20 areas to receive a total of £13m to help challenging young people
28 October 2008
Children's Minister Beverly Hughes announces the setup of Intensive Intervention Projects between 2008/09 - 2010/11. 20 areas across the country will receive a total of £13m to focus on prevention and support.
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Child services should fund school projects, says Balls
23 October 2008
In his speech to the National Children and Adults Services Conference on 23 October, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families Ed Balls urged directors of children's services to spend more money on early intervention projects in schools.
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Defending the Government's position on smacking
8 October 2008
Children's Minister Beverly Hughes gives a statement on the Government's position on smacking.
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DCSF ministerial team
7 October 2008
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) presents details and biographies of the new ministerial team following the Cabinet reshuffle.
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Hughes rejects call for party political consensus on children
22 September 2008
This article covers comments made by Children's Minister Beverly Hughes at a Labour party conference fringe event regarding children's policy.
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UK lifts reservations on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
22 September 2008
The Government has now endorsed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in full after ending its opt-outs on juvenile justice and immigration policy.
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'Funding Extended Schools: DCSF guidance for local authorities and schools'
20 September 2008
This document by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) explains how Extended Schools funding will be paid to local authorities between 2008 and 2011. It also gives guidance on how it can be used to support the roll out of services.
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Government plans to enshrine children's centres in legislation
17 September 2008
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) have launched a consultation on a law requiring local authorities to provide a sufficient number of children's centres and make them a recognised statutory service.
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£56.5m to tackle youth crime across England
16 September 2008
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has announced extra funding for 69 local authorities related to the Youth Crime Action Plan. This includes an additional £100,000 for Family Intervention Projects in 20 areas.
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Government moves to put Sure Start Children's Centres on a legal footing
11 September 2008
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has launched a public consultation on defining the identity of Sure Start in law.
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Letter to Sure Start Children's Centre leaders
1 September 2008
In a letter sent to all Sure Start managers, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) announces the launch of the Early Years Foundation Stage and forthcoming initiatives, including new Child Development Grants to encourage disadvantaged parents to use services.
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ContactPoint database delayed
28 August 2008
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has announced it will delay the launch of the ContactPoint database until January 2009. The database with details of all children, including name, address and date of birth, was planned to be published in October 2008.
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New Government programme to transform commissioning
27 August 2008
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) will launch the three-year Commissioning Support Programme later this year, transforming the way children's services are commissioned. The programme will provide tailored training and professional development, to increase the number of expert commmissioners.
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Quality measurement for Children's Centres
13 August 2008
Sheila Scales, director of the Departmern for Children, Schools and Families' (DCSF’s) early years, extended schools and special needs group, has written to all directors of children's centres to say that help with performance management will soon be available. A set of tools are being developed to help centres measure outcomes for children and value for money. Further guidance will be available later this year on issues such as governance, staff training and management.
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Children, Young People and Families Grant
13 August 2008
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) are now accepting applications for the Children, Young People and Families (CYPF) grant programme. This is for third sector funding from April 2009, and is open to existing and new partnership organisations. All innovation (formerly project) grants will be payable over two financial years to allow for more flexible start dates and timescales.
Strategic grants of two years duration are also being made, for this round only. The DCSF will be contacting directly all organisations who are in the second year of their current three year strategic grant. Applications deadline is 31 October 2008 and the results will be announced on 15 December 2008.
Ministerial response on mother and baby units in prison
1 August 2008
Ministerial response on mother and baby units in prisons Maria Eagle, parliamentary under-secretary in the Ministry of Justice and ministerial champion for women in the criminal justice system, has responded to the Children's Commissioner's report on women prisoners with babies.
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Statistics on private foster care
31 July 2008
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) have published the figures on private foster care arrangements in England for the year ending March 2008. 1,330 children were reported as being in private fostering arrangements, however this is believed to be an underestimate.
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Good practice for Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs)
31 July 2008
The Department for Children, Schools and Families has published the Local Safeguarding Children Boards - effective local practice and the challenge and improvement tool. This provides examples of good practice in issues such as governance, engagement and developing local procedures. The flexible and voluntary tool allows LSCBs to focus on topics such as establishing strong relationships, accountability and transparency of operation and purpose.
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Update on National Curriculum test delivery
31 July 2008
Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families Ed Balls wrote to the Chair of the Children, Schools and Families Select Committee, Barry Sheerman, to update him on developments in National Curriculum testing and the publication schedule for Key Stage 2 results.
