29th November

Stable Relationships Are Key To Tackling Family Breakdown, Says Ed Balls
Minister to publish green paper examining children's welfare in the family as a potential electoral battleground.
The government is drawing up new plans to tackle family breakdown that will promote any stable relationship, not just the superiority of marriage, the children's secretary, Ed Balls, reveals .

His department is due to publish a green paper on the family early in the new year, turning the issue of the promotion of families, parenting and marriage into a potential electoral battleground.

The green paper will assert that children's welfare is not necessarily best protected through marriage, but instead through "stable and lasting relationships between parents". The Conservatives are due to publish their own policy on the family shortly and have said they will recognise marriage in the tax system. Influential Tory thinkers such as Iain Duncan Smith have explicitly argued that marriage is superior to other relationships.

The green paper is expected to look at why many relationships break up around the birth of the first child, and what more can be done to bind fathers, especially younger ones, into the family at a stressful time. Currently one in three children live apart from their father by the time they reach 16.

It is also expected to include advice on parenting, the threats of the internet and what more can be done to help parents combine work and family life. Balls said: "The Tory policy is that marriage is first class and any other relationship is second class. That is fundamentally not in the interests of children. We should be about supporting strong and stable relationships."

Labour believes that the Conservative policy of recognising marriage in the tax system will prove unpopular, and stigmatises other forms of relationship, something David Cameron has tried to avoid by praising civil partnerships.

Balls said: "I think marriage is really important, but if what you know is that what makes the biggest difference is strong and stable relationships, what you cannot do is say, 'We will have a family policy which is only about marriage.' That ignores the wellbeing of relationships where there is not a marriage, either due to divorce, separation, or whatever."

Balls said the green paper would represent a shift for the Department for Children, Schools and Families. "Our job is to support parents where they want to be supported, like regulation of the internet and good schools."

He added: "We know the most vulnerable time in adult relationships is around the time of the birth of the first child; that is the point when things go wrong often, particularly for the man, particularly if they are younger … So finding ways to bind the father into the family around pre- and post-natal is really important for the strength of the relationship."

At a time of pressure on the government's Sure Start programme and childcare budgets, ministers are looking at expanding the roles of health visitors and family nurse partnerships.

source: Patrick Winter, Polly Curtis, Guardian.co.uk

17th November

Survey Shows Extent of Cyberbullying Among Primary Pupils
Around one in five 10 and 11 year olds have been bullied through mobile phones and the internet in the last year, according to the latest survey by the Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA).

The survey also found that 22 per cent of pupils in this age group did not know how to protect themselves against cyberbullying and 18 per cent said they had been cyberbullied in their home.

Christpher Choke, chair of the ABA, which is based at the National Children's Bureau, says that this is the first confirmation that cyberbullying is widespread among pupils of primary school age.

He said: "Nationally we know that around 22 per cent of secondary school pupils have suffered cyberbullying, but until now we did not know younger age groups were also seriously affected."

He added that it was important that parents are aware of the dangers of cyberbullying, even among younger children. 

Of the 10 and 11 year olds surveyed, just under two-thirds believed that parents and carers would know how to deal with the bullies.

However, a further survey by ABA of parents of eight to 14 year olds found that around half had not spoken to their child about cyberbullying.

Around a quarter of parents of children aged 10 or younger said they allowed them to use the computer at home unsupervised. One in four parents of children in this age group allowed them to have their own mobile phone.

Cloke added: "Parents and schools need to be aware that cyberbullying is affecting younger age groups as more children get mobile phones and have computer access."

Advice to children to combat cyberbullying includes never giving out personal details such as a mobile phone number online, keeping evidence of cyberbullying so that the bullies can be traced and to use "report abuse" or "block sender" functions on social networking websites.

The survey of Year 6 pupils has been released to promote the ABA’s Anti-Bullying Week 2009 (November 16-20), which this year focuses on cyberbullying.

source: Joe Lepper, Children & Young People Now

15th November

Ed Balls Hints At Compromise Over Childcare Vouchers Plan
The children's minister, Ed Balls, hinted today that the government will offer a partial compromise over his plans to scrap tax relief on childcare vouchers.

Nine former ministers have rebelled, along with about 50 Labour backbenchers, demanding the government rethink the plan, announced at the Labour conference. More than 80,000 people have signed a petition on the Downing Street website calling on Gordon Brown to reverse the move. Gordon Brown wanted to free up the cash to increase the spread of nursery places for two-year-olds in poorer families.

Balls said today it was "good for the Treasury to listen" and chancellor Alistair Darling would announce his intention on the childcare tax break in the pre-budget report on 9 December.

At present, working parents can save on childcare by opting to receive £243 of their monthly pay in vouchers before income tax and national insurance is deducted.

source: Patrick Wintour, guardian.co.uk

12th November

We'll Wreck Budget Over Voucher Axe
Labour rebels warned yesterday they would vote down the Budget unless Gordon Brown ditches plans to axe childcare vouchers.

More than 50 MPs, including nine ex-ministers, have hit out at the plan to end the vouchers worth up to £2,390.

The PM says the money is badly targeted and wants to spend it on free nursery places for two-year-olds.

But opponents say the changes are "greatly unfair" and will leave more than 340,000 families worse off.

Those opposing the move include ex-Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt and ex-Education Secretary Estelle Morris. But Business Secretary Lord Mandelson defended the changes, saying: "When you have difficult choices you must target your resources at those most in need."

source: Mirror.co.uk/news