Daily roundup 7 February: Free childcare, Safer Internet Day, and leadership

The free entitlement to childcare for all parents in England should be scrapped in favour of a system aimed at disadvantaged children, a report has said. The BBC reports that the Institute of Economic Affairs study says the right to 15 hours free care a week has distorted the market price and families are still paying huge sums for people to look after their children.


More than 20 per cent of children aged between eight and 17 have been bullied with images or videos online, a study has found. Sky News reports that research by the Safer Internet Centre also found that 70 per cent of young people have seen images and videos not suitable for their age. The findings are part of the seventh Safer Internet Day campaign, which aims to inform young people about bullying and privacy online.


Candidates are being selected to take part in the first programme to nurture a future generation of leaders of children's services across England. The Guardian reports that 82 applications have been received for the initial "practice leader development programme", which will prepare social work managers to take on the key role of assistant director of children's services. The applicants came from 56 local councils - more than one in three of those responsible for children's services.


A council has announced plans to outsource its family group conferencing service. The Weston Mercury reports that North Somerset Council says the service's projected overspend during the next financial year is likely to be about £76,000 - meaning outsourcing is "necessary" in order to reduce this amount.


A project boosting the financial literacy of young deaf and blind people in London has secured £532,000 in funding from the People's Postcode Lottery. More than 1,000 16- to 25-year-olds living with sight or hearing loss will learn how to budget, bank and borrow safely in their first language as a result of specialist programmes designed and delivered by the financial education charity MyBnk.