Questions and Answers

Cost of arson

ARSON COSTS the taxpayer pounds 1.3bn a year and is on the increase, a Home Office study showed. In an average week, the statistics indicated there were 3,500 deliberately started fires, 50 injuries and two deaths, at a cost of at least pounds 25m.

Blair's record

TONY BLAIR said his attendance record in Parliament and at Cabinet meetings was better than that of his Tory predecessor, John Major. He noted that, "obviously with the war on", he had been unable to attend some Cabinet meetings.

Sleeping rough

AROUND 1,850 people sleep rough in England on any given night, the Local Government minister Hilary Armstrong disclosed.

Class sizes

130,000 CHILDREN aged five to seven are in classes of fewer than 30 pupils as a result of the Government's policies, the Prime Minister said.