Most young offender institutions are failing to provide the statutory 15 hours each week of education to young people in custody, it has been claimed. The BBC reports that research by the Centre for Social Justice found that only one of the nine YOIs in England met the target, with an average of just 11 hours of lessons a week being delivered across the establishments. The CSJ was responding to a Ministry of Justice consultation on plans to create so-called secure colleges to improve education provision.
Children whose brains process information more slowly are at greater risk of psychosis, academics have found. Research from Bristol and Cardiff universities shows that performance in cognitive tests at the ages of eight, 10 and 11 are linked to the likelihood of psychotic experiences – such as hearing voices or seeing things, at the age of 12. The study was based on more than 6,000 participants.
All children’s surgery has been stopped at a private hospital after the Care Quality Commission said it was putting lives at risk, according to the Daily Mail. A report on practice at the Mount Alvernia hospital in Guildford, Surrey, said children admitted for surgery were “particularly at risk of unsafe and inappropriate care and treatment”. BMI Healthcare, the private company that runs the hospital, has written to patients to apologise.
Child protection services in Cheshire East have been judged "inadequate" by Ofsted with vulnerable children left at "potential risk of harm". The Crewe Chronicle reports that Ofsted inspectors discovered a catalogue of failings following an unannounced inspection in March 2013. Delays in procedures, cases being closed too early and child protection concerns not being responded to promptly were all highlighted as areas of concern by Ofsted.
The Labour Party would give long-term unemployed young people a compulsory job guarantee if it were in government, the Daily Mail reports. Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Liam Byrne said young people would have to take up the offer or lose their benefits. Byrne’s comments came as he said youth unemployment had jumped by nearly 50,000 in the three years since the coalition came to power. “David Cameron is letting down a generation of young people who have been out of work for more than a year and struggle to find work,” he said.
Scottish parliament legislation that, if passed, will give every child in Scotland their own state-appointed worker to guard against the threat of abuse has been called into question by MSPs. The Scotsman quotes Holyrood’s petitions committee as warning that the move will be a “huge enterprise” that could stretch social workers' caseloads to the limit. The Children and Young People Bill contains a legal requirement to provide children with a “named person” from birth, such as a health worker, to safeguard and support their wellbeing.
