A report from the office of Dame Rachel de Souza has found while the number of police strip searches of children has fallen by more than half in four years, there remain concerns about the use of force in some cases and persistent disparities in how white and black youths are treated.
Dame Rachel has said there should be a "much higher threshold" before a child is subjected to a "humiliating and traumatising" strip search.
Using data from the first half of 2024, her office estimated a total of 377 strip searches took place that year – down from 854 searches in 2020.
That was the year Child Q, a black teenager, was strip-searched in east London while on her period after police wrongly suspected her of carrying cannabis.
It did not come to light until a safeguarding report was published in March 2022, sparking protests.
The two Metropolitan Police officers involved in searching the 15-year-old were dismissed without notice after a disciplinary panel last summer found they had committed gross misconduct during the "disproportionate" incident.
'Too many still unnecessary'
Dame Rachel said the "promising signs of progress" since then in terms of the number of strip searches and how they are carried out have only masked the fact "that too many are still unnecessary, unsafe and underreported".
She described strip searching as "an intrusive and traumatic experience" that should "only ever be used as a last resort when there is an immediate risk of serious harm".
Her report found some searches between July 2023 and June 2024 were still being carried out in public view (26) and without an appropriate adult present (22).
Three in 10 (30%) involved children who had already been searched at least once before, which the commissioner said risked "significant and repeated damage to their mental wellbeing, their relationship with the police, and showing clear failure to successfully intervene with children".
Black children more likely to be subjected to force
Force, such as handcuffs or firearms and Tasers, was used in almost a fifth (17%) of all stop and searches of children between April 2024 and March 2025, but in 43% of instances where force was used, no further action was taken, raising the question why it was used at all.
Black children were almost five times as likely to have force used during a search than white children.
In cases where force was used against a white child to be searched, officers were more likely to note them as having a mental health need, but for black children the reason identified was more often their size or build, the report said.
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The National Police Chiefs' Council said it understood that the "disproportionate use of stop and search" could "undermine trust between policing and communities".
But it said updates to official guidance on stop and search – including on the use of force and handcuffs – were out for public consultation and would help ensure all officers take a "child-centred approach".
A Home Office spokesperson said: "We're introducing extensive safeguards for children and young people for strip searching and bringing in reforms to drive up standards in policing, improve vetting and tackle misconduct."
The case against the Metropolitan Police's use of live facial recognition technology (LFT) in London was brought by two people over concerns it could be used arbitrarily or in a discriminatory way.
The cameras are usually mounted on vans in busy high streets and designed to identify people on police watchlists if they pass by.
Youth worker Shaun Thompson, one of the claimants, said he was misidentified by the technology. The other person bringing the claim was Silkie Carlo, from the group Big Brother Watch.
Their lawyer told the High Court that LFT would also make it "impossible" for Londoners to travel without their biometric data being taken.
But judges ruled on Tuesday that the claimants' human rights had not been breached and the force's policy gave "adequate indication of the circumstances in which LFR will be used".
They also said the argument the technology risked discriminating against people due to their race had not been convincing.
"We are not able to accept, on the thin submissions advanced before us, that concerns about discrimination infect the legality of the policy," said Lord Justice Holgate and Mrs Justice Farbey.
The Met's lawyer told the court at least 801 arrests had been made last year "specifically as a result of LFR" and the privacy risk was "only minimal".
Sir Mark Rowley, the Met commissioner, welcomed the decision and said the tech "helps us catch more criminals quickly and precisely, saves officer time, and ultimately saves money".
He said there had only been about a dozen misidentifications "out of three million people walking past the cameras" and no one had been wrongly arrested as a result.
Policing Minister, Sarah Jones said: "I welcome today's ruling because there can be no true liberty when people live in fear of crime in their communities.
"Live facial recognition only locates specifically wanted people - law abiding citizens have nothing to fear.
"This technology puts dangerous rapists and murderers behind bars - and I question any group who call that uncivil.
"We are rolling out facial recognition across the country with record investment to keep communities safe."
'Stop and search on steroids'
But Mr Thompson said he hoped to appeal and insisted he had been "misidentified, detained and threatened with arrest" due to LFT.
