complaining strongly that the government has not done enough.
According to a Downing Street source, the government has not tried to produce a promises kept/promise on course/promises broken tally because it was felt that this would be too simplistic.
Rats. That means we're going to have do to the work ourselves.
Government's audit of coalition promises
The audit of coalition promises has just dropped in my inbox.
It runs to 122 pages.
Annoyingly, we're going to have to count up the promises kept/promises broken figures ourselves because the Cabinet Office does not provide those figures in the document.
The head of Ukip's youth wing has been sacked after giving an interview backing gay marriage. But Ukip, which is opposed to gay marriage, said that that was not the main reason for getting rid of Olly Neville as the chair of Youth Independence. In his interview Neville also said that European elections were a "sort of sideshow" and Ukip said Neville was going because he was at odds with the party on a range of issues.
The government's audit of coalition pledges was meant to be released at 2pm, but we still haven't seen it.
Never mind. The Daily Telegraph has stepped into the breach. It has been looking at the government's departmental business plans and, on the basis of the information they contain, it says the government has failed to keep more than 70 pledges.
John Woodcock, the Labour MP for Barrow and Furness, has announced that he is standing down as a shadow transport minister. He suffered a serious injury last year when he fell from a ladder and he has told Ed Miliband that he needs to stand down because doctors have said it could take him two years to make a full recovery.
Woodcock has posted his resignation letter, and Miliband's reply, on his website.
According to Kevin Maguire in the New Statesman, Ed Balls would retire to the backbenches rather than accept another job if Ed Miliband tried to replace him as shadow chancellor.
Lunchtime summary
• Chris Grayling has unveiled plans to extend offender rehabilitation programmes and to allow charities and private firms to run them on a payment-by-results basis. In an interview before he delivered a statement about his plans in the Commons, Grayling admitted that his plans would not lead to an overnight reduction in stubbornly high reoffending rates. But, as Alan Travis reports, he said he hoped they would lead to a "steady year-by-year decline". In his statement, Grayling also said he was going to roll out the proposals nationwide without full piloting because: "The last government was obsessed with pilots. Sometimes you just have to believe in something and do it.”
• Cameron has said that the audit of the coalition's promises being published this afternoon will be "full, frank and unvarnished". At PMQs Ed Miliband challenged him to say whether it would include an admission that the government broke its promise not to introduce any top-down reorganisations in the NHS. He went on:
The chancellor hits hard-working people and the most vulnerable with his 'strivers' tax' but at the same time he is giving a massive tax cut to millionaires. You have broken that most symbolic promise that we are 'all in this together"'.
Cameron said it would detail progress on 399 pledges and that it would be more transparent than anything Labour produced.
• Ed Miliband has mocked David Cameron at PMQs as a "PR man who can't even do a relaunch".
• Nick Clegg has admitted that ministers are struggling to honour a promise to give MPs a veto over proposed military action by UK forces. As the Press Association reports, Clegg said ministers still wanted to "formalise and enshrine" the long-standing convention that parliament should be consulted on any decision to go to war. But giving evidence to a Lords committee, he admitted the government was split on this. "Very candidly there are different views on this," he said. William Hague, the foreign secretary, originally made the commitment to "enshrine in law" the requirement to consult parliament on any future military action, in 2011, just before MPs voted in favour of military intervention in Libya. However ministers have since come under pressure to abandon the pledge, from former military commanders, who have warned it could remove a vital element of surprise for the armed forces and compromise intelligence.
The Grayling statement is now over.
Here's some reaction.
From Harry Fletcher, the assistant general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers
If this plan proceeds it will be chaotic and will compromise public protection.
From Ben Priestley, Unison's national officer for probation staff
We support the ambition of the Justice Secretary to revolutionise rehabilitation, but he is dangerously misguided in his approach.
From Ben Kernighan, deputy chief executive of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations
The government recognises the benefits that could come from involving charities in rehabilitation services. However, under its most significant public service reform so far, the work programme, many charities have found themselves squeezed out by large commercial providers. In the interests of helping ex-offenders who could benefit from charities’ expertise, the government must ensure the mistakes of the work programme are not repeated. Contracts must be accessible to smaller, local charities, most of which have been shut out by the very large scale of contracts and unrealistic requirements for the amount of capital providers must hold in the work programme.
