Research published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows that the most deprived areas of England have seen the largest cuts in funding since 2010. There is still scope for many councils to save money by redesigning the way services are run but the current pace of the cuts risks making this more difficult. Many local authorities will struggle to invest in and remodel services to lower costs in the medium term, while still meeting residents’ needs and balancing their budgets. Analysis of local government expenditure data reveals that the poorest English authorities have seen reductions of £182 more per head than the most affluent, this breaks the historic link between the amount a local authority spends per head and local deprivation levels. In 2010/11, the most deprived councils had an extra 45 per cent of expenditure per head to cope with additional needs. By 2014/15, this had been reduced to 17 per cent.

Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh made a passionate defence of faith schools in the face of what he said was an attack on their basic ethos by the ‘forces of intolerance’. Leigh proposed the motion that ‘this House believes that Ofsted should respect the ability of faith schools to teach their core beliefs in the context of respect and toleration for others’. He was particularly critical of Ofsted because of what he said was its inappropriate treatment of Christian schools such as Grindon Hall and the Durham Free School, which is fighting closure after an adverse report. He said: ‘Ofsted appears to be guilty of trying to enforce a kind of state-imposed orthodoxy on certain moral and religious questions.’ He said: ‘The Minister should remind Ofsted that the law prioritises the teaching of the Christian faith in RE and school assemblies because we are a Christian nation with a Christian heritage.’

The Mothers' Union is calling on its thousands of members up and down the country to pray that the families of election candidates ‘will not be affected by criticism or physical threats’. The organisation, which has 140 years experience of working with families, says in its pre-election advice that people should also ‘thank God’ that anyone is actually willing to stand for public office. ‘Pray for energy and stamina for the candidates as they campaign,’ the union adds. It urges people to take seriously their involvement in the coming general election, and even consider organising hustings. Other things they should pray for include ‘positive not negative campaigning’ and ‘true and honest manifestos’ as well as mutual respect between the parties. The union is also calling for an increase in paternity leave and for new policies to prevent violence against women and girls. It urges prayers for the winners as well as the losers.

A new parliamentary inquiry has called for a 28-day cap on the time that anyone can be held in immigration detention in the UK, to end the indefinite detention of migrants and asylum-seekers. The All Party Inquiry into the Use of Immigration Detention in the UK said that current Home Office guidance - which said that detention should be used sparingly - was ineffective, and was not being followed. The Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather, who chaired the inquiry, said: ‘We believe the problems that beset our immigration occur quite simply because we detain far too many people unnecessarily, and for far too long. The current system is expensive, ineffective, and unjust.’ A new parliamentary inquiry has called for a 28-day cap on the time that anyone can be held in immigration detention in the UK, to end the indefinite holding of migrants and asylum-seekers.

Volunteering through UK churches has increased by nearly 17% over the past two years, according to the third biennial National Church and Social Action Survey. Figures indicate that 1.1 to 1.4 million volunteers participated in church-based social action in the UK in 2014, benefiting 'millions' of people through various initiatives. The survey’s revealed that UK churches have increased the average number of volunteer hours on social action to 114.8m per annum. This is an increase of 16.8% compared with two years earlier and 59.4% compared with four years ago. The research found UK churches have also increased the average number of staff hours on social action by 18.8% in two years.  In addition to volunteering, church members also finance the vast majority of initiatives, according to the study, with UK churches increasing their spending on social action to approximately £393m in 2014

Couples who get married before having children are over 70 per cent more likely to stay together than those who do so after marriage new research claims. Meanwhile those who start a family but never marry are almost three times as likely to split up before their children are in their mid-teens, the study by the Marriage Foundation think-tank concludes. It claims that other factors often linked to family stability, such as parents’ ages when they have children or their level of education, have only a ‘marginal’, if any, effect on their chances of staying together. Sir Paul Coleridge, the former High Court family judge who set up the foundation in 2012, said the study showed that it is a ‘myth’ that cohabitation is as stable as marriage. The group is pressing for political parties to adopt policies specifically promoting marriage in their manifestos ahead of the General Election in May. 

A Christian printing company in the Republic of Ireland has become the latest business to take a stand for traditional marriage, based on firmly-held religious convictions. Beulah Print & Design declined to print invitations for a gay couple’s civil partnership ceremony. The incident comes after calls by the Council of Europe for member states to support the principle of reasonable accommodation. The owners of Beulah Print said that because of their Christian faith they could not print material for John Keirans and Jonathon Brennan’s civil partnership ceremony. A statement released by the company stressed that their decision was not a personal attack on the customers, whom they had happily served for four years, but was due to their opposition to same-sex marriage. It reads: ‘We, at Beulah Print, are Bible-believing Christians who are committed to standing by our conscience and God’s Word.’

Children in care ‘get a raw deal’ and the government is not doing enough to help them, MPs have said in a report. In particular the Department for Education shows ‘alarming reluctance to play an active role’ in improving the lot of these children, say the MPs. Poor local services are too often left to ‘fester’, says the report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee.  A DfE spokesman said the report ‘purposefully’ ignored ‘very real progress’ made by government. The life chances of children in care were being transformed, said the spokesman. ‘It is a fact that vulnerable children are doing better than ever’. The Department for Education is best placed to lead improvements in the quality of care but is reluctant to take on this role, only intervening after Ofsted has failed a local authority service, say the MPs. ‘The department focussed on limiting its responsibility rather than maximising opportunities for children in care,’ said the committee's chairman, Margaret Hodge. 

A dress which went viral after viewers were split on its colours has become the focal point of the Salvation Army's campaign against domestic violence in South Africa. A photo was in the media last month in which some saw the colours white and gold and others saw blue and black. The Salvation Army's new poster features a similar dress worn by a bruised woman with the strapline 'Why is it so hard to see black and blue?'. Speaking about the advert, a spokesperson for the Salvation Army said: ‘The Salvation Army sees the devastating effects of domestic violence on women, men and children every day. We know that one in four women are victims of domestic violence in the UK: this innovative and powerful campaign by the Salvation Army highlights that domestic violence is often overlooked by society. We hope this image helps people to see the true impact of this crime.’

The Bishop of London is planning to revive a century-old episcopal see to create a new 'Bishop for Church Plants'. The Right Rev Richard Chartres plans to bring back the See of Islington, which existed briefly from 1898 to 1923. There was only ever one Bishop of Islington, the Right Rev Charles Henry Turner, who was at the same time Rector of St Andrew Undershaft. The Church Times reports that the proposal is to be considered by the Dioceses Commission. The aim is to provide additional support for the burgeoning church planting movement. The London diocese is one of the most successful in the western world in terms of growth and diversity. Besides the leadership of Bishop Chartres, this can also be attributed to the phenomenally successful Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) group of churches and the Alpha evangelisation course that originated at HTB.