Child Health and Wellbeing
The Impact of the Commercial World on Children's Wellbeing: Report of an Independent Assessment
D Buckingham; Department for Children, Schools and Families
In the Children's Plan the Department gave a commitment to commission an independent review of the impact of the commercial world on children's wellbeing. The assessment, conducted by Professor David Buckingham and a panel of experts, states that the debate about the impact of the commercial world on children is a polarised one, between those on the one hand who see children as victims, and others who see all children as confident and media-savvy consumers. Whilst there are risks and a need for appropriate safeguards, the commercial world and the media offers children great opportunities for learning, social development and enjoyment. Children and parents need help in acquiring the skills to exploit these opportunities whilst staying safe. The Government has commited to supporting and facilitating tackling the issues that have been raised in Professor Buckingham's report by:
- promoting greater media literacy for young people – the Department for Children, Schools and Families to look at how schools can help boost children's online skills and teach young people about how to stay safe online through the recently launched UKCCIS strategy (see below);
- updating the 'myguide,' website for parents;
- exploring the scope for developing a set of voluntary principles to underpin all forms of marketing and promotion of food and drink to children, particularly where established mandatory self and co-regulatory regimes do not exist.
The report can be downloaded from the DCSF website.
Click Clever Click Safe: The first UK Child Internet Safety Strategy
UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS)
UKCCIS brings together over 140 organisations and individuals to help children and young people stay safe on the internet. This strategy sets out what the Council have done so far to keep children safe online; their commitments to parents, children and young people; the things they are planning to do to make them happen and some success measures on making children and young people safer. The strategy focuses on the next year, starting with the launch of the Digital Code, which will be the basis of a public awareness campaign.
The strategy can be downloaded from the DCSF website
'Drawing the Line' - A report on the Government's Vetting and Barring Scheme
Department for Children, Schools and Families
The Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) is one of the Government's responses to the Bichard Inquiry which followed the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman by Ian Huntley. Its aim is to prevent harm to children or vulnerable adults by those who seek to work with them either as paid staff or volunteers. From November 2010 people wishing to work with children in specified settings or in specified ways will be required to register with the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA). The aim of this is to provide assurance that there are no grounds for believing that they present a risk of harm to children and that they have not been statutorily barred from working with them. The report takes into account public concerns about the Scheme and checks that the Government had drawn the line in the right place in relation to the requirement to register, particularly with regard to the frequency of contact with children which should trigger the obligation to register with the ISA.
The report can be downloaded from the DCSF website
Working Together to Safeguard Children consultation
Department for Children, Schools and Families
In The Protection of Children in England: A Progress Report Lord Laming made a number of recommendations which the Government has proposed to address through the revision of Working Together to Safeguard Children statutory guidance. This revised draft guidance addresses 17 of Lord Laming's recommendations, as indicated in the National Safeguarding Delivery Unit's earlier pre-consultation. The revised draft also updates the guidance to reflect changes to the policy and legislative landscape since Working Together was last published in 2006.
The consultation can be downloaded from the DCSF website. The closing date for responses is 11 February 2010.
Safeguarding children and young people: a scrutiny guide
Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA)
The Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) and Centre for Public Scrutiny (CfPS) have published a new guide to support overview and scrutiny committees in fulfilling their critical role in relation to safeguarding children.
Safeguarding in this context is used to mean both child protection services and other activities designed to make children safer at home, at school, in their communities or using public services. The guide is designed to assist both councillors and officers in shaping and developing local safe services. The document includes:
- suggestions for approaches to scrutiny
- key references and advice for further reading
- a series of questions that committee members may want to consider when testing whether local arrangements are robust.
The guide can be downloaded from the IDeA website.
Further guidance on effective practice for Local Safeguarding Children Boards - A Summary Outline for consultation and a call for evidence
National Safeguarding Delivery Unit (NSDU); Department for Children, Schools and Families
Lord Laming published The Protection of Children in England: A Progress Report in March 2009. This was an independent report on the progress being made across the country to deliver effective arrangements to protect children, and to identify any barriers to effective, consistent implementation and how these might be overcome. He recommended that the DCSF must provide further guidance to Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) on how to operate as effectively as possible. The National Safeguarding Delivery Unit (NSDU) is seeking views on the proposed outline guidance and issues that it should cover, the style and format of the practice guidance and how to produce the final practice guidance. It also welcomes contributions of evidence of models or templates of effective local practice, exemplars of good practice and case studies which relate to any of the proposed issues identified here.
The consultation and evidence call can be downloaded from the DCSF website.
