Angela Rayner has been made a full member of the UK’s national security council (NSC), following a U-turn by Sir Keir Starmer.

The deputy prime minister’s name did not appear on a list of ministers attending the committee published by the government last week.

But the document has now been re-published to include her as a member, confirming a move first reported by the Guardian.

The newspaper reported the new No 10 chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, had pushed for the change in a bid to shore up her position.

Downing Street said she had previously attended NSC meetings, claiming the change merely “formalises” an expectation she would do so regularly.

First established under former prime minister David Cameron, the NSC brings together senior ministers and defence and intelligence chiefs for meetings on security issues. Its members are appointed by the prime minister.

It membership has fluctuated over the years and varies by issue discussed, but has typically included previous deputy prime ministers as standing members.

The only exception was Therese Coffey, who held the post during the 49-day premiership of Liz Truss.

Ms Truss who effectively put an end to the NSC by merging its functions with two other foreign policy committees, before it was later reinstated by Rishi Sunak.

Topics discussed at the NSC include foreign policy, defence, economic security, and resilience to security threats.

Its membership was slimmed down in July 2021under Boris Johnson, in a bid to keep discussions “focused and strategic”.

Alongside Ms Rayner, the committee is will be attended by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Defence Secretary John Healey and the Attorney General Lord Hermer, and will be chaired by Sir Keir.

Mr Rayner, who is also the housing secretary, also holds seats on cabinet sub-committees discussing constitutional matters, home and economic affairs, and changes to employment law.

Taxi drivers are buying licences in Wolverhampton to get round tough rules aimed at protecting children, a Labour MP claims.

One-in-five private hire vehicles in England, such as Ubers and minicabs, have obtained licences from Wolverhampton City Council, where they are cheaper and less stringent than in other parts of the country.

Drivers do not have to get licences from their own local authority, under a law introduced in 2015.

Rotherham MP Sarah Champion says this allows drivers in her constituency to bypass tough safeguarding rules introduced after a 2014 child sex abuse scandal.

“The frustration is that in Rotherham we have probably the best regulation in the country and we’re trying to get that adopted nationally,” she told the BBC.

“We needed it because a lot of children who were being exploited were being raped in taxis or being transported from one children’s home to the abuse location through a taxi.

“The problem is those regulations are only set by the licensing authority so unless we get national minimum standards then drivers can go to a different local authority with different regulations and still drive in Rotherham.”

Only 1,781 of the 48,447 drivers currently licensed by Wolverhampton live in the city, with the rest operating as far afield as Newcastle, Somerset, Cardiff and Skegness.

The cost of a one year private hire licence in Rotherham is £210 and applicants must sit a child and vulnerable adults safeguarding test with a 100% pass rate. They also have to fit CCTV cameras to their vehicles, which can cost upwards of £350.

In Wolverhampton, by contrast, a one year licence costs £49.

Wolverhampton City Council insists it takes safeguarding seriously – and applicants receive training in at as part of a one-day course they have to take.

But Rotherham driver Lee Ward, a Unite the Union representative for South Yorkshire, said out-of-town licences were making taxi drivers “very frustrated”.

“Unfortunately a lot of taxi drivers around here were tarred by the same brush as those who were criminals,” he told BBC News.

“These are innocent drivers who were all of a sudden hit by so many extra regulations, training, CCTV.

“They’ve all gone through that – with open arms and a glad heart – just to sit next to a taxi who has a license in another authority 100 miles away, with officers who never come to Rotherham or Sheffield to check their drivers.

“It just makes a mockery of what they are trying to do.”

Wolverhampton City Council has generated millions from issuing licences to taxi drivers around the country but says the money has been ploughed back into reducing fees.

A City of Wolverhampton Council spokeswoman said: “The council would refute any suggestion of prioritising earning money over passenger safety.”

In a recent report, the council said: “As the number of licensees increase, the likelihood of a serious issue taking place.

“There has been serious child sex exploitation scandals revealed in Rotherham and Telford, which involved taxi drivers.

“Licensed vehicles provide a ‘camouflage’ which allows vehicles to traffic vulnerable people, as well as the offer of free trips for grooming. It is the service’s goal to minimise risks by all legal means.”

Earlier this year, Louise Haigh – who is now transport secretary but at the time was in opposition – raised the issue of child safeguarding in a debate on taxi licensing, saying she had worked alongside victims and survivors of child sexual abuse in Rotherham.

She said: “Following the scandal, Rotherham council set very high standards for its taxi drivers, including installing CCTV in cabs and requiring national vocational qualification level 3 on child safeguarding.”

She called on then Conservative government to bring in “robust legislation” and national minimum standards to protect women and girls.

Sarah Champion has written to Haigh asking for new laws to ensure taxis must be licensed “in the local authority area in which they routinely operate”.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “Everyone deserves to feel safe when using a taxi or private hire vehicle and we’re aware of concerns around licensing.

“There are safeguarding procedures in place and all drivers must undergo enhanced DBS checks, but we are carefully considering the options available to improve safety and accessibility in the sector.”

MPs are due to debate the issue later on Monday.

The majority of the party had voted against the motion, arguing that any legislation to outlaw the practice needed to ensure safeguards for churches.

Speaking to Michael Gove for a new Radio 4 podcast, Baroness Foster explained why she had chosen to abstain on the vote.

