by Lamiat Sabin
Parliamentary reporter

CHARITIES are calling on peers to make councils legally obliged to provide counselling for children affected by domestic abuse during coronavirus lockdowns.

Phone calls made by adults worried about children’s welfare to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children’s (NSPCC) helpline have risen 50 per cent during the pandemic, the charity has said.

It comes as Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned that the government is a “long, long, long way” from being able to lift lockdown restrictions in England.