30th June

NCMA Launches 'Childminder Engagement' Tool
Children's centres are being encouraged to integrate the work of childminders with a new tool produced by the National Childminding Association (NCMA).

Last September, the childcare charity urged children’s centres to do more to involve childminders after a survey revealed just 15 per cent invited childminders to meetings with centre staff.

NCMA has now launched an engagement tool that highlights ways in which children’s centres can best engage with registered childminders to provide childcare services.

Sue Coates, spokeswoman for NCMA, said: "We wanted to develop a tool to support all children’s centres, from those that are still at the planning stages of involving childminders to those already working jointly with childminders to support families locally.

"Collaborative partnerships between registered childminders and children’s centres have a positive outcome for all involved, including the children."

The tool guides children’s centre managers through the process of engaging with childminders, from identifying those within the centre’s area to how to budget to include childminders.

The tool also provides success stories of a range of services for childminders, including quality improvement schemes and sharing professional expertise between children’s centre staff.

source: Janaki Mahadevan, Children & Young People Now

Loughton Denies Introduction Of Health Visitors To Children's Centres Will Lead To Conflict
Junior children's minister Tim Loughton has defended government plans to introduce 4,200 health visitors to children's centres, claiming the new staff will not replace existing Sure Start outreach workers.

Speaking at the Centre for Excellence and Outcomes in Children and Young People’s Services (C4EO) conference in London, Loughton told delegates that health visitors and outreach workers would play a complementary role.

He denied that health visitors would "sideline" or "conflict" with outreach workers, despite proposals in the Conservative Party manifesto that suggested additional health visitors could be funded by cutting back on Sure Start outreach staff.

"We don’t want to destroy good stuff that is already happening," he explained. "We want those health visitors to be operating out of children’s centres where it is a melting pot of activity around families. Health visitors will complement some of the work that is already going on."

But Loughton admitted that the target to recruit an additional 4,200 health visitors is ambitious, becuase of the tough economic climate and a shortage of qualified staff. "Health visitors don’t grow on trees," he said. "I fully appreciate it is going to be quite a few years before we’ve actually got the capacity to [bring] in those health visitors."

He added that children’s centres should be open for longer and made "more dad-friendly".

source: Lauren Higgs, Children & Young People Now

18th June

Charity Condemns Call For Sure Start Funding To Be Devolved
A report by a right-wing think tank calling for Sure Start funding to be devolved to councils has been criticised by charity 4Children.

The report by the Centre for Policy Studies, called Cutting the Children's Plan: a £5 billion experiment gone astray, calls for a far-reaching review of Sure Start, including handing control of funding to councils.

It also calls for a cut of £1.9bn a year from the Children's Plan budget, which includes Sure Start. Instead, councils should be handed an extra £2.3bn and the "discretion to implement and fund" children's centres.

But the plans have been condemned by the charity 4Children. A spokeswoman said: "By devolving funding to councils it is giving them the freedom to say that they don't need them. We think that is unacceptable as it will deny some of the most vulnerable people access to these services. They are a vital service that must be provided, just as schools are."

Anne Longfield, chief executive of 4Children, added: "The support they provide is simply too important for any community to go without."

The report's conclusions have been defended by Centre for Policy Studies director Jill Kirby. She said: "The Children's Plan is a classic example of the failings of big government: billions of pounds wasted in pursuit of central targets, based on untested ideas and packaged in jargon and bureaucracy.

"The sooner these grandiose plans are abandoned in favour of practical, localised support to the most needy families, the better."

However, Alison Garnham, chief executive of Daycare Trust, said: "It is well documented that the biggest improvement in a child's social development and life chances can be made if we invest in the first few years of their life and, therefore, implementing these recommendations would be extremely unwise in the long run. Many of the suggestions made by the Centre for Policy Studies would mean that children from the most disadvantaged families would suffer."

Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA), added: "While NDNA understands the need to review all aspects of public spending, we would be concerned at the implementation of some of these measures.

