That would reduce the proportion of every extra pound earned that is lost through withdrawn benefits.

ECONOMIST: Welfare reform

Local governments, which must pay for a proportion of the extra projects that the central government announces, are short of cash and heavily in debt.

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Another idea is to focus the extra cash on universities with the highest proportion of students from poorer backgrounds.

BBC: graphic

He said that while the doses proposed for mandatory fortification of flour were much lower than those in the study, a small proportion of people were known to combine this with extra supplements.

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There will also be a multi-million pound pilot project, involving about 60, 000 pupils, aimed at helping schools with a high proportion of children who get free school meals to offer a much wider range of extra-curricular activities.

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