"I doubt I will be able to find 60 extra dancers in Britain," he said. "There is a lack of good English dancers, yet there are literally hundreds of dance schools. I find with the English National Ballet that we are having to repair bodies that have been trained badly. It is a very sad situation in dance in this country, from the very top to the very bottom."The English National Ballet took 60 per cent of its dancers from overseas, said Deane. "The method of training and the lack of knowledge about dancers' bodies today is a big problem.

I have to say that the standard of dancers who come to audition for my company is low."Deane found support from Patrick Deuchar, chief executive of the Royal Albert Hall, who said: "What is needed is a wholehearted overhaul of the system. Here is an art form dying through lack of proper commitment."Last month, the condition of dancers was criticised in a report entitled Fit to Dance? The report found that many of Britain's professional dancers were so unfit that they sustained more injuries than players of contact sports such as rugby. Of the 658 dancers, in various disciplines from ballet to jazz, who were questioned, 82 per cent said they had suffered an injury in the past 12 months. Many were only marginally fitter than the untrained person on the street. Traditional exercises, the study said, were not enough to improve fitness.Dr Yiannis Koutedakis, a lecturer in sports science at Wolverhampton University who was involved in the study, called for ballet schools and dancers to adopt a more "open-minded" attitude to training. Advice which has come too late for the dancers turned down by Deane..

Barry Porter, the Conservative MP who died last month, still counts as part of a government majority for legislative committees, Commons officials have ruled. Labour had expected that Thursday's Barnsley East by-election, when the return of a new Labour MP will wipe out the Government's one-vote Commons majority, would trigger a critical change in Commons standing committees. Standing committees give line-by-line examination of Bills, and the loss of a government majority on new committees could have threatened trouble for the Finance Bill, the Police Bill and the National Health Service (Primary Care) Bill.But Sir Fergus Montgomery, Tory chairman of the committee that fixes the political balance of standing committees, yesterday took the advice of Commons clerks on the by-elections in Barnsley East and Wirral South, the latter caused by Mr Porter's death.He told BBC radio: "So far as Wirral South is concerned.. at the moment that is regarded as a Conservative seat Until we have the by-election there ... it means no change."Labour's Chief Whip, Donald Dewar, challenged that view, saying: "Clearly there is going to be an argument about that." He argued that a Commons resolution, passed in January last year, ruled that when the Government lost its majority because of by-election defeat, or defection to another party, it should lose its majority on standing committees.But Sir Fergus has been advised that the resolution does not include the critical word "death" - the Government cannot lose its standing committee majority through the death of an MP. That gives the Government added incentive to delay the Wirral South by-election for as long as possible.There are no rules on by-election timing, but there is a convention that the writ for a three-week election campaign should not be delayed longer than three months after the death of an MP, suggesting a late February deadline for the poll.If the writ is not moved in the first week of February, Labour can be expected to force the issue to a vote.The clerks' advice to Sir Fergus, if sustained, will take pressure off the Government and help the Prime Minister soldier on to 1 May if he wants to.Conservative disarray continued yesterday in spite of the Prime Minister's On the Record warning that rebels were playing into Labour's hands.The backbench dissident Teresa Gorman said she would bring forward a Ten Minute Rule Bill next month offering a referendum choice between the European Union as a trading group or as a federal state.Michael Howard, Home Secretary, on the election trail in Barnsley East, said: "The one thing for everyone to remember, if they're really interested in the future, is that the Conservative Party is the only party which is prepared to defend Britain's interest in Europe.". Sex discrimination would be removed from the royal succession under a measure put forward yesterday by the former deputy Conservative Party chairman, Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare.

Peers voted by 74 to 53 to ask the Queen for permission to introduce a Bill which would make Princess Anne fourth in line to the throne. Lord Archer pointed out that the measure would be unlikely to have any effect for at least 50 years. The Prince of Wales would still succeed to the throne and would be followed by Prince William. However, if Prince William's first child was a girl she would be first in line to succeed him.Because of the Bill's nature, the Queen must be asked if she is happy for it to be debated. She is thought to be highly unlikely to reject it.After the vote, Lord Archer confessed that he was slightly surprised that peers had demanded a division on the issue.He said it was unlikely to find enough parliamentary time to become law before the general election, but he hoped it could be re-presented soon afterwards."I feel very strongly that as this isn't going to matter for 50 years it would be wise to get it out of the way," he said. "In 50 years' time our grandchildren will consider it farcical the first-born isn't automatically the monarch."The last time such a motion was presented to the Lords, in 1994, there was no vote. The Bill, which would have let oldest children succeed to peerages regardless of their gender, was rejected at second reading.Lord Archer's measure will meet some opposition, partly from hereditary peers who fear it will lead to a re-examination of their own position.Among those who opposed yesterday's humble address were the former Lord Chancellor, Lord Hailsham, the former Commons Speaker, Lord Weatherill, and the Liberal Democrat, Earl Russell.Leading article, page 13.

Payment by results will be introduced in schools for the first time under government proposals to fund all education and training for 16- to 19-year-olds on the same basis. Pilot schemes in selected schools will start next spring to test the new system, which could see nearly a 10th of funding for sixth-forms being linked to exam results. The pilots, announced yesterday in a government White Paper on education and training for 14- to 19-year-olds, are the first stage of a drive by ministers to subject sixth-forms to the same funding rules as further education colleges. Colleges receive 8 per cent of their funding according to results.The White Paper, launched by the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, Gillian Shephard, also includes plans for learning credits for all young people aged 16 to 21, entitling them to further education, training and careers guidance. However, ministers have stepped back from introducing vouchers for sixth-formers - a move widely predicted last summer.Vouchers with a fixed cash value would be difficult to introduce while schools, colleges and work-based training are all funded in different ways and at different rates.