Affordable early years education remains out of reach for too many families despite impressive levels of government investment, senior MPs said this week.
Ofsted has vowed to continue applying strict sanctions to unsuitable childminders and nurseries after publishing details of the more than 6,000 complaints it investigated last year.
Inequality has increased over the past decade despite government attempts to tackle social injustice, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research.
Whitehall is to devolve decision-making to local authorities in nine pilot areas from next year in the first tangible example of the government's commitment to localism.
Local government leaders are painting a gloomy picture of their ability to meet Sir Peter Gershon's efficiency targets, predicting inevitable service cuts and council tax hikes.
The number of NHS foundation trusts could double before a year-long moratorium is called on the scheme's expansion, the Department of Health said this week.
The government's Women and Work Commission was universally welcomed by unions this week, but is unlikely to defuse the 'ticking time bomb' of equal pay claims in the public sector.
The code governing secondary school admissions is 'toothless' and has allowed some schools to introduce an unofficial form of academic selection, MPs said this week.
Britain's ever-expanding child obesity problems are not being helped by inconsistent teaching on food and nutrition for the very young, a report by watchdogs claimed this week.
Local authorities will continue to play an important part in education despite government moves to give schools greater control over their finances, Education Secretary Charles Clarke insisted this...
Government plans to strip councils of most of their education responsibilities will rupture relations between Whitehall and county hall, the Local Government Association's new chair has warned.
A government programme to support disadvantaged families with young children is already delivering visible benefits, according to preliminary results of a long-term evaluation project.
Local plans to improve communities are being undermined by the myriad of confusing and complex funding streams, targets and new initiatives emerging from Whitehall, the Audit Commission has reported.
The planned new children's commissioner will have the power to order investigations without first seeking authorisation from ministers after all, Margaret Hodge has told MPs.
Senior civil servants at two key departments are struggling to meet Chancellor Gordon Brown's dramatic efficiency targets, putting in doubt Whitehall's ability to deliver the wider Gershon agenda,...
The Local Government Association is to reform radically its member structure, replacing its 'static and old-fashioned' committees with cross-cutting boards in an attempt to widen its influence on...
The government's mental health czar, Louis Appleby, has been given extended powers to cover services for older people and for children and adolescents.
Tessa Jowell, the government's culture secretary and self-declared public health 'nanny', has warned that Labour will not be rushed into measures to curb damaging trends such as obesity despite '...
Government auditors have endorsed the overall reliability of asylum statistics but warn that some aspects of them are 'misleading' because of the way they are presented.
League tables purporting to show the progress made by primary school children are unfair and misleading and should be abandoned, head teachers have said.