The NSDU has requested that responses be submitted 29 January 2010, emailed to: lscb.guidance@ndsu.gsi.gov.uk
Children's Services
The Children's Plan two year's on - a progress report
Department for Children, Schools and Families
The Children's Plan built on the Every Child Matters framework. In this report the Government takes the opportunity to chart the progress that has been made so far and share their next steps. The report states that DCSF policies have made a real difference to children's services benefiting children and young people, their families and practitioners. It also states that the Children's Plan has driven improvements by putting the child at the centre of policies, meaning services work more closely together to meet all the needs of the child. Examples given of progress for children and families include:
- over 3,000 Sure Start Children's Centres – offering integrated services to over 2.4 million children under five and their families;
- free early learning and childcare places for disadvantaged two-year-olds – more than 20,000 places now offer to 15 per cent of the most disadvantaged two-year-olds;
- over 4,000 people now trained as Early Years Professionals;
- 90 per cent of schools offering extended services
- over 2,000 families supported by Family Intervention Projects
It also sets out next steps, including new guarantees for parents and children of what they can expect from services, with the aim of ensuring that parents' and children's needs are central and partnerships within and between schools and children's services, to ensure services work together to intervene early and successfully. A new Children's Plan website has also been launched. This includes case studies and a video showing how the Children's Plan has made differences to practitioners, parents, children and young people over the past two years.
The report can be accessed on the DCSF website. See also the Children's Plan website.
Sure Start Children's Centres Guidance - Consultation
Department for Children, Schools and Families
The purpose of this consultation is to gather views on the draft Sure Start Children's Centres guidance. Following the Apprenticeships, Children, Skills and Learning Act 2009, the document contains statutory guidance to local authorities and, in some cases, Primary Care Trusts and Jobcentre Plus, on the provisions of the Act in relation to children's centres. This guidance builds on the existing DCSF guidance for children's centres. As well as relevant to LAs, PCTs and Jobcentre Plus , the guidance will also be relevant to staff at children's centres and organisations who work with children's centres. The Act also establishes the inspection of children's centres by Ofsted, and views are also sought on a policy statement explaining the inspection proposals.
The consultation document can be downloaded from the DCSF website. The deadline for responses is 1st February 2010.
Children's services ratings
Ofsted
The report is the first Ofsted annual children's services ratings, looking at performance in 152 local authorities in England for 2009. The new annual children's services rating provides an overview of each council's performance in relation to children's services for which they have strategic or operational responsibilities (either alone or in partnership with other agencies) and the difference they are making to children's lives. The performance ratings for 2009 show that over two thirds (103) of councils are providing excellent or good services for children and young people, with 40 offering services that are performing adequately. Nine councils are performing poorly overall, due mainly to weaknesses in safeguarding children. Characteristics of the best performing councils include:
- children generally get off to a good start in the early years and continue to do well throughout each stage of their education
- councils engage effectively with children and families and involve them in decision making
- provision is good or better for children and young people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable
Characteristics of poorly performing councils include:
- serious weaknesses in aspects of social care provision for children and young people who are therefore not adequately safeguarded
- inadequacies in assuring good quality across teams and services and in the assessment of children's needs
- children's views are not consistently taken into account
- insufficient numbers of permanent and experienced social workers
- low levels of performance across services, which mean children have poorer outcomes.
The report can be downloaded from the Ofsted website.
Serving children and young people better
Children and Young People's Inter-Agency Group (CIAG); NCB
Six years on from the launch Every Child Matters (ECM), the report outlines progress made and steps still required. The report sets out six themes for action which CIAG believe could help to ensure that in the next five years, work can build on what is good, recognise the changing context and the financial constraints ahead, and support those least helped by ECM to do better, bringing them better outcomes and building a stronger society as a result.
The report can be downloaded from the NCB website.
Care Planning Placement and Case Review Regulations Consultation
Department for Children, Schools and Families
The purpose of this consultation is to gather views on the draft Care Planning Placement and Case Review Regulations (England) 2010 and related guidance. The consultation seeks to provide information on the major changes in the regulations and guidance and explore the views of practitioners and delivery partners on potential barriers to implementation of the requirements of the regulations and guidance.
The consultation document can be downloaded from the DCSF website. The closing date for responses is 8 February 2010.
Parental experiences of services provided to disabled children: 2009-10
Department for Children, Schools and Families
This publication sets out the main findings from the second national sample survey of parents of disabled children in England. This was conducted on the Department's behalf by TNS-BMRB. The primary purpose of the survey is to measure parental experience of services for disabled children and provide a 2009-10 score for the national performance indicator 5 for the Public Service Agreement on Child Health and Wellbeing (PSA 12). The secondary purpose of the survey is to provide 2009-10 figures for the large majority of local authorities and Primary Care Trusts (PCTs). The survey and indicator have been developed as part of the Aiming High for Disabled Children programme.
The report can be downloaded from the DCSF website.
Family Services
Building a safe, confident future - The final report of the Social Work Task Force
Department for Children, Schools and Families
The Social Work Task Force was set up by the Department of Health and the DCSF 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. In July 2009, the Task Force published its interim report, 'Facing up to the Task', which set out proposals for the kind of comprehensive reform needed, including a series of building blocks for constructing a reform programme. In the final report, the Task Force is sets out fifteen recommendations for improving and reforming social work. These recommendations were developed from the building blocks for reform first set out in the interim report. The recommendations are intended to support a continuing single profession and are designed to enable social workers to benefit from high quality education and training in responding to both the needs of children and adults, but also to develop specialist skills early in and over the full course of their careers.
