Black children in England and Wales almost eight times more likely to be strip-searched than white peers – report

Demographic also overrepresented when police officers use force such as handcuffs, firearms or Tasers, says children’s commissioner

Black children across England and Wales are almost eight times more likely to be strip-searched by police than their white counterparts, a report has disclosed.

Rachel de Souza, the children’s commissioner for England, said Black children are also overrepresented when officers use force and were more likely to have their “size, gender or build” cited as justification.

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Man who groomed 14-year-old girl he met on Roblox jailed for 28 months

Police say case highlights online dangers to children after Carlo Tritta pleads guilty to making indecent images

A man who obsessively groomed a 14-year-old girl he met through the online gaming platform Roblox has been jailed for 28 months.

Carlo Tritta, now 19, kept indecent images of the girl and travelled hundreds of miles from his home in Eastleigh, Hampshire in order to turn up, uninvited, at her home in Manchester.

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UK has detained 76 ‘age-disputed’ children under one in, one out scheme

Concerns raised over minors placed in adult detention centres since removals began under scheme in September

More than 70 children from various conflict zones whose ages were disputed by the Home Office have been held in detention centres in the UK in preparation for forced removal to France under the government’s “one in, one out” scheme, research shows.

The one in, one out initiative means each small boat arrival can be forcibly returned to France in exchange for another person – who has not attempted the crossing – being brought to the UK legally.

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Keep under-fives’ screen time to no more than an hour a day, UK advice says

Keir Starmer promises to help parents limit children’s online activity as government issues guidance to families

Children under five should spend no more than an hour a day on screens, new government advice says.

Screen time for children under two should be avoided except for shared activities encouraging interaction, families are advised.

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Labour council accuses minister of ‘moral bankruptcy’ over social care dispute

Hartlepool leaders ‘furious and appalled’ after meeting with Steve Reed about growing cost of social care

The housing, communities and local government secretary has been accused by a Labour council of showing “arrogance, indifference and moral bankruptcy” towards children in social care.

In an unusually forthright attack, Labour leaders of Hartlepool council said they were “furious and appalled” at Steve Reed after a meeting with him last week. A cross-party delegation had asked the secretary of state for £3m to help alleviate the growing cost of social care.

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Police arresting 1,000 paedophile suspects a month across UK

National Crime Agency says rise in child sexual abuse being driven by technology and online forums

Child sexual abuse in the UK is soaring, police have said, with 1,000 paedophile suspects being arrested each month and the number of children being rescued from harm rising by 50% in the last five years.

The National Crime Agency said the growth in offending across the UK was driven by technology and linked to the radicalisation of offenders in online forums, encouraging people to view images of child sexual abuse by reassuring them it was normal.

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Victoria could become first Australian state to ban unnecessary surgery on intersex children

Exclusive: Legislation would prohibit deferrable, irreversible procedures until child can give informed consent, bringing state in line with ACT

Victoria will become the first Australian state to ban unnecessary surgeries on intersex children, with legislation to be introduced to parliament to ensure procedures are deferred until patients are old enough to consent to them.

The health minister, Mary-Anne Thomas, will on Tuesday introduce the health safeguards for people born with variations in sex characteristics bill, which if passed would prohibit deferrable, irreversible procedures and treatments on intersex infants and children until they can provide informed consent.

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Last candidate to chair UK grooming gangs inquiry withdraws over ‘lack of trust’

Jim Gamble cites ‘vested interests’ and ‘political opportunism’, as Keir Starmer brings in Louise Casey as adviser

Keir Starmer’s grooming gangs inquiry has descended into fresh turmoil after the only remaining candidate to be its chair blamed “political opportunism” and “a lack of trust” for his withdrawal as an applicant.

As a key survivor called for a face-to-face meeting with the prime minister to save the inquiry, Jim Gamble, a former deputy chief constable, said the process to appoint a committee head was “toxic” and defined by “vested interests”.

