Daily roundup 11 November: Youth Parliament, asylum, and murder sentences

Members of the UK Youth Parliament will debate issues that were selected by more than 978,000 young people in the House of Commons today. The British Youth Council said that more than 250 young people, aged 11-18, will debate education, racism and religious discrimination, public transport, votes at 16 and the health service. At the close of the debates, the young people will vote to decide which of the topics will become the focus of their 2017 national campaigns.?


There has been a significant decline in the number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children arriving in Kent, social services chiefs have said. Kent Online reports that figures show that the county council has had 357 unaccompanied children referred to it this year to date - compared with 948 in 2015.


A teenage boy and girl have been given life sentences with 20-year minimum terms for the murder of a mother and daughter in Lincolnshire in April. The BBC reports that Elizabeth Edwards, 49, and Katie, 13, were smothered and stabbed while they slept at home in Spalding. Sentencing the 15-year-olds, the judge said it was a "terrible crime which has few parallels in modern criminal history".?


Skipping breakfast and irregular sleep patterns have been identified as key reasons why children may become overweight, research suggests. The study, led by academics from University College London, found fifestyle factors and the environment a child is brought up in play a significant role in their chances of becoming obese. Analysis of data collected by the Millennium Cohort Study showed that children who do not have a regular bedtime or who get too little sleep are at risk of gaining excess weight, the Guardian reports.


More than 100 households were evicted every day from rented homes in England last year, the latest figures show. A total of 39,723 homes were repossessed by bailiffs in the 12 months to September 2016 - equivalent to 108 per day, Ministry of Justice data reveals. Homelessness charity Shelter blamed benefit cuts and affordable housing shortages, reports the BBC.


The Pre-school Learning Alliance has called on the government to publish research on the cost of delivering childcare after the Information Commissioner's Office ruled in the charity's favour in an ongoing Freedom of Information dispute. The government must now respond to the Alliance within 35 days regarding the research it commissioned Deloitte to undertake on the cost pressures facing early years providers.