06/12/2021: County lines: Government pledges to dismantle 2,000 gangs in drug policy overhaul

The government is pledging to dismantle 2,000 county lines gangs as part of a drugs policy overhaul. The £300m commitment is one proposal in the new 10-year drug strategy for England and Wales. . . . Policing minister Kit Malthouse said the total funding would be £900m over three years, including major investments in treatment.
BBC

06/12/2021: Three in four girls have been sent sexual images via apps, report finds

Schools and parents should do more to support students who are being sexually harassed through platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram, while the tech companies need to clamp down on non-consensual . . . sexual images being sent to young people, according to new research released on Monday.
Guardian

06/12/2021: ‘They see it in corridors, in bathrooms, on the bus’: UK schools’ porn crisis

Frontline workers warn how children as young as seven are being bombarded with harmful online sexual material.

Guardian

06/12/2021: Boris Johnson’s new 10-year drugs plan promises to close down 2,000 ‘county lines’ supplies

As part of a 10-year plan for tackling drugs crime and taking on the “kingpins” behind supplies, the PM is warning criminals they will have “nowhere to hide”. And he is also pledging the largest-ever . . . increase in investment in treatment and recovery for addicts.
Sky

05/12/2021: Arthur Labinjo-Hughes: National inquiry into boy’s death

The killing of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes will be the subject of a national review to protect other children from such evil crimes, the government says. The six-year-old was tortured and killed by his . . . father and stepmother after social workers found “no safeguarding concerns”. Emma Tustin was jailed for 29 years for murder and child cruelty and Thomas Hughes got 21 years for manslaughter.
BBC

05/12/2021: Arthur Labinjo-Hughes: national review launched

The government has launched a national review into the circumstances behind Arthur Labinjo-Hughes’s murder and commissioned an urgent safeguarding inspection into agencies in his area. The national . . . inquiry – led by the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel – replaces the local practice review that had been commissioned by Solihull Safeguarding Children Partnership.
Community Care

05/12/2021: Don’t be fooled by deceitful parents, top child expert warns social workers

Social workers need to be more sceptical and decisive when confronted by “manipulative and deceitful” parents, one of the UK’s leading child protection experts has urged following the torture and . . . killing of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes at the hands of his stepmother and father.
Guardian

05/12/2021: ‘Neglected’ fostering services face crisis in morale and funding, warns UK charity

Ministers are facing demands for a comprehensive overhaul of foster care after Britain’s most comprehensive assessment of the service revealed low morale, funding shortfalls and poor support has . . . fuelled a critical shortage of carers.
Guardian