Alcohol-related crime and disorder by young people is currently estimated to cost society £1 billion per year. According to a schools survey, whilst the proportion of pupils who have never had an alcoholic drink has increased gradually in recent years, pupils who are drinking, are drinking a lot. Those who drank alcohol in the last week had a mean intake of 14.6 units. The proportion drinking on the street, in a park or somewhere else is also continuing to rise reaching 34% in 2008.

More than 3,500 young people were successfully targeted by the summer 2009 crackdown on teenage binge drinking and 15,000 were signposted to positive activities and received treatment where necessary. Nonetheless, there is more to be done and that is why The Home Office is introducing a tiered approach to dealing with young people drinking alcohol in public places, and a new offence of persistently possessing alcohol in a public place.

The guidance explains the offence of persistently possessing alcohol in a public place as contained in Section 30 of the Policing and Crime Act 2009, which received Royal Assent on 13 November 2009. Section 30 establishes a new offence of persistently possessing alcohol in a public place, making it illegal for a person under the age of 18 to be in possession of alcohol on 3 or more occasions within a period of 12 consecutive months.

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Tags: Children's Services, Policy, Statutory

This case study examines the advantages and practical challenges of sharing and integrating services between Rotherham Council and Primary Care Trust for Children's Services, and the practical lessons that other organisation can consider whether evolving Children's Services or other shared services initiatives.

The case study looks at how both these different bodies have had to rise to challenges of adapting to a different culture, agree on new outcomes and objectives, integrate process, share information and manage confidentiality. Officers and executives of the council explain how they have managed staff change and created an integrated structure to accommodate the different organisational issues, responsibilities and governance across the Local Authority and PCT. The importance of creating a shared vision and establishing core principles is also highlighted.

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Tags: Children's Services, Transformation

This report is intended to increase primary care trusts’ awareness of the children’s centre agenda and the opportunities it provides, and to share examples of good practice. It is aimed at Chief Executives of primary care trusts and strategic health authorities, Directors of children’s social services, primary care trust children’s leads, and Directors of commissioning.

Tags: Children's Services, NHS

This report presents the findings of the national evaluation of full service extended schools. The evaluation found that extended schools lead to better exam results and children being more focused in school, particularly for those from a disadvantaged background.

Tags: Children's Services, Schools

The Cabinet Office is today launching its public sector better regulation strategy, which aims to identify and reduce the bureaucratic burden on the front line. The aim is to find practical ways to lessen the main administrative and regulatory burdens on the front line, without creating more bureaucracy in order to do so.

The strategy follows up some major initiatives to reduce bureaucracy already underway, and also focuses on what’s next. In the HE sector, for example, a recently agreed Concordat is significantly simplifying data collection and quality assurance. Next steps will extend the Concordat to more organisations and professional bodies; seek to address issues of health education regulation; and, ensure that the implementation of Sandy Leitch’s recommendations in the HE sector is consistent with principles of good regulation.

In the schools sector, the New Relationship with Schools (NRwS) was formulated in response to a review of unnecessary bureaucracy. It aims, within the context of delivering school improvement and the five Every Child Matters outcomes, to: lift bureaucratic burdens that schools feel add nothing to their core purposes; remove confusion and irritation in schools as a result of the number and separateness of the initiatives coming at them (‘initiative overload’); improve accountability by helping schools identify priorities according to their needs, based on the evidence of their self-evaluation; and, restore schools’ sense of responsibility for their own actions.

And in FE, there have been a number of recent major reforms - a focus on simplification; the creation of a single inspectorate for FE and of an Information Authority, which sets standards and organises how information about FE is collected, managed and disseminated; the Managing Information Across Partners Programme, which is securing efficiencies by improving how information about learners and learning is shared across the whole education sector; the creation of a communications gateway for the FE System and the establishment of a Practitioner Panel to advise on the timing and content of publications – LSC has reduced by over 60% the number of its publications between January and March this year compared with the same time last year. The Department recognises and values the commitment shown by the members of the gatekeeping groups to helping the DfES and its delivery partners make a real difference for those at the frontline.

For the future, the big thing that will make a difference in FE is the move to self regulation. This offers the opportunity to further streamline and challenge.

Tags: Transformation, Policy, Systems

This updated circular sets out the requirements for the ICT capital grant for 2007-08. In particular, the specific conditions of grant, grant allocations and payment arrangement. The main change to this guidance is in the Acceptance of Grant form at Annex E.

Tags: Children's Services, Systems, Technology, Transformation

This white paper sets out the steps the Department for Education and Skills, together with local delivery partners, will take to ensure children and young people in care get a better start in life. It builds on responses to the green paper, Care Matters: Transforming the Lives of Children and Young People in Care, and the conclusions of four working groups established to investigate best practice in supporting those in care.

