|
Early Day Motion to deliver school counselling
You may have seen that the LGA has been able to secure cross-party support for an Early Day Motion calling on the
Government to spend 5.3 per cent of the funding promised to CAMHS on delivering
school counselling across England - a key ask in our Bright Futures campaign. The motion was initially tabled with co-sponsors
representing all four of the LGA’s political groups.
There are currently 23 signatures on the motion, and we are continously working to raise that number through various channels. You can help us by spreading the word in social media.
Minister
announces £17 million to improve children's services
Children and
Families Minister Nadhim Zahawi has announced a package of support worth £17 million
to improve outcomes for vulnerable children. More than £15 million will go to
eight new Partners in Practice, to expand a peer support programme between
local authorities to improve children’s services. The government is also
announcing £2 million will go to improve leadership in children’s social care
services, which will be delivered through the LGA.
Improved
funding for personal advisor support
Government has
announced improved funding for councils to extend personal adviser
support to care leavers aged 21-25, up from an initial assessment of £7.8 million
per year to £12.1 million per year. However, the LGA still considers this to be
an underestimate and will lobby for a review of this funding and further
uplifts as necessary.
Children’s
Mental Health – Green Paper response
Our work on
children’s mental health is gathering pace as local authorities play a critical
role in delivering and coordinating children’s mental health. We have responded to the Government’s Green Paper
on transforming children and young people’s mental health provisions. You can
read our response in full here.
Learn more about our work to urge the Government to prioritise children
and adolescent mental health services on our Bright Futures campaign page, where you can find social media resources and a fantastic and inspiring video interview with
mental health advocate Hope Virgo.
Be
a part of the National Children and Adult Services Conference
The
NCAS organising committee is now inviting session bids for this year’s conference, taking
place in Manchester from the 14-16 November. Closing
date for bids is 1 April.
Virtual
School Head support receives additional funding
As a result of lobbying from the LGA and our sector
partners, councils will receive £7.6 million per year to extend virtual school
head support to previously looked after children, including adopted children.
Government had previously argued that councils should cover these costs from
existing budgets.
Modern slavery: duty to notify
Councils are
under a duty to notify the Government when they come across potential victims
of modern slavery. Consenting adults and children should be referred through
the National Referral Mechanism, for adults that do not consent to enter the
NRM councils are still under a duty to notify and should use the MS1 Form. More
information can be found on the Government’s website.
The LGA and IASC council guide on tackling modern slavery also provides
more information.
Department for
Education – Together, we can tackle child abuse
The Government has just launched
its Together, we can tackle child abuse campaign to encourage people to report any concerns of abuse or
neglect. The Department for Education has put together a range of resources
that are free for councils to use. You can download them here.
National FGM Centre
The National
FGM Centre has recently launched a new FGM Assessment tool and guidance for
social workers. The tool provides social workers with a range of questions to
help them assess cases where FGM might be an issue. More information can be
found on the Centre’s website.
Trusted Relationships Fund
The Home Office has launched a £13 million “Trusted
Relationships Fund” for councils and partners to deliver initiatives to improve
support for young people at risk of exploitation and abuse, including CSE and
county lines.
Find
out more
National Citizen
Service
National
Citizen Service (NCS) is a youth programme that aims to build the skills and
confidence of young people aged 15-17. The NCS Trust hopes that by working with
local authorities, more young people can have the opportunity to take
part. Find out more at NCS Guidance for Local Authorities (pdf) and www.ncsyes.co.uk/partners
Brexit impacts: call for information
Read
and respond to our call for information on the place based
impacts of Brexit, which covers local economies, workforce, funding and legislation.
Civil
Society Strategy – have your say
The Government is currently consulting on the Civil
Society Strategy, which it hopes will improve how young people are supported to
play an active role in building a stronger society. You can submit
your views until 22 May.
Bright
Futures: our vision for youth services
We recently
launched our long-term vision for youth services, which outlines support we intend to
develop to help councils in delivering services for young people, and provides
a starting point for councils to take a fresh look at provision in their areas.
North Lincolnshire’s
Whole Council Approach
The LGA has
published a case
study on North Lincolnshire Council and their approach to improvement in
Children’s Services.
Working
Together to Safeguard Children: revisions to statutory guidance
The DfE has
published its consultation response on Working Together to Safeguard Children. The response acknowledges a number of
LGA concerns, including the role of schools in new multi-agency safeguarding
arrangements, and we will continue to work with government on subsequent
revisions to the guidance.
Healthy
child programme 0 to 19
The 0-19
commissioning guidance for health visitor and school nursing services has been
updated.
Supporting
the public health nursing workforce
Download Public Health England's employer guidance for supporting the public health nursing workforce.
NCER -
Strategic use of education data conferences
During January 2018, NCER, with ADCS and LGA support, held two parallel
conferences on education data. The conferences stimulated discussions from
senior leaders on how local authorities can best use the data available on
schools and academies to support improvement. Presentations from the conferences are now available.
The Staff College: A Think Piece
publication - ‘Cultural Competence. Promoting leadership & organisational
change’
The Staff
College has published the second in a series of three think piece publications, the first
of which can be found on the Staff College website.
National Child Measurement Programme
PHE has updated National Child Measurement Programme
(NCMP) Specimen parent result letters and the NCMP Pre-measurement leaflet for
parents: School height and weight measurements.
Our Lives, Our Care
Charity Coram
Voice and the University of Bristol have published the largest study of its kind measuring
the wellbeing of 2,263 looked after children and young people across 16 local
authorities. The study is part of the Bright
Spots programme
recommended to local authorities in the Department for Education’s recent
Fostering Stocktake report.
'Life-changing' care leaver initiative can only fund one in five
22 March 2018
LGA responds to report on school funding pressures
16 March 2018
LGA responds to school capacity figures
15 March 2018
LGA responds to CQC report on children's mental health
8 March 2018
 We hope that the latest issue of first has arrived at your door and that you've enjoyed its content. If you haven't received your copy you can view it online or download the magazine for free.
|
|
