Daily roundup 13 April: Playground closures, grammar schools, and child sexual exploitation

Children's playgrounds are closing across the country, a study has found. The Telegraph reports that research by the Association of Play Industries found that 112 playgrounds across 28 local authority areas were shut between 2014 and 2015, with a further 102 scrapped across 37 councils the following financial year.


Education Secretary Justine Greening wants England's schools, including a new generation of grammars, to do more to help "ordinary working families". The BBC reports that Greening will use a speech today to say that the school system needs to support those who are struggling and not "the privileged few".


A total of 29 people have appeared in court facing more than 170 charges relating to the sexual exploitation of 18 children. The Metro reports that 27 men and two women appeared before a district judge at Huddersfield Magistrates Court charged with offences including rape, trafficking, sexual activity with a child, child neglect, child abduction, supplying drugs and making of indecent images of children.


Young, vulnerable people are being targeted with online classified adverts offering accommodation in exchange for sex. The BBC reports that the deals, which are legal, have been spotted on classified ad websites. Charities have described the adverts as exploitative and Hove MP Peter Kyle wants them made illegal.


A Dutch and Spanish couple who have lived in Britain all their adult lives have told of their "devastation" after the Home Office refused their post-referendum application to have their two London-born children recognised as permanent residents of the country. The Guardian reports that Jan-Dinant Schreuder and Monica Obiols, both 49, said they found themselves in a "bureaucratic nightmare" when they were told their 15-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter had to provide more evidence that they lived permanently with their parents.