Daily roundup 18 January: Sugar tax, mental health, and missing children

A “sugar tax” is to be imposed by the NHS in hospitals and health centres in England in a bid to tackle obesity. The BBC reports NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens said he was proposing a 20 per cent tax on sugary foods and drinks in NHS cafes from 2020.


Hundreds of lives are lost due to gaps in mental health treatment, a government taskforce will reveal. The Times reports that an annual sum of £1.2bn could save up to 400 lives from suicide, according to the chief executive of charity Mind, who is overseeing the task force and which will publish a report later this month.


Up to 15 children in Birmingham are being reported missing from home every day, police and social services figures have revealed. The Birmingham Mail reports around 1,000 missing children cases were looked at by police between January and September last year. The three most persistent runaways, who are in care, ran away 34 times between them in a three-month period.


Hundreds of children in Dorset are suffering from emotional abuse and domestic violence, a corporate performance monitoring report has revealed. According to the Dorset Echo, the report says there is a high risk of the authority failing to protect vulnerable children and young people from abuse or neglect which could have been prevented.


A public consultation has been launched by Kingston Council into the running of its youth services. The Surrey Comet reports the council has proposed to close four of its eight youth clubs and the consultation ends on 11 February.


Tattooists working out of their homes are willing to work on children as young as 11, a BBC investigation has found. Undercover reporters found 10 unlicensed tattooists through online forums who were willing to work on young people, even though it is illegal for anyone under 18 to get a tattoo, even with parental permission.