"While we do need to look at the sustainability of children's centres, by the very nature of the areas and the families they support, many could not survive without funding to deliver services. If charges were made for children who were not classed as at risk, this would exclude a significant proportion of local families who would not be able to afford to use the services on offer."

source: Joe Lepper, Children & Young People Now

15th June

Government Leaves Children's Chiefs To Decide 'Savage' Cuts
Children's services leaders have been left to agonise over where the axe should fall after the Department for Education (DfE) confirmed councils must decide how to distribute the £311m cuts to the overall area-based grant, leaving school support and Connexions services at risk.

The area-based grant funds teenage pregnancy work, Care Matters and positive activities among others.

Birmingham, one of the larger authorities, is facing a £7.5m cut from the DfE area-based grant, while Essex Council is losing more than £6m. Smaller authority Westminster Council in London is facing a £1.5m cut.

Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, leader of the Labour group in Westminster, said his authority could not afford to lose £1.5m without damaging frontline services.

"The [government] said these initial cuts would be about reducing waste," he said. "But now we find out they have targeted children for the most savage cuts."

Andrew Cozens, strategic adviser for children's services at the Improvement and Development Agency, warned that the most efficient councils would be worst hit, as they have less scope to cut waste.

"It is quite easy for government to make statements about reducing bureaucracy but then leave it to councils to work out the detail," he said.

Kim Bromley-Derry, former president of the Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS), said removing ringfences on the grants would free up resources for local authorities. But warned that directors of children's services would have to examine benefit and cost. "It is important these decisions are evidence-based as there are too few resources to waste on interventions that do not have the expected impact," he said.

Christine Davies, director of the Centre for Excellence and Outcomes in Children's Services (C4EO), said she would be working closely with ADCS to help councils establish which services to protect and which to cut. She added that C4EO and ADCS are in the process of creating a tool to assist councils in calculating the cost effectiveness of service interventions.

"As resources get tighter we are going to have to be as clear as possible about which interventions are the most effective," Davies explained.

A DfE spokesman argued that the reductions in the area-based grant would cut waste, while protecting essential frontline services.

"We expect local authorities to now reassess funding to ensure reductions don't impact on frontline services," he said. "This is about sensible overall reductions across all local authority spending."

What the area-based grant funds in children's services

• Care Matters
• Child death review processes
• Children's Fund
• Child Trust Fund
• Choice Advisers
• Connexions
• Designated Teacher Funding
• Education Health Partnerships
• Extended rights for free travel
• Extended Schools start up
• Flexible 14 to 19 Partnerships Funding
• January Guarantee
• Positive Activities for Young People
• Primary National Strategy
• School Development Grant
• School Improvement Partners
• School Intervention
• School travel advisers
• Secondary behaviour and attendance
• Secondary National Strategy
• Social Care Workforce
• Special Purpose Grant
• Sustainable Travel to School
• Teenage pregnancy
• Travel to School
• Youth substance misuse
• Youth Taskforce

source: Lauren Higgs, Children & Young People Now

Vetting And Barring Scheme Put On Hold
The vetting and barring scheme for people working with children and vulnerable adults has been shelved.

Registration was due to get underway next month but Home Secretary Theresa May has announced that the initiative will be put on hold and subject to a full review.

May said: "The safety of children and vulnerable adults is of paramount importance to the new government.

"However, it is also vital that we take a measured approach in these matters. We've listened to the criticisms and will respond with a scheme that has been fundamentally remodelled.
 
"Vulnerable groups must be properly protected in a way that is proportionate and sensible. This redrawing of the vetting and barring scheme will ensure this happens."

The database was first mooted in 2002, following the Soham murders, which highlighted poor information sharing and vetting procedures.

But since then the plans have come under fire from, among others, schools that were concerned it would deter parent volunteers.

Around 66,000 charities, councils and community groups are to be told that the plans have been halted.

