Daily roundup: Apprenticeships, Baby Peter and legal aid

Suppliers winning major public contracts could be required to offer apprenticeship opportunities as part of that contract if a bill wins enough backing from MPs. The Apprenticeships and Skills (Public Procurement Contracts) Bill will be voted on in the House of Commons on Friday. If passed, advocates say it will help improve training opportunities.

The mother of Baby Peter Connelly has been freed from prison, the BBC reports. Tracey Connelly, who had also spent more than a year in custody on remand, was jailed for a minimum of five years in 2009 after admitting causing or allowing her son's death.

The Unite union is calling on deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to halt cuts to legal aid. It has joined with more than 100 other organisations in signing a letter asking Clegg to honour his party's recent conference decision to stop proposals from justice secretary Chris Grayling to cut legal aid. The letter said if the changes go ahead: "Prisoners will be denied the means by which to ensure fair treatment; poor and unfair decisions of the state will go unchallenged as never before; asylum seekers, such as those in Yarls Wood Detention Centre, will have no remedy for abuse; and quality criminal representation will be diminished further given the heavily reduced funding the consultation proposes."