Daily roundup 29 May: Child obesity, gender, and missing refugees

One in 25 children in England aged 10 or 11 are severely obese, analysis has found. The BBC reports that the Local Government Association (LGA), which analysed Public Health England figures, found that the number of children classed as severely overweight rose from 15,000 in reception to 22,000 by the time they leave primary school. The LGA said action is urgently needed.


Children as young as 12 should have the legal right to change their gender on their birth certificates, Scotland's children's commissioner has said. The Times reports that Bruce Adamson, a family law specialist, said that young people who believe they were born the wrong gender should be able to make the amendment without parental approval. He was responding to a Scottish government proposal to reform equality legislation to make it easier for transgender people to alter birth certificates.


More than 120 child refugees believed to have been trafficked to the UK from northern France have gone missing, a new report has revealed. The Independent reports that a study by the NSPCC's Child Trafficking Advice Centre found that the number of child refugees trafficked to the UK from France who are missing has increased by 22 per cent since last July. The NSPCC has called on the government to bolster cross-border arrangements on child trafficking.


A cross-party group of 20 MPs have raised concerns over how government is tackling grooming gangs, highlighting the similarities in gang-related child sexual exploitation cases across the country. The Oxford Mail reports that in a letter to Home Secretary Sajid Javid, the group called for research to be undertaken into common patterns of behaviour in such cases to better understand the causes.


A boy who says he cannot sit his GCSE exams after being stabbed may be held back a year because his exam board will not honour his predicted grades. The BBC reports that the 16-year-old lost part of his lung when he was attacked in in Enfield, north London, on 7 May. The Joint Council for Qualifications (JQC) rejected pleas from his head teacher and MPs to award the pupil his predicted grades of A*-A.