Gordon Brown at Malala hospital

A 256,000 signature petition calling for shot Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai to receive a Nobel Peace Prize has been delivered to Downing Street.

Shahida Choudhry, the campaigner who started the appeal, and the MP for Birmingham Perry Bar Khalid Mamood joined young campaigners from the Send My Friend to School campaign to hand the petition to the Government.

The father of a Pakistani schoolgirl who was shot by the Taliban is to become a UN Special Advisor on Global Education.

Ziauddin Yousafzai has been appointed by UN Special Envoy Gordon Brown as an adviser to assist the work of getting every child to school by the end of 2015.

Mr Brown said: 'With today's announcements we show that as a result of Malala's courage and her inspiration the whole world is pushing for education for every girl.

'We will prepare country-by-country reports of the gaps in educational opportunity. We will hold a summit with off-track countries in Washington on April 19th, which the UN Secretary-General, the President of the World Bank and I will host."

He added: "In time Malala herself is determined to join the campaign for every girl’s right to education and when she has recovered she will do so, becoming one of the leaders of that campaign.

"I can announce that after consultation with Malala's family, there will be on July 12th next year, Malala’s own birthday, a day of action. We will invite children to march, demonstrate, petition and pray for children’s education to be delivered worldwide."

Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl being treated in Birmingham after being shot in the head by the Taliban, has spent a comfortable weekend at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.

Malala has now been treated at the hospital by a specialist team for three weeks.

More from ITV News Central.

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has visited the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham where Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl who was shot by a Taliban gunman three weeks ago, is being treated.

Mr Brown, who is UN Special Envoy for Global Education, recently said he would be visiting Pakistan next month to speak with President Asif Ali Zardari about Malala's cause of education for girls.

Read more on the ITV Central website.

Kainat Riaz has said she is praying for her best friend, Malala Yousufzai, after the pair were attacked by Taliban gunmen on their way home from school three weeks ago.

She told ITV News' Social Affairs Editor Penny Marshall: "I miss Malala. I am praying for Malala."

Both schoolgirls live in Pakistan's Swat Valley where the Taliban has made women's education a target. Kainat was shot in the arm in the attack that left Malala fighting for her life.

Speaking over an internet video connection, she said she was not frightened to return to school and is studying hard.

See the full interview with Kainat on the ITV News at 1:30pm.

William Hague has paid tribute to Malala Yousafzai, "for her courage during the attack and her courage and strength now during her recovery."

The Foreign Secretary said: "I pay tribute to other countries, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, because this is a good example of three countries working together to help one individual - but of course for a wider cause."

After meeting Malala and her family, Foreign Secretary, William Hague, said:

“We are profoundly grateful to all the full multi-disciplinary team of medical staff at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, for all they are doing to help Malala recover from her appalling injuries.

"I thanked Dr Rosser and his staff on behalf of the Prime Minister and our whole Government. I offered our support and sympathy to Mr Yousafzai and his family as they go through this ordeal, as well as our best wishes for Eid Al-Adha.

“Malala’s swift and full recovery is our absolute priority. But we are also determined to do all we can to champion education for women and girls in Pakistan.

"The people of Pakistan have paid a high price from terrorism and extremism. We will stand by all those who like Malala are courageously defending the rights of women, in Pakistan and around the world.”

The Foreign Secretary has paid tribute to injured girl Malala Yousafzai after meeting her and her family in the Birmingham hospital where she is being treated: