• Gove refuses to apologise to the cross-party Education Committee for the speed at which he pushed through the legislation to create new academies. He justified the move as one 'because I believe that we desperately need to transform our education system...these children only have one chance and we have got to get on with making a change'. England lags second from bottom in the international league of educational revenue it achieves, Gove claimed. Times


• Parliamentary sketchwriter Ann Treneman documents Michael Gove's appearance before the Education Select Committee. Times


• The taxpayer spends £15 million a year on sending diplomats' children to private schools, subsidies are paid to around 6% of staff employed by the Foreign Office and often continue to be paid once diplomats have returned to the UK. Senior staff from DfID and senior members of the military also receive the allowances. Guardian


• The authors of How Children Learn at Home outline why the lessons drawn from the death of Khyra Ishaq should not be reactionary moves to tighten laws around home education. They claim that conflating welfare with education is a dangerous step, which threatens educational freedom and places a presumption of guilt on loving families; they remind readers Ishaq was known to be at risk before and after her withdrawal from school. Guardian


• Gove has said that 'rich thick kids' are doing better in school than 'poor clever' children despite the billions spent by Labour on closing the gap. The coalition has announced an independent review into educational failure in poor communities to be chaired by Labour MP Graham Allen. It will make recommendations about how to provide poorer children with the levels of 'social and emotional support' provided by middle-class parents. Telegraph

• Theresa May has announced that it is time to 'move beyond the ASBO'. She claims the measures too often criminalise young people and that the police should instead have practical tools to deal with anti-social behaviour and to make minor offenders repair the damage they cause in communities. May called for punishments for anti-social behaviour to be 'rehabilitative and restorative' rather than 'criminalising', 'coercive' and bureaucratic. Times


• The number of children abducted by a parent and taken overseas has increased in the past year. Foreign Office figures show abductions to countries not signed up to a global abduction treaty rose by 39%. The highest number of cases related to Pakistan, India, Thailand, Nigeria and Ghana, all of whom have not ratified the 1980 Hague convention and from where it is far more difficult to bring children back. BBC


• A target - which is already being widely missed - to deal with most asylum cases within six months is to be scrapped. The announcement will come amid Immigration Minister Damian Green's launch of the 'Asylum Improvement Project', an eight month review to assess how the process can work more efficiently and reduce the annual £500 million bill to the public. Telegraph


• The government plans to phase out the compulsory retirement age of 65 by October 2011. The consultation document, due to be published today, will run until October with the suggestion that bosses will still be able to operate a compulsory retirement age only if they can 'objectively justify it'. Guardian


• Anne Milton, a health minister and former nurse, has said that family doctors and nurses should speak plainly to those who are overweight, telling them they are fat rather than obese. Milton claimed the word 'fat' was more likely to motivate people to shed the pounds and might encourage them to take 'personal responsibility' for their lifestyles. Guardian

back to top