Daily roundup 30 November: Webcam blackmail, missing children, and Bromley Council

Boys as young as 11 are falling victim to "sextortion" or "webcam blackmail" with sometimes devastating effects, the National Crime Agency has warned. ITV News reports the number of reported webcam blackmail cases has more than doubled in the past year, rising from 385 in 2015 to 864.


More than 30,000 children were missing from schools in England and Wales for substantial periods of time in the 2014/15 academic year, figures have shown. The BBC reports the figures, which were collated from a freedom of information request to 90 local authorities, showed that almost 4,000 of the children could not be traced.


Education Secretary Justine Greening has re-appointed Frankie Sulke, former director of children's services in Lewisham, as commissioner for children's services in Bromley for another six months. The decision comes in a direction to Bromley Council, which states that Greening "is satisfied that the council is still failing to perform to an adequate standard".?


A scheme designed to ensure children were being protected by sexual abuse was scrapped by the Football Association (FA), it has emerged. The BBC reports that the FA pulled all funding from a major review of its child protection policies in 2003 - three years early. An evaluation of the scheme later suggested some FA staff had been bullied into not talking.


An investigation has been launched by a major children's publisher after a sharp blade was found in the packaging of a magazine. Kent Online reports the blade was discovered in a copy of Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom magazine and Redan Publishing Ltd is now in the process of conducting internal investigations into how the item could have got into the bag. ?


There were 3,058 children, including unborn children, on child protection registers in Wales as the end of March 2016, figures show. According to the Welsh government, the figure is an increase of four per cent compared with March 2015 figure, and represents a rate of 49 children per 10,000 population aged under 18.


The founder of a social enterprise that supports at-risk young people and young adults through music and sport has been named Commonwealth Youth Worker of the Year. Robin Lockhart, director of east London-based Catalyst in Communities, received the accolade at the 2016 Commonwealth Youth Worker Awards.?