The Department of Health is today launching a campaign to boost the number of people taking up a career in social care. The new campaign aims to attract applicants to the social care sector, which needs to attract thousands of new recruits each year.

Young children are failing to get a good education in half the nursery and primary classes for three to five year olds, school inspectors warn in a report today. They are making insufficient progress in language and literacy, the most able are not being challenged and boys are already falling behind girls, says Ofsted.

Most Foundation Stage settings provide effective education and care, according to a new Ofsted report, The Foundation Stage: a survey of 144 settings.  However, the quality of provision varies between them.

Babies who attend formal child care, such as day nurseries, at the tender age of nine months are better behaved and less likely to experience a wide range of developmental problems at the age of three than the average child, according to new Government-funded research today.

Whilst welcoming the overall direction of David Freud’s report, the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) warned that Government plans to increase the numbers of lone parents moving into paid employment still risked leaving out the quarter that have a disabled child.

There has been a large rise in the number of emergency calls to the ambulance service, according to figures obtained by the BBC. The increase in 999 call-outs is about a fifth in some areas, which the Ambulance Service Union says is placing extra stress on paramedics.

Bailiffs are set to get sweeping powers to break into homes and seize goods if people fall behind on credit card bills. The move would leave tens of thousands at risk of finding their doors kicked down and TVs and computers seized.

A couple who had been accused of killing a toddler they hoped to adopt, said “justice has been done” after winning a four-year battle to clear their names. Ian and Angela Gay, of Hayley Green, Halesowen, were cleared of the manslaughter of three year old Christian Blewitt in a retrial at Nottingham Crown Court.

A domestic violence initiative aimed at helping victims hit by their partners is to receive a cash boost of almost £2 million, Home Secretary John Reid has announced.

Poor families have to pay on average a £1,000 annual “poverty premium” for essential goods and services such as gas, electricity and banking, because they cannot access the deals enjoyed by better off households, charities say today.