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AI chatbots are hurting children, Australian education minister warns as anti-bullying plan announced

Jason Clare says artificial intelligence is ‘supercharging bullying’ to a ‘terrifying’ extent

A disturbing new trend of AI chatbots bullying children and even encouraging them to take their own lives has the Australian government very concerned.

Speaking to media on Saturday, the federal education minister, Jason Clare, said artificial intelligence was “supercharging” bullying.

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Under-16s ban: how hard will it be for Australian social media users to prove their age?

The age assurance technology trial found errors are inevitable – meaning users might have to provide other ID or appeal against wrongful bans

It could take just 40 seconds: that’s how long Australians might have to wait for age assurance technology to assess they’re allowed to be on social media from December, when the under-16s ban comes into effect.

But the reality is, for many users, it could be a much more complicated and time-consuming process.

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Labour MP ‘receives death threats’ after Tory MP shares video on grooming gangs inquiry

Anna Dixon accuses fellow West Yorkshire MP Robbie Moore of spreading misinformation

A Labour MP has said she has been subjected to death threats and online misogynistic abuse after a video was shared by a Conservative MP about her position on a national inquiry into grooming gangs.

Anna Dixon, the MP for Shipley in West Yorkshire, said police were investigating the threats and accused the MP for Keighley and Ilkley, Robbie Moore, of disseminating “misinformation” about her stance on the issue.

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Verbally abused children more likely to have poor mental health as adults, study finds

Analysis suggests long-term damage to wellbeing can be worse than for children experiencing physical abuse

Parents who ridicule, threaten or humiliate their children risk leaving them with a 64% higher chance of having poor mental health as an adult, a study has found.

The research also found physical abuse experienced among the research participants reduced over time, while verbal abuse increased.

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UK to recognise Palestinian statehood in September unless Israel agrees ceasefire and two-state solution, Starmer says – as it happened

UK also demands Hamas release all hostages, disarm, sign up to a ceasefire and accept that they will play no role in the government of Gaza. This live blog is closed

Donald Trump is speaking now at the opening of his new golf course in Aberdeenshire. He said that as president he had “stopped about five wars”.

Yesterday he was claiming to have stopped six of them, and it is not clear why he has revised the number down.

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Starmer defends investment in wind turbines after Trump wrongly claims it is ‘most expensive form of energy’ – UK politics live

UK PM meets US president at his golf course in Turnberry, Scotland, where they discuss energy, Gaza and trade

In a column for the Daily Record, John Swinney, Scotland’s first minister, has said that, if the SNP get a majority in next year’s Holyrood elections, that will be a mandate for a second independence referendum. He said:

Over the next few months, the SNP will set out some radical policies that we know will transform Scotland – ambitious ideas that can be realised with the powers of independence.

For us to achieve that independence, the first step is to secure a legal referendum recognised by all. In 2011 we secured that reliable and dependable route when the SNP achieved a majority of seats at Holyrood.

Tariffs are very important for the Scottish economy and obviously scotch whisky is a unique product.

It can only be produced in Scotland. It’s not a product that can be produced in any other part of the world. So there’s a uniqueness about that, which I think means there is a case for it to be taken out of the tariffs arrangement that is now in place.

I think what’s important is that we focus on the solutions that are required now, and the absolutely immediate situation is a necessity for a ceasefire and for humanitarian aid to need to flow into Gaza so that the people of Gaza can be saved from the starvation that they face.

And I think President Trump is ideally positioned. In fact, he’s perhaps uniquely positioned to apply that pressure to Israel to ensure that there is safe passage for humanitarian aid to support the people of Gaza, who face an absolutely unbearable set of circumstances as a consequence of the conflict.

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Sunday school teacher jailed for sexually abusing nine children was protected by church leader, Victorian cult inquiry hears

Former Geelong Revival Centre members tell inquiry abuse went unreported because group believed its authority was ‘higher than the law of the land’

A Sunday school teacher who was jailed for sexually abusing nine children was protected by the leader of his fundamentalist church, after parents reported the abuse to him instead of police, a Victorian parliamentary inquiry has heard.

