Daily roundup 18 January: Gang violence, Bradley brutality comments, and child refugees

Youth workers could be deployed to regional hospitals that have seen a rise in the number of young men injured by violence linked to "county lines" drug wars. The Evening Standard reports that charity Redthread says young people are increasingly being admitted to these hospitals after being injured while dealing drugs. It wants to expand its hospital youth work service to towns affected by county lines drug dealing.


Vice-chairman of the Conservative Party Ben Bradley said that "police brutality should be encouraged" after the London riots. The Times reports that Bradley, appointed by Theresa May as Tory vice-chairman for youth last week, wrote in a blog during the unrest in 2011: "We need to come down hard on these morons before somebody gets killed... For once I think police brutality should be encouraged!" Bradley has apologised for the "inappropriate" language.


Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to agree to accept more child refugees from Calais and will spend £44.5m to boost security at the French port, when she hosts Emmanuel Macron at a UK-France summit. The Independent reports that the two leaders will sign a new treaty on Thursday to "complete" the Le Touquet agreement, which would include "precise commitments" from the UK to speed up the processing of asylum claims and accept more unaccompanied minors.


Councillors in Reading have raised concerns about the council's plan to transfer children's services to a separate company. In Your Area reports that Green Party and Liberal Democrat councillors feel the service, judged "inadequate" by Ofsted in 2016, should still be run in-house by Reading Council and receive more funding. However, the ruling Labour Party and the Conservative opposition believe forming a separate company is the best move.


Durham University has scrapped plans to end two of its social work courses following pressure from staff and students. The Northern Echo reports that a review carried out last year had recommended that two of its social work masters degrees be closed due to financial viability concerns.


More than one in five children leaving primary school in Sheffield are now obese, with one in 20 classed as severely obese. The Star reports that new NHS statistics published this month reveal the proportion of the city's children who are battling weight problems has reached its highest ever level. The figures are 0.5 per cent higher than the previous year.