Young politicians are celebrating the success of a campaign calling for affordable transport after the Liberal Democrats announced plans for a discount card for young people under 21. Members of the British Youth Council debated transport costs at the House of Commons in November last year.
Parents have been warned to keep electronic cigarette refills away from young children because of the risk of poisoning. The BBC reports that doctors in Birmingham made the warning after a two-year-old girl accidentally licked some of the liquid. The infant recovered, but high doses of nicotine can be lethal.
A new public consultation to decide the future of children’s heart services in England will begin on Monday (Sept 15). The Leicester Mercury reports that the fresh consultation comes after a previous attempt last year was scrapped following a judicial review which found the consultation process was flawed.
Records of staff meetings from 2001 show discussions between police and council bosses in Rotherham triggered moves to discipline the researcher who first uncovered a sex abuse crisis in the town. The Times reports that handwritten notes reveal that the warning about the abuse, flagged up by a worker conducting government-funded research, “caused such a fuss” that the then chief constable of the South Yorkshire force, “mentioned it” to the council’s then chief executive. The researcher was subsequently berated for sending the letter, and faced severe pressure to delete and amend sections of her final report.
New research suggests that children’s centres have the potential to increase the number of childcare places they provide for disadvantaged two-year-olds by a third. Initial analysis of 4Children’s annual Children’s Centre Census estimates that centres could create a further 6,200 places over the next year.
A campaign urging politicians to consider the impact of policies on girls and young women has been launched by Girlguiding. Girls Matter is the organisation’s first pre-election campaign and calls for eight commitments from the next Parliament, including a guarantee that women will be equally represented across government.
