Daily roundup: Funding for toddlers, police commissioners and shoplifting children

Disadvantaged three- and four-year-olds are missing out on government support, a report by Barnardo’s has claimed. The report says funding is targeted at disadvantaged children between the ages of two and 18, except for between the ages of three and four. The charity said the “inexplicable gap” has the potential to undo the good done by early financial investment given to two-year-olds. It recommends government fill the gap at no extra cost by stretching the existing pupil premium to cover the age groups equally.

Less than half of the general public (47 per cent) know about forthcoming elections for police and crime commissioners (PCCs), a survey commissioned by Victim Support has found. Postholders, due to be elected in November, will have influence over local policing policy as well as being responsible for pots of funding relating to children and young people, but the survey found that almost nine out of ten people do not know what PCCs will do.

Children are shoplifting items such as bread because of hunger, police have told Newsround. Inspector Andy Briers of the Metropolitan Police said that rather than stealing items such as sweets, chocolate and chewing gum, children are resorting to taking bread and food for themselves and their families. Briers said the force is attempting to tackle the problem by handing out food vouchers that can be swapped for food.

Leeds City Council has submitted proposals to demolish and rebuild a secure children’s home that holds up to 36 young offenders, according to the Yorkshire Evening Post. A proposal has been submitted to the Department for Education to replace the East Moor secure unit because the existing buildings do not meet current standards set by Ofsted and the Youth Justice Board. The existing 36-bed unit would be demolished once a new 24-bed unit is built on land south of the site at a cost of £12.55m.

Young people in the Norfolk town of Attleborough could miss out on funding to boost local facilities because the town is not represented on a county-wide youth advisory board, the Norwich Evening News reports. Town councillors fear Attleborough could be overlooked because no local young people have been involved with the advisory board to date, which was established by the Benjamin Foundation charity with the help of cash from Norfolk County Council.