South Yorkshire's police and crime commissioner Shaun Wright has resigned over the Rotherham child abuse scandal. The BBC reports that Wright’s decision to quit follows repeated calls to step down in the wake of a report by professor Alexis Jay which found at least 1,400 children were abused in the town from 1997 to 2013. Wright was lead member for children's services at the authority between 2005 and 2010.
A campaign to employ more social workers in Coventry has attracted nearly 50 applications. The Coventry Telegraph reports that the council has received a “better than expected” response to the controversial Do It For Daniel campaign. The authority wants to recruit 50 social workers as part of efforts to ensure tragic cases, like that of Daniel Pelka, do not happen again.
Ofsted has revealed plans for 40 unannounced school inspections across England this month. The BBC reports that the wave of no-notice inspections follows the Trojan Horse allegations in Birmingham, which saw campaigners call for Ofsted to visit schools without warning so that practices cannot be changed for inspectors.
The father of a five-year-old boy who was unlawfully killed by his mother when she committed suicide, has said his son’s life could have been saved if social workers had intervened when he failed to turn up to school. Joshua Patterson was killed instantly when he fell with his mother from Haytor Rock near Bovey Tracey, Devon last year. His two-year-old brother, Sam, was also found dead at their home in Paignton, Devon, the Times reports. An inquest was told that a year earlier the boys’ had been taken into care for two weeks after their mother took an overdose and went missing.
Dr Myles Bradbury, a paediatric haematologist, has admitted in court that he sexually assaulted cancer sufferers as young as eight and made indecent images of children. He has been a doctor for 18 years and police say there are likely to be more victims, reports the Express. Bradbury, who was a consultant at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge from 2009 to 2013 and also worked at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, committed his offences at “more than one institution”, the prosecution said.
Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has expressed her intention to reduce teachers’ workloads. The Times reports that Morgan has published a letter ahead of her first meeting with teaching unions saying she wants to free teachers to spend more time teaching.
Plans to close two adventure playgrounds in Wolverhampton have angered parents, who have accused the authority of taking a vital service away from children. The Express and Star reports that the closure of the playgrounds will save £456,000 in running costs.
