Daily roundup: Policing, teachers and youth crime

Nottinghamshire’s police and crime commissioner has said he has no plans to appoint a youth police and crime commissioner in the wake of the high-profile resignation of 17-year-old Paris Brown in Kent. The Nottingham Post reports that Paddy Tipping faced questions on the subject at a meeting of the Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Panel. Tipping said he would work with established youth councils to give young people a voice, rather than create a new full-time role.

Teachers could be expected to do more administrative and menial tasks in the future, the Daily Mail reports. A letter sent by Education Secretary Michael Gove to the chairman of the School Teachers’ Review Body suggests a clause in teachers’ employment contracts that allows them to decline such duties should be reviewed. According to the newspaper, a ban on 21 routine administrative and clerical tasks, such as photocopying and putting up classroom displays, was introduced in 2003 when support staff took over the duties.

Co-ordinated and effective adult social services can reduce crime by young people, according to a briefing published by the Prison Reform Trust, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, the Centre for Mental Health, and Revolving Doors Agency. The briefing says 16- to 24-year-olds are the age group most likely to commit crime and most likely to move out of criminality with the right intervention.

The number of children who will attend their first-choice primary school in London has risen, The Guardian reports. Figures released yesterday showed more than 80 per cent of children had won a place at their preferred school in the capital. Across the country, other local authorities also returned a rise. Oxfordshire County Council said 91 per cent of its children had been given their first option.