"No one should be treated like a criminal due to a computer error," he said.
"I was compliant with the police, but my bank cards and passport weren't enough to convince the police the facial recognition tech was wrong.
"It's like stop and search on steroids."
The Home Office has previously defended the use of LFR.
It said a person's image is "immediately and automatically" deleted if it does not match the watchlist and all deployments are "targeted, intelligence-led, time-bound, and geographically limited".
Thirteen forces were using it by the end of last year and the home secretary said in January that the number of LFR vans would increase from 10 to 50.
However, Essex Police paused its use of the technology earlier this year after a study found it was "statistically significantly more likely" to correctly identify black people than other ethnicities.
While it was "extremely rare" for someone to be flagged up if they weren't on the list, the force said they was a "potential bias in the positive identification rate".
The force said in March it believed the issue had been fixed by updating the algorithm and the system was ready for the streets again.
Most of the cuts come from closing its loss-making CityLine fleet and retiring its 27 aircraft.
It blamed the cost of jet fuel, which it said had more than doubled, as well as labour disputes with its workforce.
Most airlines are dealing with soaring costs as Middle East oil supplies remain largely cut off due to the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz.
Consumers are also feeling the pinch with ticket prices starting to show significant rises.
Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary told Sky News this month there was a risk fuel supplies could be disrupted from May if the Strait of Hormuz remained shut.
He said oil costs were part of the "wider ramifications", but the more "immediate concern" was jet fuel supplies.
The head of the International Energy Agency also told Associated Press last week that Europe had "maybe six weeks of jet fuel left".
In a statement on Tuesday, Lufthansa said the 20,000 culled flights would save 40,000 tonnes of jet fuel over the period until October – adding that the cuts only represented 1% of its "available seat kilometres".
The company said it was consolidating its European network, and unprofitable routes from its Frankfurt and Munich hubs were going, while existing routes out of Zurich, Brussels and Vienna were being expanded.
The German carrier said passengers would still be able to access its global route network and long-haul connections.
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Lufthansa's long-haul capacity will reduce somewhat at the end of the summer, however, when it loses six intercontinental planes.
Two iconic Boeing 747s will be grounded for the winter ahead of their final farewell sometime in 2027. Four Airbus A340-600s are also retiring for good in October.
The winning numbers in Tuesday's draw were 13, 16, 29, 40 and 47, with the Lucky Star numbers 3 and 4.
There were three winning tickets in total, including two bought in the UK and one bought in France.
They all matched the winning numbers and shared the jackpot, with a prize of £41,844,862.30 each.
Andy Carter, the senior winners' advisor at Allwyn, urged players to check their tickets, saying: "It's been another great night for EuroMillions players as two lucky UK winners have won an incredible share of tonight's £126 million jackpot prize.
"These lucky ticket-holders join the £181 million jackpot winner from 10 March – another big UK win."
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Friday's jackpot is now an estimated £14m.
Just last month, another UK ticketholder won more than £180m in the EuroMillions jackpot draw.
The UK ticket holder matched all five main numbers plus the two lucky star numbers to land the third-biggest UK national lottery win of all time.
All told, they won £181,073,415.70, Allwyn said.
The record for the largest prize ever scooped by a UK EuroMillions player stands at £195m, which was won in 2022.
After a demo last month, there will continue to be no VAR in the EFL next season, just goal-line technology in the Championship.
Goal-line technology, which judges if the ball has crossed the goal line, will continue and has been in place in the Championship for a number of years.
VAR (video assistant referee) was introduced in the Premier League in the 2019/20 season to check key moments such as goals, penalties and red cards.
It remains very controversial, and many fans say it's made matches less enjoyable.
Players delaying celebrations and standing around while video is checked for a potential foul has become a regular part of matches.
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A survey of 8,000 fans last month by the Football Supporters' Association found 75% were against VAR and 90% disagreed it had improved the Premier League match-day experience.
Nonetheless, the game's lawmakers have extended VAR's remit, and from this summer competitions will have the option of using it to check corners.