Daily roundup: Trafficking, child benefit and children's homes

Draft anti-slavery legislation that aims to introduce tougher sentences for human trafficking is due to be published today. The BBC reports that the Modern Slavery Bill will increase the maximum prison sentence for offenders from 14 years to life. Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has called for the bill to include legal protection for child victims, by providing them with a legal guardian who is responsible for them through their case.

Prime Minister David Cameron has rejected a controversial proposal to limit child benefit payments to two children for every family. The Telegraph reports that Nadhim Zahawi, a member of the No 10 Policy Board, called for child benefit and child tax credits to be available only for a family’s first two children, but Cameron is not keen on the idea.

Children’s homes will have to achieve a “good” rating as a minimum standard, according to proposals for a new Ofsted inspection framework. The inspectorate has launched a consultation on plans to make its registration, inspection and enforcement of children’s homes standards more “robust” and “challenging” to improve standards.

A government fund to aid children from military families has been doubled to £24m. The Guardian reports that its school-support programme will be increased from £3m to £6m of funding each year until 2018. The money will go towards helping children from military families deal with the worry of being separated from a parent.

And finally, dozens of children between the ages of ten and 12 have been arrested in Warwickshire for a range of offences, it has emerged. The Coventry Telegraph reports that a total of 46 boys and girls aged ten to 12 were arrested by Warwickshire Police in 2011 and 2012. Crimes included the theft of a motor vehicle by a 12-year-old, and two cases of racially aggravated harassment. Twelve assaults were recorded along with three counts of affray and one incident where an officer was assaulted.