From Jim Bligh, the CBI's head of public services
Opening up probation services to the best of the public, private and voluntary sectors is the most effective way to help reduce reoffending.
The fact that the new system will now also cover rehabilitation for offenders serving fewer than 12 months will make it more effective in helping prevent offenders from falling back into crime.
A payment by results approach will deliver value for taxpayers and the Government must now ensure the right framework is in place so these reforms achieve their potential.
Guy Opperman, a Conservative, welcomes the announcement. He says he wrote about the value of proposals like this in his book Doing Time: Prisons in the 21st Century.
Grayling says he wants to make the bidding process as simple as possible for small organisations. He is not sure he achieved this with the work programme contracts. He wants to do better with probation.
Rehman Chishti, a Conservative, asks what Grayling will do to ensure that people on drug treatment orders actually compete them.
Grayling says that he wants to legisate to ensure that people who are given short sentences and who are put on drug treatment programmes have to finish those programmes on their release.
Labour's Chris Williamson says Grayling is motivated by "extreme, rightwing ideology". Grayling admitted that the public sector was best placed to protect public safety.
Grayling says the Peterborough pilot was launched by Labour. (See 12.48pm.)
Robin Walker, a Conservative, asks how Grayling will ensure that existing local partnerships are not cast aside.
Grayling says he will address this in the tender documents.
Tessa Munt, a Lib Dem, asks if Grayling has managed to stop prisoners being "retoxified" prior to their release when they are detoxified on admission to prison.
Grayling says the government is doing its best to address this problem.
Philip Hollobone, a Conservative, asks Grayling to ensure that all EU nationals who offend in this country are deported.
Grayling says he agrees with Hollobone about this. But he can only deport people if there is someone willing to take them. He will not just release people out onto the streets.
Philip Davies, a Conservative, says some people in the probation service think reducing burglaries from 10 burglaries to two burglaries is a success. Can Grayling assure him that providers will only be paid if they stop people reoffending?
Grayling agrees. He is not going to pay providers for ensuring that offenders commit just a few burglaries.
Here's the consultation document (pdf). It's called: "Transforming Rehabilitation - a revolution in the way we manage offenders."
Grayling says he sees the social problems being faced by the governement as a jigsaw. Today he is trying to improve a part of that jigsaw.
Harriett Baldwin, a Conservative, says payment-by-results can provide problems for organisations that don't have a lot of capital in the bank.
Grayling says he accepts this. It won't be a 100% payment-by-results system, he says.
Grayling says he finds it extraordinary that Labour did not improve support for offenders upon their release.
Elfyn Llwyd, the Plaid Cymru MP, says Graying said sometimes ministers just have to believe in a policy. Yet Grayling wants to extend electronic tagging even though there is no evidence to show it helps. Is this consultation pointless?
Grayling says he thinks GPS tagging is very valuable.
Grayling says contracts will only be awarded to firms that have the right expertise. He will not just award contracts to people with money in the bank.
The 36-page consultation document should be available on the Ministry of Justice's website here, but the link on the page does not seem to be working yet.
The Ministry of Justice has just sent out a news release about the announcement. It does not seem to be online yet, so here's a lengthy extract.
The most significant reforms to tackling reoffending and managing offenders in the community for a generation were set out today by Justice Secretary Chris Grayling.
Consistently high reoffending rates have led to the radical overhaul with almost half of all prison-leavers reoffending within 12 months – for those serving less than a year that figure rises to almost 58 per cent. And half a million crimes are committed by convicted crooks each year.
Under plans laid out in the consultation "Transforming Rehabilitation", a new refocused and streamlined public sector service will be tasked with keeping the public safe from the most dangerous and high-risk offenders. Private and voluntary sector organisations will work together on closing the ‘revolving door’ of the criminal justice system by tackling lower risk offenders.
