Daily roundup 6 March: Drugs education, child abductions and poverty

Anti-drug lessons could be encouraging more children to use substances, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs has told Home Secretary Theresa May. According to the Telegraph, May has been warned that there is little evidence to suggest information about drugs deters young people away and it could be counter-productive. The warning came at the same time as a call for a radical overhaul of drugs policy by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.


All new British passports are now being issued with leaflets highlighting vital steps to take if there are concerns that a child is at risk of being abducted and taken abroad. The initiative put together through a partnership by Parents and Abducted Children Together (PACT) and the Home Office aims to raise awareness of international parent child abductions. Figures released by PACT last month show the number of child abductions and kidnapping offences has risen 13 per cent between 2012/13 and 2013/14.


Babies born today in Britain’s poorest areas are expected to live healthily for the same amount of time as those born in war-torn Liberia, the Times reports. Healthy life expectancy data released by the Office for National Statistics has found a gap of 20 years between the richest and poorest areas of Britain. A comparison of international data by the World Health Organisation puts the healthy life expectancy of the poorest areas roughly in line with Liberia, and British boys from deprived areas on par with Gambia and Botswana.


“Tensions” between the head teacher and longer-serving staff members at Small Heath School and Sixth Form College are damaging progress and the ability to improve, according to an Ofsted report. The criticism comes just months after being given a clean bill of health during the Trojan Horse scandal, the Birmingham Mail reports. The school is now rated “inadequate”.


A Rotherham abuse victim is pressing for more government action to help survivors after meeting David Cameron. The woman, known as Jessica, was among a delegation, that included Rotherham MP Sarah Champion, that met the Prime Minister earlier this week to discuss the child sexual exploitation scandal. Jessica, who was abused between the ages of 14 and 16 in the early 2000s, welcomed a government commitment to spend £1.2m on recruiting specialist foster carers in South Yorkshire, as well as £250,000 that will be spent on re-establishing a Risky Business-style service in Rotherham, reports the Star.


Graeae Theatre Company (GTC) has received a grant of £138,000 from the City of London Corporation’s charity, City Bridge Trust, to boost an artistic programme for disabled young Londoners. Since 1980, Hackney-based GTC has showcased the work of disabled artists, and featured in the Opening Ceremony for the London 2012 Paralympics. The programme will involve disabled children and young people from across London.