Daily roundup: Truancy convictions, TV, and Birmingham cuts

Up to 10,000 parents are being convicted annually for failing to ensure their children attend school, the Daily Mail reports. Figures released by the Ministry of Justice under the Freedom of Information Act suggest the number of such cases has risen by 500 per cent since 2001. According to the data, 12,777 parents in England and Wales were taken to court in 2011 because their children played truant, of which 9,836 were found guilty and sentenced. This compares to 2,243 who were prosecuted in 2001, of which 1,845 were found guilty and sentenced.

Parents should restrict the amount of time children spend watching television or playing computer games, since an inactive lifestyle increases their risk of disease in the future, the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) has warned. The charity told the Daily Mirror that parents should limit sedentary activities to less than two hours a day and delay the age at which under-fives become viewers. "Children may well get plenty of physical activity at school through sports or playing but if they spend a lot of time sitting down at home they might develop habits which could increase their risk of diseases like cancer, heart disease and diabetes,” said WCRF’s head of health information Kate Mendoza.

Planned budget cuts in Birmingham will harm the most vulnerable children and have not been properly scrutinised, the West Midlands Social Work Action Network has warned. The body is claiming there has been a lack of consultation on plans to cut local child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) funding by two thirds and children’s preventative services by 38 per cent. The organisation’s response to the consultation, which closes today, described the process as “pitiful”. “Coinciding as it has with the Christmas holiday period suggests a cynical exercise on the part of Birmingham City Council,” the network said. “The lack of detail given the size of some of these cuts is breath taking and wholly inadequate. Two thirds of Birmingham’s CAMHS budget is due to be wiped out and the justification for this is reduced to two short sentences.” 

Children are in serious danger as a result of the loyalist flag dispute in Northern Ireland, the country’s commissioner for children and young people has warned. The Guardian reports that Patricia Lewsley-Mooney is “deeply worried” over the role of children in the rioting. Yesterday it was revealed that children as young as 10 and 11 have been involved in attacking police lines. “I am concerned that children and young people are being exposed to serious risk and harm,” Lewsley-Mooney said. “To the irresponsible people who put children at risk, I say these issues cannot be settled or resolved by putting children at risk.” She added that she is concerned that children arrested in the riots could end up with criminal convictions that could affect the rest of their lives.

A national poetry competition aimed at improving understanding of poetry has launched in schools and colleges today. A collection of 130 poems has been published online to encourage students to browse them and find out more about the poets who wrote them. The competition will see thousands of students aged between 14 and 18 compete to become national champion for their skill in memorising and performing poems. Education Secretary Michael Gove said: “The richness and diversity of this anthology will ensure that more children than ever will be captivated by the work of many great poets.”

And finally, social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter can help nurseries engage with busy parents, research has found. A study by the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) and the University of Oxford found that the biggest barrier to nurseries engaging with parents was parents’ lack of time. It was also found that some nursery staff lacked the training to respond confidently to older, professional parents. Kathy Sylva, professor of educational psychology at University of Oxford said: “Lack of parents’ time was highlighted as a key barrier to engagement. Effective strategies for combating this include innovative use of ICT and websites, such as having a nursery ‘bear’ for parents to befriend on Facebook.”