For the first time all offenders, including those serving less than 12 months, will be subject to mandatory supervision and tailored rehabilitation on release from prison.
The proposals call for a greater use of mentors who will meet offenders at the prison gate, supporting them in all aspects of their life from day one in the community, including help finding work and accommodation, tackling drug and alcohol addictions and addressing literacy and educational problems ...
The new approach will see that private providers are only be paid in full if they reduce reoffending in their area through Payment by Results contracts. The proposals are intended to drive innovation and efficiency through the criminal justice system.
The paper sets out a strong role for the public sector Probation Service. It will focus on protecting the public by managing the most high risk offenders, including all serious sexual and violent offenders, providing advice to courts and making initial risk assessments on all offenders. The public sector will retain ultimate responsibility for public protection in all cases.
These proposals build on a previous consultation last year which set out plans to compete out probation services and increase the use of Payment by Results.
As part of these plans, we will see England and Wales divided into areas which align closely with Local Authorities and Police and Crime Commissioners. Private and voluntary sector organisations will then be invited to bid for work in these areas with each contract awarded based on best value and innovation in tackling reoffending.
We intend to set out our final reforms in the spring with the roll-out across England and Wales by spring 2015.
Grayling is replying to Khan.
He pays tribute to Labour for setting up an outsourcing project at Peterborough prison.
Labour is obsessed with pilots. Sometimes in government you just have to believe in a policy and implement it.
Grayling turns to the work programme. He says he is not sure whether he is allowed to accuse Khan of being "misleading". But the work programme is making a real difference.
G4S are a work programme contractor. But they sub-contract all the work to smaller providers, he says.
On costs, Grayling says that when the government contracted out community sentences in London, the cost of those sentences fell by 40%.
The pricing mechanism will make it impossible for providers not to support the most difficult prisoners, he says.
Sadiq Khan, the shadow justice secretary, is responding.
He says the probation service is the Cinderella of the criminal justice system.
When Grayling says he wants to professionalise the probation service, what does he mean?
Khan says the work programme failed to meet its target. If private providers fail to provide probation services, then offenders could end up walking the streets.
Small providers have been crowded out by big firms in the work programme. How will Grayling ensure that this does not happen with probation?
How will the police share sensitive information with private providers?
Grayling's budget is shrinking by 25%. Won't resources have to be stretched too far?
Khan says Labour wants to cut reoffending. He will look carefully at the consultation document.
Grayling is still speaking.
Increased competition will drive down costs, he says.
He says he wants to continue to use the probation service. Offenders who pose the highest risk will continue to be managed by the public sector. And the public sector will be responsible for protecting the public.
Chris Grayling's statement on reforming the probation service
Chris Grayling, the justice secretary, says he wants a tough but intelligent justice system. It should punish people, but also tackle reoffending.
Failing to stop reoffending has a wide impact.
The economic cost of re-offending by recent offenders in 2007-08 was £13bn, he says.
His proposals will seek a new emphasis on life management.
He wants to ensure that when people leave prison, they are met at the gates by someone who will help them find somewhere to live and any support they need. He also wants people to have access to a wise friend.
He will open up the provision of probation services to other providers, he says.
PMQs is over.
I'm now going to cover the Grayling statement on reforming the probation system.
Labour's Stephen Doughty asks if Cameron is proud of the fact there are food banks in this country. Will he visit one?
Cameron says he is proud of the fact there are an extra 1 million people in work. Unlike Doughty, he does not look down on people who volunteer at food banks.
John Baron, a Conservative, says the EU's court of justice has slowed up stem cell research with a patent ruling.
Cameron says he will look closely at this issue. He wants Britain to lead in the area of stem cell research.
Philip Davies, a Conservative, asks Cameron to say who he is closest to politically - Lord Tebbit or Nick Clegg?
Cameron says he managed to get through Christmas without spending time with either of them. But he is closer to all Conservatives than to members of other parties.
Nigel Dodds, the DUP MP, asks if Cameron will meet Northern Irish MPs to discuss measures to help the community there.
Cameron says he is meeting DUP MPs just after PMQs. He says he wants to break down the barriers of segregation in Northern Ireland.
