The Children and Young Persons Bill had its third reading in the House of Commons last night, during which MPs debated several significant amendments. Smacking, fostering and provisions for looked-after children in custody were all on the agenda for discussion. But, much to the disappointment of campaigners, the amendment to current smacking rules was bypassed in the debate.

Rather than simply blog on Blog Action Day, we’re arranging to do something more practical: run a social media surgery for voluntary and community groups in Birmingham on 15 October.

Obesity and overweight people are costing Birmingham health services more than £316 million a year, according to the NHS.

Head teachers in Birmingham are in denial over the number of children in their care who are joining vicious gangs, a senior police officer has claimed.

The government will reject the advice of an independent watchdog and go ahead with plans to force lone parents to actively seek work, it has announced today.

The new ministerial team at the Department for Children, Schools and Families is as follows: Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families - Ed Balls Minister of State for Schools and Learners - Jim Knight Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families - Beverley Hughes Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools and Learners - Sarah McCarthy-Fry Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children, Young People and Families – Baroness Delyth Morgan

It may be apt that as charities begin to feel the brunt of the economic downturn, the person to inherit the third sector brief in Whitehall is a former economics teacher.

Nick Hurd has been named shadow minister for charities after a reshuffle by Conservative Party leader David Cameron.

The government has revealed how money to develop extended schools will be distributed during the next three years. A guidance document issued to councils and schools last week explains how the Department for Children, Schools and Families expects the £1.3bn extended schools budget to be spent.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has launched the new national contract for fostering at the annual National Children's Commissioning and Contracting Training Conference.

Kevin Brennan, MP for Cardiff West, has been appointed the new Minister for the Third Sector.

News of Gordon Brown's reshuffle of his government team is trickling out of Downing Street. So far it has been confirmed that Ed Miliband will move from being Secretary of State for the Cabinet Office to Secretary of State at a new energy and climate change department. The Cabinet Office oversees government policy on the voluntary sector and social exclusion.

A United Nations panel called on Britain on Friday to stem persistently high rates of violence and sexual abuse against children at home and in school.

Birmingham scientists are to receive a £2.5 million boost to fund research into children’s cancers using the latest imaging technology.

Letisha & Charlene Education Awards Cash Aid to Young Citizens The Letisha & Charlene Education Award (LCEA) organisation was established in memory of Charlene Ellis and Letisha Shakespeare, who died tragically in a drive-by shooting in January 2003.

The Government has accepted in full the recommendations of a council of experts from the fields of business and education, which include university trips for primary pupils and stronger links between schools and local businesses.

The Centre for Social Justice, a harbinger of much Tory social policy, is likely to recommend that local authorities take responsibility for the imprisonment of young offenders in its policy review of prisons.

Offending by girls is not getting more serious - despite media hype, a crime reduction charity has said.

Ministers have been forced to postpone the publication of school league tables following this summer's Sats marking crisis, it emerged today. The league tables are currently expected to be four months late, officials from the Department for Children, Schools and Families confirmed. They are now scheduled for March next year but no guarantee is being offered.

Eight out of ten children in the Birmingham Ladywood constituency live in poverty or come from families struggling on low incomes, according to research. Within Ladywood, the ward of Aston has 87 per cent of youngsters struggling to get by, the Campaign to End Child Poverty said.