The details of the case at Bright Horizons nursery chain in North London are deeply harrowing and disturbing. My first thoughts are with the families affected and I sincerely hope they are receiving the support and care they need. Currently there is no mechanism to ensure that chain providers have corporate responsibility when harm occurs. This week, I asked the Education Secretary if the Government plans to change this.

Last September, the Education Secretary announced that maintenance grants would return for some university students in England by 2029. This announcement came almost ten years after the then-Chancellor George Osbourne abolished maintenance grants, which, at the time, were benefiting more than half a million students from the most disadvantaged backgrounds. The Lib Dems have long called for maintenance grants to be reinstated, so we, of course, welcomed this announcement. But

Reading for pleasure has long given both stimulation and sanctuary to children and adults across the globe. It is an essential building block of learning and understanding the world around us. But today, with just one in three children aged eight to 18 reading in their spare time, we appear to be in the midst of a generational shift. To understand this decline, the Education Select Committee has launched a new inquiry focused on reading pleasure, the decline of reading as wel

Devon County Council is asking us all to shape the future of the county’s libraries in a new public consultation. Running for 12-weeks from today, people across Devon will be able to give their views on proposals to reduce and ‘standardise’ open hours. The consultation also includes a dedicated survey for children and I am thrilled to say no libraries will be closed under the proposals. The consultation is open until February 2026 and you can learn how to take part below....

Amid all the budget speculation, a disturbing report appeared last week suggesting that the Government was about to cave-in to pressure from the British Virgin Islands over corruption and tax evasion. Essentially, the British Virgin Islands wanted to limit access to a register of company share ownership to only those deemed to have a legitimate interest. That might sound like legal jargon personified, but this measure has long been seen as the best means to expose corruption

It is frankly astonishing that the Chancellor spent over an hour speaking during the budget without mentioning arguably the most drastic policy change within it. But buried deep within the now infamous OBR document was a suggestion that from 2029 the government will absorb the cost of SEND provision. This is a very interesting development with a very sizable problem at its heart. According to OBR figures, there is a funding shortfall in the Government’s plan of about £6bn. Wh