(Please note this story contains graphic descriptions and sensitive material that readers may find upsetting)

• A father and his partner have been found guilty of the killing of six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes.
• Arthur was tortured by Thomas Hughes and Emma Tustin, eventually dying of a head injury in Solihull in June 2020 while in the care of his stepmother.
• Arthur was subjected to abuse, neglect, starvation, coercive control, and severe punishment regimes.
• Serious questions are being asked of the authorities which could have intervened to save Arthur.
• A review by social services is currently under way and the Independent Office for Police Conduct is also examining whether opportunities were missed by police.
• Watch our CEO Jim Gamble, discussing the case, here.
• Full story, here.

• NSPCC reveals that more than 100,000 images has been recorded by the police in the last five years for the UK.
• The charity claims that “social media is being used as a conveyor belt to produce and share child abuse images on an industrial scale”.
• NSPCC urges Culture Secretary, Nadine Dorries, to strengthen the Online Safety Bill to disrupt offending.
• NSPCC has drafted a 5-point plan for the Bill including more risk assessments to spot cross-platform activity, interrupt grooming, and stop abusers organising online.
• Full story, here.

• TikTok has launched a new ‘Transparency Centre’ which will contain all future transparency reports.
• All the reports will be easily accessible and can be cross-checked against reports from previous years to help identify trends.
• This follows the release of TikTok’s ‘Content Removal Requests Report’.
• This details actions taken against content due to violations of community guidelines or legal requests.
• Full story, here.

• Freedom of Information Requests to Welsh Police show a 60% increase in offences relating to possessing, taking, making, and distributing child abuse material in North Wales.
• The total number of offences across Wales last year peaked at 1,541, showing a 43% increase.
• The NSPCC Cymru adds that the issue of young people being groomed into sharing images of their own abuse has become pervasive.
• The pandemic offered “the perfect storm” for grooming and abuse online, with offence rates increasing by 18% across the UK.
• Full story, here.

• Head teachers in England report that teacher absences are the biggest barrier to recovering the learning lost during the pandemic.
• More than half of senior teachers reported having insufficient staff due to absences caused by COVID-19 and other illnesses.
• Three quarters claimed that pupils were “behind” compared to previous years.
• This follows a report showing that children in Year 1 and Year 2 remain two to three months behind in reading ability, compared with pre-pandemic cohorts.
• Full story, here.