Daily roundup: housing benefit, Hamzah Khan and Colin Green

One in three council house tenants affected by a recent cut to housing benefit has fallen behind on rent since the policy took effect, figures from the Trades Union Congress show. Data provided by 114 councils that responded to a TUC Freedom of Information requests revealed 50,000 tenants had fallen into arrears since 1 April 2013 when the housing benefit changes came in. The policy, dubbed the "bedroom tax", sees housing benefit cut to tenants in a council or housing association property deemed to have extra bedrooms they do not need.

A mummified, stunted corpse of a four-year-old boy lay undiscovered for nearly two years in his mother's house before he was found by police, a court was told on Wednesday. Hamzah Khan's body, starved by years of neglect, was clothed in a sleep suit designed for a baby aged six to nine months when police made the discovery at his home in Bradford, West Yorkshire, reports the Guardian. His mother, 43-year-old Amanda Hutton, who is on trial at Bradford crown court, denies Hamzah's manslaughter.

Colin Green, who until last month was director of children’s services at Coventry City Council, has been appointed chairman of Tower Hamlets Council’s safeguarding children’s board. The Coventry Observer reports that MP Geoffrey Robinson, who called for Green to be sacked following the Daniel Pelka scandal, is “stunned” by the appointment and plans to raise the issue with children’s minister Edward Timpson.

Portsmouth City Council has been criticised for the way it handled the case of a three-week-old baby who died while in the care of a vulnerable young woman. The Portsmouth News reports a serious case review into the death of the girl, who was subject to a child protection plan, highlights multiple weaknesses in the handling of her case. A council spokesman apologised and said the council recognised the need for “significant changes”.

The Faculty of Public Health and the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV want schoolboys to be vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV). The vaccine is currently only given to girls aged 12 to 13 but the BBC reports that the bodies are concerned the disease, which is linked to a range of cancers, could be spread through sexual contact and think it is “unfair” that boys “remain unprotected”. The Department of Health has said there are no plans to extend the programme.

The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) is urging the Welsh government to follow England and provide free school meals to all infant pupils. The BBC reports that the Welsh government is to receive extra money as a result of the English scheme, announced on Tuesday by Nick Clegg, and CPAG thinks the funding should be used to help Welsh families. CPAG chief executive Alison Garnham believes “free healthy school lunches have never been so important”.