Daily roundup 26 March: Chief Guide, tampon tax, and homelessness

A volunteer who joined Girlguiding when she was seven and has led groups of Guides for more than 30 years has been announced as the new chief Guide. Girguiding UK said Amanda Medler wants to focus on supporting the network of over 100,000 volunteers who give their time each week.


Thousands of women from across the UK will benefit from £15m from the latest round of the government's Tampon Tax Fund, the civil society minister Tracey Crouch has announced. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said projects that tackle sexual violence, address social exclusion among black and ethnic minority women and improve mental health and wellbeing will receive funding over the next two years. The money will also be used to make grants to smaller organisations so they can deploy services that support the most vulnerable and disadvantaged women and girls in the country.


Almost 30,000 single parent families were made homeless last year, up 8 per cent on five years ago, according to new official figures. The BBC reports that housing charity Shelter said government figures also reveal that nearly three-quarters of homeless households in England are lone-parent families. Shelter said lone parents were bearing the brunt of the housing crisis, by juggling part-time work and childcare.


An 11-year-old boy with autism has received £42,000 in compensation after his family accused a Cub Scout group of discriminating against him. The Guardian reports that Ben Gleeson joined the 10th Harpenden Scout group in January 2015 but was later told he could not go to camps or take part in athletics without supervision. Pack leaders are said to have imposed restrictions, which his parents - both lawyers - said amounted to a ban, after Ben had a short episode at a camp in March 2016.


A teacher who sent "sexually motivated" messages to a pupil at a school where he previously worked has been banned from the profession. The BBC reports that Ian Stuart sent messages to at least one pupil at King Edward VI School in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, in May 2017. Mr Stuart, who was teaching at a different school at the time, admitted the allegations.