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Support for gifted and talented pupils
28 July 2008
Schools Minister Andrew Adonis announced a package of support to encourage disadvantaged 'gifted and talented' pupils to apply for some of the country's top universities. Gifted and talented pupils in London, the Black Country and Greater Manchester will be entitled to £400 a year to spend on after-school clubs and other enrichment activities.
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Consultation on stamping out sexual exploitation of children
18 July 2008
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Home Office have launched a consultation on guidance for local organisations to identify children at risk, protect them and take action against people intent on abusing and exploiting them.
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Parenting Support Strategy Grant 2008-09
15 July 2008
The Local Authority Circular for the new Parenting Support Strategy Grant 2008-09 is now available on the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) website. It sets out the conditions, allocations and payment arrangements for this ring-fenced grant to local authorities. The grant is to be spent on funding: Parenting Experts, the Parenting Early Intervention Programme (PEIPs) and Family Pathfinders.
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Youth Crime Action Plan
15 July 2008
The Home Office have published the Youth Crime Action Plan. It includes a commitment to support and challenge parents through: more Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) being accompanied by Parenting Orders; expanding Family Intervention Projects; improving local authorities systems to identify, engage and assess families and join up services; and expand Family Nurse Partnerships.
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Steer Review on behaviour in schools
14 July 2008
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has accepted many of the recommendations made by the Steer Review, including encouraging stronger relationships between schools and parents.
Although the report recommended continuing funding for Parent Support Advisors, the Department has said it will not commit extra funding at this time but look at this again in the next comprehensive spending review.
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Teenage maternity services guidance
14 July 2008
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and Department of Health have published the second edition of Teenage Parents: who cares? A guide to commissioning and delivering maternity services for young parents. First published in 2004, this revised edition places services within the latest policy context.
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Commissioning from the third sector
9 July 2008
The Public Administration Select Committee has published a report on the third sector's role in delivering local services. The 18-month study found little evidence to support the Government's view that the sector provides services in distinctive and transformative ways. It offers a number of recommendations for working better with the third sector through "intelligent commissioning".
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0-7 Partnership Pilot
9 July 2008
Beverley Hughes announced details of the ten local authority areas who have been chosen to offer the £10 million 0-7 Partnership Pilot: Blackpool, Derby City, Hertfordshire, Isle of Wight, Kingston upon Thames, North Tyneside, Rotherham, Somerset, Staffordshire, and Sunderland.
The Pilot will explore different ways to help families in the early years and during transition to school. They will test how schools, nursery workers, childminders and parents can work together, and how to provide a single point of advice to parents on childcare and work.
Further measures to support childcare and early years learning were also detailed, with funding broken down regionally.
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Government response to the Bercow Review
8 July 2008
The Government announced £52 million to support families of children with speech, language and communication problems. This includes a stronger commitment to early years support, and improving information, support and advice for parents about children's communication.
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The Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Children's Plan: Government Response to the Committee's Second Report of Session 2007–08
7 July 2008
In April 2008 the Children, Schools and Families Select Committee published their second report into the work of the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). It included conclusions and recommendations for the Government to guide the Department in the future. The Government has now published their response to this report.
One of the key concerns raised and addressed is the issue of joint working across departments, and between national and local levels. The Government notes that it is currently consulting on the co-ordinating role of Children's Trusts, and will publish a long-term strategy in the autumn that will "set the foundations for a staged programme of workforce reform to support joint working across the children's workforce."
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Government Office Strategic Priorities Framework 2008-11
30 June 2008
The Government Office for the English Regions has published the strategic, shared priorities for the Government Office Network. The report describes how Government Offices will act as the key intermediary between local and regional service delivery, and national policy making.
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Supporting early learning practitioners
25 June 2008
Children's Minister Beverley Hughes gave a speech to the Family and Parenting Institute's conference on the Early Learning Partnership Project. She identified two challenges: establishing flexible models of support for parents, and up-skilling early years parenting practitioners to deliver this. She then highlighted the importance of outreach work, multi-agency support, and services seeing adults as parents rather than clients (including fathers and grandparents).
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New measures to tackle child poverty
23 June 2008
The Government announced a series of new pilot projects to increase social mobility and end child poverty. The pilots will initially run for two years, with scope to be extended for a further year, and are expected to begin in early 2009. These include: a Child Development Grant of approximately £200 being made available to low income families taking up Sure Start services in 10 local authorities; improved supported accommodation and support for teenage mothers including parenting skills training; and grants to local authorities to develop innovative approaches to tackling child poverty, focusing on hard-to-reach areas and high risk groups.
