Report: End of Life Care

A report by the PHE on End of Life care, indicates a growing understanding within the health sector of what is important to people at the end of their life. Key concerns for them are the effective management of pain and other symptoms, to be surrounded by loved ones and to be treated with dignity; as a consequence of this, the report has found that the proportion of people dying at home or in care homes is continuing to increase.

Child Health Profiles

Public Health England have published this year's Child Health Profile, providing analysis and key findings for each top level local authority in England. Updated annually, these provide a snapshot of performance against 32 selected indicators compared with the rest of England. The profiles are designed to help local authorities and health services improve the health and well-being of children and to tackle health inequalities. 

Young Offenders

There has been much discussion in the news recently about cared for young offenders. Government figures show that the  majority  of young people are in care because they have suffered abuse or neglect - just 2% of them are taken into care primarily because of their own socially unacceptable behaviour. However, a disproportionate number of them are more likely to end up in the criminal justice system than other children. The issues behind this will now be examined in an independent review, to be chaired by Lord Laming.

The latest 'Proven Re-offending' statistics bulletin from the Ministry of Justice is now available, giving figures for adult and youth re-offenders; it also looks at some of the underlying reasons for young people re-offending. NACRO are a crime reduction charity, aiming to reduce crime and re-offending in communities across England and Wales, by offering programmes that help people back into work. 

Amongst their publications is one that offers advice on employing ex-offenders.

Roundup: Social Work

The Prime Minister announced yesterday that it would be rolling out the Troubled Families programme across the country, to help more vulnerable families. The government have also committed themselves to long term funding for a proposed centre of expertise, which will aim to address and tackle child sexual abuse. The benefits of delivering action services early on have also been discussed in a new report by Action for Children.

These developments come as The College of Social Work (TCSW) closes its doors due to lack of funding from the Government. The membership charity was established following the 'Baby P' case, to become a beacon of best practice for social workers. Useful resources and advice can still be found on the TCSW website, particularly for those wanting to become a social worker and there are a number of best practice case studies also available.

Meanwhile, a number of charities have criticised the government for continuing to outsource children’s social care as Ofsted this week ceased regulation of third-party providers. In March, The Deregulation Act 2015, became law, stating that providers no longer have to register with Ofsted before taking on local authority contracts. Previously, these providers would have had to meet a number of requirements set out by Ofsted including vetting checks, interviews and a visit to the proposed premises. At the moment, there are five independent providers commissioned to provide social care services, but numbers are expected to grow.

Education Inspection: the future

Ofsted recently held a launch event for a common inspection framework which has been remodelled for further education and skills, schools and early years. The slides presented at the event are all available here.

From September, Ofsted will inspect good schools and further education and skills providers once every three years under a new short inspection model. Starting from a premise that the school or provider is still good, inspectors look to ensure that those standards are being maintained as well as checking that leaders have identified key areas of concern and that they have the capacity to address them. 

Too much homework?

The debate on whether homework should be scrapped has been an long-standing one. Now, excessive homework is being blamed on the rise of mental health illness in children and young people. A “high-stakes achievement culture” is also being cited amongst the reasons given for a rise in anxiety and depression. This follows on from a recent announcement by Cheltenham Ladies’ College, that it will be carrying out a review on whether to abolish homework. However, when one school in New York decided to scrap homework, parents were not pleased....

And whilst the West has been inspired by the success of Asian education systems, a report by Professor Yong Zhao indicates that Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and Shanghai are turning their attention to cultivating “twenty-first century skills” in their children, such as creativity, communication, collaboration and higher order thinking skills; they are also more concerned about student social-emotional and physical health.

Ready for work....

A number of SEN resources are available for young people requiring support to help them into work: as part of their Preparation for Adulthood programme, 'Preparing for Adulthood' have published two new case studies to support young people with mental health issues. 

Supported internships are study programmes that take place in both work and college so that learners receive practical hands-on experience; useful information on supported internships, who offers these programmes, setting them up and funding issues are provided in this factsheet. The number of study programmes available to 16-25 year old students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities are becoming more widely available; further information on study programmes can be found here.

From the DfE, the latest SEN statistics and analysis have been published on local authorities’ progress in transferring to the new system of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans.

A busy week....

It was a busy week in Parliament last week with the state opening and the Queen's Speech which set out the new government's plan for their first year in office; NCB's Anna Feuchtwang gives her analysis of events and how children and young people fared on issues such as child poverty, children's rights and childcare. This NCB briefing provides further information about the Bills that will impact children and young people.

A full list of newly appointed government ministers can be found here.