MPs attack 'smoke and smack' policy

The Government's decision to allow childminders to smoke in front of the children in their care and smack them if they have parents' permission has come under renewed attack from an all-party group of MPs. Last week the Education and Skills Select Committee rounded on the Government for singling out childminders as the only form of registered provision allowed to smoke and smack, describing the decision as 'the most controversial aspect' of its national standards for daycare and under-eights childminding in England. It has also recommended that Ofsted publish two studies by December 2003, one on the exposure of children...