Accusations that England's schools are not doing enough to promote foreign languages were countered by the government this week, with the publication of new figures showing that almost three-quarters...
Ministers this week handed local authorities £37m to encourage popular schools to expand to try to prevent the annual parental scramble to enrol children at high-performing institutions.
Councils will have to produce just eight major service plans by 2006 after ministers unveiled details of long-awaited cuts in the number of documents that must be submitted to Whitehall.
The...
It would seem the Department for Education and Skills has learned its lesson.
The funding allocations for schools descended into confusion and mutual recrimination earlier this year, following the...
Minister for Children Margaret Hodge is to propose a commissioner for children in a green paper to be published in the autumn.
She told a Local Government Association conference on July 8 that the...
Patients harmed by substandard NHS care will be offered an explanation and compensation of up to £30,000 under proposals unveiled this week that aim to cut the burgeoning health service clinical...
Threatening to prosecute parents has caused a marked reduction in classroom truancy, the government claimed this week.
Figures from the Department for Education and Skills on July 2 showed that...
Education watchdogs have attacked the standard of sports lessons in England's schools, claiming that only a third are rated 'good' or better.
In a report published on June 16, Ofsted inspectors...
Local authority bosses have been armed with statistics on private sector salaries to rebut allegations that they are overpaid.
The information has been issued by the Society of Local Authority...
A Bill to abolish NHS trusts and establish community health partnerships in Scotland will be one of the first priorities of the Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition Executive, First Minister Jack...
Teaching unions have described Education Secretary Charles Clarke's overhaul of tests for primary school children as an 'awkward halfway house' that will give the false impression that the government...
Councils in Scotland look set to be elected by proportional representation after a deal was agreed between the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats for a new ruling coalition in Scotland.
MSPs...
Chief executives and social services directors must clarify their roles and lines of accountability to ensure there is no repeat of the Anna Climbié case, a report has warned.
Shared...
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council is failing to meet its statutory duties to vulnerable children, and its services for adults are in need of 'radical overhaul', inspectors have found.
A damning...
Councils should be prohibited from placing families with children in bed and breakfast accommodation for more than six weeks, the government said this week.
New proposals on housing homeless people...
North Tyneside's elected mayor, Chris Morgan, has resigned after being questioned by police on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children.
Morgan, one of 11 US-style executive mayors...
The Home Office has rejected the key recommendation from an inspection of asylum seeker detention centres that children should not be held for longer than seven days.
Chief inspector of prisons...
Britain's largest teaching union has signalled its intention to take industrial action if the government pushes ahead with plans to allow unqualified staff to take classes.
The National Union of...
Local education authorities must act to tackle a 'very worrying' level of violence and abuse against teachers.
That was the message from Eamonn O'Kane, general secretary of the National Association...
Education Secretary Charles Clarke has launched a £435m programme to provide children's centres in the most deprived parts of England.
The centres will offer childcare, nursery education, parenting...
Scottish Education Minister Cathy Jamieson has used a local government conference to announce an extra £80m to guarantee full implementation of the McCrone agreement on teachers' workloads....
Teenagers who speak English as an additional language need greater support to develop their literacy during their examination years, according to Ofsted inspectors.
The education watchdog says many...