Daily roundup: The Children's Food Trust, Welsh exams, and 'annoying' young people

Government funding for the main organisation monitoring the quality of food in schools is to cease. The Guardian reports that the Children’s Food Trust has been told by the Department for Education that its funding will not be renewed beyond the end of March. It has been invited to bid for government contracts but will otherwise be reliant on fundraising or charging schools for advice. A DfE spokeswoman said that officials had long been planning to end funding, adding that all future school food work would be put out to tender.

The Welsh government has announced it will retain GCSEs and A levels in schools, despite plans to change the system in England. The decision follows a review of qualifications for 14- to 19-year-olds in Wales, which recommended the existing exams be maintained. Recommendations to create new GCSEs in English Language and Welsh First Language, as well as two new GCSEs covering numeracy and mathematical techniques, were also accepted. Deputy minister for skills, Jeff Cuthbert said: “Ultimately we have confidence in these well established qualifications, which are recognised around the world.”

Police and crime commissioners and senior officers are warning that young people could get in trouble for simply being “annoying” under the replacement scheme for Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (Asbos). The Telegraph reports that Injunctions to Prevent Nuisance and Annoyance (IPNAs) could be used against children as young as 10 for any behaviour “capable of causing annoyance” to another person. Asbos can only currently be taken out against people causing actual “harassment, alarm or distress”. The Association of Chief Police Officers told the home affairs select committee that the new injunctions “have the potential to be used inappropriately” and “unnecessarily criminalise” children.

Leicestershire County Council has unveiled plans to pump an additional £1.7m into protecting vulnerable children. The authority said the move is in response to a rise in the number of local children in care and the associated costs. The plan comes despite the council having to find overall savings of £79m from its budget. Ivan Ould, Leicestershire County Council’s lead member for children and young people, said: “Protecting vulnerable children remains a top priority and we're committed to working with partners to ensure that young people live in safe environments.”

And finally, a report by the National Audit Office has called on the Department for Communities and Local Government to better evaluate how the decisions it makes impact on local authority finances. The report by the spending watchdog highlights the “increasing difficulty” faced by councils in absorbing large reductions in central government funding without reducing services. “So far, they have generally coped well, but central government funding support will continue to reduce and the impact on individual local authorities will vary,” Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, said. “The department will need to be able to detect emerging problems and respond flexibly and quickly”.