On the 5th Nov 2009, Margaret Morrissey from ParentsOutloud was on the PM show with Ed Balls (Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families) and Eddie Mair on BBC Radio 4.
Please click on the video below to hear this part of the show.

Polly Curtis
The Guardian, Saturday 31 October 2009
Parents who cheat to get a place at the best state schools will face fines and court orders under hardline proposals to be set out by a major inquiry on Monday.
At the moment, parents who lie only risk forfeiting the school place. The inquiry, by the chief schools adjudicator, will say the penalty should be toughened up, a source with links to the review said. Sanctions could include a court summons, a fine or an order to undertake unpaid work. It follows an unsuccessful …

YES
I have worked with education secretaries since 1981 (Margaret Morrissey writes) and I have never previously come across someone with Ed Balls’s style. He is intent on doing things his way and, if he cannot get his own way, he holds a consultation with those people who agree with him in order to produce the result that he wants.
His attitude is: “I am an expert. I know best and I will consult other experts who do it my way.” Mr Balls has a culture of blame in which he says, …

In Today’s Papers
Ofsted has “lost the plot” by telling two police officers they broke the law by caring for each other’s children, it was claimed today. Margaret Morrissey, of the parents’ pressure group, ParentsOutloud, said: “If we have reached the point in our society when we cannot trust our very close friends to look after each other’s children, I think it is time to give up and go and live in another country.”

Mirror Jason Beattie 30/09/2009
Tax breaks on childcare will be scrapped to fund free nursery places for youngsters from hard-up families.Around 250,000 children from “low and modest income” homes will be lookedafter for 10 hours every week. The childcare vouchers scheme will be phased out to fund the places.At the moment parents can pay part of their salary straight to childminders or nurseries and not pay tax on the cash.Lower-rate taxpayers can save up to £962 a year and mums and dads paying the top rate up to £1,195 …

By Richard Garner, Education Editor Independent
Monday, 28 September 2009
Ofsted has “lost the plot” by telling two police officers they broke the law by caring for each other’s children, it was claimed today.
Margaret Morrissey, of the parents’ pressure group, ParentsOutloud, said: “If we have reached the point in our society when we cannot trust our very close friends to look after each other’s children, I think it is time to give up and go and live in another country.”
She was speaking after the children’s services watchdog said the police officers’ arrangement …

Full Story - Telegraph
The new rules lead on from increased child protection procedures which followed the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, in Soham. In a major blow for the Government, Britain’s largest children’s charity, the NSPCC, criticised the regulations for parent helpers which it said threatened “perfectly safe and normal activities” and risked alienating the public. Barry Sheerman, Labour chairman of the Commons’ children and families select committee condemned the way the policy was being implemented and demanded that Children’s Secretary Ed Balls “get a grip on …

By Laura Donnelly, Health Correspondent
Sunday Telegraph
Tens of thousands of overweight children – some as young as four – will be shipped off to fat camp, under a Government scheme to tackle obesity. Primary school pupils identified as being overweight will automatically be offered a place on a state-funded diet and exercise scheme . Primary school pupils identified as being overweight will automatically be offered a place on a state-funded diet and exercise scheme. Although parents will have the right to refuse to send their children to the classes, ministers hope …

Margaret Morrissey from ParentsOutloud.com joins the show “When is the right time to start teaching your child to read?” on BBC Woman’s hour (3rd Sept 2009)

By Alison Kershaw and Jane Kirby, Press Association
Friday, 17 July 2009
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) said while it is expected schools and nurseries would open as usual at the start of the academic year, they “cannot be certain what the situation will be” in the autumn. The UK total number of deaths linked to swine flu now stands at 29. About 1,000 schools have already recorded cases of swine flu, the DCSF message to schools said, though most have remained open. At the start of the outbreak, …