Vulnerable children ‘falling through net’ as services restricted to statutory minimum
Vulnerable groups are suffering a “significant and dangerous loss of visibility” because their needs do not meet the increasingly tight criteria of councils’ statutory functions, a parliamentary heard has heard.
The House of Lords public services committee was yesterday told how referrals to a council safeguarding board about girls who had been sexually exploited were not picked up because the council could no longer afford to commission those services.
The committee’s chair Baroness Hilary Armstrong, who has been working with the organisation that made the referrals, said the unnamed council – “which is a good local authority” – does not commission in this area “because they can t afford to, because they re busy using their statutory money on all their things where they have no option but to be involved”.
Plymouth-born Operation Encompass rolled out in all 43 police forces across the country
Operation Encompass - created by a former Plymouth police officer and a Torpoint headteacher a decade ago - has now been embedded in all 43 police forces in England and Wales
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A scheme launched in seven Plymouth schools ten years ago by a Torpoint headteacher and a Devonport police sergeant which helps safeguard and support children suffering from domestic violence is now embedded in all 43 police forces across the country.
The landmark was reached on April 12 this year when Bedfordshire Police launched Operation Encompass in their Luton area. The last few months has seen Bedfordshire, along with Dorset and Avon and Somerset forces, sign up to the scheme which over the last decade has become an award-winning nationwide project praised by Government ministers, child psychologists, Chief Constables, education bosses and recognised as far af
ADCS presidency to be focused on recovery Derren Hayes Tuesday, April 27, 2021
New ADCS president for 2021/22 Charlotte Ramsden sets out her key priorities and how she will apply a collaborative style of leadership.
Charlotte Ramsden is director of people at Salford City Council Register now to continue reading Thank you for visiting
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New ADCS president criticises ‘child-blind’ health white paper
The new president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services has criticised the health and social care white paper for its “silence around children’s health needs”.
In her inaugural address, Charlotte Ramsden said she felt strongly that structural health reforms “regularly overstate the benefits that structural reform can achieve and routinely underestimate the disruption they cause”.
Ms Ramsden, who is strategic director for people at Salford City Council, said the “emerging operating model” for Integrated Care Systems that will underpin the reforms “appears to have forgotten children”. “This is so infuriating particularly given the efforts recently of the Department for Education and the Department for Health and Social Care to bring mental health support closer to schools”.
Myah Richards taking part in her Bronze Duke of Edinburgh award.
- Credit: HCC
A young woman from St Albans has paid tribute to the life-changing impact of her Duke of Edinburgh award as the country prepares for the funeral of Prince Philip.
Myah Richards, 21, who has cerebral palsy and spastic diplegia, said that achieving a Bronze Award three years ago helped break down the barriers of perception around her disability and gave her the confidence to enrol on a college course.
Myah, who also has Tourette’s Syndrome and visual impairment meaning she has no peripheral vision, completed her Bronze DofE programme while at Lonsdale School in Stevenage.