The top stories

1 Oxford university is planning to raise Pounds 1.25billion from donations to compete with the US Ivy League. The university has already raised Pounds 5.75 million of its ambitious fundraising target.

2 The NHS spent hundreds of millions of pounds to avoid a surplus before the start of the financial year. Hospitals were pressed into a spending spree to hide a Pounds 1 billion surplus.

3 Schools could be judged on how many pupils they send to university. The National Council for Educational Excellence will hear the proposals on using university entry data to rank schools next month.

4 Social workers are putting children at risk, according to Ofsted. It said a backlog of work had left children vulnerable in family breakdown cases.

5 The Government is preparing to publish death rates of patients undergoing major surgery in England. The information will be published on the NHS Choices website this summer.

6 Prisons have released 26,347 inmates up to 18 days early in the first ten months of a scheme to ease overcrowding in jails, against an official estimate of 25,500, government figures show.

7 The cost of mental healthcare is set to rise sharply, according to a report from the King's Fund. The cost of services provided through the NHS and social services is expected to rise from Pounds 22.5billion in 2006 to Pounds 47.48billion in 2026, mainly because of a projected rise in dementia cases.

8 Every school has at least one bad teacher, according to Jim Knight, the Schools Minister. The Government is trying to remove more underperforming teachers.

9 Parents are turning to relatives to look after children even though there has been an increase of half a million nursery places. Cost and availability were the main barriers to accessing nursery places, despite Gordon Brown's pledge of affordable childcare for all.

10 Independent schools have criticised the Government over its new national curriculum for under-fives. The Independent Schools Coalition claims that the new curriculum will deny parents the freedom to choose how they educate their children.

11 The Home Office announced an advertising campaign using shocking images as part of its move against the carrying of knives. London's own campaign has also stepped up a gear. More than 4,000 people were stopped and searched in the capital within a two-week period, in a Pounds 1m operation.

12 Plans to publish detailed maps of reported crime in London have been delayed, because of doubts over their legality. The London Mayor, Boris Johnson, wants to highlight problem areas and make commanders publicly accountable but the maps may breach data protection laws.

13 Britain is poised to sign a treaty outlawing the use and stockpiling of cluster bombs. Millions of pounds will have to be spent on destroying the existing stock, senior Foreign and Commonwealth Office sources said.

14 The Government has compiled a package of concessions over its proposed change to rules on the detention of terrorism suspects. The Prime Minister hopes to avoid a Commons defeat on a proposal to detain suspects without charge for up to 42 days.

15 The number of operations cancelled by the NHS at the last minute has increased in the past year, figures from the Department of Health show. In the three months to the end of March there were 16,800 cancellations, compared with 14,600 in the same period of last year.