Daily roundup: Housing benefit for under-25s, child poverty and an inquiry into Booktrust
Neil Puffett
Monday, December 3, 2012
Government rumoured to have shelved plans to scrap housing benefit for under-25s, charities rally to protect children in poverty, and MPs demand an inquiry into funding for the Booktrust, all in the news today.
Plans to scrap housing benefit for under-25s are to be ditched following a Liberal Democrat revolt against the idea, the Observer reports. The paper says the plan to shave £2bn off the benefits bill has been strongly opposed by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander. Chancellor George Osborne is expected to announce several billion pounds of benefit cuts in the autumn statement this week.
More than fifty national children’s charities, trade unions and academics have signed a letter urging government not to inadvertently increase child poverty levels through measures in the autumn statement this week. Published in the Independent, the letter warns further public spending cuts could mean 800,000 more children to fall into poverty by 2020. The TUC has meanwhile published a study suggesting families will be hit hardest if the Chancellor freezes or cuts working-age benefits. It says a £10bn cut in the welfare budget would cause low income households to lose more than £700 a year – eight times more than the richest ten per cent of households.
MPs have demanded an inquiry into claims the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg intervened to help a charity with links to his wife obtain £12m of taxpayers’ money. The Daily Mail reports that leaked emails show one of Clegg’s aides lobbied for Booktrust to be given a grant. A spokeswoman for Clegg said there was “nothing improper” about his interest in the Booktrust grant and that any suggestion of impropriety was “completely wrong”. Miriam Clegg has previously hosted functions for Booktrust, a charity working with children and families to encourage reading.
The majority of staff providing healthcare support to pupils in schools do not receive regular training from health professionals, a study has found. The Unison and Royal College of Nursing survey of more than 2,300 registered nurses, school support staff and other registered healthcare professionals also found two thirds say specific healthcare plans are not always in place to ensure pupils’ health needs are properly supported at school.
Unemployed young people in Lancashire are to benefit from free bus travel as part of a £5m initiative. The BBC reports that the county council is to offer young people aged 16 to 18 who are not in employment, education or training (Neet) free bus travel within a designated area, to help them travel to job interviews and training. It is believed to be the first scheme of its kind in the country and will run until March.
Science and maths experts have raised concerns about errors in the government’s draft primary school science curriculum. Organisations including the Institute of Physics, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Society of Biology and the Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education (ACME) found mistakes in the draft specifications for pupils aged under 11, the Telegraph reports. The organisations pointed out that there are “between 200 and 400 billion” stars in the Milky Way, rather than “millions” as the draft stated. The Department for Education responded by saying it would hold a “full public consultation on the revised drafts before they are finalised”.