Daily roundup 30 March: Obesity, school funding, and child sexual exploitation

Chocolate bars and sweets are likely to get smaller as a result of a major push from Public Health England (PHE), which is urging the food industry to help fight obesity by cutting 20 per cent of sugar from the main snacks and foods that children eat. The Guardian reports that after talks with the confectionery industry, which has said removing sugar and keeping the taste would be hard, PHE is recommending they make the change by shrinking the size of the sweets and chocolate bars they sell.


The biggest school funding shortages in England since the 1990s are threatening to damage standards, a report by the public accounts select committee has said. The BBC reports that the cross-party group criticises "delusions" in government over the budget situation.


The number of child sexual exploitation offences recorded in the Greater Manchester area has increased almost fivefold in three years, a report has revealed. The Guardian reports that there were 714 recorded offences of CSE in the area in 2016 compared with 146 in 2013, according to the report by the Labour MP Ann Coffey.


The mother of a 13-month-old boy who drowned in a bath has told jurors she was "stupid" to leave him unsupervised for 15 minutes. The BBC reports that Lisa Passey, 28, and her former partner Wayne Dale, 45, left Kian and another two-year-old child alone while the pair entertained a friend. Both deny gross negligence manslaughter.


Inspectors have criticised a special needs school where children with behavioural problems were locked inside padded rooms. The East London and West Essex Guardian reports that Whitefield School, in Walthamstow, was rated inadequate by Ofsted amid concerns about the use of three "calming rooms", where children seen to be demonstrating behavioural issues were locked up for "long periods of time".