A narrow margin of 52 per cent agreed in a separate vote to continue discussions with Solt on the issue. The Society of London Theatre (Solt), which represents all the West End venues, had proposed giving one performance at every theatre on Sundays and closing Monday nights when audiences are usually sparse. A 5 per cent across-the-board pay rise was offered to backstage workers but, in a ballot organised by their union, Bectu, 92 per cent voted to turn down the offer. The Inland Revenue's "help-line" had received nearly 2,000 complaints, of which some 762 had been resolved. Hundreds of companies have also called to shop low-paying competitors.. WEST END theatre staff have voted overwhelmingly not to work on Sundays, dashing hopes that London might join New York in offering top shows for families and tourists on Sunday afternoons. Only non-cash gratuities can be included in the calculation.Ian McCartney, the Trade minister, said there would be "no hiding place" for companies that break the minimum wage law.There are a number of cases involving household names which could lead to "enforcement" proceedings, he said. PIZZA EXPRESS has been forced to pay pounds 750,000 back pay to its staff for breaking the national minimum wage law.

It is thought to be the first big pay-out since the pounds 3.60 an hour floor was introduced on 1 April. The restaurant chain infringed the law by counting cash tips as part of workers' wages. It has also appointed assistant editors to improve writing skills.The timing of Mr Dyke's announcement was significant, because the channel, which had a weak start last year, increased audiences by up to 1.4 million a week during the Kosovo war and emerged from the conflict looking stronger.. In the BBC annual report last month it was criticised by the governors, who believe it lacks the gravitas of the rest of the BBC's news. It has tightened up its editorial content by including more summaries, with sports and business news every half- hour. That is losing money and it was thought by some that Mr Dyke would shut both channels when he takes over in April.However, News 24 is to be changed.

But it is good that he has removed any shadow over its future."When Mr Dyke was at Pearson he pulled it out of a shareholding in the BBC's foreign rolling news channel, BBC World. He said he had seen that the future of television was with digital channels such as News 24. He also agrees with Sir John Birt, whose idea the channel was, that the BBC, as the world's biggest news organisation, had to have its own continuous news service. A department insider said: "It would have been bizarre if he had been appointed director- general by a board of governors who had previously agreed the digital strategy and then closed down the channel that is at its core. THE BBC'S rolling news channel has been reprieved by Greg Dyke, director-general designate. Mr Dyke, reportedly unhappy about the money being diverted to News 24 from conventional services, was questioned at a staff gathering last week and said he was committed to continuing with it. Delivery delays and the lack of an experienced paediatrician being on hand led to more deaths than were necessary Better training could save 130 babies a year.. "In the cases of deaths, it was often found that the size of the baby was disregarded when sorting out the birth plan and care for the mother."Foetal surveillance was one of the commonest problems, with staff not recording that the baby was large or understanding that size could be a problem.Although it was found that large babies had less chance of dying overall, they were more likely to die during labour with 0.7 babies per 1,000 births dying during labour compared with 0.5 smaller babies.The report found that inadequate record-keeping led to poor communication between different medical staff about a patient's state.