Government contract aims to reduce the number of specialist care plans by a fifth
The government has quietly signed a contract targeting 20% cuts to the number of new education plans for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) to bring down costs, the Observer can reveal.
Then junior education minister Claire Coutinho – recently promoted to the cabinet as energy secretary– subsequently told MPs that no targets were in place.
Continue reading...Survey finds cost of living crisis has increased both number of children needing extra support and level of need
Schools are handing out clothing and food to children amid the cost of living crisis, while teachers report deteriorating hygiene among pupils as families cut back on brushing teeth, showering and even flushing the toilet.
According to a survey of schools in England, nine out of 10 said they were providing clothing and uniforms for students, while seven out of 10 were giving out food in the form of parcels, food bank provisions, vouchers or subsidised breakfasts.
Continue reading...PM shown evidence of ‘critical risk to life’ when chancellor, says former top civil servant at Department for Education
Rishi Sunak refused to properly fund a school rebuilding programme when he was chancellor, despite officials presenting evidence that there was “a critical risk to life” from crumbling concrete panels, the Department for Education’s former head civil servant has said.
After the department told Sunak’s Treasury that there was a need to rebuild 300 to 400 schools a year in England, he gave funding for only 100, which was then halved to 50, said Jonathan Slater, the permanent secretary of the department from 2016 to 2020.
Continue reading...French boy, who was six when Jonty Bravery threw him from viewing platform in 2019, is showing a range of improvements
A boy who was thrown from the 10th floor of the Tate Modern in London four years ago now only uses his wheelchair only for longer outings, his family has revealed.
The French boy suffered life-changing injuries in the attack by teenager Jonty Bravery in August 2019. The child, who was then aged six and on holiday with his parents, survived the 30-metre fall, but suffered major injuries, including bleeding on the brain and broken bones. Bravery was convicted of attempted murder in 2020 and jailed for 15 years.
Continue reading...Nick Gibb says buildings continue to be surveyed for risk of collapse after over 100 were told to shut
The schools minister has warned more schools in England could face closure after more than 100 were told to shut just days before term starts for thousands of pupils.
The government has refused to publicly reveal the 104 education facilities that have been told to shut buildings due to the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), a material at risk of collapse.
Continue reading...Charge sheets show the man allegedly assaulted children over 15 years at centres all across Brisbane
The Queensland childcare worker accused of being one of Australia’s worst paedophiles is alleged to have sexually abused seven different girls in a single month, court documents show.
Charge sheets released on Tuesday reveal new details about allegations against the man, who is accused of abusing 91 children in Australia and overseas over a 15-year period.
In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800; adult survivors can seek help at Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International
Continue reading...Human rights group finds growing number of cases of minors held among prisoners
Vulnerable children who arrive in Britain by small boat are being placed in an adult prison that holds significant numbers of sex offenders.
A growing number of cases have been identified where unaccompanied children, many of whom appear to be trafficked, have been sent to HMP Elmley, Kent, and placed among foreign adult prisoners.
Continue reading...Retailer apologises for error, with such advertising banned in case it discourages breastfeeding
Online adverts for Boots for four infant formula products broke advertising rules designed to protect breastfeeding, the advertising watchdog has found.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) made the ruling in response to a complaint that the health and beauty retailer’s infant formula products had been advertised on Google.
Continue reading...Research found 53% of teenagers in England who had been referred to services did not achieve a pass in both subjects
Children in England who are referred to social services at any point in their childhood are twice as likely to fail GCSE maths and English, according to new research published ahead of results day on Thursday.
Analysts looked at 1.6m pupils’ exam results over a three-year period and found that 53% of teenagers who had been referred to social care – as detailed in the Children in Need census – did not achieve a grade 4 pass in both English and maths GCSE.
Continue reading...Former nurse will never be released from prison as judge describes ‘deep malevolence bordering on sadism’
The serial killer nurse Lucy Letby will never be released from prison after a judge sentenced her to a rare whole-life term for the “sadistic” murder of seven babies.
Letby, 33, is one of only three women alive to have been given such a jail term in the UK. She was sentenced at Manchester crown court on Monday.
Continue reading...Guardian investigation also reveals Countess of Chester hospital executive feared contacting police would ‘damage reputation’
Lucy Letby’s colleagues were ordered to apologise to her after repeatedly raising concerns that the nurse may have been behind a series of unexplained baby deaths, the Guardian has learned.
Senior doctors had warned for months that Letby was the only staff member present during the sudden collapses and deaths of a number of premature babies on the Countess of Chester hospital’s neonatal unit.
Continue reading...Genealogy site Scotland’s People made available records of adoptions dating back 100 years, raising fears for breaches of privacy
A genealogy website operated by the Scottish government has disclosed the names of thousands of people adopted as children.
The Scotland’s People site made available the records of adoptions dating back more than 100 years, records that included the adopted child’s first name and new surname. While the Information Commissioner’s Office has not received a formal breach report, its officials were contacted by National Records of Scotland (NRS), an official arm of the Scottish government that runs the website.
