Daily roundup 3 November: School absence, child protection, and attainment gap

Isle of Wight Council is appealing to the High Court a decision that a father had no case to answer for failing to pay an "unauthorised absence" fine for taking his daughter on holiday during term time. The council say magistrates may have failed to interpret and apply the law correctly when the case against Jon Platt was thrown out earlier this month. It is calling for the law on the issue to be clarified, reports Island Echo.


Taxi drivers, night club bouncers and hotel receptionists could play a role in tackling child sexual exploitation, researchers have concluded. “We can’t just leave this problem to child protection authorities, this is everybody’s concern,” says Roma Thomas of the University of Bedfordshire. An event organised by the university is being held later this month to highlight training schemes targeted at key workers within the night time economy.


A report has questioned the Scottish government's ability to close the education attainment gap between rich and poor students. The Scottish government has committed more than £100m to help schools in the most disadvantaged areas. But the Commission on School Reform said the plan was "exceptionally ambitious" and the timescale may be "unrealistic", reports the BBC.


Senior civil servants have denied collapsed charity Kids Company was given "special treatment" by ministers and government officials, reports the BBC. Appearing before the public accounts committee, former Cabinet Office permanent secretary Richard Heaton said the charity - which had been awarded at least £46m of public money despite repeated concerns over its finances - had been "collectively supported" by government.


Charity Meningitis Now is calling for free vaccination against meningococcal group B disease to be extended to all children within a family where there has been a case of meningitis. It has written to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and the Department of Health, and is also asking GPs to support the wider rollout of the free vaccination programme. The vaccination was introduced on the NHS for all newborns from 1 September this year.