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Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Michael Gove delivered a speech at a think tank where he suggested that parents should face child benefit cuts if they fail to ensure their children turn up at school. He first proposed this idea as education secretary in 2014, believing it would “tackle anti-social behaviour”.

A nine-year-old boy has written to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to tell him his parents feel ‘failed and forgotten’ as he pleaded for better support for disabled children and their families. Nate Courtney, who is autistic, told the PM he feels ‘sad’ due to his parents having to ‘fight for everything’ for him and his disabled sister.

Falkirk wheelchair racer Abby Cook said she was “speechless” after being chosen as the 42nd Blue Peter presenter. Abby, 20, will join Mwaka Mudenda, Joel Mawhinney and Henry the dog.

Attempting to announce that the Loose Women presenter and driving force behind the Rights on Flights campaign had been announced as a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing, The Sun opted for the headline: ‘Cha Cha Chair’ with the subheadline ‘First wheelchair contestant’. Responding on Twitter to the headline, Sophie said:

“‘CHA, CHA, CHAIR….’ is this actually for real? @TheSun we need to have a word. I am NOT a wheelchair. I am a PERSON who uses a wheelchair.”

New ONS census data has found that there has been a large increase in the number of disabled girls aged 10 to 14 and 15 to 19 years of age. Between 2011 and 2021 the numbers rose from 6.8% to 12.2% in England and 7.1% to 13.3% in Wales. Contact thinks this is due to a combination of factors including later diagnosis in girls for autistic spectrum conditions, plus a greater awareness of autism. As well as the fact that girls are more likely to have mental health problems in their teen years, as shown by various studies.