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The Children's Commissioner claims there's a backlog of kids waiting to be diagnosed with special educational needs in England. Rough sleeping has increased by 14% in the UK, with a charity in Leeds providing support. It's National Handwashing Day to prevent infections. Zero Waste Leeds is teaming up with Cardigan Community Centre for a winter clothing drive. The production "Black is the Colour of My Voice" is touring the UK. National insurance for employers may be raised in the autumn budget. Leeds has seen a record high in driving test wait times. There's a backlog of tests due to a shortage of examiners. From the Leeds Hacks Radio Newsroom, this is Red Radio News. Good morning, it's 11.30, I'm Lara Gowen and this is Leeds Hacks Radio News. The Children's Commissioner claims there's a tsunami of kids in England waiting to be correctly diagnosed with special educational needs. Dame Rachel D'Souza says thousands of young people are waiting more than two years to see a doctor. The number of people attending independent special schools has doubled from just under 13,000 in 2015 to almost 30,000 this year. Rough sleeping has increased by 14% in the last year in the UK. A Leeds-based charity, Simon on the Streets, are doing everything they can to provide accommodation, warm clothes and food to those in need. CEO of the charity, Nathalie Moran, speaks on how Leeds has been affected. We've definitely felt that increase in the number of people rough sleeping across Leeds and Bradford. It's quite visible now certainly, not just in the city centres anymore but around the outskirts of Leeds as well and a lot of our work at the moment is focused on those outskirts. Today is National Handwashing Day. It is a day to remind people of the importance of proper handwashing to prevent infections. For the winter months incoming, handwashing is vital for everyone's health. Zero Waste Leeds have announced they're teaming up with Cardigan Community Centre for a winter clothing drive this year. Last year's campaign distributed over 7,000 winter clothing items across the city with this number expected to rise through the health of Cardigan Community Centre. Donations are being accepted from October 21st up until January 31st. So get donating if you have any spare winter clothing items. And with Black History Month in full swing, the production of Black is the Colour of My Voice has arrived at Darlington's Hippodrome. Award winning writer, Athea Campbell's sensational production depicts the life of a pianist and activist, Nina Simone. Nicole Sherry made her debut and will be touring across the UK this October. Zakiya Sarma has refused to rule out raising national insurance for employers in the upcoming autumn budget. The Conservative Party have claimed this breaks a statement laid out in Labour's manifesto. In a statement to BBC he said, We were very clear in the manifesto and we would not be increasing tax on working people. Leeds have seen a record high in driving test wait times with it increasing by 20% in the last year. Learners still have to wait up to six months for a test with the pass rate only being 34%. Michael Linton, driving examiner, talks about how the DVSA are going to manage the backlog. So currently in the UK the average is about 25 weeks. It is going to get better over time but it's going to take a long time because the key reason behind that is there's not enough examiners out there at the moment. So there's still a backlog that they've got to catch up with as well as those that want to book tests. So it's going to take a long time. It's two minutes past eleven, more news in half an hour. .