Daily roundup 29 May: Legal highs, children's commissioner, and smoking ban

A new law to ban so-called legal highs will carry a prison sentence of up to seven years. The BBC reports that ministers will publish draft laws, which will prohibit psychoactive substances, also known as legal highs, from being produced, distributed, sold and supplied. The new restrictions will also extend to the sale of nitrous oxide – also known as laughing gas or "hippy crack" – for human use.


The Office of the Children's Commissioner is facing a fine if it is found to have broken civil service rules by re-hiring a senior official, according to the Daily Mail. Sue Berelowitz, deputy children’s commissioner, received a £134,000 redundancy payoff last month but the Office of the Children’s Commissioner re-hired her as a consultant the next day.


The smoking ban may have saved thousands of children from serious illness and hospital admissions, research claims. The Mirror reports that a study carried out by Dr Jasper Been, from the University of Edinburgh, found that 11,000 fewer children are being admitted to hospital each year with lung infections.


The British Youth Council has called for a meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron to try to persuade him to let 16- and 17-year-olds vote in the EU referendum. The Mirror reports that the call follows publication of the EU Referendum Bill, with a vote set to take place in 2017.


Nearly 20 per cent of sexually exploited children in Worcestershire are not on social service records. The Worcester News reports that a council study found that 54 of 293 children involved in exploitation cases over a 12-month period were not featured on any local authority records.


Some brands of supposedly healthy children’s fruit snacks contain more sugar than Haribo sweets, it has been claimed. ITV News reports, that an examination of products by health charity Action on Sugar, found 85 per cent exceeded the 47g per 100g of sugar found in Haribo Starmix.