The Independent Safeguarding Authority was to manage the database. The body will continue to maintain the separate lists of those that are barred from working with children and other groups.

Martin Narey, Barnardo's chief executive, is concerned the government may be "rash" in seeking to radically alter the vetting and barring scheme.

He said: "The scheme has the potential to restore parental confidence in the safety of their children and that is paramount. A robust system is needed to ensure effective barriers are in place to prevent people from negotiating themselves into positions of trust in order to sexually abuse children."

source: Joe Lepper, Children & Young People Now

Councils Urged To Maintain Grants
Investment in early intervention and prevention services must be maintained despite the government lifting the ringfence on programmes supporting vulnerable families, children sector leaders have warned.

Last week, ministers revealed the grants that will no longer be protected, as they try to help local authorities prioritise spending. A number of key grants for children and young people's services are now vulnerable to local decision-making.

These include £94.1m allocated to Think Family projects, the remaining £40.8m of the youth opportunity fund and the remaining £75m of the £235m dedicated to new and refurbished play facilities by the previous government. The £21m common assessment framework grant and the £3.9m grant for Challenge and Support projects, which help fund youth offending prevention projects, are also open to cuts.

The Think Family grant exists to develop joined-up approaches to supporting families with complex needs. It provided more than £40m of funding for the previous government's family intervention projects (FIPs).

Maureen Nutall, strategic manager for supporting families at Action for Children, which runs a number of FIPs, said: "If local authorities have a poor rating in a particular area, the money may be redirected to address that even though they know early intervention will produce better outcomes in the future."

Nutall claimed there is enough evidence to show that FIPs are working to reduce child protection cases, school truancy and drug and alcohol misuse in families.

Helen Dent, chief executive of Family Action, called for councils involved in Think Family pilots to ring-fence funding themselves to ensure valuable lessons are not lost.

But Graham Allen, Labour MP for Nottingham, said the message being sent to local authorities made him "anxious" and called for cross-party support for early intervention.

Last week, CYP Now revealed that the ringfence around the youth opportunity fund was likely to be removed. The fund pays for youth programmes developed by young people and selected by local youth panels.

Money previously committed to 3,500 new and refurbished playgrounds and 30 adventure playgrounds can also be redirected. More than 2,000 playgrounds and 20 adventure playgrounds are already complete.

Ringfences removed from grants in 2010/11

Grant Common assessment framework
Amount £21m

Grant Fair Play Pathfinders
Amount £9.3m

Grant Fair Play Playbuilders
Amount £65.7m

Grant Think Family grant
Amount £94.1m

Grant Youth Crime Action Plan - challenge and support
Amount £3.9m

Grant Youth opportunity fund
Amount £40.8m

Source: Department for Communities and Local Government

11th June

NDNA Chief Urges Government To Make Financial Support For Nurseries A Priority
Nurseries should not be forced to pick up the tab for the coalition government's pledge to provide free entitlement for children, says the head of the National Day Nurseries Association.

Speaking at an NDNA conference this week, its chief executive Purnima Tanuku said: "We all support the free entitlement for every child. But a free entitlement that isn't free to providers, as well as free to parents, is not sustainable."

She calls on the government to make financial support for nurseries the top priority for its early-years policy.

Tanuku said the government needs to ensure that any financial support needs to be long term and urged ministers to review how money is distributed at a local level.

She said: "Temporary top-ups aren't the whole answer. We need to tackle the fundamental issue of why the free entitlement is not covering the costs and most importantly how this is allocated at a local level."

The sector is already fragmenting into a two-tier system, with some nurseries pulling out of the free entitlement system as it costs them too much to provide, she added.

Tanuku called on delegates at the Essential Nursery Conference, taking place in Coventry, to lobby their local MPs to ensure early-years issues remain high on the political agenda.

She also used her speech at the conference to praise the work of nurseries in Cumbria, which are supporting parents and children affected by the recent shootings.

