Daily roundup 10 April: Arts funding, nationality data, and royal wedding gifts

New funding to support talented music, drama and dance pupils to realise their potential and forge a career in the arts has been announced by the Department for Education. Schools minister Nick Gibb said an additional £96m will be provided to give pupils across the country access to a range of cultural opportunities, taking the total level of government support for music and arts programmes to £496m since 2016. Music, art and design, drama and dance are included in the national curriculum and compulsory in all maintained schools from the age of 5 to 14.


Campaigners are claiming victory amid reports that the government is to back down on a controversial requirement that schools must collect data on their pupils' nationality and country of birth. The Guardian reports that campaign group Against Borders for Children, which has fought against the policy since its introduction in September 2016, welcomed the apparent government U-turn as a "comprehensive victory". The Department for Education is expected to contact schools to explain there will no longer be any requirement to collect the information.


A youth work initiative has been selected by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to benefit from donations in lieu of wedding gifts when they get married. StreetGames, a charity that uses sport to empower young people to kick-start a cycle of positive change in their lives that resonates across communities, is one of seven charities chosen to benefit from donations to mark the couple's wedding.


Evidence from so-called paedophile hunter groups was used to charge suspects at least 150 times last year, a BBC investigation has found. A Freedom of Information request, sent to every police force in England and Wales, showed a seven-fold increase in the use of such evidence from 2015. However, the National Police Chiefs Council say the groups' tactics present "significant risks".


Thousands of people have signed a petition calling on Leicestershire County Council to drop cost-cutting plans to close more than half of its children's centres. The Leicester Mercury reports that the Conservative-run council aims to shut 24 of its 40 centres as part of a wider plan to save £3.8m. However, campaigners are opposing the move, and have collected more than 2,500 names on an online petition urging a rethink.