Daily roundup: Youth unemployment, council services, and children's centres

The number of 16- to 24-year-olds out of work fell by 39,000 in the three months to November to 920,000. The BBC reports that the total number of people out of work fell by 167,000 to 2.32 million - an unemployment rate of 7.1 per cent.

Up to 49 redundancies are to be made in Leicestershire County Council's children and young people department as it looks to save £12.69 million. Among the biggest savings will be £2.1 million from the early intervention service for young people. Lesley Hagger, director of the children and young people's service, told the Leicester Mercury: "This is entirely because of a reduction in the local authority's budget from central government."

Plans to close seven children's centres in Dudley have been scrapped. Councillors have instead agreed to cut costs by merging management of the 20 centres into five local clusters. However, councillor Tim Crumpton told the Express and Star that more savings will need to be found because the changes do not meet the cost reduction target.

Parents are facing £60 fines if their child turns up late for school. The Metro reports that the strict measures have been introduced at a school in Milton Keynes where pupils are penalised if they miss registration ten times in a 12-week term.

Researchers are calling on the government to do more to improve the social mobility of disadvantaged pupils. The plea follows a study, published by the Institute of Education, which found that the disadvantaged pupils of today are more likely to reach expected levels of educational attainment than in the 1960s if they are given the right support.