A series of papers, published today in a special issue of Fiscal Studies on measuring school effectiveness, highlight some of the key issues that policymakers must consider.

As a proportion of the total, health has nearly doubled from 10% to 18% of spending.

New research published today by researchers at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and funded by the Nuffield Foundation, finds little or no evidence that marriage itself has any effect on children's social or cognitive development.

Households receiving the winter fuel payment are almost 14 times as likely to spend the money on fuel than would have been the case had their incomes been increased in other ways; But in very cold weather it remains the case that the poorest pensioners cut back on spending on food to finance the additional cost of heating their homes.

A package of early literacy interventions has been found to improve significantly the reading and writing skills of young children who struggle to learn to read.

The HBAI figures tell a story of pain delayed, but not pain avoided.

The estimated impacts of childhood psychological health problems on adult economic life are severe and substantially larger than the impacts of a wide range of childhood physical health problems.

The IFS' initial response to Chancellor George Osborne's 2011 Budget statement.

IFS estimates that in the three years from 2008 to 2011 real household incomes will have fallen by 1.6%, or £360 a year.