Interesting links, articles, news and blog posts sent out to members on 28/05/21.
Research briefing: Obesity – UK Parliament – House of Commons Library
26 May 2021. Obesity is a physical condition in which a person is very overweight, with a lot of body fat. Policymakers have faced the difficult challenge of addressing increasing obesity prevalence; a complex issue affected by socioeconomic, cultural and geographical factors. This paper covers the work of the UK Government in preventing and reducing obesity:
Link: Obesity
News: Fewer than half of parents with a Tax-Free Childcare account are using it – Nursery Management Today
27 May 2021. According to government statistics, as of March, 282,000 families used Tax-Free Childcare, compared with 248,000 families in December 2020:
Link: Fewer than half of parents with a Tax-Free Childcare account are using it
Programme: A Fit for the Future Programme for Government – Future Generations Commissioner for Wales
May 2021. The ‘Fit for the Future Programme for Government’ is my new set of proposals to the new Government with the aim to deliver a prosperous, green, and equal recovery from COVID-19:
Link: https://www.futuregenerations.wales/work/ourfuturewales/
Blog: New campaign calls for a ‘summer of play’ – Playful Planet
13 May 2021. An ad hoc coalition of children’s advocates, led by Save the Children, Play England, Playing Out and Professor Helen Dodd, is today calling on the country to get behind a campaign to give children a great ‘Summer of Play’ as they emerge from the coronavirus restrictions:
Link: https://www.playfulplanet.org.uk/blog/childrens-coalition-calls-for-a-summer-of-play
News: Abuse helpline takes hundreds of calls, says NSPCC – BBC Online
25 May 2021. A helpline launched for victims to report abuse and harassment in educational settings has taken hundreds of calls since it opened on 1 April:
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-57226577
News: Boris Johnson’s interventionist obesity strategy will fail. We need more choice, not less to slim down – City AM
25 May 2021, Jason Reed. Obesity is on the rise like never before. More than one in four people in the UK are now obese, one of the driving forces behind the mortality rate from Covid. In the year leading up to the pandemic, more than a million people were admitted to hospital for obesity-related treatment in England:
Research briefing: E-petition 554276, relating to child food poverty – UK Parliament
20 May 2021. Parliament debated the petition “End child food poverty – no child should be going hungry”:
Watch the debate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eI7ftNahIU
Read the transcript: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2021-05-24/debates/B107A965-6D65-41D2-9F47-C6B24A1221B0/ChildFoodPoverty
Read the research: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp-2021-0074/
Oral Evidence Session: Health and Social Care Committee Inquiry: Children and young people’s mental health – UK Parliament
25 May 2021:
Link: https://committees.parliament.uk/event/4658/formal-meeting-oral-evidence-session/
News: Teachers ‘struggle to deal with classroom sexual abuse’ – BBC Online
25 May 2021, Hayley Hassall & Jim Booth. Teachers say they do not feel equipped to deal with peer-on-peer sexual abuse because they have had no training:
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-57231920
Blog: Childhood Obesity Related to Poor Cognition in Later Years – Psychology Today
24 May 2021, Susan McQuillan MS, RDN. Along with other risk factors, researchers have linked overweight and obesity in early childhood to poorer cognitive performance in midlife:
Link: Childhood Obesity Related to Poor Cognition in Later Years
Research briefing: Support for children entitled to free school meals – UK Parliament
24 May 2021. A Westminster Hall debate on the ‘Support for children entitled to free school meals’ has been scheduled for Wednesday 26 May 2021 from 2.30pm. The debate has been initiated by Catherine West MP:
Link: Support for children entitled to free school meals
Inquiry: Children and young people’s mental health – UK Parliament
25 May 2021. 25 May 2021. The Committee is undertaking an inquiry into Children and Young People’s Mental Health. The inquiry will examine the progress that has been made by Government against their own ambitions to improve children and young people’s mental health provision:
Link: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/1001/children-and-young-peoples-mental-health
Article: Child deaths linked to deprivation could be avoided – Willis Palmer
May 2021. The Child Mortality and Social Deprivation report found that at least one in 12 of all child deaths reviewed in 2019/20 had one or more factors related to deprivation identified at review:
