“It beggars belief that civil servants took six months to inform farmers affected by this staggering loss,” said Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat Shadow Rural Affairs Secretary.

Commenting on the loss of more than 100,000 farmers’ bank account details by the Rural Payments Agency, Tim Farron said:

“Yet again the Government has had to own up to a potentially catastrophic loss of personal data, this time at an agency already damned by its scant regard for taxpayers’ money.

“It beggars belief that civil servants took six months to inform farmers affected by this staggering loss.

“Ministers’ reassurances won’t wash with family farmers already suffering under the chaotic payments regime.
 
“The Agency’s bungling reinforces the need for a simpler, more cost-effective system which will help farmers get their payments efficiently, effectively and on time.”

“Latest cuts show that the BBC is taking its commitment to reduce expenditure seriously,” said Don Foster, the Liberal Democrat Shadow Culture, Media and Sport Secretary.

Commenting on today’s announcement by the BBC Trust that the salary bill for its top executives will be reduced by a quarter, Don Foster said:
 
“These latest cuts show that the BBC is taking its commitment to reduce expenditure seriously.
 
“This hard-nosed approach is exactly the right approach. The BBC must show that it is listening to licence fee payers and not wasting public money.”

“The best way to reduce the harm drugs cause to society is to base policy on facts,” said Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary.

Commenting on today’s comments by the Government’s chief drugs adviser, Professor David Nutt, that ministers ‘devalued’ scientific evidence when considering the classification of cannabis, Chris Huhne said:
 
“Professor Nutt is right to suggest that there needs to be a full and frank debate about drug abuse without resorting to moral hysteria.
 
“The best way to reduce the harm drugs cause to society is to base policy on facts, not as a method of political posturing.
 
“The Government should either listen to its experts or save money by appointing a committee of tabloid newspaper editors instead.”

“These figures are a symptom of Labour’s failure and its legacy of too many poorly performing schools which parents are desperate to avoid,” said David Laws, the Liberal Democrat Shadow Schools Secretary.

Commenting on today’s school appeals figures, David Laws said:

“In the last five years, hundreds of thousands of parents have been left disappointed because their child couldn’t get into the school of their choice.
 
“Parents would not be so worried about getting their kids into specific schools if Labour had raised standards across the board and addressed the dramatic differences in results between some schools and areas.
 
“These figures are a symptom of Labour’s failure and its legacy of too many poorly performing schools which parents are desperate to avoid. 

“We need to raise the quality of all schools and target additional resources at those with the greatest challenges, with extra funding to reduce class sizes and tackle poor literacy and numeracy.”

Research by the Liberal Democrats has found that since 1999 nearly 490,000 parents have been unhappy about the school their child has been placed in and have lodged an appeal, with only a third of these being successful.

More than half a million parents have appealed against their child’s allocated school, figures out today show.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Schools Secretary, David Laws said:

“Every year, tens of thousands of parents are left disappointed because their child can’t get into the school of their choice.

“This is a damning indictment of Labour’s failure to raise school standards across the board, and to tackle the dramatic differences in results between some schools and neighbourhoods.
 
“The problems are particularly bad in some parts of the country, such as London, where the Government has failed to plan for rising pupil numbers. This is now creating a real crisis in some boroughs. 
 
“These figures are a symptom of a system in which there are too many poorly performing schools which parents are desperate to avoid.  We need to raise the quality of all schools and putting additional resources into those schools with the greatest challenges with extra funding to reduce class sizes and tackle poor literacy and numeracy.”

Research by the Liberal Democrats has found that since 1999 nearly 490,000 parents have been unhappy about the school their child has been placed in and have lodged an appeal, with only a third of these being successful.

More than half a million parents have appealed against their child’s allocated school, figures out today show.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Schools Secretary, David Laws said:

“Every year, tens of thousands of parents are left disappointed because their child can’t get into the school of their choice.

“This is a damning indictment of Labour’s failure to raise school standards across the board, and to tackle the dramatic differences in results between some schools and neighbourhoods.
 
“The problems are particularly bad in some parts of the country, such as London, where the Government has failed to plan for rising pupil numbers. This is now creating a real crisis in some boroughs. 
 
“These figures are a symptom of a system in which there are too many poorly performing schools which parents are desperate to avoid.  We need to raise the quality of all schools and putting additional resources into those schools with the greatest challenges with extra funding to reduce class sizes and tackle poor literacy and numeracy.”

“The Government must get over its obsession with sounding tough and do what actually works to cut crime,” said David Howarth, the Liberal Democrat Shadow Justice Secretary.

Commenting on today’s Prison Reform Trust report, which calls for the youth justice system to prioritise restorative justice, whereby young offenders face their victims, David Howarth said:

“All the evidence shows that getting young offenders to face their victims works to cut crime.

“It forces people to face up to the consequences of their actions and has long been championed by the Liberal Democrats.

“The Government must get over its obsession with sounding tough and do what actually works to cut crime. A good start would be to make restorative justice processes available across the country.”

The Liberal Democrats have challenged the Government over an extension of the Proceeds of Crime Act that would allow councils and other agencies to search homes and seize assets for minor offences.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said:
 
“It is typical of this Government to use serious crime or terrorism to justify intrusive powers before rolling them out to all sorts of bodies for the investigation of minor offences.
 
“We have already seen this with Ripa powers, with terror powers and now, it seems, with seizing people’s assets.
 
“The Liberal Democrats have taken steps to ensure that we can oppose these new intrusive powers by pressing for a vote in Parliament.”

“There would be even fewer victims if all hospitals shared data with the police,” said Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary.

Commenting on today’s figures showing hospital admissions for gun and knife crime victims, Chris Huhne said:
 
“The year-on-year fall in hospital admissions for victims of knife crime is encouraging but more people are being stabbed than five years ago.

“There would be even fewer victims if all hospitals shared data with the police – the pioneering ‘Cardiff Model’ managed to reduce violent acts by 40%.

“Sadly, Liberal Democrat research earlier this year revealed that only one in five hospitals were doing this.”

Speaking today on Sky News, Bob Ainsworth MP, Secretary of State for Defence said he was not surprised by the criticisms contained in a report into the crash of a Nimrod aircraft in 2006 which led to the death of fourteen servicemen.

He said:

“I’m not surprised and I’m not sure many people in the department or the RAF are surprised by the criticisms in the report”

“We knew something very serious had gone wrong.”

Mr Ainsworth admitted that failings had taken place, and that the airworthiness and safety of the plane had not been given a sufficiently high priority.

Mr Ainsworth continued:

“There have been very serious failings as the Haddon-Cave report exposes, I do not retreat from that,”

“We have clearly not given airworthiness and air safety the priority over time that it should have been given.”

He also insisted that the Nimrod is safe and said that he would be happy to get on it.