Review of NHS children's services

Department of Health

The Chief Executive of the NHS, David Nicholson, has commissioned Sir Ian Kennedy to identify the cultural obstacles that inhibit sustained improvement in frontline NHS services for children, and in particular NHS action to safeguard children; and to make recommendations to support sustained improvement for the medium and longer term in outcomes for children receiving services. He will look at what needs to be done to build on action already underway and how such action can be embedded and developed. His report, with recommendations for action is to be submitted by end March 2010.

Contact details for the review and its terms of reference can be found on the Department of Health website.

October 2009

children's health, national strategy

Nurse-Family Partnership Programme-Second Year Pilot Sites Implementation in England: The Infancy Period

Birkbeck College-University of London; Department of Children, Schools and Families (DCSF)

This is the second year report of a four year evaluation study that is assessing the feasibility of delivering the Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) Programme in England. The report focuses on the infancy phase of the programme addressing how it can be delivered with consistency, fidelity to the US programme model attained, its acceptability to clients, their engagement and retention as well as FNP in the wider children's service context and its costs.

The report is available from the DCSF website .

September 2009

national strategy

Commission on early intervention

Department for Education; Social Justice Cabinet Committee

The review is to look into how early intervention projects can improve the lives of the UK's most vulnerable children. It will be chaired by Labour MP Graham Allen and will look at ways children's professionals can better support children's social and emotional needs and break the cycles of underachievement which blight some of the poorest communities. Examples of successful schemes will be looked at. The review will also look at funding early intervention schemes in "innovative ways" rather than government funding. The review is the first major piece of work to emerge from the Cabinet's social justice committee, which is chaired by Ian Duncan Smith. An interim report will be produced in January 2011, detailing case studies of successful schemes and recommendations on funding. A final report will be published in May 2011.

Further details can be found on the Department for Education website

July 2010

service commissioning, national strategy

Cutting the Children's Plan

Centre for Policy Studies

Subtitled "a £5 billion experiment gone astray", the report accepts that social mobility and the opportunities of disadvantaged children are low but argues that it is doubtful whether the programmes in the Children's Plan can ever achieve the high ambitions set out for them, suggesting most are flawed both in concept and in practice. It identifies a range of problems in funded programmes including:

• highly level of centralisation, with regulations, "guidance on best practice" and funding all being controlled by the DCSF/DfE;
• heavy influence of prevailing educational and child-rearing orthodoxies;
• issues with transparency and accountability as implementation of programmes is left to a complex web of quangos, charities, private companies and local authorities.
• evaluation of programmes has been criticised as weak by the House of Commons Health Select Committee.

It argues for an alternative approach, which can be applied to many of the more useful elements of the Children's Plan (including Sure Start), giving local authorities the discretion to implement and fund these programmes. This approach would enable decisions to be taken at a local, not a national, level and improve accountability, innovation and further local involvement; cut £1.9 billion a year (in terms of the 2010-11 budget) from the Children's Plan; devolve responsibility for an additional £2.3 billion a year to local government and leave leave £0.8 billion with central government.

The report can be downloaded from the Centre for Policy Studies website.

June 2010

national strategy

In loco parentis

Demos

Comparisons between looked after children and the rest of the population have consistently shown that care leavers are one of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in society. The report argues that it is wrong and overly simplistic to assume that the care system is wholly responsible for this disadvantage, and is therefore 'failing' all those who enter care. It uses an in-depth review of existing data and research studies, to show that there are a number of factors that influence outcomes among children in care, not least their pre-care experiences; and that looked-after children, far from being a homogeneous group, enter care for a variety of reasons and have very different needs. It uses new quantitative analysis of the costs associated with good and poor care journeys, to demonstrate the significant gains to be made by minimising delay and drift, promoting stability in placements and supporting young people's transitions to adulthood. The report sets out recommendations to de-stigmatise care as a source of family support and 'taper' the edges of the system so that care is not used as an all-or-nothing intervention. It argues that what matters most is building a care system which is sufficiently proactive and responsive to provide the right kind of support for children and their families at every stage.

The report can be downloaded from the Demos website.

June 2010

national strategy

Appointment of the Children's Commissioner for England

Children, Schools and Families Committee

Dr Maggie Atkinson has been appoined as the Children's Commissioner for England.

The report of the Committee can be found on the Parliament website.