Continue reading...Youngsters faced a heatwave, flooded tents, sewage spills and an expensive evacuation – but concerns were raised before the event even began
Media outlets in South Korea have labelled its hosting of the World Scout Jamboree a “national disgrace”, a “survival game”, and a “worst nightmare”. Public outcry has intensified online and strangers are approaching scouts on the streets, apologising on behalf of their country and handing out gifts.
South Korea has successfully hosted large events such as the Fifa World Cup and Winter Olympics, but the mismanagement of the global scouting event, which struggled with heat and hygiene and eventually had to be evacuated as a typhoon approached, has left many wondering: where did it all go wrong?
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: As thousands of scouts are evacuated from their quadrennial global get-together, the host nation’s handling of the event is in the spotlight
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Good morning. Imagine you are going on a school trip, but it’s with thousands of other schools, and the trip is to Fyre festival, and the guys from Trainspotting are taking care of the sanitation. Oh, and there’s an enormous hurricane on its way.
That may sum up what 4,500 British scouts have felt this week, after their trip of a lifetime to the World Scout Jamboree in South Korea turned into a bad comedy marked by successive calamities, natural and human-made, that yesterday culminated in the mass evacuation of all 43,000 young people.
Northern Ireland | A “monumental” data breach has exposed the names and rank of every serving Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officer. A spreadsheet was mistakenly published online for up to three hours in response to a freedom of information request. The Police Federation for Northern Ireland said it was a “breach of monumental proportions”.
Security | The data of millions of voters was accessible to hackers in a cyber-attack by “hostile actors” discovered almost a year ago, the Electoral Commission has admitted. The watchdog apologised for the security breach in which the names and addresses of millions of voters were accessible to hackers as far back as 2021.
Health | Millions of people under the age of 65 in England will be denied flu and Covid jabs this winter despite one of the government’s top public health officials warning that coronavirus has not “gone away”.
Conservatives | The Home Office spent more than £1,500 of public money painting over cartoon murals that were meant to welcome children to a controversial asylum reception centre, it can be revealed.
France | Five Marseille police officers have been detained for questioning over the death of a 27-year-old man during rioting in the French city on 1 July. The public prosecutor suggested it was “probable” Mohamed Bendriss died after “a violent shock to the thorax caused by a ‘flash-ball’ type projectile”, a controversial police weapon, that caused him to go into cardiac arrest.
Continue reading...Site has been plagued by issues including heatwave that left hundreds ill last week
All participants at this year’s World Scout Jamboree in South Korea will be evacuated from the campsite before the scheduled end date of 12 August due to a typhoon that is expected to make landfall over the Korean peninsula in the coming days, in the latest blow to the event.
The World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) said it had received confirmation from the South Korean government that, due to the expected impact of Typhoon Khanun, an early departure would be planned for all participants at the global youth event in the south-western county of Buan.
Continue reading...Head of Scout Association says event in South Korea had been poorly organised even before threat of Typhoon Khanun
The £1m cost of relocating the 4,500-strong UK contingent at the World Scout Jamboree in South Korea will affect the work of the Scout Association for as much as five years, the organisation’s boss has said.
Matt Hyde, the UK Scouts chief executive, said the association had been forced to dip into its reserves after the event’s organisers decided to clear the campsite five days early because of an incoming typhoon that is expected to make landfall over the Korean peninsula in the coming days.
Continue reading...Thousands of scouts to be removed from site after hundreds of heat-related illnesses at event in South Korea
Thousands of UK and US scouts attending the World Scout Jamboree in South Korea are being removed from the official campsite in the south-western county of Buan amid a suffocating heatwave.
The event, which started this week, has drawn 43,000 young scouts from 158 countries, with the UK contingent the largest at 4,500.
Continue reading...Save the Children and Oxfam urge government to restore aid budget back to 0.7% of national income
UK aid cuts are a “death sentence” for children in the world’s most dangerous places, aid charities have warned after an internal government report revealed the impact of budget reductions on the most vulnerable.
The government faced calls from NGOs including Save the Children and Oxfam to restore the aid budget back to 0.7% of national income, after the potential effects of cuts were outlined in grim detail by an assessment produced by civil servants.
Continue reading...Leading scientists and medics back London and other clean air schemes and urge politicians to keep their nerve
Leading doctors and scientists have warned politicians against watering down plans to expand city-wide schemes aimed at reducing traffic pollution levels linked to thousands of deaths each year.
They urged politicians not to lose their nerve over plans to improve poor air quality, such as the expansion of the ultra low emission zone (Ulez) in London, which they said were central to tackling “unacceptably high” levels of illness and child deaths, and called for more ambitious policies to reduce toxic air.
Continue reading...Major UN report issues warning over excessive use, with one in six countries already banning the devices
Smartphones should be banned from schools to tackle classroom disruption, improve learning and help protect children from cyberbullying, a UN report has recommended.
Unesco, the UN’s education, science and culture agency, said there was evidence that excessive mobile phone use was linked to reduced educational performance and that high levels of screen time had a negative effect on children’s emotional stability.
Continue reading...