Daily roundup 15 December: School funding, maternity security and football abuse

The biggest shake-up of school funding in England for decades will see less money for big cities such as London, Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham, and larger budgets for schools in the suburbs and shires, it has emerged. The BBC reports that Education Secretary Justine Greening has announced a new national funding formula for schools from 2018/19, saying it would resolve "unfair" and "inconsistent" funding levels.


The Royal London Hospital has been told to improve its security to prevent mothers leaving the maternity ward with the wrong baby. The Express reports that the Care Quality Commission found that babies at the hospital had no tags, leading to a risk of mistaken identity and the provision of wrong medication.


The NSPCC has received more than 1,700 calls to its football sex abuse hotline since it was set up three weeks ago. The Independent reports that the helpline was set up in conjunction with the FA after former players revealed they had been abused in their youth.


A radical approach is needed to address an alarming downward trend in the amount and diversity of youth services in Wales, a Welsh national assembly committee has said. The call by the children, young people and education committee comes as it warned the number of young people taking part in council-run youth service is reducing and the number of youth work staff has declined, with authorities reporting the loss of 148 staff in 2015/16.


Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has launched a nationwide campaign to help parents to identify sepsis in their children. ITV News reports that this will be delivered by Public Health England and the UK Sepsis Trust as part of a number of NHS measures to reduce the 37,000 deaths it causes each year.


People in Liverpool are being urged to consider becoming foster carers for young people in the city. The Liverpool Echo reports that Liverpool City Council has around 1,100 looked-after children and young people, with half of them fostered and others living in residential home settings. A major campaign has now been launched to encourage adults across the region to sign up as foster carers.?


Britain's fertility regulator is to decide whether or not to give the go-ahead to so-called "three parent baby" treatments to prevent inherited diseases. The Daily Echo reports that mitochondrial replacement therapy could be used for the first time as early as next spring if the proposal is approved by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.