Link: https://www.willispalmer.com/child-deaths-linked-to-deprivation-could-be-avoided/
News: Should encryption be curbed to combat child abuse? – BBC Online
19 May 2021, Mary-Anne Russon. The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is funded by the global tech industry. It manually reviews online reports of suspected criminal content sent in by the public. Mr Hughes sees upsetting material every day:
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57050689
News: Schools set to lose £118m funding for poor pupils – BBC Online
21 May 2021. Schools in England could lose £118m funding for poor pupils this year, the Local Government Association says. The education department is bringing forward the annual date for counting those eligible for the pupil premium, which it says will help plan budgets:
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-57188815
Blog: What you need to know about the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme – Department for Education
20 May 2021. The Holiday Activity and Food Programme (HAF) has been supporting children and families in the school holidays since 2018 and was significantly expanded in light of the pandemic last year. Here is everything you need to know about the programme and how it could help you:
Article: Anna Freud appointed as centre of excellence for family hubs – Nursery World
19 May 2021, Nicole Weinstein. Plans to increase the number of family hubs in operation and to open a national centre championing their work, were announced by education secretary Gavin Williamson on 19 May:
Link: Anna Freud appointed as centre of excellence for family hubs
News: Lack of playtime with peers has negatively affected young children, parents warn – ITV Online
20 May 2021. The majority of parents of pre-school children say not being able to play with their peers during the pandemic has negatively affected their child:
Link: Lack of playtime with peers has negatively affected young children, parents warn
Article: Coalition calls for ‘credible’ plan from Government to end Child Poverty – Nursery World
18 May 2021, Katy Morton. The End Child Poverty Coalition says the Government owes it to ‘our children’ to come up with a plan to tackle poverty as figures show a ‘dramatic’ rise:
Link: Coalition calls for ‘credible’ plan from Government to end Child Poverty
Inquiry: Children in poverty: Measurement and targets – UK Parliament
26 May 2021. This inquiry is looking at children in poverty. This is a complex subject, so the Committee’s work will be in several parts:
Link: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/953/children-in-poverty-measurement-and-targets/
News: More exercise could help poorer pupils, study says – BBC Online
19 May 2021. Children who do more physical activity are likely to have stronger self-control which can help their education, research by Cambridge University shows:
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-57169054
Research briefing: Support for children entitled to free school meals – UK Parliament
24 May 2021. A Westminster Hall debate on the ‘Support for children entitled to free school meals’ has been scheduled for Wednesday 26 May 2021 from 2.30pm. The debate has been initiated by Catherine West MP:
Link: Support for children entitled to free school meals
Article: Only a Labour government will end child poverty. Let’s make it happen – Labour List
19 May 2021, Wes Streeting MP. Child poverty in Britain is rising. It was rising before the pandemic and it is set to rise further still. Today, the end child poverty commission reveals that there are 408,000 more children living in poverty than there were five years ago:
Link: https://labourlist.org/2021/05/only-a-labour-government-will-end-child-poverty-lets-make-it-happen/
News: Over a million hospital admissions for obesity – BBC Online
18 May 2021, Sophie Hutchinson. There were more than a million hospital admissions for obesity-related treatment in England in the year leading into the global pandemic, figures reveal:
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-57144922
News: Porn blocker ‘missing’ from Online Safety Bill prompts concern – BBC Online
18 May 2021, David Molloy. Campaigners are “astonished” that the government’s draft Online Safety Bill does not contain long-promised age verification checks for pornography:
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-57143746
Article: Government’s promises on early years are empty rhetoric after a decade of failure – Politics Home
17 May 2021, Tulip Siddiq MP. We need a big conversation on early years to look at how we can rebuild vital social infrastructure like childcare in a way that meets the needs of families in decades to come: