Recommendations & Conclusions
26 items
2
Recommendation
Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul…
Accepted
There is reluctant leadership of the challenges faced by vulnerable adolescents which undermines ownership of the problem. The Department for Education reluctantly confirmed that it is ultimately responsible for ‘holding the ring’ across Whitehall on vulnerable adolescents. However, it is not clear what this means or how it translates into …
Government response. The Department for Education exercises its leadership and strategic oversight role through the Vulnerable Children and Families Strategy Board. The membership has been designed to ensure representatives from all accountable departments and arms-length bodies are able to contribute.
HM Treasury
3
Recommendation
Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul…
Accepted
Critical local multi-agency safeguarding partnerships are still not working well enough, which risks those vulnerable adolescents that need support and help falling through the gaps. While in some places multi-agency safeguarding partnerships may work well, in other places, sadly, they do not. In May 2022 the Child Safeguarding Practice Review …
Government response. The government published 'Stable Homes, Built on Love', an implementation strategy and consultation in February 2023, setting out commitments to ensure all agencies play a full role in protecting children. It is also rolling out responses to recommendations from reviews, …
HM Treasury
4
Recommendation
Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul…
Accepted
It is not clear how lessons and learning from changing threats, serious case reviews and child safeguarding review panels are embedded in day-to-day practice. Time and again reviews into child deaths highlight poor coordination between services, including insufficient joined-up leadership and a lack of appropriate and timely information-sharing around cases, …
Government response. The Department for Education published 'Stable Homes, Built on Love' which sets out plans to transform children’s social care. The government is funding national facilitators to support local areas in improving practice, and has invested in the Tackling Child Exploitation …
HM Treasury
5
Recommendation
Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul…
Accepted
We are extremely concerned about the waiting time for children to receive support for mental health issues and about the proportion of adolescent girls seeking help. A survey found nearly 1 in 5 of 6- to 16-year-olds in England had a probable mental health disorder in 2021. The same survey …
Government response. The government agrees and has been piloting five new waiting time standards since May 2019. NHS England has shared guidance for reporting waiting times and is developing implementation proposals for government consideration.
HM Treasury
6
Recommendation
Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul…
Not Addressed
The Ministry of Justice and Home Office seem to lack curiosity about the increase in the proportion of children from ethnic minority background in youth custody and appear to have no current plan to address the situation. While the number of children in youth custody across all ethnicities has reduced …
Government response. The response discusses driving license backlogs, which is not relevant to the recommendation about ethnic minority children in youth custody.
HM Treasury
7
Recommendation
Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul…
Not Addressed
Data sharing exercises need to be better used to understand the support vulnerable adolescents need. The poor outcomes experienced by vulnerable adolescents are often overlapping. For example, 72% of children sentenced in 2019–20 were assessed as having mental health concerns. And one in five of 16–24-year-old young people not in …
Government response. The response discusses cancer waiting times and NHS funding, which is not relevant to the recommendation about data sharing to support vulnerable adolescents.
HM Treasury
1
Conclusion
Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul…
Not Addressed
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, in November 2022 we took evidence from the Department for Education, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice about how government and local bodies support vulnerable adolescents.2
Government response. The government restates when the committee took evidence and published its report.
HM Treasury
8
Recommendation
Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul…
Rejected
The NAO report collates for the first time a wide range of information from across government about the adverse outcomes facing the most vulnerable adolescents. The Department for Education told us it would be challenging to report across government on ‘every possible difficulty’ but it would be possible to focus …
Government response. The government disagrees with the recommendation. It says it does not maintain a single definition of vulnerability because different agencies need flexibility. The Vulnerable Children and Families Strategy Board will monitor data sharing progress.
HM Treasury
9
Conclusion
Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul…
Acknowledged
Activities to support vulnerable adolescents cut across at least seven different government departments.16 The Department for Education confirmed to us that it is ultimately responsible for ‘holding the ring’ on vulnerable adolescents and has an overarching responsibility for children and young people.17 It told us its overarching responsibility should not …
Government response. The government acknowledges its leadership role through the Vulnerable Children and Families Strategy Board, which aims to improve outcomes for vulnerable children and young people.
