Daily roundup 6 July: Sign language, work experience, and bin men

The family of a deaf boy from Suffolk has launched a campaign to challenge the government's "discriminatory" decision to delay the introduction of a GCSE in British Sign Language (BSL) and is calling for support as it looks to get a legal battle under way. Daniel Jillings, 12, from Lowestoft, uses BSL as his first language but is concerned that while there are GCSEs in foreign languages there is no qualification in place related to signing when he takes his exams in a few years' time. The family is set to launch a legal battle to argue its case after a crowdfunding campaign raised more than £4,000 to help with the costs of taking the challenge forward.


Government officials and figures from the world of business, education and policy are among those giving evidence to the Youth Select Committee as part of an inquiry into barriers to work experience. The inquiry comes at a time when more than half a million young people are unemployed and a recent YouGov poll found that 58 per cent of all 11- to 18-year-olds cite a lack of work experience as a barrier to future employment. Two hearings will be held, today, and next Friday (13 July).


Bin workers are being trained to spot signs of child sex abuse in a town where hundreds of children are claimed to have been exploited over four decades. The Times reports that authorities in Telford, Shropshire, have begun training refuse collectors to look out for vulnerable people during morning collections. They will also be taught how to spot modern-day slavery and drug use under the scheme run by the local council and police. Taxi drivers, bartenders, hotel staff and librarians have already been issued with advice on how to spot grooming.


Five men have been charged with a total of 21 offences relating to child sexual abuse and exploitation in Rotherham. The Rotherham Advertiser reports that Yasser Iqbal Hussain, 34, Shahid Hussain, 42, Azad Akram Raja, 34, all from Sheffield, and Faisel Hussain, 32, from Rotherham, are charged with abusing two girls, who were under the age of 16 at the time, between 2001 and 2004.