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Additional funds for parenting projects
18 June 2008
Children's Minister Beverley Hughes announced up to £8m to give voluntary sector parenting projects more time to secure long-term funding. Funding provided to projects by the second round of the Parenting Fund was due to end this month, but has now been extended until March 2009.
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Child Health Strategy debate with parents and professionals
14 June 2008
Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, and Alan Johnson, Secretary of State for Health, hosted a day of debate with parents and professionals on the forthcoming Child Health Strategy. The Ministers were particularly interested in exploring what more could be done to support fathers' engagement.
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Report on Health inequalities: progress and next steps
9 June 2008
The Department of Health published a report on the work to date on reaching the 2010 health inequalities Public Service Agreement targets. Within the 'Influences on health' section the role of parenting and early years' experiences are considered. In his speech launching the report Health Secretary Alan Johnson restated the Government's commitment to develop, invest in and expand programmes of support for parents, including the Family Nurse Partnership.
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Joint Birth Registration White Paper
2 June 2008
The Department for Children, Schools and Families and Department of Work and Pensions published a joint White Paper detailing plans to change the law to require both parents to be named on birth certificates. The change aims to increase parental responsibility, and includes a number of non-legislative measures to promote engagement. Sole registration will only be accepted if joint registration is "impracticable, impossible or unreasonable".
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Multidimensional treatment foster care pilots
23 May 2008
Young foster children with emotional or psychological difficulties are to get extra support to stop them getting into trouble at school and help them settle in care placements, through a £3.8m pilot project announced by Children's Minister Kevin Brennan. Eight local authorities will get £400,000 each to set up a multi-agency team to help 7-11 year old foster children displaying early anti-social challenging behaviour, who have already had a number of care placements or interventions. The Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care – Children pilots will involve multidisciplinary health and social care teams that combine high levels of supervision with intensive positive parenting training for foster parents.
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Effective Alternatives: Supporting Young People at Risk - Beverly Hughes
20 May 2008
Children's Minister Beverley Hughes gave a speech at the Schools, Colleges, Children's Services and Partners conference on 20 May 2008 where she spoke about how to help children do well at school and college, get the skills and qualifications they need and make a successful transition to adult life.
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Government announces draft legislative programme
14 May 2008
A new Education and Skills Bill will be put before the next parliament. Along with a number of measures to involve parents in their children's education, reform pupil referral units and powers for local authorities to intervene in failing schools, the Bill will strengthen Children's Trusts, with a particular focus on supporting children with additional needs.
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Campaign to encourage breastfeeding
13 May 2008
The Department of Health has launched a campaign to get younger mothers from low-income groups to get the help they need to successfully breastfeed their babies. Mothers can get help from their midwife, health visitor, breastfeeding counsellor or the National Breastfeeding Helpline.
Minister addresses National Association of Head Teachers conference
4 May 2008
In her speech to the National Association of Head Teachers conference on 4 May, Beverly Hughes stressed the role of schools in supporting families. She announced details of the 15 areas that will receive funding for Family Pathfinders, which will help all vulnerable families, not just those linked with anti-social behaviour or crime. She also committed committing a further £3m to develop Extended Family Pathfinders which will be specifically designed to support young people who are caring for a relative.
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Children, Schools and Families Select Committee report on the work of the Department
24 April 2008
This report looks at the some of the issues raised by the creation of the new department and its key areas of responsibility. It highlights that the new department's focus on children is welcome, but there are concerns about how effective the different parts of the government will work together to deliver coherent policy and actions.
The report highlights that there will be an inquiry into Children's Trust later this year to assess the effectiveness of joint working at local level.
It also provides a critique of the Children's Plan highlighting the absence of a timetable for implementation, and its failure to adopt the existing five outcomes agreed in Every Child Matters, concluding that greater clarity is needed on the objectives that the Department for Children, Schools and Families is working towards. Public service agreements, School funding and issues of efficiency and productivity are also discussed.
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Latest national statistics on Outcome Indicators for Looked After Children published
24 April 2008
The gap in educational achievement at GCSE level between children in care and their peers has widened by almost a quarter since 2001.
The figures, released by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) showed that around one in eight (13%) of children in care achieved five A* to C grade GCSEs compared with 62% of all children. Although this represents a one percentage increase on 2006, the figures still compare very poorly.
This is acknowledged by the DCSF which states that the government is totally committed to narrowing the gap, and through Care Matters and the Children and Young Persons Bill will put in place a range of measures to raise standards.
Next steps on the Children's Plan announced
3 April 2008
The Department for Children, Schools and Families announced the next steps in implementing the Children's Plan at a major conference for Directors of Children's Services and other key partners. The government revealed packages for investing in play, youth facilities and the children's workforce. It also outlined the next steps for Children's Trusts. As part of the launch a number of key documents have been published.