HM Treasury
10
Conclusion
Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul…
Acknowledged
We were told government’s approach is to meet the need of many young people through focusing on individual programmes and focusing their join up on those who have complex and overlapping needs.22 The NAO found that while departments work together on individual programmes and initiatives there is no overall assessment …
Government response. The government states that single needs are best met through focused services, and overlapping needs are addressed through systems like Children’s Social Care, Family Hubs, and Supporting Families.
HM Treasury
11
Conclusion
Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul…
Accepted
Multi-agency safeguarding partnerships started in 2019, aimed at joining up local NHS, policing, and local authority services to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children in their area.25 In May 2022, three years after they started, the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel found the new partnerships were “not yet …
Government response. The government published 'Stable Homes, Built on Love', an implementation strategy and consultation in February 2023, setting out commitments to ensure all agencies play a full role in protecting children. It is also rolling out responses to recommendations from reviews, …
HM Treasury
12
Conclusion
Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul…
Acknowledged
The three statutory partners (police, health, and local authorities) of multi-agency safeguarding partnerships’ have a shared and equal duty to protect children and young people. We asked who in the system has responsibility for children who fall through the gaps or for identifying overlaps. The Department for Education told us …
Government response. The government acknowledges the shared duty of police, health, and local authorities in safeguarding partnerships, highlighting commitments to strengthen multi-agency arrangements and rolling out responses to reviews and exploring how education can be strengthened, including consulting on whether or how …
HM Treasury
13
Conclusion
Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul…
Accepted
We asked the Department for Education what is being done to review multi-agency safeguarding partnerships to ensure they work better and to stop horrific events, such as the cases of Star Hobson and Arthur Labinjo-Hughes from recurring. The Department for Education said there are 135 safeguarding partnerships across the country …
Government response. The government published 'Stable Homes, Built on Love', an implementation strategy and consultation in February 2023, setting out commitments to ensure all agencies play a full role in protecting children. It is also rolling out responses to recommendations from reviews, …
HM Treasury
14
Conclusion
Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul…
At 31 March 2021, there were 53,790 adolescents in care between the ages of 9 and 17, making up 67% of the total care population. Between 31 March 2014 and 31 March 2021 the number of 9- to 17-year-olds in care increased by 26%, which is higher than the increase …
HM Treasury
15
Conclusion
Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul…
Accepted
The Department for Education explained that the care system was originally set up to address issues that originate from within the home and was not designed to address ‘extra- familial’ harms that take place outside the home.37 It said that to help address this, it has produced guidance on risks …
Government response. The Department for Education published Stable Homes, Built on Love in February 2023. The department is investing £2.8 million in the Tackling Child Exploitation Programme and is providing funding to four local authorities to test a Risk Outside the Home …
HM Treasury
16
Conclusion
Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul…
Accepted
The national Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, set up to commission reviews of serious child safeguarding cases, has consistently highlighted cases in which poor coordination between services, including insufficient joined-up leadership and a lack of appropriate and timely information-sharing around cases, were a contributing factor.40 The Department for Education told …
Government response. The Department for Education published 'Stable Homes, Built on Love' which sets out plans to transform children’s social care. The government is funding national facilitators to support local areas in improving practice. A new Child Protection Ministerial Group has also …
HM Treasury
17
Conclusion
Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul…
Acknowledged
In 2021, a NHS survey showed nearly 1 in 5 of 6- to 16-year-olds in England had a probable mental health disorder. The survey also found that almost 40% had experienced a deterioration in mental health since 2017 and 13.5% of 11- to 16-year-olds felt their lives had been made …
Government response. The government acknowledges the committee's concern about waiting times for children's mental health support and the high proportion of adolescent girls seeking help, referring to NHS England's consultation and guidance on waiting time standards.