Claire Perry, a Conservative, asks what the government will do to get more people studying engineering.
Cameron says there are signs that the number of people studying STEM subjects is increasing.
Labour's Julie Hilling quotes from the Children's Society report about the number of people affected by the 1% benefits cap.
Cameron says Hilling needs to remember why the government is having to take this action. Public sector workers have having their pay capped at 1%. So why doesn't Labour support a 1% cap on benefits. Their policy is "completely wrong".
Labour's Stephen Pound asks how many families are unaware that they are losing child benefit. Do they know they could get a bill to pay it back in April 2015.
Cameron says it is surprising that Labour does not support taking child benefit away from people earning more than £100,000.
Ian Swales, a Lib Dem MP, asks what Cameron will do about tax avoidance at the G8.
Cameron says this is an important issue. He has put this at the heart of the G8 agenda.
Cameron says government is about making decisions. But opposition is about making decisions too.
Cameron says disability living allowance will not be affected by the 1% benefit cap.
Labour's Alan Whitehead asks why Cameron is fiddling while the country floods.
Cameron says talks between the government and the insurance industry about ways of ensuring people can continue to get flood insurance are continuing. Cameron is being updated, he says.
Sir Peter Tapsell, a Conservative, asks if Buckingham Palace has raised any concerns about the bill to change the laws on sucession to the throne.
Cameron says there has been very close contact with the palace on this. All of the matters are agreed, he says.
Labour's Chris Evans says a friend of Lord Marland's has been quoted as saying Marland liked travel, but he did not like dealing with the detail of his job. Can Cameron think of anyone else like that?
Cameron says Evans had all morning to think of a better question.
Stephen Phillips, a Conservative, asks Cameron to confirm that he is planning to seek a fresh settlement with the EU, and to then gain public consent for it.
Cameron says that is his intention.
Labour's Meg Hillier asks how many families could be fined for not filling in a self-assessment tax form in relation to child benefit.
Cameron says Labour thinks it is right to give child benefit to millionaires. "We don't think it's right," he says.
Mike Crockart, a Lib Dem MP, asks what the government can do to speed up broadband roll-out in Edinburgh.
Cameron says Edinburgh council have had trouble getting state aid clearance from the EU.
Cameron says everyone will be affected by the tax credit changes.
The government will save £5bn. How would Labour fund that black hole?
Cameron says the audit being published later will show that the government is fulfilling its pledge for a per-patient funding mechanism for palliative care.
Andrew Selous, a Conservative, says the government has increased the value of the child element of the tax credit.
Cameron says someone on the minimum wage has seen their income tax bill cut in half.
PMQs Snap Verdict: After a ropey start, Miliband came out on top during some particularly hollow exchanges.
Miliband says it is no wonder Cameron took no questions from women at the press conference.
Will the audit admit that the government has broken its "we're all in it together" promise?
Cameron says that under the 50p top rate of tax millionaires pay £7bn less in tax. Miliband promised full-costed policies. But he has not delivered. In one area government waste is appalling - the £5m "short money" spent funding the opposition.
Miliband says Cameron is a PR man who can't even do a relaunch. They are incompetent and break their promises. The nasty party is back.
Cameron says Labour has nothing to say on welfare. Miliband has "a shadow chancellor who he can't sack and he won't back. Nothing has changed in Labour."
Miliband says the coalition agreement said it would stop top-down reorganisations of the NHS. That has been broken. Will the audit say that?
Cameron says there are 5,000 more doctors in the NHS, and 6,000 fewer managers. Labour has no economic policy to speak of.
Miliband says if he cannot admit breaking his promises on top-down NHS reorganisations, he does not have high hopes for the document. Cameron also said he wanted to make sexual inequality history. Will the audit admit that the tax and benefit changes being made are hitting women three times as hard as men.
Cameron says there are more women in work than at any time in history. Pension reforms are helping women, and the exemptions to the public sector pay freeze help women. Labour did not publish information like this.
Ed Miliband asks why the government did not publish its audit of coalition promises on Monday.
