Daily roundup 24 March: Family holidays, maternity leave, and Everton FC

There has been a sharp rise in the number of children missing school in England because of unauthorised family holidays, according to the latest government figures. The Guardian reports that while overall pupil absence rates have remained stable and are at a historic low, figures published by the Department for Education reveal that an additional 100,000 children missed school for an unauthorised family holiday in 2015/16 compared with the previous year.


Britain is near the bottom of the European league for paid maternity leave, while Croatia, Hungary and the Czech Republic offer the most generous deals to female workers, a study by a trade union has found. The Guardian reports that the TUC said that although women in the UK are entitled to be off work for up to a year, they are only "decently paid" for a small part of that.


Everton Football Club has teamed up with the internet safety charity UK Safer Internet Centre to launch an educational project aimed at teaching young men about the importance of appropriate online behaviour and online safety. The initiative is being rolled out across Everton's youth teams and local schools.


A youth homelessness charity in Brighton has received a £92,000 donation. The Brighton Argus reports that The Clock Tower Sanctuary, which receives no statutory funding to run its service, received the cash after employees at local firm RiverStone Management Limited nominated it.


Eight new specialist autism centres are to be opened up across Essex. Chelmsford Weekly News reports that four specialist school-led autism spectrum disorder hubs have also been set up, which will work to develop autism expertise in the county.