"We are also providing them with support and our thoughts are with the families and the community," she added.

source: Joe Lepper, Children & Young People Now

Fewer Parents Of Three-Year-Olds Taking Up Free Early Years Entitlement
A slight dip in the proportion of parents of three-year-olds taking up their free early years entitlement has been recorded in the latest government statistics.

In January this year, 88 per cent of three-year-olds were benefiting from the entitlement, a two per cent drop on figures recorded last year.

In maintained nurseries and primary schools in January, 36 per cent of three-year-olds took up the entitlement, compared to 37 per cent last year.

In the private- and voluntary-run sector there was a drop from 53 per cent last year to 52 per cent in January this year.

A spokeswoman for the Daycare Trust said: "The recession is a factor. This has affected how many hours people work and whether they are working at all. Because parents are at home more, some may be using nurseries less for childcare.

"Having 88 per cent take-up rate though is still very high and we would urge those who are not taking advantage of this to do so as it really benefits the children."

The latest figures show that the proportion of parents of four-year-olds taking up their entitlement remained steady, at 98 per cent between 2009 and January this year.

source: Joe Lepper, Children & Young People Now

Thousands More Parents Make Primary Schools Admissions Appeals
The number of primary school admissions appeals lodged by parents has jumped by just under 17% over the past year, according to the latest government figures.

In 2007/8 there were 33,000 appeals against primary school allocations, but this had increased to 38,000 by 2008/9.

The proportion of successful appeals against a primary school allocation was marginally down from 27.8 per cent in 2007/8 to 25 per cent the following year.

In marked contrast, the number of secondary school admissions appeals fell during the same period from 53,430 to 50,200.

Schools minister Nick Gibb is using these latest primary school figures to support the coalition government's planned reforms of education, allowing more schools to adopt academy status and for parent groups to take over the running of schools.

He said: "Today's figures show that an increasing number of parents are unhappy with the school choices open to them.
 
"The level of dissatisfaction underlines why it is so important we change the schools system so providers like teacher groups and charities can open new state schools wherever parents want them; and give outstanding schools the freedoms they need to help improve those in more challenging circumstances."

source: Joe Lepper, Children & Young People Now

9th June

Education Secretary Gove Outline £670m In Cuts
The Department for Education has given its clearest indication yet about how it plans to save £670m this year.

In a letter to former Children's Secretary Ed Balls, Education Secretary Michael Gove stated that £359m in savings will come from "cutting waste, and stopping and scaling back lower-priority spending". A further £311m will come from reducing area-based grants to local authorities.

Cost savings include cutting the final round of youth sector development fund grants, which will save £8m, and scaling back the safeguarding budget also by £8m by delivering child internet safety messages more efficiently and reducing spending on the home safety scheme.
 
A further £5m will be saved by scaling back planned expenditure on play. The single largest saving will be made by not spending the remaining £47m allocated to providing one-to-one tuition to struggling pupils in schools.
 
Plans to extend free school meals to further primary school pupils and run additional pilot schemes have also been scrapped.
 
In the letter, Gove said that the cuts identified mean that "local authorities should be able to achieve the necessary savings through efficiencies across their budgets rather than cuts to frontline services".

source: Andy Hillier, Children & Young People Now

8th June

Children's Centres in Deprived Areas Begin To Relinquish Childcare Provision
Local authorities are making plans to move childcare provision out of children's centres in the most deprived areas as uncertainty persists over future funding.

Early years consultant Denise ren playing Burke told CYP Now she is already in discussions with a number of London councils that are looking at ways to restructure their children's centres because of fears about how much funding will be available beyond March 2011, when the Sure Start Early Years and Childcare Grant runs out.

"Local authorities are identifying that the daycare element of children's centres is not financially viable without a government subsidy," she said.

"Most centres accommodate 30 to 50 children, which is not sustainable, so they are looking at working with private and voluntary nurseries that are willing to take on additional children."