Cameron says he will publish an audit of all 399 pledges. Unlike under Labour, it will be full and frank. The deficit has been cut, immigration has been cut and 1m private sector jobs have been created.
Miliband quotes from the memo carried by Patrick Rock. (See 9.06am.) At the Rose Garden, Cameron said he would "throw open the doors" and let the public know what's happening. Was it Cameron's decision not to publish the audit.
Cameron says it has been his decision to publish it this afternoon. Is this the best Miliband can do? He does not want to talk about the deficit, immigration, unemployment or welfare. He is on the wrong side of the argument.
Karl McCartney, a Conservative, asks Cameron if he agrees that if public sector workers are only getting a 1% pay rise, welfare payments should rise by 1% too.
Cameron says he thinks this is fair. Labour's position is "inexplicable", he says.
David Cameron at PMQs
PMQs is about to start.
David Lammy has posted this
David Cameron has just arrived in the HOC for pmq's. Did he go abroad for Christmas break or is that a spray tan he's sporting? #pmqs
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) January 9, 2013
Here are the main points from the Number 10 lobby briefing.
• Downing Street has admitted that "presentational aspects" were a factor in the decision to publish the audit of government pledges today, and not on Monday with the rest of the mid-term review. But the prime minister's spokesman would not admit that publication was delayed because it was going to be embarrassing. He said that the government had always intended to publish the document and that it was not released on Monday because "what we needed to do was copper-bottom it to make sure it was all accurate". Asked about the suggestion that publication was delayed because it was embarrassing, he replied: "I don't think it is news to anyone in this room that the government considers the presentational aspects of its announcements." He said the audit would consider the pledges in the coalition agreement line by line, saying whether they had been met (like the commitment to legislate for an EU referendum lock), whether they were on course (like the pledge to lift the income tax threshold to £10,000) or whether the government had decided to go for a "slightly different approach" (as it has in deciding to ensure that the SFO and the OFT retain a role in tackling economic crime - the coalition agreement said the new national crime agency would take over responsibility for this). "Taking a slightly different approach" is now obviously Number 10's preferred euphemism for a broken promise.
• Two new government appointments have been made. Viscount Younger of Leckie has been made a junior business minister, replacing Lord Marland, and Lord Popat has been made a government whip.
• Number 10 confirmed the FT story about Iain Duncan Smith considering taking winter fuel payments away from pensioners living in warm countries abroad. (See 10.42am.) The spokesman said the DWP had been considering "options around this kind of thing".
I'm back from the lobby briefing, which was mostly devoted to attempts by the press pack (which were only partially successful) to get the prime minister's spokesman to admit that the audit of coalition pledges was not published on Monday because it would be too embarrassing.
I'll post a summary shortly.
I'm off to the Number 10 lobby briefing to see what they have to say about the pledges audit.
I'll post again at around 11.30am.
Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary, has used the FT letter from business figures about the dangers trying to renegotiate Britain's relationship with the EU (see 10.42am) to take a whack at David Cameron.
Some of the most senior business leaders in Britain have today voiced concerns that the prime minister risks getting it badly wrong on Europe, badly wrong on jobs and investment and badly wrong for Britain.
This latest warning underlines the risks the prime minister is now running by apparently putting unity in his party ahead of prosperity for the country.
Sadiq Khan, the shadow justice secretary, has been responding to Chris Grayling's plans to outsource probation work to the private sector. This is what he told BBC News. I've taken the quote from PoliticsHome.
What I’m anxious about is the architect of the failed work programme using the same system in our justice system. The work programme which Chris Grayling designed has a success rate of 2% of those who find a job still being in work in six months for those under 25. In the context of work that’s a very seriously, it’s a consequence that society pays in benefits. But in the context of justice it could mean a dangerous person who should be properly supervised by the experienced probation service.
That’s the problem and the contradiction in his argument. On the one hand he’s saying the probation service do a great job, let’s let them carry on supervising those who are medium to high risk. On the other hand he’s saying let’s privatise the probation service so G4S and A4E are in charge of supervising offenders. He can’t have it both ways.
