Daily roundup 3 March: school funding, free childcare, and child death

Schools with the highest numbers of poor pupils are likely to see the biggest cuts to funding in coming years, according to research. A study by the National Union of Teachers and Child Poverty Action Group found primaries and secondaries with more than 40 per cent of pupils eligible for free school meals will lose on average £140 and £326 respectively per pupil more than the average school.


Expansion of free childcare could be at risk from Treasury targets to cut an additional £3.5bn from Whitehall department's budgets, a think-tank has warned. The IPPR believes the government will not be able to hit its savings target, at the same time as meeting spending promises made by George Osborne when he was chancellor, such as offering 30 hours a week for three- and four-year-olds and ringfencing funding for 16 to 19 education. The Guardian reports that neither policy has been confirmed in the Treasury's spending commitments.


A catalogue of police failures over the death of a 13-month-old girl have been revealed by an Independent Police Complaints Commission report (IPCC). Poppi Worthington died in 2012 with a family court judge finding she had been sexually assaulted by her father Paul, who denies any wrongdoing. The IPPC report concludes that Cumbria Police allowed evidence to be thrown away, failed to properly investigate abuse claims and sent incorrect information to the coroner, the BBC reports.


The Scottish Government has committed to introducing new legislation to criminalise emotional abuse and neglect of children. The decision was confirmed in a statement from MSP Mark McDonald in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday. The move was recommended by an independent review of the care system in Scotland.
 

The government has agreed to introduce ethnic monitoring in the youth criminal justice system for Gypsy and Traveller children. The announcement came in a letter from Dr Philip Lee MP, youth justice minister, to Kate Green MP. In the letter, Dr Lee states the changes - which will see the Youth Justice Board record "Gypsy or Irish Traveller" as a separate ethnic category - will be implemented by March 2018.