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 assesses the progress and outcomes of the process of modernisation initiated in Modernising Social Services (1998) and developed in Independence, Well-being, and Choice (2005), and Our Health, Our Care, Our Say (2006) and related policies. It is aimed at Directors of adult social services.

Tags: Adult Services, Transformation

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 Review seeks the views of parents on physical punishment and evidence from those working with children and families on the practical consequences of the changes in the law brought about by section 58 of the Children Act 2004. Section 58 limits the availability of the “reasonable punishment” defence in cases involving alleged assaults by parents on their children. This consultation, which is specifically focused, will run for 8 weeks to allow the review to report in the autumn.

Tags: Children's Services, Child Protection

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

This document presents the findings of a national survey of the status of Electronic Social Care Records (ESCR) in England. The survey was commissioned by the NHS Connecting for Health Electronic Social Care Record Implementation Board and the ADASS, with the support of David Behan, Director General for Social Care.

Tags: Children's Services, NHS

This letter informs Local Authorities and PCTs of arrangements, operated via a bidding process, for the allocation of up to £7 million  to support the development up to six Multisystemic Therapy (MST) pilots.

Tags: Social Issues, Children's Services

The Supporting People programme offers vulnerable people the opportunity to improve their quality of life by providing a stable environment which enables greater independence. It will deliver high quality and strategically planned housing-related services which are cost effective and reliable, and complement existing care services. The planning and development of services will be needs led. Supporting People is a working partnership of local government, service users and support agencies.

Click here for the Directory of Supporting People Services available in England.

Tags: Directories, Social Issues

This study increases our understanding of the parenting support market by exploring barriers to market development; developing services in Children’s Centres and Extended Schools; and options for charging for services. Interviews were undertaken with commissioning staff across four case study local authorities; providers at local and national level; and employers and employee benefits advisors. Research concerning charging involved desk research, telephone interviews and a workshop with DfES, GO and parent support organisations.

Tags: Children's Services, Parenting

This study investigated ways of improving the measurement of the output of Children’s Social Services in the National Accounts. It was commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills following an independent review in 2005 led by Sir Tony Atkinson, which recommended changes to the way that government output is measured. Measuring the output of Children’s Social Services requires a different approach from that used for private sector goods and services because there are no market prices to indicate the value of interventions. The Atkinson review recommended that what ideally should be measured is the incremental impact that interventions have on client outcomes and welfare. The study’s aim was therefore highly challenging: to recommend a methodology for producing a robust annual output measure that fully reflects the change in welfare to individuals and society from Children’s Social Services’ provision.

Tags: Children's Services, Perfomance Management

This research examined the work and family lives of residential social workers, foster carers, family support workers and community child minders who care for children placed with them by social services. It explored how over the life course, such workers come to, and either do, or do not, sustain a career in care work. The study comprised interviews with managers in local authorities, children’s services and children’s homes; a postal survey of 305 workers in several English local authorities; 24 biographical case study interviews; and a telephone survey one year later with the postal survey respondents exploring loss from and movement within the childcare workforce.

Tags: Vulnerable Children