Daily roundup 8 February: Sugar addiction, body cameras, and council tax

Britain is suffering from a sugar addiction that will require a revolution to break, the public health minister warned last night. The Daily Mail reports that Nicola Blackwood, who is in charge of the government's childhood obesity strategy, said British children's consumption of sugary food and soft drinks is among the highest in Europe.


Teachers in two UK schools are trialling the sure of body cameras in class because they are "fed up with low-level background disorder", a criminal justice academic has revealed. The Guardian reports that Tom Ellis, principal lecturer at the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies at the University of Portsmouth, said all classroom teachers at the two state secondary schools are being given the option of the cameras to film "when necessary". The two schools are not being named so as not to interfere with the trial.


Surrey County Council has backed away at the last moment from a controversial plan to poll voters on a 15 per cent rise in council tax, mainly to pay for social care. The Guardian reports that the council has now said it will seek a rise of 4.99 per cent, which will not need public approval, but will require the local authority to make £93m in cuts during the 2017/18 financial year.


A proposal to make lifesaving skills compulsory in the school curriculum will be debated by members of the Welsh Assembly today. The BBC reports that Conservative assembly member Suzy Davies is also calling for defibrillators and first aid material to be made publicly available in more locations. The Welsh Government said school pupils already learn "emergency aid procedures" in personal and social education lessons.


Scotland's children's commissioner has called for Scottish professional football clubs to be subjected to external regulation by the Scottish government. The Herald Scotland reports that, giving evidence to the parliament's health and sport committee, which is looking at child protection in sport, Tam Baillie said it is in the vested interests of clubs to have "complete control" of children.