Daily roundup 21 July: Passports, spending review and park death

Parents worried that their children may travel to Syria or Iraq to join Islamic State will be able to apply for their child’s passport to be cancelled, Prime Minister David Cameron has announced. The Guardian reports Cameron said that parents would have the right to cancel the passports of their children under the age of 16. The decision comes as he set out a five-year counter extremism strategy.


The government’s spending review, which will set out department budgets over the next five years, is to take place on the 25 November. The BBC reports that the Treasury will write to cabinet members to ask for savings in their departments to total £20bn with proposals expected to be put forward by September.  


An investigation has been launched by police and the Health and Safety Executive following the death of a five-year-old girl in east London’s Mile End Park. The London Evening Standard reports Alexia Walenkaki suffered severe head injuries after the trunk of a tree being used for a rope swing snapped and fell.


Staff at Brinsford Young Offenders Institution (YOI) have been praised in a report by the HM Inspectorate of Prisons. According to the Birmingham Mail, inspectors were also pleased with the progress made since the YOI received a damning report in 2013, which prompted calls for it to be closed down.


Children’s services at Nottinghamshire County Council have been praised by Ofsted inspectors following a review in May. The report published yesterday rated the council’s services for looked after children, care leavers and those in need of help and protection as “good”.


Work on a £6.5m special school for children with autism in Oldham has been completed. The Manchester Evening News reports Hollinwood Academy has been handed over to sponsors the New Bridge Group, with teachers starting to prepare before term starts in September.


An inquiry into the role of regional school commissioners has been launched by the education committee. They are currently calling for written evidence and the deadline for submissions closes at noon on Wednesday 9 September.


Ten men from across England have been charged with child sex offences and other crimes by specialist child protection officers. The Express & Star reports the alleged offences are all connected to the sexual exploitation of two teenage boys.