Author: By Richard Garner, Education Editor
The move, announced by Schools Secretary Ed Balls today, means that all the
main three political parties are now committed to giving schools a ?pupil
premium? for taking in pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Read more on More cash for schools with poorer pupils…
Author: By Peter Woodman, Press Association
But it is likely to be 2025 at the earliest before the first section of new
track – from London to Birmingham – is completed.
Author: By Andy McSsmith
Why are we asking this now?
Until the end of January all opinion polls were telling us that the
Conservatives were heading for decisive victory at the general election,
likely to take place on 6 May. But in the past four or five weeks, the gap
between the main parties has been narrower. Judging by the current polls, it
appears that the Conservatives will be the largest party in the new
Parliament, but will not have enough MPs to control it outright.
Read more on The Big Question: Are we heading towards a hung parliament, and how would it work?…
Author: By Michael Savage, Political Correspondent
Lord Adonis, the Transport Secretary, has promised today’s announcement will narrow down the route of the new line to within five metres in urban areas and 25 metres in the countryside. Work on the line is set to begin in 2017. The Department for Transport (DfT) is bracing itself for legal action as major local campaigns spring up to resist the scheme.
Author: By Peter Woodman, PA
In a White Paper, the Government will outline the route, and the cost, of a
high-speed rail (HSR) line running from London to Birmingham.
Transport Secretary Lord Adonis will also publish the Government’s views on
how HSR can be extended north of Birmingham to northern England and Scotland.
Author: By Richard Garner, Education Editor
Ofqual, the exams regulator, warned that the standards shown by pupils taking diplomas were lower than those sitting other types of exams.
Its report concluded: “Some question papers did not provide enough opportunities for more able candidates to demonstrate the extent of their knowledge, understanding and skills.”
Read more on Government diplomas are too easy for the brightest children…
One of the reasons for all this trauma is that the politicians have raised our expectations. They have made parents feel they have a real choice by giving them the right to apply for six schools in London and three if they live anywhere else. More than 90 per cent of families get one of their choices but some don’t get any. The fact is that there is not a real market in school places. Some schools are much more popular than others and are going to attract the lion’s share of applications, but not everyone will be able to get their children into these schools.
Author: By Joe Churcher and Daniel Bentley, Press Association
The peer, who has given millions of pounds to bankroll Tory campaigning in
marginal seats, revealed yesterday after years of speculation that he was
non-domiciled for tax purposes.
Read more on Labour calls for Lords inquiry into non-dom Ashcroft…
Author: By Sean O’Grady, Economics Editor
That means the yield would drop below £1bn ? compared to £3.9bn taken in inheritance tax in 2007 ? raising questions about where the Conservatives might make up the shortfall as they seek to tame the budget deficit run up by New Labour.
He’s sat in the boardroom of his spartan new London offices, close to a busy
railway junction. Outside, the skies are saucepan grey and giving off an
unrelenting drizzle. Britain is not looking at its best and neither, in the
eyes of this 32-year-old new media pioneer, are the attempts of British
politics to emulate the extraordinary success of MyBarack Obama. com, which
is credited with being the key vehicle in mobilising the Democrat vote in
2008.
Read more on With just two months to go, when will the internet election take off?…
