Jackie Long , Social Affairs Editor and Presenter

His son George W. Bush described him as “a man of the highest character,” saying the entire family was deeply grateful for his life and love.

The latest minister to resign from the government over Theresa May’s Brexit deal says it would leave the country ‘outnumbered and outmanoeuvred’ in future negotiations with the EU. Sam Gyimah stepped down as universities and science minister – calling it a ‘deal in name only’.

Moved around, lonely, isolated and facing the sort of challenges which would floor an adult: for too many young people that is life in care. Looked-after children still do less well than others in school and are more likely to experience homelessness or the criminal justice system.

Support isn’t getting to deaf children who desperately need it, according to a leading charity, who say there’s a “heartbreaking” funding crisis for special needs education. A survey by the Deaf Children’s Society shows nine out of ten parents of deaf children are worried about how much support they’ll continue getting at school. Ministers, though,…

“Punitive, mean-spirited, and callous” – that’s how the United Nations special rapporteur on poverty has described the Government’s austerity policies, and he describes the rise in child poverty as a “social calamity and economic disaster”.

Being poor and on benefits in the UK can mean surviving on very little money – now the United Nations rapporteur on poverty has come to the country to investigate just how severe a problem it is.

Charities have taken to social media to “set the record straight” after Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey said in the House of Commons that a number of organisations had welcomed changes to Universal Credit. We talk to Sophie Corlett from the charity Mind.

A cross-party committee of MPs has condemned the government’s benefit sanctions regime, calling for it to be “urgently re-assessed”.

Cornwall Council has been criticised for housing a vulnerable teenager in a tent. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found a long list of failures by the council.

One announcement in the budget yesterday was a one-off cash injection of £400 million for England’s schools. On average, headteachers will get between £10,000 and £50,000 to pay for extra kit like whiteboards and laptops. The Chancellor described his decision as “a nice gesture”. But some unions and headteachers say government cuts mean they can barely afford the essentials.

After much criticism of the rollout of the new universal credit system, the Chancellor is ploughing in more than £2bn to help make the benefit work better, including a £1,000 a year increase in the amount people can earn before their benefits start tapering away.

Pressure is building on the government to stop the roll-out of universal credit, as a leaked document suggests more radical changes to the benefit might be needed to mitigate its impact on vulnerable claimants. The government says it will publish plans for the next stage of universal credit in due course, though another delay to…

The clamour from all sides to intervene in the national rollout of Universal Credit is rising. Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, faces calls to open the country’s chequebook ahead of his budget at the end of the month. Yesterday, Esther McVey, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said she accepts many people would be significantly worse off. Today the Times reported…

The Work and Pensions Secretary, Esther McVey, has conceded that some benefit claimants will end up worse off because of the new Universal Credit system. However, Ms McVey wouldn’t comment on estimates by a think-tank that around three million people would lose around £1,800 a year. The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said the system needed dramatic change.

One of Theresa May’s main policy announcements this morning was lifting the strict cap on councils’ ability to borrow money to fund more house building.