Donald Dewar, the Scottish Secretary, was beaten off in a series of clashes with English ministers, including Jack Straw, the Home Secretary, Frank Dobson, the Health Secretary, and Jack Cunningham, Minister of Agriculture. Senior government sources confirmed last night that the question of giving the Scottish parliament the right to tighten abortion law had been raised, but had been firmly rejected. But she added: "This could be a good way of reducing the pressure on the prison system.". But it compares favourably with the pounds 24,000 it costs to keep a person in prison for a year.Mary Honeyball, general secretary of the Association of Chief Officers of Probation, said: "Tagging has always made more sense as a monitoring system for more serious offenders than as a punishment or deterrent for low-level offenders. They would also be a more realistic option for the many prisoners without family homes or other stable accommodation."Tagging would still work out more expensive than probation or parole - almost pounds 4,000 per offender per full year, compared with pounds 2,500 for supervision by a probation officer. However, post-release supervision by probation officers and other conditions of release are more likely than tagging to reduce reoffending. A new "super-tag" now exists, the size of a large watch but weighing just 21 grams, which the offender wears round the ankle or wrist.Charles Rose, chief executive of Geografix, which runs the Norfolk pilot, said: "It has worked extremely well." Of the 119 offenders tagged under the Norfolk scheme, only eight had had to be returned to court for re- sentencing, he said.Paul Cavadino, principal officer of the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders, said: "This would be a more sensible use of electronic tagging than those tried so far. would be to advise the courts to make greater use of community sentences."Nearly a decade ago, a prison overcrowding crisis prompted the then home secretary, Douglas Hurd, to free 2,500 non-violent prisoners before their due release dates.

Early release coupled with electronic monitoring would provide Jack Straw, the Home Secretary, with a way through the current predicament without appearing too "soft" on criminals.The original tagging technology was fraught with difficulties but the teething problems have been ironed out. But with numbers rising by 250 a week, unless urgent measures are taken, a new 1,000-capacity jail would be required each month, costing pounds 90m to build and pounds 20m a year to run.Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers, said: "The point will be reached soon where the Home Office can no longer build prisons as a solution to the problem."Tagging as a community penalty had proved expensive and did not help with rehabilitation, he said "The easiest solution ... Up to 4,000 inmates could be freed under the proposal, although the Government would begin with pilot schemes in selected areas before taking any decision to extend it nationally. Three trial tagging schemes exist in Norfolk, Manchester and Reading, involving 461 offenders, where electronic surveillance is used to back court-imposed curfew orders.The prospect of expanding use of the devices as a condition of early release of criminals in prison comes in the week when the jail population hits 62,000.Labour was always lukewarm about tagging when in opposition. The prison overcrowding crisis has forced Home Office ministers to consider a massive early-release programme for non-violent prisoners, on condition they wear electronic tags.

His report on the need to aid the film industry was rejected by the Tory government, but it was acted upon in the Budget by Gordon Brown.Geoffrey Johnson Smith, a widely respected senior Tory backbencher, was being tipped to take over the chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee, the public spending watchdog, which by tradition will go to a Tory chairman under a Labour government.. His reputation for challenging the establishment could cause doubts in the Labour whip's office, but they are supposed not to have a hand in the selection of the chairman of the select committees, which is carried out by the members, who have yet to be appointed.Gerald Kaufman, who made the other loyal address to the Queen's Speech, is expected to retain the chairmanship of the National Heritage Committee, which is likely to look into the development of the Royal Opera House as one of its priorities. In spite of being an irritant with the establishment in the past, he was given the parliamentary accolade of being invited by the Government to make one of the two loyal addresses to the Queen's Speech on the State Opening of Parliament.His victory in Sunderland South was the first result to be declared on election night and the swing pointed to Labour's landslide. Mr Mullin, who lists justice among his special interests, would give the committee a challenging role in defending human rights, and questioning law and order initiatives by Jack Straw, the Home Secretary. A former editor of Tribune, Mr Mullin has earned widespread respect for his successful campaigns.

There was growing speculation in Westminster yesterday that Chris Mullin, who successfully campaigned for the release of the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four, could become the next chairman of the cross-party Commons select committee on home affairs. The death rates for men in social class V were three times those of social class I, and children in social class V were five times more likely to die in an accident than those in social class I.Employers will also be targeted to improve health at work and reduce the 187 million days lost in sickness absence which cost industry pounds 12bn a year.. "It is all too likely to be a cause as well as a symptom of poor education, unemployment and social exclusion. If a healthy school can keep a child from following her mother by getting pregnant at 17 she has a better chance of getting qualifications, getting a job, breaking out of the loop."Ms Jowell, Britain's first minister of public health, announced plans at a London conference to promote healthy schools and workplaces, to devise new health targets, an independent review of health inequalities and a Green Paper in the autumn setting out the Government's strategy.She was joined by Estelle Morris, education minister, and Michael Meacher, environment minister, to demonstrate the Government's determination to incorporate all departments in the strategy.Ms Jowell said deprivation and inequality were blots on society and there were many examples of how the social divide damaged health. Jenny Teague, 12, from Poole, Dorset, whose father is unemployed, did not realise she was going to have a baby until she was eight months pregnant after one night of experimental sex with a 13-year-old boy. Posing for pictures with her daughter, Sasha, now three months old, she said: "My one big dream is to be older. I am too young to have a baby." Yesterday, Ms Jowell, launching the Government's public health strategy, said that stopping teenage pregnancies was a way of breaking the cycle of inequality.