Daily roundup 2 March: Obesity, child protection, and adopters

Nearly two-thirds of people want TV adverts for food high in fat, sugar and salt banned before the watershed, says a study. Nine out of 10 would also like to see better teaching about how to eat healthily in schools, according to research commissioned by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. Its president, Dr Hilary Cass, called for the government to take action as Britain has the highest rate of childhood obesity in Western Europe, the Mail reports.


Female teachers that engage in relationships with pupils are now being treated as harshly as male teachers, according to analysis by the Times. According to a teaching union source, it was previously deemed less harmful for a female teacher to have a relationship with a male pupil than a male teacher having a relationship with a female pupil, but that is now no longer the case. In the past year, 20 per cent of female teacher misconduct hearings have involved an inappropriate relationship with a pupil.


A policy which considered e-cigarettes to be as damaging as smoking tobacco has been changed by the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF). The change now means children can be placed with parents who use the battery-powered vaporiser after BAAF admitted the two products are “different”. A couple that were turned away from adopting after the would-be-father was seen using an e-cigarette have welcomed the policy change, the Times reports.


Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has ordered an investigation into the school attended by “Jihadi John” after it emerged a third Islamist fighter was taught at the same north London academy. Choukri Ellekhlifi, a contemporary of Jihadi John at Quintin Kynaston academy, was killed fighting with terrorists in Syria in 2013 after joining up with an al-Qaeda group. The disclosure comes after The Telegraph reported that another former pupil at the St John’s Wood school, Mohammed Sakr, had died fighting for al-Shabaab, an affiliate of al-Qaeda in Somalia.


The Liberal Democrats have warned Labour leader Ed Milliband that plans to cut tuitions fees would be turned down as part of any power sharing deal. According to the Times, Ed Davey, the secretary of state for energy and climate change, has said the Lib Dems would refuse to cut tuition fees to £6,000 if part of a coalition government, despite Milliband announcing the plans last week.


Hundreds of babies are being born clinically obese each year in British hospitals. Figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request show as many as 1,403 newborns were classified as obese (9lb 15oz or over) since 2011, nearly 3lbs more than the national average of 7lb 8oz. The trend means bigger babies are more likely to experience a range of serious birth ­complications, the Mirror reports.