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Tags: Transformation, Children's Services

This consultation looks back on what has been achieved since the government published its response to the children's workforce strategy in February 2006. The Department for Education and Skills is continuing to develop the priority areas and seeks to reinforce further the strategy and develop additional areas in the Children’s Workforce Strategy Refresh document, which will be published in autumn 2007.

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Tags: Children's Services

This letter sets out the main aspects of the local government finance settlement for 2006-07 and 2007-08 which are relevant to the funding provided for children's services. Figures for 2007-08 are provisional.

Tags: Children's Services

This circular sets out the requirements for the PEI grant for 2006-07 and 2007-08. In particular:

• specific conditions of grant;
• grant allocations and payment arrangements;
• reporting arrangements; and
• general guidance.

Tags: Children's Services

The Government is committed to improving the life chances of people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. It wants to develop services which centre around the needs of disabled people and provide seamless support to help everyone achieve their full potential.
This report sets out a vision of how the three Departments most closely involved in this area - Education and Skills, Health, and Work and Pensions - will work together to deliver high quality support and incentives for young people and adults with learning difficulties and/or disabilities in further education and training.

Tags: Children's Services

This is a transcript of the speech by Minister for Children and Families Beverley Hughes. She says the extent to which effective joint working happens is a crucial determinant of the well-being of some of our most vulnerable children, young people and their families.

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Tags: Children's Services, Adult Services

This review sets out proposals for short, medium and long-term improvements to protect children from sex offenders. They range from bringing in new laws and strengthening guidance, to providing more information about convicted child sex offenders to the public.

Tags: Children's Services, Social Issues, Child Protection

The Sustainable Schools agenda, launched by the DfES in 2006, places the child at the centre of its concerns for a healthy, just and sustainable society. The strategies outlined are not only about auditing current patterns - from energy and water to food and drink - but also how to think creatively to build a sustainable future. This document discusses the contributions and responsibilities of school governors in promoting sustainability. It focuses on specific sectors of sustainability providing case studies and ideas. In addition, there is a presentation with notes, designed for governors to use as a starting point in their meetings (taking about 30 minutes); and a 2 hour workshop with notes and handouts, designed for experienced facilitators to use with governors and school leaders.

Click here to visit the relevant page of teachernet,

Tags: Schools, Governance

Officials visited schools with outstanding rates of progression in Key Stage 2, to find out what lies at the heart of such spectacular improvements for children. Twenty schools were visited and they were chosen because over the last three years, more than 90% of their pupils who were at national expectations (Level 2) in Key Stage 1 progressed to national expectations (Level 4) at Key Stage 2. The schools were located across the country and had mixed intakes; some schools had high levels of pupils on Free School Meals (FSM) and Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) populations. In the twenty schools, officials met with the Headteacher and a member of the school’s Senior Leadership Team usually responsible for assessment. They discussed six broad areas: school culture, leadership, assessment and monitoring, policies and resources, curriculum, and teaching and learning. The schools visited all shared common characteristics in each of these areas, and a strong picture emerged of what leads to success in securing progression.

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Tags: Schools, Attainment

Keeping up – Pupils who fall behind in Key Stage 2 reports the findings of a small scale study focusing on pupils who are at risk of not converting a level 2 in English and mathematics at Key Stage 1 into a level 4 at the end of Key Stage 2. The proportion of pupils achieving the national expectation of level 4 at the end of Key Stage 2 has increased significantly. In English, it has increased from 63% in 1997 to 79% in 2006; and in mathematics, it has increased from 58% in 1998 to 76% in 2006. Read More...

Tags: Schools, Attainment

This paper analyses whether Free School Meal (FSM) status is a valid proxy for socio-economic status when conducting schools related research. The authors compare data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) with FSM data. Significant differences are found between the two sets of data, but this cannot be seen as definitive reasoning for questioning FSM as a measure. ALSPAC is not a nationally representative sample and suffers from a lack of ethnic diversity.

Tags: Schools, Social Issues

This paper looks at the association between urban density and pupil attainment of 16 year olds in schooling in England in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Using data combined from the Pupil Level Annual School Census (PLASC) and the National Pupil Database, the authors examine pupils’ progress when switching between schools in different locations as they move from primary to secondary education, by using the change in urban density as a variable in a regression analysis.

Tags: Attainment, Schools

Support work in schools (SWiS) qualifications are designed to provide training for support workers that is relevant to their role in schools. These qualifications are The qualifications are flexible and tailored to specific development needs. This page gives information about the qualification levels and access to training.

Tags: Qualifications, Schools, TDA