Daily roundup 6 December: Restraint techniques, abuse, and funding cuts

The Ministry of Justice is facing calls to scrap and rewrite the policy on restraining young people after it emerged that a report it commissioned found some authorised techniques could kill children or leave them disabled. The Guardian reports the undated report shows that certain procedures approved for use against non-compliant children carry a 40 or 60 per cent chance of causing injuries involving the child's airway, breathing or circulation, the consequences of which would be "catastrophic".


?A number of football clubs have allegedly used gagging orders to silence players speaking out about abuse, it has been claimed. ITV News reports that Edward Smethurst, a lawyer representing victims, said calls and email are "coming in all the time" from players saying they were forced to sign non-disclosure agreements in return for compensation. ?


Around 4,000 low-income families with disabled and seriously ill children in Wales could miss out on grants due to funding cuts, charities have warned. The BBC reports that grant-giving body the Family Fund will get less than £2m from the Welsh government over three years, compared to the £2.5m each year it had received. ?Keith Bowen, director of Carers Wales, accused ministers of making the change without considering what impact it would have on the most vulnerable families with disabled children.


??A cancer support charity for children and young people has been handed a participation award. CLIC Sargent received the "Gold Hear By Right" award from the National Youth Agency for its work in putting youth voice at the heart of service delivery and development.


Anti-weapons lessons have been given to nearly 1,500 secondary school pupils across Aberdeen in the wake of the killing of schoolboy Bailey Gwynne. The BBC reports the 16-year-old was stabbed during a fight with a fellow pupil at Cults Academy and the killer is now serving nine years for culpable homicide.


A council in Wales has been criticised by a watchdog for failing to adequately monitor a looked-after child's savings accounts while he was in their care. The BBC reports that an investigation by the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, Nick Bennett, found Bridgend Council's monitoring amounted to maladministration. ?