You can read all today's Guardian politics stories here. And all the politics stories filed yesterday, including some in today's paper, are here.
As for the rest of the papers, here's the PoliticsHome list of top 10 must reads, here's the ConservativeHome round-up of today's political stories and here's the New Statesman list of top 10 comment articles.
I've already mentioned the Telegraph splash about the government's pledges audit. (See 9.06am.) Here are some other articles I found particularly interesting.
Mr Cameron will this month set out in a speech in the Netherlands his plan to renegotiate Britain’s membership terms and to put the final outcome to a referendum in the next parliament.
But business leaders including Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Group founder, and Chris Gibson-Smith, chairman of the London Stock Exchange, warned in a letter to the Financial Times that Mr Cameron’s renegotiation plan could fail.
In those circumstances they fear that the British public could become disillusioned and vote to leave the EU in a referendum, with damaging consequences for business.
They said that Mr Cameron is right to call for reforms to the single market, the EU budget and seek reform of the working time directive, but a more radical renegotiation “would almost certainly be rejected”.
“To call for such a move in these circumstances would be to put our membership of the EU at risk and create damaging uncertainty for British business, which are the last things the prime minister would want to do,” the letter says.
In a sign of things to come, Iain Duncan Smith is looking at stopping winter fuel payments to pensioners living in Spain, Greece and other warm countries by applying a “temperature test”.
The attempt to claw back relatively small amounts from expatriates wintering by the Mediterranean is indicative of the work and pensions secretary’s frustration at the indiscriminate nature of winter fuel payments. “If people are not getting a payment because of temperature, why should they be getting it if they already have enough money?” said a supporter of the minister.
Another senior Tory said the party’s next manifesto would not repeat David Cameron’s 2010 pledge to protect all universal pensioner benefits, including almost £600m in free television licences and an estimated £1bn on free bus passes.
Britain’s most senior civil servant will be cross-examined by MPs tomorrow over whether he failed to get to the truth of the “Plebgate” affair that led to Andrew Mitchell’s resignation as Chief Whip.
In an unusual move, the cabinet secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood, has been summoned before a parliamentary committee examining the storm that ended with Mr Mitchell being forced out of office.
The Independent revealed in December that David Cameron had known for almost three months that the evidence against Andrew Mitchell evidence was suspect – but did not press the issue with police for fear of poisoning relations with them.
Where I really fault Cameron is in 2013, compared with Cameron in 2005 to 2007. I think in those times he seemed like someone who was seeking to understand people wherever they came from whoever they were, he doesn’t seem like that now, he seems like someone trying to divide the country.
Miliband also refuses to confirm that he will make Ed Balls chancellor if he wins the election.
• Emily Ashton in the Sun says David Cameron has blamed his wife for his fashion disasters.
He also pleaded guilty to a string of sartorial disasters including wearing black work shoes without socks on holiday — but insisted his wife Samantha was to blame ...
He said fashion commentators often complained that he wore “the same blue shirt” while on holiday.
But he insisted: “It’s not me, it’s Samantha.”
He added: “When I go shopping my wife doesn’t actually allow me to look around the store at all.
“I am just put in a changing room and things are sort of passed to me as you would pass food to a prisoner.”
Nick Clegg is giving evidence to the Lords constitution committee now.
Chris Grayling will now be making an oral statement about his probation reform plans, I've been told. I will cover it here in detail.
Jo Swinson, the business minister, was on ITV's Daybreak this morning talking about the government's plans to deal with unfair practices in the pub industry.
We want to see a stronger economy and a fairer society and pubs are a really important part of the economy. There’s been this problem that the big pub companies have in some cases been abusing the relationship they have with the small publicans. For example, about half of the publicans under the tied model are earning less than £50,000 a year - despite the fact that running a pub is an incredibly long hours occupation - and in the non-tied model actually there’s only one in five who are under £50,000 a year. So it's really about making sure there isn’t abuse of that relationship and that’s why the government is going to bring forward a statutory code of practice and an independent adjudicator to make sure that that works properly.
