Upcoming Events
Work experience 2025
17/01/2025: Police fear ‘rightwing driven’ reaction to grooming gangs will harm victims
Senior officers say fraction of child abuse cases relate to gangs and funding could be diverted from current cases.
16/01/2025: All porn sites must ‘robustly’ verify UK user ages by July
All websites on which pornographic material can be found, including social media platforms, must introduce “robust” age-checking techniques such as demanding photo ID or running credit card checks for UK users by July.
16/01/2025: Home Secretary announces local inquiries into grooming gangs
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced a £5 million plan to implement five local inquiries into grooming gangs.
(Source: Children and Young People Now)
16/01/2025: Smartphones now an ‘integral part’ of our lives, teenagers tell MP behind new bill
Young people support measures to protect them from digital harm but urge that proposed legislation does not prevent them from accessing smartphones.
(Source: Children and Young People Now)
16/01/2025: Government orders national audit of child sexual exploitation by gangs
Three-month review to probe current scale and nature of gang-based exploitation, while government will also fund and support councils to carry out local inquiries into past abuse, says home secretary Yvette Cooper
16/01/2025: Ofcom Announces New Age Assurance Guidance to Protect Children from Harmful Content
Ofcom have announced a critical milestone in protecting young users from harmful content online. Ofcom’s newly published industry guidance, stemming from the Online Safety Act, provides an outlined roadmap for industry to ensure children are shielded from online pornography and other harmful material online.
(Source: South West Grid for Learning)
15/01/2025: Government to implement university free speech law
The government has confirmed plans to reintroduce a piece of legislation aimed at protecting free speech on university campuses.
15/01/2025: MPs say fix Send system or face ‘lost generation’
Urgent action is needed to stop a “lost generation” of children leaving school without ever getting the support they need for their special educational needs and disabilities (Send), MPs have warned.
15/01/2025: Parental mental health biggest cause of child protection referrals in England
Public service cuts and ‘stark impact of poverty’ are causing worse outcomes for children, according to survey
14/01/2025: Parents ‘should have access to kids’ social media’
Parents should be given the right, “morally and humanely”, to access their children’s social media accounts after their deaths, MPs have heard.
13/01/2025: Funding boost for Start for Life scheme
The government has announced funding of £57 million to extend the Start for Life programme for a further year.
(Source: Children and Young People Now)
11/01/2025: Molly Russell’s dad warns UK ‘going backwards’ on online safety and urges PM to act
The father of Molly Russell, the teenager who took her own life after seeing harmful content online, has personally appealed to the prime minister to tighten rules that protect children and has warned the UK is “going backwards” on internet safety.