“I was aware that one of our members had a daughter who was gay – in an attempt to try and diffuse the situation, I said: ‘Well, we’ll just abstain.’

“It was a non-binding vote. But by saying just abstain, people got very angry about that and that was the trigger then for my removal, which came just a week later.”

Baroness Foster, who has since quit frontline politics altogether, said the party was also unhappy with how things had been handled with the Brexit negotiations while Boris Johnson was prime minister.

She also said some within the DUP were unhappy about Covid regulations, which Baroness Foster had been tasked with jointly leading the response to in the power-sharing executive, and that had “caused difficulties”.

“Because of Covid, a lot of things were happening remotely, I didn’t see a lot of it coming towards me,” the former first minister of Northern Ireland said.

“Certainly not of the magnitude that happened and the way in which it happened, because nobody had actually come to me and said: ‘Oh, by the way I think you should step down and it’s time for you to go’.

“Nobody came to me and said that, but the way they did it was that they obtained signatures on a letter of no confidence and that’s how it came about.”

She said that while some of those involved in the move later apologised, the “damage was done”, describing it as a part of her life which was not particularly pleasant.

Single patient records will be at the heart of the government’s new strategy for the NHS in England, ministers say.

Currently, records are held locally by a patient’s GP and any hospitals they visit.

Work is already under way to join up the records and ministers say they will form part of its drive to improve efficiency in the NHS under its 10-year plan.

Campaigners have raised concerns about data protection but ministers say they are “absolutely committed” to protecting confidential medical information.

It comes as the government launches a new “national conversation” to inform the 10-year plan, which is due to be published in the spring.

One of the key themes of the plan will be moving from “analogue to digital” – and the single patient records will be a core part of that.

The government said it would speed up patient care, reduce repeat tests and medical errors.

Last year, a contract was awarded to the firm Palantir to create a database joining up individual records kept by local services.

It will allow patients and those treating them to access the information about their health.

Campaign group MedConfidential has warned having a single record like this will be “open to abuse”.

But Stephen Kinnock defended the move, saying the government was “absolutely committed” to protecting patient data.

He said safeguards providing a “cast iron guarantee” on security would be set out in a new bill that will be put before Parliament to push ahead with the move.

Alongside this, the NHS App will be further developed to allow patients to routinely use it to book appointments and check test results.

The hope is patients will begin to use it in the same way banking apps have revolutionised the way people bank.

The 10-year plan will also focus on moving care out of hospitals and into the community.

The government said local neighbourhood health centres, where patients can access GP, district nursing, physios and testing all under one roof, will form part of this.

But it said it wanted to hear from the public about their own ideas for change as part of the national conversation.

The pubic engagement exercise begins on Monday, with the launch of website change.nhs.uk.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “The NHS is going through the worst crisis in its history but, while the NHS is broken, it’s not beaten. Together we can fix.

“Whether you use the NHS or work in it, you see first hand what’s great but also what isn’t working. We need your ideas to help turn the NHS around.”

Patients Association chief executive Rachel Power said she “warmly welcomes” the initiative.

She said: “For far too long, many patients have felt their voices weren’t fully heard in shaping the health service.

“This national conversation marks a significant step towards genuine patient partnership and puts patients at the heat of the NHS’s evolution.”

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will appoint the former Conservative Justice Secretary David Gauke to lead a review of prison sentencing, the BBC has confirmed.

The Labour Party said in its general election manifesto it would establish a review of sentencing “to ensure it is brought up to date”.

The BBC reported earlier this month that Gauke was the frontrunner to lead the review.

His appointment is expected to be announced on Tuesday by Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood.

Gauke was justice secretary under Theresa May from January 2018 to July 2019.

He then broke with the Conservative Party over Brexit, and stood unsuccessfully as an independent candidate at the 2019 general election. In July he rejoined the Conservative Party.

Gauke has previously suggested that jail terms of less than six months should be scrapped.

The prisons minister, Lord Timpson, has also previously argued that the prison population is too large.

As well as scrapping short sentences, the review is expected to consider toughening up community orders as an alternative to jail.

Community orders can include compelling someone to take part in rehabilitation programmes or carry out unpaid work for the local area such as removing graffiti.

Someone given a community order may also face restrictions on where they live or where they can go.

Several government sources have pointed to advances in technology, such as sobriety tags monitoring alcohol use, that could be used more widely to detain criminals in their homes.

Ministers are also exploring international examples of reducing crime in Texas and Louisiana, where prisoners can reduce their sentences by earning credits for good behaviour.

The review is expected to make its recommendations in the spring.

Since coming to power in July the government has had to grapple with severe overcrowding in prisons in England and Wales.

One of Labour’s first acts after winning the election was to implement an early release scheme, drawn up by the previous government.

Under the scheme, prisoners can be let out if they have completed 40% of their sentence, rather than 50%, as was previously the case.

The government has said offenders jailed for violent offences with sentences of at least four years, sex offenders and domestic abusers were not eligible.

Last month 1,700 prisoners were freed under the scheme and a further 1,100 will be released on Tuesday.

The policy is due to be reviewed in 18 months.

The government has defended the scheme saying it had “inherited prisons in crisis and on the brink of collapse”.

“Had that happened, the courts would have been unable to hold trials and the police to make arrests,” a government spokesperson added.

The Conservatives have said the government “badly managed” the scheme creating “serious public concern” about the process.