Ed Balls MP

Ed Balls is the Labour MP for Morley and Outwood.

Links

2008-03-26 - The Guardian - Teachers to be safeguarded from cyber-bullies: Author: Liz Ford and Jessica Shepherd; Summary: The education secretary, Ed Balls, will today unveil plans to protect teachers from cyber-bullying. Balls will tell delegates at the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers' annual conference in Birmingham that he has asked the cyber-bullying taskforce, set up to tackle the use of technology to bully children, to look at what measures can be introduced to protect teachers.

2008-01-04 - The Register - Schools minister touts 'one interweb per child' pork barrel: Author: Chris Williams; Summary: The schools minister, Jim Knight, has decided that every child in the country must have broadband at home. In an interview in today's Guardian, Knight said: "We need to get to a point where in the same way when they start school the expectation is you've (the parent) got to find a school uniform, provide them with something to write with and probably these days a calculator, and in secondary school some sports gear - well, you add to that some IT."

2007-11-29 - The Register - Balls blames parents, computers for English literacy slide: Author: Joe Fay; Summary: Ed Balls has again weighed into parents who insist on bubblewrapping their children and leaving them in front of the computer, after research showed British kids have slipped down the world's literacy league.

2007-11-28 - BBC - England falls in reading league: Summary: Mr Balls said it was the same story as that emerging from the government's consultation on its Children's Plan. "Parents are worried about striking the right balance between play, reading, TV and computer games at home," he said. "This study shows that our highest achieving children are reading less with children's busy days leaving less time for books at home." "As parents we have to get the balance right and as a society we have to send the right messages about the value of reading to our children."

2007-11-26 - The Register - UK pushes token security line on child database: Author: Joe Fay; Summary: The British government is bending over backwards to try and calm fears that a new database of every child in the country will inevitably go the way of HMRC's child benefit database when it goes live next year. ... As soon as the HMRC debacle broke last week, Ed Balls, secretary of children, schools and families moved to try and assuage fears over ContactPoint saying the department was reviewing its security strategy for the database.

2007-11-26 - Kable - DCFS defends ContactPoint security: Summary: The government has moved to calm fears around the security of the national children's database. It has emphasised that ContactPoint - which will include name, address, gender, date of birth, and a unique number for every child in the country, plus basic identifying information about parents or carers – will have a two stage authentication process with a password and random number generating token. ... In addition, a report by the children's rights director for England, Dr Roger Morgan, highlighted children's fears that the security arrangements may not be enough to keep out people who would abuse the information. Ed Balls, the minister for children, schools and families, said last week that the department was reviewing its security strategy for the database.

2007-10-09 - BBC News - Games violence study is launched: Summary: The government is asking for evidence for a new study of the effect of violent computer games on children. Psychologist Tanya Byron will head the study, which will also examine how to protect children from online material. The review is due to be launched by Dr Byron - together with Schools Secretary Ed Balls and Culture Secretary James Purnell - at a school in east London. The games industry's association Elspa said it would co-operate - but it was too often blamed for society's ills.

2007-09-21 - The Register - Balls: Schools should police the net: Summary: Guidance released by education ministers today has called on schools to do more to stop bullies using the internet and mobile phones to target fellow pupils. The schools secretary Ed Balls said: "Cyber bullying is a particularly insidious type of bullying as it can follow young people wherever they go, and the anonymity that it seemingly affords the perpetrator can make it even more stressful for the victim."

2007-07-20 - The Register - Capgemini wins government-backed kids database contract: Author: Kelly Fiveash; Summary: Capgemini has won a £40m six-year contract to build and host a ContactPoint database containing information about UK children. On Thursday, Ed Balls MP, who heads up the newly created DCSF, announced a total of £456m for projects aimed at supporting "the wellbeing of children and families across the country, and a focus on play which enables children to have healthy, safe and happy childhood".