The report can be downloaded from the DCSF website.
General
Getting on: well-being in later life
ippr
This report sets out a wider agenda for policymakers and practitioners. It reviews UK policies for older people and international practice, as well as the priorities of older people in urban versus rural locations. It concludes with recommendations for action, which signal a fresh approach to later life and seek to challenge outdated assumptions.
The report can be downloaded from the ippr website.
Poverty and Social Exclusion
Monitoring Poverty and Social Exlusion 2009
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
This is the latest annual report on the state of poverty and social exclusion in the United Kingdom from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the New Policy Institute.
Each report, using official government data, is built around a set of 50 indicators. The analysis covers a wide range of issues, ranging from low income, worklessness and debt, to ill-health, poor education and problems in communities. While the recession has certainly had an impact, the report shows that several key indicators, particularly regarding low income, unemployment and debt, were already getting worse, well before the recession began. In addition, many indicators have improved, notably in health and education. The report is complemented by a website providing updates to graphs, more analyses and links to other relevant sites.
The report can be downloaded from the JRF website
When Times Are Tough - Four families' stories
ippr
ippr has examined how 58 low-income families manage their day-to-day finances. The research, which took place in London, Newcastle, Nottingham and Glasgow in 2008–2009, has provided insight into the pressures that many low-income families face as they struggle to balance their income and expenditure. These four case studies from the research illustrate the impact of broad social and economic trends at household level and share knowledge and data. Each case study has been chosen to provide an individual family narrative around poverty and the economic crisis.
The report can be downloaded from the ippr website.
Sinking and swimming: understanding Britain's unmet needs
The Young Foundation
Sinking and swimming: understanding Britain's unmet needs
Young Foundation
This is a study of who is sinking and who is swimming in Britain today. Based on new analysis of statistical data, case studies, surveys and hundreds of conversations with people across the country, the study shows where the most acute needs are and how they interrelate. It looks at why some people can cope with shocks and setbacks and others can't. And it draws on the implications for policy, philanthropy and public action. The welfare state that was build up after the great economic crisis of the 1930s was designed to address Britain's material needs - for jobs, homes, health care and pensions. It was assumed that people's emotional needs would be met by close knit families and communities. Sixty years later psychological needs have become as pressing as material ones: the risk of loneliness and isolation; the risk of mental illness; the risk of being left behind. New solutions are needed to help the many people struggling with transitions out of care, prison or family breakdown, and to equip people with the resilience they'll need to get by in uncertain times.
This study is a guide to the changing landscape of need - and a guide to reducing unnecessary suffering.
The report can be downloaded from the Young Foundation website.
Schools
Review of elective home education
House of Commons Children, Schools and Families Committee
The Committee has published their review of elective home education.
The report can be downloaded from the Parliament website
Childcare Affordability Programme 2005 - Pilot review
Department for Children, Schools and Families
The main aims of this research were to review the implementation process and assess progress against the programme's objectives. The review comprised: a literature review in year 1 and a policy update in year 2; three waves of an annual survey of all London boroughs and the City of London; case studies covering Phase 1 and Phase 2 projects; telephone interviews with providers interviewed in years one and two; a qualitative telephone survey in year 3 of parents using CAP05 provision and year 3 workshops with one focussing on practical delivery and the other at the policy and programme level.
The report can be downloaded from the DCSF website.
Disabled Children's Access to Childcare (DCATCH) pilot activity
Department for Children, Schools and Families
In 2007, the Aiming High for Disabled Children (AHDC) programme announced an additional investment of £35 million to support development by testing out ways of achieving better access to childcare for disabled children and young people. Ten pilot areas were then identified to work with the Disabled Children's Access to Childcare (DCATCH) initiative. This report has been published to share information and learning to date and to make early information about DCATCH pilot activity available to a wider audience. It summarises learning from DCATCH pilot areas for the information of local authorities and children's trusts as they prepare new childcare sufficiency assessments for 2011 and develop strategies to expand the range, quality, and affordability of childcare available to families with disabled children.
The report can be downloaded from the DCSF website.
Young People
Guidance on the consumption of alcohol by children and young people. A report by the Chief Medical Officer
Department of Health
In April 2008 the Chief Medical Officer was asked by the Secretaries of State for Health and for Children, Schools and Families to prepare guidance on the consumption of alcohol by children and young people. Over the last decade, public concern about the impact of alcohol on health and society has steadily mounted.
Particular concern has centred on the level and pattern of drinking among children and young people and its consequences on health, crime, violence and antisocial behaviour. This guidance was published initially in draft form as part of a consultation on advice and information for children, young people and alcohol, being facilitated in England by the Department for Children, Schools and Families. The findings from this consultation have been collated and utilised in the development of this final version of the Chief Medical Officer's guidance.
The report can be downloaded from the Department of Health website.