Social work at its best: The roles and tasks of social workers
28 March 2008
The General Social Care Council, working in partnership with the Commission for Social Care Inspection, the Social Care Institute for Excellence, the Children's Workforce Development Council and Skills for Care, have produced a statement defining the roles and tasks of social work. This has been welcomed by the Government who has requested that it be used as a source document for the development of the social care bodies' strategic work, which will need to be aligned with the emerging workforce strategies for adult and children's services.
Byron review published
27 March 2008
The Byron review: Safer children in a digital world is now published. Dr Byron concludes that while new technologies bring great opportunities to children and young people, parent's general lack of confidence and awareness is leaving children vulnerable to risks. There are several recommendations to improve child safety, with two specifically related to parenting and the role of the Academy:
- The Academy creates a parent training module on e-safety and includes elements on e-safety in existing courses on managing child behaviour.
- The government makes available provision to train all parenting experts on e-safety.
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Ed Ball praises the role of Parent Support Advisors
26 March 2008
Ed Ball gave a speech at the annual National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) conference and announced that there will be revised induction guidance for newly qualified teachers; a taskforce on cyber bullying to protect both staff and pupils, and a requirement that all secondary schools form behaviour partnerships. Parent Support Advisors were also praised for their work. To increase parental responsibility, parents will be encouraged to get involved in the next stage of the Practitioners Group on School Behaviour and Discipline chaired by Sir Alan Steer.
Care Matters: Time to deliver for children in care, a practical guide for local partners
26 March 2008
The implementation plan sets out the steps local authorities need to take to achieve the Care Matters agenda for children in care. These include
- considering friends and family care first;
- placing children close to home, where that is in their interest;
- ensuring that a child's education is not disrupted by unnecessary change;
- giving children in care the option to stay on in care or with their foster carers after the age of 16;
- giving children a personal adviser up until the age of 25, if required.
The implementation plan comes as the Children and Young People Bill makes its way back into the house of Commons for its second reading.
Over the next year, the Department for Children, Schools and Families will issue statutory guidance on measures in the Bill and on other proposals that do not need primary legislation such as:
- Virtual School Heads
- Child Trust Fund
- designated teachers
- improving the health of looked after children
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Challenge and Support projects
18 March 2008
These projects aim to intervene early when a young person shows signs of problems like truancy, bad behaviour in school or contact with the police. Where a young person persistently behaviours badly, the projects ensure that a co-ordinated approach is applied. This includes ensuring that all Anti-Social Behaviour Orders are accompanied with an Individual Support Order to stop the anti-social behaviour and address its causes. 52 local areas have been invited to bid for Challenge and Support projects and £13m will be made available to aid its delivery.
£218.5m to tackle anti-social behaviour
18 March 2008
The Department for Children, Schools and Families has launched as part of the youth taskforce action plan 20 intensive intervention projects to prevent future anti-social behaviour, focusing on early intervention and prevention alongside tough enforcement. The Youth Taskforce Action Plan expands on the successful work of the Respect Taskforce.
Youth Taskforce Action Plan published
18 March 2008
The government has published its Youth Action Plan which sets out a programme of commitments designed to deliver its objective of tackling anti-social behaviour and its causes.
- 20 Intensive Intervention Projects
- 52 Challenge and Support Projects
- Effective use of enforcement powers
- Up to £60m to roll out Parenting Early Intervention Pathfinders.
The £60m for Parenting Intervention pathfinders will provide more parenting help by expanding Parenting Early Intervention Pathfinders (PEIPS) across the country. The pathfinders will provide support such as parenting classes to parents who are struggling to manage their children's behaviour. Parents are also required to accept their responsibilities, and where they fail to do so could be issued with a parenting contract or parenting order from local agencies.
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20 new test sites for the Family Nurse Partnership scheme
17 March 2008
Beverly Hughes, Minister for Children, Young People and Families, has announced details of 20 sites that will test the Family Nurse Partnership scheme. The scheme is based on a model of intensive nurse-led home visiting for vulnerable first time young parents and involves family nurses visiting young disadvantaged parents from early pregnancy until the child is two years old.
Parent Know-How Programme launched
8 March 2008
The Parent Know-How Programme is designed to deliver better outcomes for children and parents by ensuring that parents have access to information, advice, and guidance to support them in their parenting role. The programme aims to increase the numbers of parents accessing information and support through the web, over the phone, and by text/instant messaging. The Department for Children, Schools and Families has allocated £44m for the next three years to this programme.