Toby Perkins, the shadow small business minister, has also been giving interviews. He welcomed the announcement, but said the government was only acting because of pressure from Labour.
It’s the action we’ve been calling on for a year and it’s come on the back of the fact the Labour party have called a debate. Of course, you don’t get that many opportunities in opposition to actually change the policies of the overnment; this is something Labour have done so we’re pleased.
Now, the challenge is that the Government actually make sure that they get this legislation right that there’s a free of tie options so that landlords can buy from wherever they want rather than be tied into an arrangement. And so long as the government do that then, even though they were slow to do it, we’ll welcome it.
I've taken the quotes from PoliticsHome.
Here's the news release about the proposals from the Department for Business.
In a post on her blog, Lynne Featherstone, the Lib Dem international development, suggests that this is a victory for the Lib Dems. Swinson and her boss, Vince Cable, are both Lib Dems. Featherstone accuses Labour of not doing anything about this when it was in power.
Chris Grayling, the justice secretary, was on the Today programme this morning talking about his plans to outsource probation work to the private sector. He said he would have to design the contracts carefully to ensure that the most difficult offenders were not simply ignored.
I want to have a grown up discussion with people across this world to say exactly how do we best build a pricing system - the incentives for the providers to make sure that they don't park the most difficult offender in the corner and ignore them. We can't afford that to happen.
We’ve got the first PMQs of 2013 today. And we’ve also got the publication of a government audit of coalition pledges. The government has been “marking its own homework”, in the Leveson jargon, but, according to the Daily Telegraph, the results could be embarrassing. The Telegraph knows because it photographed the Number 10 adviser Patrick Rock walking up Downing Street holding a confidential memo about this in full view. Here’s an extract from the story.
On Tuesday, Patrick Rock, Mr Cameron’s political adviser, was seen carrying a “restricted” document that warned that the full version of the Mid-Term Review would contain an annex identifying “problematic areas” and lead to “unfavourable copy” identifying “broken pledges”.
The document suggests that the annex could be “published without fanfare” on the government’s website several days after the release of the main review. This was planned to stop “difficult points” overshadowing the “favourable coverage” ...
The restricted document drawn up over the weekend discusses the advantages and disadvantages of releasing the annex.
It said: “We would get some credit for transparency which is [in] line with the government’s general approach. This could be contrasted with [Gordon] Brown’s penchant for secrecy. I wouldn’t make much of this point since the media aren’t given to much generosity towards any government on such matters but I mention it for what it’s worth.”
Another section discusses how Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg could explain “broken pledges”.
It says: “[We can] robustly argue that having looked at a particular issue more closely we have decided not to proceed with this or that pledge. We can argue that this is evidence of a mature and responsible approach to government. This argument will not, however, hold water very easily for some of the abandoned pledges e.g. numbers of special advisers.”
A section of the document entitled “points against publication” concludes that “on balance” publication of the annex would lead to “unhelpful stories” and “unfavourable copy”.
I’ll be covering the audit in detail when we get it.
Here’s the full agenda for the day.
9.30am: Chris Grayling, the justice secretary, publishes details of his plans to reform the probation service. As Alan Travis reports in the Guardian today, Grayling will propose “the wholesale outsourcing of the probation service with private companies and voluntary sector organisations to take over the rehabilitation of the majority of offenders by 2015”.
10.15am: Nick Clegg gives evidence to the Lords constitution committee about constitutional reform.
12pm: David Cameron and Ed Miliband clash at PMQs.
12.30pm: MPs begin debating a Labour motion calling for a statutory code of practice to govern the relationship between publicans and pub companies. Yesterday, ahead of the debate, Vince Cable, the business secretary, announced that he would introduce such a code, policed by an adjudicator.
2pm: Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, Norman Lamb, the care minister, and Steve Webb, the pensions minister, give evidence to a Lords committee on the impact of demographic change.
As usual, I'll also be covering all the breaking political news as well as looking at the papers and bringing you the best politics from the web. I'll post a lunchtime summary after PMQs, and another in the afternoon.
If you want to follow me on Twitter, I'm at @AndrewSparrow.
