Daily roundup 27 February: Unregistered schools, extremism, and Toby Young

Concerns have been raised about child safety in unregistered schools, after a BBC investigation filmed a teacher appearing to strike a pupil's head. The BBC filmed a suspected unregistered ultra-orthodox Jewish school in Essex, and photos from two other such schools showed dirty and unhygienic conditions. Ofsted said it has identified more than 350 suspected unregistered schools, but lacks sufficient powers to close them.


Courts should remove children from extremist families, the country's top counter-terrorism officer said last night. The Times reports that Mark Rowley claimed that exposing children to extremism was "equally wicked" as exposing them to sexual abuse but said that parents were being allowed to continue caring for their sons and daughters after being convicted of terrorist offences. He revealed that about 100 children had been safeguarded through the family courts since the start of conflicts in Syria and Iraq but many others remained with their parents.


Toby Young's reputation as a "controversialist" should have prompted greater scrutiny into his past before he was appointed to England's new university regulator, a probe has said. The BBC reports that Young quit within days over some past "politically incorrect" remarks. A report by the commissioner for public appointments criticised the Department for Education for failing to delve back far enough into his Twitter account.


Avon and Somerset Police has joined forces with a child protection charity to tackle the growing online demand for child porn. The Bristol Post reports that the police force has partnered with The Lucy Faithfull Foundation to clamp down on the crime and improve prevention, by offering advice to would-be offenders.


Increasing key benefits could help to reduce child poverty in Scotland, a major report has said. The BBC reports that Scotland's Poverty and Inequality Commission made 40 recommendations including topping up the child element of Universal Credit. It added that the ambitious target of cutting child poverty by 100,000 would incur "substantial costs".