80% of TikTok users surveyed said app hindered eating disorder recovery

  • Content which promotes disordered eating and dangerous weight loss is supposedly banned on TikTok.
  • Despite this, research has found it being widely shared under code names.
  • 82% of respondents to the survey found TikTok had a negative impact on their mental health and 93% felt TikTok does not do enough to protect users.
  • You can read the full story on the ITV website.

Review finds new biometrics laws are urgently needed

  • An independent legal review has found new laws governing biometric technologies are urgently needed.
  • Biometric data refers to faces, fingerprints, voices, DNA profiles and other measurements which relate to the body.
  • The review found technologies using this data, such as live facial recognition, have rules which are fragmented, unclear and are not kept up with technology.
  • You can read the full story on the BBC’s website.

Pace of council change after Star and Arthur deaths ‘depressing’

  • The time taken to improve children’s services in the two areas where Star Hobson and Arthur Labinjo-Hughes lived has been labelled as ‘depressing’.
  • Chief executives from Bradford and Solihull councils told a parliamentary select committee that reforms would be seen within one year.
  • Reforms were called for following a report highlighting safeguarding failures over the deaths of Arthur and Star.
  • You can read the full story on the BBC’s website.

Surge in children seeking special educational needs support

  • The number of children in England seeking special educational needs and disability (SEND) support from councils has risen by nearly a quarter in a year.
  • The Local Government Association has called for emergency action to ensure the rising demand for support is met.
  • They said that the government needs to resolve the deficits built up by councils as a result of rising costs which outstrip SEND budgets available to them.
  • Find out more on the Independent’s website.