Catherine and Ryan Carey, former members of the Geelong Revival Centre (GRC), gave evidence at the first hearing of the parliamentary inquiry into the practices of cults and organised fringe groups on Wednesday.

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Met officers’ strip-search of black girl at school was gross misconduct, panel finds

Disciplinary hearing finds two police officers’ search of Child Q, 15, was disproportionate and humiliating

Two police officers who were involved in the strip-search of a black teenager at her school have been found to have committed gross misconduct.

The search at a school in Hackney, east London, was “disproportionate, inappropriate and unnecessary” and made the girl, known as Child Q, feel degraded and humiliated, a panel concluded at the end of a four-week misconduct hearing.

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MPs back bill to end criminal penalties for abortion in key vote – as it happened

Parliament votes on biggest shake-up to reproductive rights in England and Wales in 60 years

Casey says in the past government has talked relentlessly about the need for better data sharing between departments.

But she says there is a need to consider making this mandatory.

I was there when the tragedy of Soham happened. We knew at that point that if we had had better data sharing there’s a possibility that we might have saved those girls’ lives. There’s certaintly an absolute clarity that intelligence would have been much faster in either avoiding it or or actually finding that dreadful human being earlier.

And we’ve known that forever onwards. And so I think there is also an issue that the Home Office can’t drag their feet on, looking at police intelligence systems, given we’ve living in the 21st century. Probably everbody in this room can connect within seconds. Yet we had Befordshire police finding a young boy that was being, in my mind trafficked to London. But the data intelligence system did not make it easy for them to find that he was in Deptford and being circled and dealt with by predators.

I feel very strongly on issues that are as searing as people’s race, when we know the prejudice and racism that people of colour experience in this country, to not get how you treat that data right is a different level of public irresponsibility.

Sorry, to put it so bluntly, I didn’t put it that bluntly yesterday, but I think it’s particularly important if you are collecting those sorts of issues to get them 100% right.

When we asked the good people of Greater Manchester Police to help us look at the data we also collected – I think it’s in the report – what was happening with child abuse more generally, and of course … if you look at the data on child sexual exploitation, suspects and offenders, it’s disproportionately Asian heritage. If you look at the data for child abuse, it is not disproportionate, and it is white men.

So again, just note to everybody, really outside here rather than in here. Let’s just keep calm here about how you interrogate data and what you draw from it.

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Watchdog calls for action on children’s care case delays in England and Wales

Proportion of cases lasting more than a year up 17-fold in seven years, National Audit Office says

The proportion of children in England and Wales subject to care proceedings who are having to wait more than a year to have their case resolved has increased more than 17-fold in the last seven years, a watchdog has found.

The average duration of proceedings brought by local authorities to protect a child from harm (known as public law cases) was 36 weeks last year, according to the National Audit Office (NAO). In 2014 the government set a time limit of 26 weeks but it has never been met.

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Starmer claims voters being ‘conned’ by Tories and Reform UK as parties are planning a coalition – as it happened

PM says supporters of both groups are being misled and a tie-up would be a ‘disaster’ for Britain. This live blog is closed

Downing Street has described the alleged comments by the band Kneecap in the ‘kill MP’ footage (see 12.10pm) as “completely unacceptable”.

At the morning lobby briefing, the PM’s spokesperson described the comments as “completely unacceptable”.

We do not think individuals expressing those views should be receiving government funding.

That’s up to the group, but clearly the PM rejects the views expressed … does not shy away from condemning them.

I don’t want to see strike action, I don’t think anybody wants to see strike action.

And certainly here we are in a healthcare environment with all the staff working really hard. The last thing they want to do is to go into dispute again.

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What are the Ofcom measures to protect children online – and will they work?

Communications regulator has brought in more than 40 new rules for tech firms designed to keep under-18s safe

Ofcom announces new rules for tech firms to keep children safe online

The UK communications watchdog has set out more than 40 measures to keep children safe online under a landmark piece of legislation.

The Online Safety Act has a strong focus on protecting under-18s from harmful content and the codes of practice published by Ofcom on Thursday are a significant moment for regulation of the internet.

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