October 2009

national strategy

Consultation: Review of the Children, Young People and Families (CYPF) Grant Programme

Department for Children, Schools and Families

The Children, Young People and Families (CYPF) grant programme provides funding to third sector organisations for activities which support delivery of the Every Child Matters agenda and the Department's Children's Plan. This consultation seeks the views of the third sector and any other interested parties on the future approach and shape of the grant programme.

The consultation is available from the DCSF website. The deadline for responses is 5 October 2009.

June 2009

national strategy

Second Report: The Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Children's Plan

Children, Schools and Families Committee

In this report on the Children's Plan, the issues raised by the committee included a lack of a timetable for action. They also questioned which the main priorities were and how the plan links with the Every Child Matters objectives. Tensions were highlighted between the desire for institutions to co-operate, and incentives which stimulate competition between them. Future work for the committee will include monitoring how well education, health and other services work together at the local level.

The report can be downloaded from the Committee website.

April 2008

national strategy

Children's Plan implementation pack

Department for Children, Schools and Families

The Department for Children, Schools and Families has published materials to clarify implementation of the Children's Plan. These include:

• a timeline for the reviews, plans and strategies announced in the Children's Plan
• an outcomes framework how the Children's Plan fits with Every Child Matters, the Public Service Agreements (as announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review in October), and the National Indicator Set.
• notes to support practitioners delivering the Children's Plan

The documents can be downloaded from the DCSF website.

April 2008

national strategy

Children's workforce strategy

'Building Brighter Futures: next steps for the Children's Workforce' sets out the Government's plans for investment in the sector over the next three years. It gives more detail about the implementation of commitments in the Children's Plan to invest in the early years workforce, the play workforce and social workers.

A professional development framework for those leading and managing children's services has also been published, and an expert group has been set up which will work with the Government to develop a long term strategy for the children's workforce.

These documents can be downloaded from the DCSF website.

April 2008

workforce, national strategy

Third Sector Strategy and Action Plan

Department for Education and Skills

The proposals in this new action plan include:

• increasing the third sector's voice in local and national policy-making
• developing the third sector's role in increasing the involvement of users in the delivery of local services
• using community-based organisations to reach disengaged young people and families
• ensuring there is a level playing field for the third sector in local commissioning
• encouraging mentoring, volunteering and social enterprise

The document can be downloaded from the Every Child Matters website.

June 2007

local strategy, national strategy, service commissioning

Children's Workforce Strategy Update - Spring 2007

Department for Education and Skills

This update on the Children's Workforce Strategy covers Early years professional status (EYPS), the Options for Excellence Review, the Common Assessment Framework and the Information Sharing Practitioners' Guide.

Views are sought on the Children's Workforce Strategy Refresh to be published Autumn 2007, which will set out the agenda for the following 12 months. The deadline is 30 June 2007.

The document can be downloaded from the DfES website.

March 2007

workforce, national strategy

Facing up to the Task - The interim report of the Social Work Task Force

The Social Work Task Force was set up by the Government to undertake a comprehensive review of frontline social work practice and to make recommendations for improvement and reform of the whole profession, across adult and children's services. It finds that widespread staffing shortages mean that social work is struggling to hold its own as a durable, attractive public sector profession; the current mix of practical and professional support to frontline social workers is inconsistent and sometimes inadequate; and that current arrangements for education and training are not producing enough social workers fully suited to the challenges of frontline practice. There is a widespread view among frontline social workers that indicators do not measure quality of service or outcomes for the service user. The report sets out some possible solutions including the creation of a national college for social work.

The report is available from the DCSFwebsite.

July 2009

workforce, national strategy

Review of Capacity in the Parenting Support Market

PricewaterhouseCoopers; Department for Education and Skills

Following on from a previous report, 'The Market for Parental and Family Support Services', this report focuses on exploring in more detail the key barriers to development in the parenting support market. The authors find that the recommendations from the previous report were still valid, and the market has not yet moved on significantly since last year's report. However new structures had recently been set up in all local authorities: a Single Commissioner of Parenting Support Services and parenting strategy groups.

Commissioners felt that the most important actions for Central Government were to make funding available for parenting support on a longer term basis and reduce the overall complexity associated with current funding streams. The report also explores the possibility of parents paying for services.

The report can be downloaded from the DfES website.

