Daily roundup 22 June: Mobile phones, abuse inquiry, and gaming disorder

The chief inspector of Ofsted has said she backs head teachers who ban mobile phones to prevent bad behaviour. The BBC reports that Amanda Spielman blamed technology for making "low-level disruption" more common and endorsed tough behaviour policies. Her comments came after Culture Secretary Matt Hancock also called on head teachers to ban phones.


The Church of England "botched" its investigation into alleged cases of abuse, a report's author has said. The BBC reports that Sir Roger Singleton, who reviewed the Church's "flawed" 2010 investigation, said it "failed to give a complete picture" of the abuse. But Sir Roger, whose report is due out next month, said he found "no evidence of a planned deliberate attempt to mislead". The Church has outlined four steps for improvement.


There is no strong evidence to support fears that screen time is inherently bad for children, experts have warned, adding that the recognition of so-called gaming disorder by the World Health Organisation is premature. The Guardian reports that Andy Przybylski, associate professor and director of research at the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford said studies exploring links between screen time and health sometimes find weak, negative links to aspects of wellbeing such as self-esteem and depression but that the majority were based on surveys and only looked at one snapshot in time.


Council bosses in Sunderland have promised an extra £6.5m to support the independent trust responsible for children's services. The BBC reports that Together for Children, which was formed after Sunderland City Council's service was rated "inadequate" by Ofsted inspectors in 2015, ended the 2017/18 financial year with a deficit of £8m. In January, the council agreed to provide £4m to plug gaps in funding.


Education charity Future First has been awarded a second round of government funding to extend its work improving young people's employability skills. The new funding will help an additional 10,600 students at 19 state secondary schools and colleges in Bradford, Doncaster, Fenland and East Cambridgeshire, Hastings, Ipswich and Stoke-on-Trent, areas identified by the government as careers "cold spots" where careers advice is lacking.