News round-up: Sharon Shoesmith challenges dismissal

Baby P: Sharon Shoesmith starts legal action against Balls
The former children’s services chief who was sacked after the Baby P tragedy has launched a legal challenge against the role played in her dismissal by Ed Balls, the children’s secretary, it emerged yesterday.

Read this story in The Guardian

Court to decide whether Afghan seeking asylum in UK is a boy aged 15 – or a man
Refugee will be deported if deemed to be 18 or over, and social worker disputes doctor’s age assessment

Read this story in The Guardian

Government to make big savings in running prisons, MPs say
Commons public accounts committee says savings are all the more surprising because prison population has jumped by 10,000 in last five years

Read this story in The Guardian

Tory boarding school plan for academies
Academy schools could become boarding schools if the Conservatives won power at the next election.
Michael Gove, the Shadow Schools Secretary, said that he would explore setting up state-funded residential academies “so that children in the greatest need can secure a placement that offers them the very highest standards of education and care”.

Read this story in The Times

Role of state to be assessed, says Brown
Hard questions need to be asked about the nature of government in the wake of the financial crisis, Gordon Brown will concede on Tuesday, as a survey of public service managers shows that half believe their services could be crippled within five years.

Read this story in The Financial Times