Daily roundup 21 March: Tooth decay, data breach, and truancy detectives

Hospitals in England are seeing thousands of very young children each year needing baby teeth removed. The BBC reports that the Faculty of Dental Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons, which compiled the data, blames tooth decay linked to sugary diets. Figures show there were 9,206 extractions carried out on children aged four and younger between April 2015 and March 2016.


Norfolk County Council has been fined £60,000 for leaving files that included sensitive information about children in a cabinet sent to a second-hand shop. The Eastern Daily Press reports that the breach came to light after the social work files, with information about seven children in, were discovered by a shopper in a cabinet they had bought from the shop in April 2014.


Four schools in Essex will employ full-time truancy detectives in order to track down children believed to be absconding from school. The Telegraph reports that the schools plan hire two full-time "attendance ambassadors" responsible for following up cases of truancy, with the new enforcers given licence to visit the homes of parents whose children are suspected of truancy.


A former deputy head teacher has been charged with sexual offences against 13 pupils. The BBC reports that Grahame Brennand, 69, of Calder Avenue, Preston, is accused of 24 counts of indecent assault against young girls at St John's Primary School in Baxenden, Lancashire. The offences were allegedly committed between 1974 and 1988.


Parents have criticised a primary school for sending out letters claiming their children are "very overweight". The Mirror reports that Tor Bridge Primary School in Plymouth measured pupils weight and height as part of a national NHS programme - some as young as four years old. Letters were then sent home to parents, with some being told their child was "very overweight".