Daily roundup: Child sexual exploitation; ‘punishment room' claims, and action on junk food

A campaign to raise awareness of child sexual exploitation has been launched by the Local Government Association (LGA). David Simmonds, chair of the LGA’s children and young people board, said the taboo around the issue must be addressed. “Charities and councils have done a huge amount of work to improve the way we protect children,” Simmonds said. “However, we as a country need to continually improve and find new and better ways to protect our children from falling victims to abuse. We need to raise awareness not only among professionals but the wider public too; children and young people themselves, parents and carers, the neighbour who sees something.”

The children’s minister Edward Timpson has ordered an investigation into claims that schools have been locking severely autistic children away in rooms to deal with their behaviour. The Sunday Express reports that a former teacher in Newham, in east London, claimed pupils were locked in a room for being disruptive during lessons. Timpson said: “These allegations are deeply concerning. No child should be treated in this shocking way. I have asked officials to ensure that all appropriate investigations are taking place.” Newham Council denies the allegations.

Doctors, psychiatrists and paediatricians have joined forces to call for a ban on junk food advertising and to demand that a tax on fizzy drinks be introduced. The BBC reports that the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, which represents nearly all doctors in the UK, said current measures to tackle obesity are failing and unhealthy food should be treated more like cigarettes. Terence Stephenson, chair of the Academy, said a ban on advertising tobacco products “helped people move away from smoking”.

A study has claimed that cross-examining child witnesses in court can affect the accuracy of their evidence. The Independent reports that research by psychiatrists suggests that adversarial challenging of very young children can be detrimental to the precision of their testimony. The results, published in the British Journal of Legal and Criminological Psychology, showed that cross-examination negatively affected the children’s accurate reporting of neutral events, and did not promote truthful reporting of wrongdoing.

Samples of food supplied to schools across Lancashire have tested positive for containing horse meat. The Guardian reports that cottage pies destined for 47 schools across the county have been withdrawn following a test on Thursday last week. Lancashire councillor Susie Charles said: “Relatively few schools in Lancashire use this particular product, but our priority is to provide absolute assurance that meals contain what the label says – having discovered this one doesn't, we have no hesitation in removing it from menus.”

And finally, the eight-year-old daughter of a lesbian couple has written to a cabinet minister who claimed that gay people could not provide a warm and safe environment for children. The Independent on Sunday reports that the letter to Welsh Secretary David Jones, said: "I have been brought up perfectly well… you can be brought up by anyone who will love you and care for you and make sure you're happy.” Jones made the comments last week when he defended his decision to vote against gay marriage earlier this month.