They are also at greater risk because of their smaller size and because their nerve cells are still developing.In l995, the Government recommended that carrots should be tailed and peeled for young children because high OP residues had been found in some tests. At this year’s Labour Party conference the Prime Minister referred to the lack of black High Court judges, chief constables, permanent secretary and army officers above the rank of colonel.Critics argue that Mr Blair should adopt President Clinton’s motto that his government should “look like America”.. Fruit contaminated by insecticide is in danger of remaining undetected because Government checks are not stringent or accurate enough, a leading academic claims. Apples and peaches are among fruits that could contain worrying levels of organophosphate pesticide, a chemical used to protect crops.

Over- exposure to it has been linked to serious illness, including nerve damage, birth defects and cancer.
John Wargo, Professor of Risk Analysis and Environmental Policy at Yale University, studied the Ministry of Agriculture tests on foods treated with organophosphate (OP) pesticides.In a World in Action documentary, due to be screened tomorrow night, he says: “They cannot conclude the food supply is safe. Here’s a chance to see the world’s first Royal ballet

Our Royal family has never been particularly free with its Royal Charters: the National Theatre only became Royal in 1988 and the NSPCC can whistle for it, but over in Manitoba, North America’s oldest continually operating ballet company has been the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. needs to conduct much more accurate and substantial testing of the food supply.”Young children are particularly vulnerable because they tend, proportionately, to eat and drink more fresh fruit and juice than adults. In fact, they found a significant number of OP residues in the food supply, on the foods that children consume at high levels The Government… The Foreign Office has no blacks or Asians in the top five civil service grades, and Clare Short’s new Department for International Development has just one, on grade five.Of Mr Blair’s own staff of 54 advisers in Downing Street there is just one Afro-Caribbean and no Asians.The Ministry of Defence does better, with six Asians on grade five.Mr Vaz’s report concludes that there is under-representation at many levels of the civil service. Even the government car service emerges poorly from the report. Only two drivers, 0.8 per cent of the service, are of Asian origin, and three are Afro-Caribbean (1.2 per cent of the workforce).The MP, who was refused information by several departments, plans to make publication and annual event, with a yearly “progress index”.The findings will cause concern in government because of the rhetoric from senior ministers since their election.

It belies our claim to be a multi-racial society.”If we are to confine the disgraceful comments of Norman Tebbit to the dustbin of history we need to make rapid progress towards a multi-racial civil service with members of the Asian community at the heart of government, not just languishing on the lowest grades.”The report, entitled “The Glass Ceiling” reveals that the Cabinet Office, which has overall responsibility for the civil service, has no blacks or Asians in the top five grades. The document, put together by the Labour MP Keith Vaz, draws on the Government’s own statistics to argue that the door to the corridors of power is still firmly shut to blacks and Asians.
The report comes in the wake of the row last week over Lord Tebbit’s attack on multi-culturalism, and follows pledges from the Prime Minister and senior Cabinet colleagues to champion the plight of ethnic minorities.Leicester East MP Mr Vaz, the party’s most senior Asian parliamentarian, challenged ministers to improve on the record of the last government.He said: “The lack of Asians representedin the ranks of [the] civil service .. should be considered a matter of national shame. No Asians work in Whitehall’s four most elite grades and ethnic minorities are under-represented at all levels of the civil service, according to a report out tomorrow. A senior Government source last night ruled out a raid on the government’s reserves, insisting that the overall spending plans laid down by Mr Brown would be adhered to.He said: “Any additional expenditure would have to come from elsewhere You cannot just dip into the reserves.”. The Department of Trade and Industry is also expected to yield up a multi- million pound sum.The move will be the second addition of funds to the NHS since the Labour Party took power in May, promising to stick to spending plans laid down by the previous Conservative chancellor, Kenneth Clarke. In his first Budget the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, announced an extra pounds 1bn for the NHS and education.But since then ministers, under pressure from doctors and the health service unions, have become increasingly alarmed at the prospects for this winter.In an interview last month the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, indicated that the case for more health spending was being reviewed. An announcement is likely this week.
Much of the additional money is expected to come from the Ministry of Defence with the cancellation of projects one of the main possibilities.

The cash is expected to be in excess of pounds 250m although no figure has yet been determined. “It would suit us fine if he went to Brussels,” said one shadow minister.. The national Health Service is to get a multi-million pound bonus to see it through its long-predicted winter crisis. “Clarke is the kind of big hitter we need,” he said.European heads of government will meet in summer 1999 to choose a new president, when Jacques Santer’s current five-year term begins to run out. Mr Santer is not expected to seek a second term.Mr Clarke’s former Tory colleagues would privately be glad to see the back of him. Kenneth Clarke, the former Chancellor, is being considered as a possible president of the European Commission, writes Paul Routledge.