Daily roundup 15 January: Labour health policy, extremism, and grooming

Labour’s shadow health secretary Andy Burnham is expected to announce plans to ban high fat foods marketed at children when he announces the party’s health policy later today. The Daily Mail reports that Labour wants to impose a cap on the amounts of fat, sugar and salt that can be contained in food marketed at children as part of efforts to give children a healthier start in life.


The Bishop of Durham has backed government plans to ask nursery staff to report cases of potential radicalisation. The Chronicle Live reports that the Right Reverend Paul Butler welcomed the plans, designed to clamp down on extremism, during a House of Lords debate on the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill and said that more needs to be done at a “grassroots” level to tackle the issue.


Child protection campaigners have criticised a judge who claimed that Stuart Kerner, a teacher who had a sexual affair with a pupil, should not be sent to prison because he had been “groomed” and “stalked” by his victim. The Independent reports that the campaigners, which include the NSPCC, have accused Judge Joanna Greenberg QC of shifting the blame onto the victim when teachers have a professional responsibility to reject advances from pupils.


Cheshire West and Chester Council has announced proposals to decommission five children’s centres. Chester First reports that the authority wants community organisations to take over the running of the centres in a bid to save the council £162,000 a year. The plans are subject to a three-month consultation.


The former girlfriend of paedophile rock singer Ian Watkins has been cleared of child sex abuse charges after a court heard how she shared indecent images in a bid to expose her former partner’s criminality. The BBC reports that Joanne Mjadzelics, from Doncaster, told Cardiff Crown Court that she gave evidence to police about Watkins, who is serving a 35-year sentence for sexually abusing children, at least five times but they failed to act on her reports.


New research shows that children’s health and wellbeing is being damaged by cold homes. A survey by welfare charity Turn2us found that 78 per cent of low income families struggled to pay their energy bills in the past year, with 75 per cent saying that this is in turn impacting negatively on their children’s health.