A test will be established so schools for children with special needs are not closed unless better alternatives are available, the government says. Schools Minister Andrew Adonis said "strong guidance" would be issued to local authorities in England.
The closure of special schools is "disastrous", the leader of the Conservatives, David Cameron, has said. Mr Cameron called for a moratorium on special school closures.
Fraser, the four month old son of Chancellor Gordon Brown, has been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. He is one of 7,500 people in the UK with the genetic disease.
For the first time since star ratings were introduced, no council in England has been zero-star-rated for adult social services this year.
Following the meeting in the Commons today with the Health Secretary, Rt. Hon Patricia Hewitt MP, Cornish MPs, Andrew George, Julia Goldsworthy and Dan Rogerson reported that the current strategic review of hospital services in Cornwall would need to be closely monitored.
The M20 between junctions 11 and 12 was still closed for Operation Stack on Thursday morning. Operation Stack was put in place on Tuesday in response to ferry crossings from Dover to Calais being blockaded by a strike at Calais, and at its peak yesterday the M20 was closed back as far as junction 8 towards Maidstone.