Burke said the trend is occurring largely in phase one centres, based in the most deprived communities, which must provide childcare as part of their core offer.

Kate Groucutt, policy director at Daycare Trust, said: "It is important there is childcare provision in children's centres to get parents from disadvantaged communities in the door and hook them into other services," she said.

Annamarie Hassell, programme director at Together for Children, said: "Steps to move childcare out of children's centres were not motivated by financial worries, but are an attempt to boost efficiency."

source: Ross Watson, Children & Young People Now

UK Falling Behind European Neighbours In Support For Grandparent Carers
The UK is lagging behind the rest of Europe in bringing in laws to recognise grandparents' increasing role as childcarers.

According to the report Grandparenting in Europe, by Grandparents Plus, the Beth Johnson Foundation and the Institute of Gerontology at King's College London, grandparents' role supporting families is being largely ignored in the UK.

In Germany, parents can take leave for up to three years after a child's birth and can transfer that to a grandparent if they are ill or disabled.

Leave and parental allowances can also be transferred in Hungary, and in Portugal grandparents gain financial support if the mother is aged 16 or younger and the child is looked after in the grandparents' home.

The report says that no such transferring of parental leave to grandparents exists in the UK. It calls on the UK government to allow parents to transfer leave and to provide financial support to grandparents who provide care, especially those who support teenage parents.

It emerged in the report that six in 10 grandmothers in the EU provide childcare for grandchildren.

The report acknowledges that from April next year grandparents in the UK will be able to claim National Insurance credits in recognition of their role as carers.

Sam Smethers, chief executive of Grandparents Plus, said: "National Insurance credits from April next year will certainly help to protect their pension entitlement but this won't help them now.

"We have to match it with steps towards transferable parental leave and flexible working if we really want to make it easier for them to combine work and care."
 
A recent survey by Grandparents Plus revealed that seven in 10 grandparents believe they should receive tax credits and childcare vouchers to help cover the cost of their role as carers. 

source: Joe Lepper, Children & Young People Now

Gove Confirms Free Childcare Entitlement
Education Secretary Michael Gove has confirmed that the free entitlement to childcare for all three- and four-year-olds will continue and increase to 15 hours, but free school meal pilots will not be expanded as planned under Labour.

Responding to concerns set out in a letter from former Children's Secretary Ed Balls, Gove also confirmed the new government would support plans to extend free childcare to the 20,000 most disadvantaged two-year-olds.

But he said he would not back additional free school meal pilots or the expansion of the programme into primary schools although he would continue to examine the current pilots, and consider whether they should be expanded in the future.

On his decision to stop the expansion of the free school meal pilots, Gove wrote: "I am sympathetic to the arguments for extending eligibility – though surprised that a decision to do so was taken before any evidence on the impact on attainment could be collected from pilots."

Gove also renewed assurances that frontline spending on schools and children's centres would be protected despite the government starting a programme of cuts this year.

He confirmed that educational maintenance allowance would be paid in full to students this year and that schools will receive money to continue with the Every Child literacy and numeracy programmes.

Writing to Gove earlier this month, Balls had asked him to set out details of the planned £311m cuts that would affect the local-area-based grant, calling on Gove to ensure cuts would not impact upon positive activities for young people, funding for children in care, programmes tackling teenage pregnancy or Connexions services.

Gove said the Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles would announce details of local grant cuts shortly.

source: Janaki Mahadevan, Children & Young People Now

7th June

Government Funding For Sure Start May Be Slashed After Budget
A leaked email to CYP Now has revealed that government funding already allocated for Sure Start children's centres could be reduced after the emergency Budget this month.

The Department for Education contacted all local authorities last week detailing how much funding each would receive from the Sure Start, Early Years and Childcare Grant (SSEYCG) for the first financial quarter of 2010/11.

But attached to the letter was a message from Frances Carter, head of grants management for Sure Start.

