Family Policy Digest: 4 June 2009
The Family Policy Digest lets you know about key events and publications over the last month across Government, the voluntary sector and the research community. It enables you to track the progress of legislation and debate on family policy.
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Child health and wellbeing
Tackling health inequalities: 10 years on
Department of Health
This report reviews developments in health inequalities over the last 10 years across government from the publication of the Acheson report on health inequalities in November 1998. It reviews a range of key data sets covering social, economic, health and environmental indicators, and considers lessons learned and challenges for the future.
The report is available from the Department of Health website.
May 2009
UK adopts new growth charts based on breast-fed babies
All newborn babies and children up to four years old will have their growth measurements plotted on new charts. These are based on the growth of breast-fed babies and replace current measures which are based predominately on babies fed with formula milk.
More information is available from the Department of Health website.
May 2009Health professionals' taskforce on violence against women set up
The taskforce will comprise health professionals, NHS managers and representatives from the public, social services and voluntary sector. It will identify the role and the response of health services in preventing, identifying and supporting women and girls who are victims of violence and abuse, and to make recommendations on what more could be done to meet their needs.
More information is available from the Department of Health website.
May 2009 Children's services
The protection of children in England: action plan - The Government's response to Lord Laming
HM Government
This action plan sets out the Government's response to Lord Laming's recommendations in 'The Protection of Children in England: A Progress Report.' Actions include revising the core statutory guidance, Working Together to Safeguard Children, a new Chief Adviser on the Safety of Children, and a cross-Government National Safeguarding Delivery Unit. The report also covers inspection arrangements and local leadership and accountability. A £57.8 million Social Work Transformation Fund will be invested in training.
The report can be downloaded from the DCSF website.
May 2009New Ofsted arrangements for the inspection of children's services
Ofsted has published details of how its inspection of children's services will be conducted under the new Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA). The frameworks published are the arrangements for the new Ofsted rating for council children's services and the programme of inspection of safeguarding and looked after children, which includes unannounced inspections of child protection services in every local authority in England. Inspections will begin in June.
More information is available from the Ofsted website.
May 2009How social workers spend their time: An analysis of the key issues that impact on practice pre- and post implementation of the Integrated Children's System
L Holmes et al; Department for Children, Schools and Families
The paper compares data collected from two series of focus groups with social workers and managers in 2001/02 and again in 2007/08. The data was originally collected for different purposes. Four key themes emerged: pressures on social work time; difficulties associated with the implementation of the ICS; difficulties with electronic systems in general; and the environment of continued change.
The report is available from the DCSF website.
May 2009The first frontline professionals start using ContactPoint
Up to 800 frontline practitioners including social workers, health professionals and head teachers have started using the ContactPoint database. They are based in 17 local authorities in the North West and national voluntary sector partners Barnardo's and KIDS.
More information is available from the DCSF website.
May 2009Care applications by local authorities have risen
Cafcass statistics show that care applications by local authorities have risen since November following the publicity around the Baby P case. A survey by the Local Government Association also shows that local authorities are having increasing difficulties recruiting and retaining child social workers.
More information is available from the Cafcass and LGA websites.
May 2009Review of the involvement and action taken by health bodies in relation to the case of Baby P
Care Quality Commission
This report highlights the failings of the four NHS trusts in the care they provided to Baby Peter. Since his death, it shows that trusts have taken some measures to improve their child protection procedures. However, more work needs to be done to: ensure sufficient staffing levels; improve attendance of healthcare staff at child protection case conferences; and address communication problems when making referrals.
The report is available from the Care Quality Commission website.
May 2009Parents rate local authorities on services for disabled children
The results of the first ever national survey of parents' views of services for disabled children have been published. On average, parents rated the services for their disabled child as 59 out of 100, providing the government and local areas with a base point from which to track progress health, education and social care for disabled children. More detailed information will be available later in June.
More information is available from the DCSF website.
May 2009Extending the free early education entitlement: Discussion document on a new code of practice
Department for Children, Schools and Families
This consultation seeks the views of parents, early learning and childcare providers, local authorities and others, on how best to deliver the extended free offer to improve outcomes for children and their families. The discussion paper focuses in on extending the free entitlement, securing quality and evidence gathering. The key principles underpinning the entitlement will not change - that it must be completely free at the point of access; be delivered by a diverse range of providers; and in accordance with parental demand.
The consultation is available from the DCSF website. The deadline for responses is 8 July 2009.
May 2009Clear Expectations
Children Matter East
This report explores the progress the Eastern Region's Children's Trusts are making in developing and implementing their joint commissioning approaches, and the impact on the children and young people's voluntary and community sector (VCS). The report explores the statutory sector and VCS perspectives, levels of and changes in funding for the sector across the region, and makes a number of recommendations.
The report is available from the Children Matter East website.
May 2009Consultation: Promoting the Health and Wellbeing of Looked After Children - revised statutory guidance
This guidance is a revised version of the existing guidance, 'Promoting the Health of Looked After Children', which was published by the Department of Health in 2002. The revised guidance will be statutory on PCTs and on Strategic Health Authorities as well as local authorities.
The consultation is available from the DCSF website. The deadline for responses is 3 August 2009.