May 2007

parenting programmes, local strategy, national strategy, service commissioning

Mind the gap: Creating a seamless system of support for vulnerable children and families

4Children

This report identifies barriers to early intervention as part of the wider Every Child Matters. Policy recommendations include:

• Ensuring Children's Centres and extended schools actively reach out to vulnerable groups and are able to identify and refer on families who need help.
• Creating more children's and youth services throughout childhood, including in middle childhood and transition to secondary school
• Supporting families to create their own solutions through Family Group Conferencing
• Addressing the lack of services for families who need more than universal services can provide, but who are not yet crossing the threshold into high impact crisis support.
• Creating new Family Advocates to advise and broker local support

The report can be downloaded from the 4Children website.

May 2007

service commissioning, national strategy

Reports published to strengthen the role of the third sector

The first report, 'Partnership in Public Services: an Action Plan for Third Sector Involvement', sets out plans including:

• a national programme to train 2,000 of those who commission public services on how to involve the third sector in services; and
• £30 million funding for community groups to work with Local Authorities to take over management or ownership of local assets.

The action plan can be downloaded from the Cabinet Office website.

The second report, 'The future role of the third sector in social and economic regeneration: interim report', is based on the largest ever consultation with the third sector. It sets out a vision for the third sector and includes a commitment to three-year funding for third sector organisations as the norm rather than the exception. Further work will take place leading up to the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review.

The report can be downloaded from the HM Treasury website.

December 2006

local strategy, national strategy

The UK Family Friendly report card 2010

Family and Parenting Institute

The Prime Minister David Cameron has said he wants Britain to become the most family friendly country in Europe. So how far does Britain have to go before it can be considered a truly family friendly society? In a timely move for exam season, the Family and Parenting Institute is launching this Family Friendly Report Card, awarding the country school-style grades on areas of family policy.

Full details can be found on the Institute's website.

July 2010

national strategy

Commission on the funding of care and support

Department of Health

The Commission's terms of reference include considering a range of funding ideas including both voluntary insurance and partnership schemes. The Commission will be chaired by Andrew Dilnot with two further commissioners, Lord Norman Warner and Dame Jo Williams and it and will report within a year. It will examine and provide recommendations on:

• the best way to meet care and support costs as a partnership between individuals and the state;
• how an individual's assets are protected against the cost of care;
• how public funding for the care and support system can be best used to meet needs;
• how to deliver the preferred option including implementation timescales and impact on local government.

Further details can be found on the Commission's website.

July 2010

national strategy

Coalition programme for government

The new coalition government has announced its policy priorities. In relation to families and children overarching aims include making UK society more family friendly, and taking action to protect children from excessive commercialisation and premature sexualisation. Specific stated policy priorities include:

• Maintaining the goal of ending child poverty in the UK by 2020.
• Reform of the administration of tax credits to reduce fraud and overpayments.
• Support for the provision of free nursery care for pre-school children from a diverse range of providers, with a greater gender balance in the early years workforce.
• Refocussing Sure Start on early intervention and increasing its focus on the neediest families.
• 4,200 extra Sure Start health visitors, using funding from Sure Start peripatetic outreach services, and from the Department of Health budget.
• Investigating a new approach to helping families with multiple problems.
• A review and scaling back of the criminal records and vetting and barring regime.
• Action on irresponsible advertising and marketing, especially to children, as well as steps to tackle the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood.
• Encouragement for shared parenting from the earliest stages of pregnancy – including the promotion of a system of flexible parental leave.
• Funding to put relationship support on a stable, long-term footing, and make sure that couples are given greater encouragement to use existing relationship support.
• A comprehensive review of family law in order to increase the use of mediation when couples do break up, and to look at how best to provide greater access rights to non-resident parents and grandparents.

The full document, entitled The Coalition: our programme for government, can be downloaded from the dedicated Programme for Government website.

May 2010

national strategy

Support for all: the Families and Relationships Green Paper consultation

Department for Children, Schools and Families

The Green Paper sets out a wide range of measures designed to support all families as they bring up their children and to help families cope with times of stress and difficulty. The proposals recognise that while all families need some help, there are families in our society with complex needs and others who require additional support. The Paper's proposals aim to influence factors that can strengthen or weaken family life, such as the choices available about balancing employment with bringing up children; and how welcoming and accessible public services are to families of all kinds. The Paper focuses mostly on supporting family relationships by enabling families to help themselves. It also considers the position of children and other family members when family relationships have broken down.

