Daily roundup 10 October: Relationship education, sexting, and child arrests

Female cabinet ministers are forming an alliance to tackle the problems of internet pornography, child abuse and the sexualisation of young people and are considering moves to boost sex and relationship education in schools. The Times reports that Education Secretary Justine Greening, Home Secretary Amber Rudd, Justice Secretary Liz Truss, and Culture Secretary Karen Bradley have all made it a personal priority to combat the sexual exploitation of children and their online exposure to sexual or other inappropriate material.


Cases of sexting between young people under the age of 18 should not normally be investigated by police if they involve children of a similar age in a relationship, the Crown Prosecution Service has recommended. The Guardian reports that proposed guidance for lawyers about when antisocial internet use tips over into illegal activity has been put out to public consultation.


Child arrests have fallen by 59 per cent in the last five years, police figures show. Statistics published by the Howard League for Penal Reform, following freedom of information requests, show that during 2015 police in England and Wales made 101,926 arrests of boys and girls aged 17 and under, compared with 245,763 in 2010.


Debts run up by 113 academy trusts in England amount to almost £25m, raising "serious concerns" about accountability, according to the chair of the public accounts select committee. The BBC reports that a freedom of information request found that one academy trust alone was running a deficit of more than £600,000.


A legal case against Facebook, brought by a 17-year-old victim of revenge pornography, could open the floodgates for other civilian claims, according to lawyers working with victims of the crime. The Guardian reports that a media lawyer said the case, in which the girl claims that the social media site is liable for the publication of a naked picture her that was posted repeatedly on a "shame page" as an act of revenge, could be a "real problem" for social media sites in the future.


Hundreds of child refugees stuck in Calais will be brought to Britain in the coming months, Home Secretary Amber Rudd has said. The Daily Mail reports that Rudd said that officials have already gone to Calais to trawl the camps for vulnerable youngsters as part of efforts to get the children to Britain. France has vowed to shut down the notorious "Jungle" camp in Calais, starting next week - and The Red Cross has hit out at the Home Office, claiming it had refused to respond to official requests from French authorities to accept unaccompanied child refugees.