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Plans to give an extra 4.5 million parents the right to request flexible working have been announced. The Government said the move will provide a big boost for busy working parents. The right to flexible working requests are restricted to parents whose children are under six or disabled, but an independent review by Imelda Walsh, human resources director of supermarket giant Sainsbury's, said the right should also apply to parents of children up to the age of 16. The Government said it will now consult on how the proposal can be implemented. Business Secretary John Hutton said: "This is an excellent report that will give a big boost to busy parents who need more help balancing work and family life. "It can also help employers who often find they get the best out of mums and dads when they allow them to work flexibly." He added: "It is important that employers retain control over deciding whether it suits their business to allow people to work flexibly, but extending the right to request to parents of older children will allow families to take priority when decisions are made." Women and Equalities Minister Harriet Harman said: "Families are the framework of our lives. Parents want both to earn a living and do the best they can in bringing up their children, but need more flexibility at work. "We've already built a strong foundation of support for families, with the right to request flexible working for parents of children up to the age of six, as well as improved maternity and paternity rights. "But, as any parent knows, the demands of parental responsibility don't end at the age of six, which is why we are going to extend the right to request flexible work to parents with older children."

Whilst England suffers severe flooding, large areas of Europe are suffering under a heatwave. In Romania, more than 30 people have died and the authorities have issued a "red code" weather warning after temperatures soared to 41 degrees celsius for two days in a row. In Greece and Serbia, emergency services are on alert after temperatures climbed to the mid forties fuelling forest fires. And in Turkey, the government has told civil servants who are pregnant or who have health problems to stay at home to avoid exposure to the heat.

London's parks are suffering from dry grass due to the heatwave which has hit Britain.

Ofcom has launched an investigation after it emerged a popular ITV show hosted by presenters Ant and Dec ripped viewers off. The Deloitte Review said applicants for the 'Jiggy Bank' competition in the Geordie duo's popular Saturday Night Takeaway programme had no chance of being selected. It emerged the location for a giant pig full of £1 coins was meant to be nominated by callers to the programme and then selected at random. But in reality it was chosen weeks ahead with a shortlist of entrants drawn up. Other ITV shows targeted for ripping off viewers include Gameshow Marathon and Soap Star Superstar. Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly said they had not been aware of the phone-in scandals and are "extremely disappointed" by what had happened. McPartlin said: "We'd like to make it clear that we had no idea these problems existed. We have been fully supportive of this review and are extremely disappointed to discover that these irregularities have occurred." He added: "We fully support the changes that have been made within the programme as a result, and we're 100 per cent behind ITV's decision to reimburse all the viewers who were affected." Donnelly added: "The Saturday Night Takeaway viewers are of the utmost importance to us and although we had no direct involvement in the phone line process, Ant and I are now reassured that strict measures have been put in place to ensure that these kind of incidents can never happen again." Following a damning report into premium rate ITV phone-ins, the Deloitte Review found around 10 million calls were affected by the premium-rate blunders and a total of 8.57 million callers are now eligible for refunds. ITV will have to pay £7.8 million in viewer reimbursements and the total cost of the clean-up - including phone-in problems at GMTV - will come to £18 million. An Ofcom spokeswoman said: "ITV's review of its premium rate telephone services has identified a number of serious issues in the conduct of votes and competitions in its programmes. "These appear to raise serious questions for Ofcom (under its Broadcasting Code) as well as PhonepayPlus - the premium rate telephone regulator. "Ofcom will be investigating the cases which have come to light today and has requested further information from ITV." ITV bosses have promised that money will be repaid and cash not collected will go to charity. Chairman Sir Michael Grade admitted the review of ITV phone-in competitions identified a "serious cultural failure" within the company. Sir Michael said he accepted that the report would make "deeply uncomfortable reading". "My overall conclusion from the review is that there was a serious cultural failing within ITV," he said. "It is only by understanding how things went wrong in the past, and being open about them, that we can be sure that we get them right now and in the future. "The purpose of the review wasn't limited to flushing out the problems and learning the lessons. We have used it to assess viewers' losses, so that we can reimburse them." Sir Michael said the investigation process had been "painful and costly" and he apologised to viewers, telling them: "Let me say, on behalf of ITV, that we deeply regret what has happened and how sorry we are for breaking trust with our viewers." However, despite his "zero tolerance approach" to audience deception, no one is expected to lose their job. Sir Michael said there had been no "witch-hunt" - instead, staff were encouraged to come forward with their concerns. He added: "I am absolutely sure that there isn't a person working in or for the company who doesn't understand now where and why it went wrong. "And everyone also knows that a line has been drawn, and that there will be no excuses for ignoring it - the consequences will be severe. "Now we have the processes in place it will be a case of one strike and you're out. That's how we will rebuild trust." One of ITV1's most popular shows, The X Factor, opens its vote lines on Saturday and Sir Michael promised: "We are absolutely confident it will be clean as a whistle as a result of the Deloitte process. "We expect massive voting this weekend. It's the public appetite that drives this."

Wind turbines on the roof of Merton Council offices generate electricity to run council computers.