The Green Paper can be downloaded from the DCSF website. The deadline for consultation responses is 21 April 2010.

January 2010

national strategy

Family wellbeing at the heart of Government

Family and Parenting Institute, C Rogers

The Family and Parenting Institute has published a background briefing on the Government's 2010 green paper on families and relationships. This includes research findings from its recent Family Trends research and sets out what families need from government going forward.

The briefing can be downloaded from the FPI website.

January 2010

national strategy

Children Schools and Families Bill - Second reading

Family and Parenting Institute, C Rogers

The Family and Parenting Institute has published a background briefing on the latest version of the bill, including a number of recommendations. The Bill includes measures to improve educational attainment – including new guarantees for parents and pupils; strengthened home school agreements; parents surveys of local education provision at secondary level; putting PSHE as a foundation subject of the national curriculum; and registration of home educated children. Further provisions for opening up family court proceedings are also included.

The briefing can be downloaded from the FPI website.

January 2010

national strategy

Green paper on the family

Centre for Social Justice

The report seeks to examine the scale and nature of social breakdown in Britain and to understand the key drivers behind this breakdown, in order to make policy recommendations for addressing its causes. It identifies five pathways to poverty: family breakdown, economic dependency and worklessness, educational failure, addiction and personal indebtedness. It argues in particular that in order to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty and social exclusion investment must be made in supporting and strengthening the institution of family.

The report can be downloaded from the Centre for Social Justice website.

January 2010

national strategy

Parental opinion survey 2009

Department for Children Schools and Families

The Parental Opinion Survey was set up in order to provide Ministers with information about the opinions of parents on a range of issues, focusing on their role as parents, their confidence as parents and their views about the services that they or their children use. The survey identified a lack of confidence for some parents. Specific groups such as parents who do not have English as their first language, parents with older children and those with lower education levels all appear to lack confidence compared to other groups. The policy challenge is how to engage these parents and help build their self esteem. For instance, the Government's commitment to extended services in and around schools is one area where parents may be able to access parental support. The challenge for schools will involve appropriate targeting and promotion of services to those parents in greatest need. Some parents may also need more support and eencouragement to support their child's learning at home.

The report can be downloaded from the DCSF website.

January 2010

national strategy

Family Information Directory

Department for Children Schools and Families

The Directory is intended to enable parents and families to find, for the first time, the information they want on subjects including family activities, parenting questions and childcare with a single search. The Family Information Directory is an extensive online directory offering parents, and those working with them, the ability to search for information about childcare and family services in both their local community and nationally. The Department has published a briefing document outlining what the Family Information Directory is and how it works for parents, what services it can provide and what sorts of information and advice they can point users to.

The report can be downloaded from the DCSF website.

January 2010

national strategy

Review of Youth Justice Board Governance and Operating Arrangements - Call for evidence

Youth Justice Board

The Ministry of Justice and the Department for Children Schools and Families have announced today that there will be a review of the YJB's governance and operating arrangements. The review will examine whether the YJB has the most appropriate powers, levers, accountabilities and capacity to meet its statutory functions and deliver government priorities on youth justice.

The call document is available from the YJB website.

September 2009

national strategy

Building Britain's Future

This document outlines the Prime Minister's proposals for economic recovery, summarising plans across a wide range of policy areas, including constitutional reform, affordable housing, schools, the NHS and climate change.

More information is available from the Building Britain's Future website.

June 2009

national strategy

Dawn Primarolo replaces Beverley Hughes as children's minister

Following Beverley Hughes' announcement that she would stand down as Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families, she has been replaced in the role by Dawn Primarolo, previously public health minister.

The full list of new ministers is available from the DSCF website.

June 2009

national strategy

Debate on the future of the Compact

The Compact is a voluntary partnership agreement between the Government and the voluntary and community sector (VCS) which sets out principles for how the two sectors will work together. The Commission for the Compact has been asked by the goverment to seek opinion on its future development. Questions for discussion include: Should the Compact remain a voluntary agreement or should it be made statutory? Is the content of the Compact adequate or should it be changed? How could the Commission for the Compact change to ensure better implementation of the Compact?

More information is available from the Compact website. Views can be submitted until 10 November 2008.

August 2008

national strategy

Public sector targets to be cut

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the Rt Hon Andy Burnham MP, announced that the number of targets set by national government for public services would be reduced. In particular, the Public Service Agreements set by the treasury will be scaled back from more than 100 set in 2004 to closer to 30. Most targets will depend on local decisions by councils, NHS primary care trusts and other service chiefs to set targets reflecting local needs and priorities.

