Schoolchildren are spending almost 50 per cent more time inside a car on the morning school run today than their parents' generation did. Research from the transport charity Sustrans, based on government figures, showed that primary school children now spend an average of 26 hours a year being driven to school, compared with 18 hours in 1995. Sustrans said safety fears were prompting more parents to drive their children, with the proportion of pupils taking the car rising from 40 to 46 per cent, reports the Guardian.
The parents of a five year old boy with terminal cancer have been freed from custody in Madrid after efforts to extradite the couple to the UK on suspicion of child neglect were abandoned. They were arrested after taking their son from Southampton General Hospital without doctors' consent last week, in order to seek proton beam treatment abroad. The BBC reports that the boy can receive treatment at the Proton Therapy Center in Prague and that a UK cancer specialist will be flown out to Spain to give his parents advice on the best course of action.
The Homeless Football Association is to be merged into homelessness charity Centrepoint. Under the merger, the Homeless FA - which organises footballing programmes for homeless people while helping resolve housing and education problems - will retain its brand identity and website, with staff transferring to Centrepoint. http://homelessfa.org/
The Childcare Business Grant has allocated 4,500 grants worth £1m to self-employed people who want to set up their own childcare business. The grant provides up to £500 to help with costs such as training, equipment and adapting premises. It aims to allocate a further £1m by the time the scheme closes on December 31.
A mother convicted of two counts of child cruelty has been jailed for two years after intervention by the Attorney General. The mother was handed a suspended sentence at Derby Crown Court in July after subjecting her daughter to a "campaign of cruelty", punching her, forcing her to take cold baths and targeting her with "relentless insults". But new Attorney General Jeremy Wright had his bid to get the "unduly lenient" punishment increased to two years in prison upheld by the Appeal Court, reports the Express.