 "You will have seen the announcements made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer about an emergency Budget and the need to reduce public expenditure by £6bn overall in 2010-11," wrote Carter. "The implications of this commitment to specific grants and programmes are subject to decisions by ministers between now and the June Budget. This means the allocations previously notified to you for the year may be revised, and subsequent quarterly payments adjusted to reflect this."

Together for Children told local authorities last week that two early years pilot schemes will be scrapped from July — the Buddying Programme and the 0-7 Partnership pilots. The Buddying Programme was developed to promote better working relationships between school and early years staff. The 0-7 Partnership pilots were developed to help ease the transition for children moving from early years to primary school. Local authorities taking part in the pilots have been advised that any funding they have already committed to the pilots beyond July should be found in the SSEYCG.

Annamarie Hassell, programme director at Together for Children, said that although Sure Start funding is ringfenced, the government can still make cuts to grant programmes.

"It is our understanding that there is no intention from the government to make changes to revenue funding for children's centres," she added. "Where we have seen changes so far has been in additional funding for pilots that are not exclusive to children's centres."

Announcing where the government's £6bn worth of cuts will fall last month, Chancellor George Osborne said funding for Sure Start, schools and 16-19 education would be protected and any savings in these areas would be reinvested back into their overall budgets.

source: Ross Watson, Children & Young People

3rd June

Department For Education Spells Out Ministers' Responsibilities
Junior children's minister Tim Loughton has assumed responsibility for youth services, safeguarding, social work and children's workforce issues while minister Sarah Teather takes on early years, families and child poverty, it has been confirmed.

Schools minister Nick Gibb, meanwhile, has been handed responsibility for Neets, apprenticeships, careers and information, advice and guidance as part of his remit.

These are just some of the areas that are in a full list of ministerial responsibilities outlined by the Department for Education, three weeks after the coalition government took office.

The responsibilities, as stated by the DfE, are as follows:

Michael Gove MP - Secretary of State for Education

•  Will have oversight of all policies.

Sarah Teather MP - minister of state for children and families

• Children's centres
• Childcare
• Early learning and development, Curriculum 0-5
• Voluntary and community sector
• UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
• Families
• Health issues (obesity, drugs and alcohol, teenage pregnancy)
• Child poverty
• Children's services commissioning and market development
• Local authority funding/local government policy
• Government offices and field forces
• School food/Healthy Schools
• Special educational needs and disabled children
• Young carers

Tim Loughton MP - parliamentary under secretary of state for children and families

• Children's services inspection and intervention (including Ofsted)
• Children's Trusts
• Safeguarding, including Vetting and Barring scheme
• Social Work Taskforce and social work reform
• Children's workforce
• ContactPoint
• Integrated Children's System (ICS), Electronic Common Assessment Framework (eCAF) and Lead Professional
• Families with multiple problems
• Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) and family law
• Children in care, fostering and adoption (including runaways)
• Domestic violence
• National Citizen Service (including Youth Community Action)
• Sport
• Youth services
• Youth crime
• Department efficiencies

Nick Gibb MP - minister of state for schools

• Behaviour and attendance, bullying
• Assessment and Key Stage tests
• Independent schools
• Contingency planning/response
• QCDA/Ofqual
• School admissions
• Neets
• Apprenticeships
• Reducing bureaucracy in schools
• Careers/Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG)
• Qualifications (Diplomas etc)
• Reform of National Curriculum 5-19, including music, STEM (science technology, engineering and maths) and setting of classes
• Young People's Learning Agency

Jonathan Hill - parliamentary under secretary of state for schools

• Academies
• ‘Free' schools
• Ofsted inspection of schools
• School improvement (including the National Challenge, City Challenge and other improvement policies)
• School funding (including the Pupil Premium)
• Teachers and workforce issues
• Teacher supply/quality
• School transport
• Schools' capital and Building Schools for the Future
• Technical Academies

source: Ravi Chandiramani, Children & Young People Now