The speech is available on the Treasury website.

July 2007

national strategy

Hearts and minds: commissioning from the voluntary sector

Audit Commission

This report sets out the Audit Commission's findings on: the extent and nature of the voluntary sector's delivery of public services; the locally perceived impact of government efforts to build capacity; the current state of commissioning; and procurement practice.

The report can be downloaded from the Audit Commission website.

July 2007

local strategy, national strategy, service commissioning

Policy Review of Children and Young People

HM Treasury

This discussion paper sets out evidence gathered during the first stage of the review and the next areas the review will examine to inform the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review and the Government's forthcoming Ten-Year Youth Strategy.

The discussion paper presents evidence on four main areas of challenge, to be revisited in the final report. These areas are:

• a more preventative system, doing more to build children's resilience and intervening as soon as possible when problems do arise;
• a ten year youth strategy;
• how services can provide greater support to families with disabled children; and
• how services for families and children at risk of becoming locked in a cycle of low achievement can be reformed to deliver better outcomes.

The review can be downloaded from the HM Treasury website.

January 2007

national strategy

An Anatomy of Economic Inequality in the UK: Report of the National Equality Panel

National Equality Panel

The report finds that:

• Inequalities in earnings and incomes are high in Britain, both compared with other industrialised countries, and compared with thirty years ago.
• Some of the widest gaps in outcomes between social groups have narrowed in the last decade, particularly between the earnings of women and men, and in the educational qualifications of different ethnic groups. However, deep-seated and systematic differences in economic outcomes remain between social groups across all of the dimensions examined.
• Differences in outcomes between the more and less advantaged within each social group, however the population is classified, are much greater than differences between social groups.
• Many of the inequalities examined accumulate across the life cycle, especially those related to socio-economic background.

The report can be downloaded form the Panel website.

January 2010

national strategy

Families experiencing multiple disadvantage - Their use and views on childcare provision

Department for Children, Schools and Families

This research aims to fill a gap in the evidence base by exploring the relationship between families' experience of multiple disadvantage and childcare. We know that disadvantaged families are less likely to use formal childcare; however, less research has been conducted on childcare use by multiply disadvantaged families.

The report can be downloaded from the DCSF website.

January 2010

national strategy

Could online marketplaces tackle poverty?

Joseph Rowntree Foundation

The Foundation proposes the use of 'National e-markets' to help alleviate poverty. It suggests that such markets would be safe, convenient, accessible Internet marketplaces with ultra-low overheads. It argues that the private sector alone cannot create these marketplaces, but they could quickly be realised using the same model that created the National Lottery. It suggests positive results for government could include: a new tool for tackling worklessness; more precise public services; a new model for skills; and benefits efficiencies.

The report can be downloaded from the JRF website.

January 2010

national strategy

Measuring severe child poverty in the UK

Save the Children

This policy briefing reveals that 1.7 million children across the UK live in severe poverty — around 13 per cent of all UK children. The number of children living in severe poverty has risen over the period 2004/05—2007/08, from 11 per cent to 13 per cent of all children. This increase has occurred against a backdrop of rising levels of overall child poverty. Save the Children is calling on the UK government to refocus its efforts on the poorest children in the UK.

Details of the research can be found on the Save the Children website.

January 2010

national strategy

Pension, Disability and Carers Service partnerships research

S Hall et al.; Department of Work and Pensions (DWP)

The Pension, Disability and Carers Service (PDCS) commissioned this piece of research to explore external organisations' perceptions of the efficacy of PDCS partnerships activity, consultation and working relations and to understand how best to continue working in partnership with its key stakeholders. Its objectives were to: explore 'what works' in consultation and partnership activity; examine external organisations' perceptions of the effectiveness of PDCS' consultation, partnership activity and working relationships, and what drives them; and to help develop a set of questions which can be used by PDCS to measure and monitor the effectiveness of its consultation, partnership activity and working relationships in the future.

The report can be downloaded from the DWP website.

October 2009

national strategy

Home Education - registration and monitoring proposals - consultation response

Department for Children, Schools and Families

Home Education - registration and monitoring proposals – consultation response
The Department has published its response to the consultation. The report can be downloaded from the DCSF website.

January 2010

national strategy