Department reviews management of the Community Care Grant scheme
The report ‘The Community Care Grant: Department for Work and Pensions’ (HC 286) concludes that there is not enough clarity as to whether money from the Community Care Grant scheme is being claimed by people who need it most.
The Community Care Grant, supported by £141 million worth of funding aims to help vulnerable people and their families to establish themselves and remain in their community.
Plans to tackle teenage drinking proposed
This publication, 'Youth Alcohol Action Plan' (Cm. 7387), from the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), the Home Office and the Department of Health sets out the Government's aim of addressing the problem of teenage drinking.
Gender pay gap 'worryingly stubborn'
'Jobs
for the Girls: Two Years On' (HC 291-I) seeks to examine what action has
been taken to implement the 2005 recommendations of the Women and Work
Commission concerning job segregation and the gender pay gap.
Care for vulnerable babies examined
This National Audit Office (NAO) Report
‘Caring
for Vulnerable Babies’ (HC 101) examines the reorganisation of neonatal
services in England.
Plan for children, young people and families set
out
'The
Children's Plan - Building Brighter Futures' (Cm. 7280) from the Department
for Children, Schools and Families sets out the Government's ambitions for
improving children and young people's lives over the next decade and was
conceived after consultation with both parents and professionals.
Family mediation reviewed
This Report, 'Legal Services Commission: Legal Aid and Mediation for People
Involved in Family Breakdown' (HC 396), examines the shortcomings of the
current system for referring clients to mediation in situations of family
breakdown.
Reform of cohabitation law needed
Cohabitation outside marriage in England and Wales has
become increasingly common over recent decades and is expected to become more
prevalent in the future.
This Report from the Law Commission
'Cohabitation:
The Financial Consequences Of Relationship Breakdown’ (Cm 7182) makes
recommendations to Parliament on certain aspects of the law relating to
cohabitants.
Empowering women: Ministers for Women set out
priorities
This statement
‘Priorities
for the Ministers for Women’ (Cm 7183) sets out the Ministers’
priorities for policies designed to empower and support women in Britain.
Dementia services “not delivering value for
money”
Dementia is a term for a range of progressive, terminal
organic brain diseases, including Alzheimer’s.
Some 560,000 people in
England are estimated to have dementia, with a steeply rising trend expected
over the coming years. Some 476,000 people are unpaid carers of people with
dementia. Direct costs to the NHS and social care are currently at least £3.3
billion a year, but the overall annual economic burden is estimated at £14.3
billion.
Child support reforms: implementation reviewed
Since it was established in 1993, the Child Support Agency
has consistently underperformed, plagued by enormous backlogs of unprocessed
cases and uncollected maintenance.
Where it works well, the Agency has
secured regular contributions from non-resident parents and helped lift an
estimated 100,000 children out of poverty. It has to administer complex
assessment, collection and enforcement processes and deal with complicated
emotional, financial and legal issues to bring about a degree of financial
stability for children and parents.
Promoting parental responsibility
The current law automatically assumes married couples will
be jointly registered on their child's birth certificate whereas unmarried
parents both have to agree before a father's name can appear on the birth
certificate.
Sole registrations in England and Wales account for around
7% of birth registrations each year. They are often linked to social exclusion
as mothers who register solely are likely to be younger, poorer, and with lower
levels of educational attainment than those who jointly register.
Openness in the family courts
The work of the family courts is crucial in ensuring the
welfare of the child is paramount when difficult decisions have to be made. It
is important that the courts can conduct their business with openness and the
confidence of the public.
Young black people in the criminal justice
system
Young black people are over-represented at all stages of
the criminal justice system; black people form 2.7% of the population aged
10-17 but represent 8.5% of that age group arrested in England and Wales. They
are more likely to be stopped and searched, less likely to be given
unconditional bail and more likely to be remanded in custody.
"More parental choice over maintenance", says
consultation
This document,
'A
New System for Child Maintenance - Summary of Responses to the Consultation'
(Cm 7061), considers key issues that have been raised in response to the
Government's White Paper,
'A
New System of Child Maintenance (Cm. 6979)' published in 2006.
Read
more about the White Paper.
Tackling bullying behaviour
Over the past few decades there has been an increasing
awareness of bullying and the effect it has on the educational and social
achievements of children and young people.
Eradicating child poverty by 2020
This strategy document from the Department for Work and
Pensions
'Working
for Children' (Cm. 7067) sets out proposed measures to help achieve the
Government's target of eradicating child poverty by 2020. It is based on the
principle that improving employment opportunities for parents is the most
sustainable route out of poverty for themselves and their children.
Children in care suffer ill health and educational
underachievement
Examining the question ‘What is the best way to care for
children unable to grow up with their birth parents?’, this Report also
reviews children’s services reforms carried out under the
Every
Child Matters programme, and puts forward numerous proposals including
creating a Centre of Excellence for Children’s and Families' Services.
Number of poorly performing schools in England
falling
Around £837m was spent in 2004-05 on national programmes
to help poorly performing schools - schools failing or at risk of failing to
provide an acceptable standard of education.
1 in 8 schools are "inadequate"
This Annual Report from the education watchdog Ofsted states that more than one in eight English secondary schools were given "inadequate" status by school inspectors in 2006.
55% of Anti-Social
Behaviour Orders breached
Anti-social behaviour encompasses a broad range of
behaviours including nuisance behaviour, intimidation, and vandalism.
This Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General examines the work of the
Home Office's Anti-Social Behaviour Unit, a small policy unit created to enact
measures set out in the
Together
and Respect antisocial behaviour action plans, and considers the progress
made.
Tackling child poverty
critical for CSA reform
The Child Support Agency (CSA) was established on the
principle that, when parents neglect their responsibilities, the Government
must safeguard children’s interests.
However, the performance of the CSA
has largely been found to be unacceptable, with the current system often
working against parents and with significant numbers of children not getting
the maintenance they need.
Sure Start making good progress
The Sure Start programme was launched in 1998 to help give every child the best start in life - particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds - by bringing together early education, childcare, health and family support services.
While the first 800 centres were located in the most deprived areas, the Government has since pledged to create a children's centre for every community by 2010, committing £3.2bn until 2008.