Daily roundup: Sexual exploitation, advertising ban and childhood obesity

Barnardo’s has called for the government to take more action against people who sexually exploit children. A survey of the charity’s specialist services in England and Wales showed only 15 of 56 police investigations in to the crime from 2012 had resulted in prosecutions so far. Of the 15, only six had so far brought about successful convictions. Barnardos released the figures after seven members of a paedophile ring were found guilty of child rape, trafficking and organising prostitution in Oxford. The Independent reports that Oxfordshire County Council’s chief executive has said she will not resign over the case, despite admitting failures at the local authority.

Labour is to consider banning adverts aimed at children as part of its ongoing policy review. The Daily Mail reports that the party’s policy chief Jon Cruddas wants to study family laws in Sweden, where advertising to under 12s is banned. "The commercialisation of childhood creates a status-seeking consumer culture in which children judge one another by what they own,” Cruddas said.

Young children become prejudiced towards obese peers from as young as four, a study has found. The BBC reports that experiments with more than 100 UK primary school pupils aged between four and seven, found that children voiced negative views about a fictional book character called 'fat Alfie'. The children said fat Alfie was less likely to be invited to parties and was more likely to be naughty than thinner characters. Meanwhile Sky News reports on a study which found that children from deprived areas are almost twice as likely to be obese than those in affluent areas.

Children and young people face greater poverty as a result of austerity policies than older people, according to an Organisation for Economic Cooperation (OECD) study. The Guardian reports that the OECD found economic policies in Europe were putting pressure on inequality, with the UK fourth from the bottom of a table measuring division in societies. The report also said that on average the elderly have been protected in contrast to young people.

Young men are becoming increasingly isolated from their parents and friends, Labour MP Diane Abbott will claim in a speech tomorrow at the think tank Demos. The Spectator reports that ther shadow public health minister will argue that young male graduates "faced with mass unemployment and often unable to fly the nest  can find themselves locked into a transitional phase at home, or voluntarily creating an extended adolescence, sometimes resentful of family life". In related news, Office of National Statistics unemployment figures for 16- to 24-year-olds published today show 958,000 are out of work, down 17,000 in the quarter.

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre (Ceop) has prioritised tackling the proliferation of indecent images on the internet over the coming year. The Guardian reports that the agency has a total of four priorities for the coming year, outlined in its annual report. Ceop will also focus on tackling online sexual exploitation, transnational child sexual abuse, and the threat posed by organised crime-associated child sexual exploitation.