Daily roundup 16 October: First aid, abuse inquiry, and welfare reforms

The Department for Education has launched a consultation on proposed amendments to paediatric first aid requirement rules. The consultation will seek views on proposals to require newly qualified nursery staff at NVQ Level 2 and 3 to hold a paediatric first aid certificate. Last year, the government ruled out introducing a legal duty on all nursery staff to have paediatric first aid training.


Victims of child sex abuse have been asked to resubmit evidence to the Goddard Inquiry into historical abuse after their evidence was accidentally deleted. The BBC reports that the inquiry said it changed the website address, leading to the information being permanently deleted.


The government has been accused of trying to hide the impact of its welfare reforms. Figures showing the impact of the budget measures on different income groups already in receipt of tax credits were handed to a Lords legislation scrutiny committee this week. However, Matt Whitaker, the chief economist at the Resolution Foundation thinktank, told the Guardian that relevant numbers necessary to make a judgment on the losers and winners across the population had been withheld.


At least eight more regions of the UK are preparing applications for extensions to existing selective state schools in their area after a new 450-pupil grammar school in Sevenoaks, Kent, was granted permission. The school was granted permission to open as an “annexe” of the existing Weald of Kent school - despite the locations being 10 miles apart. Grammer school supporters said the decision by the Education Secretary Nicky Morgan will “open the floodgates” of more schools being opened across the country, reports the Telegraph.


Campaigners say there are regional differences in the proportion of women who smoke during pregnancy. The BBC reports that the Smoking in Pregnancy Challenge Group urges the national target to drop from its current rate of 11 per cent of women smoking during pregnancy to below six per cent by 2020.