May 2009 Family services
Health visitors - a progress report
Family and Parenting Institute
This report sets out the results of a survey which shows significant variation in the number of health visitors between PCTs. County Durham PCT has one health visitor for every 165 children whereas some London PCTs have as few as one health visitor for 800 children. PCTs in the South of England were likely to have fewer health visitors and of the ten PCTs with the lowest number of health visitors, eight were in London.
The report is available from the FPI website.
May 2009Delivering parenting support services: A literature review and an investigation into the views of parenting service commissioners and managers
S Virgo; Family and Parenting Institute
This study is based on in-depth interviews with parenting commissioners, parenting coordinators and senior managers in 10 English local authorities to capture the strategic and operational experience of planning and delivering parenting services in the field. It also includes discussion of government directives and other policy commentaries on service enhancement. As well as identifying the deficits and challenges, the study looks at good practice and discovers a range of successful strategies and systems. It makes proposals to support more efficient management, ranging from budgetary matters and coordination to the very definition of parenting support.
The report can be downloaded from the FPI website.
May 2009Training for parenting support: Qualitative research with employers, managers, providers and practitioners in 10 local authorities in England
D Cotton, J Reynolds and J Apps; Family and Parenting Institute
This report is based on interviews with parenting leads, managers of parenting practitioners, training providers and practitioners from health, education, children's centres and social services in 10 local authorities. It explores issues such as strategic and organisational matters, access concerns, and the integration of training into practice and supervision, and highlights examples of promising practice.
The report can be downloaded from the FPI website.
May 2009Funding for relationship and parenting advice services
A total of £3 million funding has been announced by the government including £1 million for Relate over the next two years to fund extra counselling and relationship support for couples and families who may have been affected by the recession. Other recipients include Parentline Plus to increase promotion of their 24-hour helpline, organisations which provide online support and funding for the Kids in the Middle coalition of charities to help them to develop workshop sessions in Sure Start Children's Centres for recently separated mothers and fathers.
More information is available from the DCSF website.
May 2009 General
Birth statistics show fertility rate continues to rise
Provisional figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the 2008 Total Fertility Rate was 1.95 children per woman – the highest since 1973, and the seventh consecutive annual increase.
More information is available from the Office for National Statistics website.
May 2009 Poverty and social exclusion
Households Below Average Income 1994/5-2007/08
Department for Work and Pensions
The Households Below Average Income figures show that in 2007/08, 4 million children lived in relative poverty (below 60 per cent of median income) after housing costs are taken into account, a rise of 100,000 compared to 2006/07. This means that 400,000 children have been lifted out of poverty since 1998/99 when the government promised to halve child poverty by 2010. To reach this target, 1.7 million children would need to be lifted out of poverty after housing costs. When calculated before housing costs, 2.9 million children are considered to be in poverty.
The report can be downloaded from the DWP website.
May 2009Eighth report: Budget 2009
House of Commons Treasury Committee
This report covers several aspects of the Budget. On child poverty, the committee states its concern at "the lack of any substantial measure to combat child poverty" and notes that on current indicators the Government will fail to meet its 2010-11 target by a significant margin.
The report is available from the Committee website.
May 2009The living standards of families with children reporting low incomes
M Brewer et al.; Department for Work and Pensions
This study focuses on whether children in low-income households have different living standards depending on whether their parents are employed, self-employed, or workless. Children with the lowest average living standards are not those in households with incomes of below £50 a week, but those living in households with equivalised incomes of £100 to £200 a week. In general for families with children with similar incomes, self-employed families have higher living standards than employed families, who in turn have higher living standards than workless families.
The report is available from the DWP website.
May 2009Disabled families in flux: Removing barriers to family life
Scope
This report includes the findings of a survey which highlights the situation of families with disabled children, who were more than twice as likely as families with non-disabled children to have little or no quality time together. Approximately 9 per cent of families with disabled children reported having very little or no fun in their lives. Over a third of families with disabled children classed their home as quite unsuitable or very unsuitable. Leisure activities outside the home were difficult to access, and families are often unhappy about the level of formal
support that they receive.
The report is available from the Scope website.
May 2009Ethnicity and child poverty
L Platt; Department for Work and Pensions
All minority groups have higher rates of poverty than the average and compared to the white majority. This report examines whether these differences can be entirely explained by known risk factors or whether ethnicity is linked to poverty through additional factors. It finds that higher poverty risks for minority ethnic groups are not simply the result of higher proportions of families which we know are at higher risk of poverty, such as lone parent families, large families or workless families. There were ethnic poverty penalties, for all the main minority groups, that is Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Indian, black African and black Caribbean children.
The report is available from the DWP website.
May 2009 Schools
School Accountability and School Report Card: Qualitative research (Executive summary)
Department for Children, Schools and Families
This report summarises parents' opinions about information and accountability in relation to their child's school, and of the proposed School Report Cards. In theory parents liked the idea of having more objective information on the 'soft' measures of a school. However they suspected that schools would try and hide any unfavourable information and disliked what they saw as jargon.
The report is available from the DCSF website.
May 2009 Young people
Transport guidance: Supporting access to positive activities
Department for Children, Schools and Families
This guidance outlines how local authorities from around the country and their partners worked with young people to overcome transport barriers by developing innovative solutions which make the best use of available transport resources and flexibilities locally. It highlights potential linkages with emerging policies which could contribute to new solutions to address transport issues at local level.
It can be downloaded from the Every Child Matters website.
May 2009Design:This Way Up
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