Daily roundup 20 March: Taxis, grammar schools, and child maintenance

Labour's shadow education secretary Angela Rayner has criticised ministers over plans to spend £20m on taxis to take children up to 15 miles to the nearest grammar schools. The Mirror reports that the government has admitted that only around 1,000-1,500 pupils stand to benefit from an announcement in the Budget to provide transport for pupils to the nearest grammar school, meaning the cost per pupil will be £3,000 to £5,000 a year.


A new cross-party campaign has launched to oppose Theresa May's plans to expand the number of grammar schools in England. The BBC reports that former Conservative Education Secretary Nicky Morgan is joining forces with Lib Dem ex-Deputy PM Nick Clegg and Labour ex-shadow education minister Lucy Powell to oppose the proposals.


There is a UK backlog of more than £3.8bn in uncollected child maintenance payments, official figures have shown. The BBC reports that the money is owed by non-resident parents and has built up over 23 years, with figures showing about 1.2 million people are owed child maintenance.


A children's charity has called on the Scottish government to review the process for referring children and young people to mental health services. The Press and Journal reports that Barnardo's Scotland said it became concerned after an internal survey found almost 50 per cent of a 3,000 sample of those it supports have a diagnosis of mental ill health or are presenting with symptoms, but three quarters of those showing signs of an issue were receiving no service from child and adolescent mental health services.


Children should be taught in schools how to recognise "fake news", an international education expert has said. The News Shopper reports that Andreas Schleicher, director of education and skills at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, said that in a modern digital age, schools need to teach pupils how to think critically and analyse what they read on social media and news sites.