Daily roundup 15 October: Employment data, school standards, and online safety

Latest government employment figures show youth unemployment fell by 88,000 over the last quarter to 733,000. The data, covering a period up to the end of August, gives a jobless rate among 16- to 24-year-olds of 16 per cent. Overall the jobless rate fell 154,000 to six per cent, its lowest level since late 2008, while the number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance in September also fell by 18,600 to 951,900, reports the BBC.


Ofsted has written to Nicky Morgan, the education secretary, criticising Birmingham Council for failing to act in response to three in-depth investigations conducted into the city’s schools. Sir Michael Wilshaw, the head of Ofsted, sent an advice note to Morgan based on no-notice monitoring inspections of five schools that are now in special measures. He warned that not enough action was being taken, saying changes to governance and leadership in all five schools were too slow, reports the Times.


Previous thinking about the best way to keep children safe online may be wrong, research from the Oxford Internet Institute and Parent Zone suggests. Rather than restricting or monitoring internet use, parents should let their children discover the net, both good and bad, themselves, a report concludes. It says most of the big internet providers offer parental controls, but this is no replacement for good parenting, the BBC reports.


Head teachers want primary school pupils to learn more about the links between learning and the world of work. More than 1,000 schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have signed up to a project putting them in touch with local employers. The National Association of Head Teachers says the campaign wants to raise the aspirations of children.


The Centre of Excellence for Information Sharing has been set up to help identify barriers and develop practical solutions for improving information sharing across public services. The centre has the support of four government departments – Department for Communities and Local Government, Home Office, Department for Work and Pensions and the Department of Health – to help identify barriers and develop practical solutions for improving information sharing. It will be working across a variety of policy themes – from early intervention through to domestic violence. 


Manchester based Social Sense has won a licencing agreement to take their R U Different? programme into up to 50 Danish schools for at least two years. The Social Norms programme will be licensed as part of a £170,000 research project led by the University of Southern Denmark with the aim of improving attitudes and reducing risk taking behaviours in teenagers and adolescents. Over the past five years the programme has engaged over 100,000 young people and cut smoking rates.