HM Treasury
18
Recommendation
Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul…
Accepted
We asked the Department for Education what it considers it can do to support young girls with their mental health. It told us that it ensures the work it does with the Department of Health and Social Care is built on an understanding of the data, so that it can …
Government response. The government agrees to report back to the Committee within six months on progress on the implementation of access standards for community and A&E mental health care, referencing NHS England's consultation and guidance.
HM Treasury
19
Recommendation
Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul…
Accepted
The Department for Education also spoke about an NHS England consultation, which closed early in 2022, on introducing waiting time standards for community and A&E mental health care.48 The new standards would comprise a 24-hour standard for urgent community mental health care, a four-week standard for children and young people …
Government response. The government agrees and has been piloting five new waiting time standards since May 2019. NHS England has shared guidance for reporting waiting times and is developing implementation proposals for government consideration.
HM Treasury
20
Recommendation
Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul…
Accepted
Between 2010–11 and 2020–21, the number of children cautioned or sentenced for an offence reduced from 85,300 to 15,751 (an 82% reduction) and the number of first- time entrants to the youth criminal justice system reduced from 46,012 to 8,848 (an 81% reduction).50 We asked the Ministry of Justice about …
Government response. The government agrees to report back within six months, with an analysis and steps being taken to address the over-representation of ethnic minority children in custody.
HM Treasury
21
Recommendation
Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul…
Accepted
Whilst the number of children in youth custody across all ethnicities has reduced (by 73%) between 2010–11 and 2020–21, the proportion from ethnic minority backgrounds has increased (from 32% to 53%).54 Furthermore, the Ministry of Justice drew our attention to a recent HMI Probation report found that young black boys, …
Government response. The government agrees and will update the Committee within six months with an analysis of the issue and the steps that government are taking to address the over-representation of ethnic minority children in custody. Implementation date: August 2023.
HM Treasury
22
Recommendation
Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul…
Accepted
When asked about its plans, the Home Office acknowledged that nobody should be targeted by the police on the basis of their ethnicity, or any other factor linked to their background. It told us that it works with communities to make sure that communities have a framework for scrutinising the …
Government response. The Ministry of Justice and Home Office will provide an analysis of the over-representation of ethnic minority children in custody and the steps government is taking to address it within six months.
HM Treasury
23
Recommendation
Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul…
Rejected
The poor outcomes experienced by vulnerable adolescents are often overlapping. For example, we received written evidence highlighting research which shows people who have been in care are more likely to experience homelessness, long-term physical and 53 Q 39 54 C&AG’s Report, para 1.19 55 Q 44; HMI Probation, A thematic …
Government response. The government disagrees with the recommendation, stating they are committed to data sharing and that a single definition of vulnerability is not appropriate. The Vulnerable Children and Families Strategy Board will monitor data sharing to safeguard vulnerable children.
HM Treasury
24
Conclusion
Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul…
Rejected
The NAO found that Government data sets are not consistently joined-up, which makes it difficult to understand the nature and scale of the adverse impacts faced by adolescents, particularly where these are overlapping adverse outcomes. This makes it harder to understand how risks escalate and how support can be better …
Government response. The government disagrees with the recommendation, stating they are committed to data sharing and that a single definition of vulnerability is not appropriate. The Vulnerable Children and Families Strategy Board will monitor data sharing to safeguard vulnerable children.
HM Treasury
25
Conclusion
Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul…
Rejected
The Department for Education and Ministry of Justice referred to a joint data sharing exercise they carried out in 2020 to understand the educational and children’s social care background of children who have been cautioned or sentenced for an offence. The Ministry of Justice told us this had helped “shine …
Government response. The government disagrees with the recommendation, stating they are committed to data sharing and that a single definition of vulnerability is not appropriate. The Vulnerable Children and Families Strategy Board will monitor data sharing to safeguard vulnerable children.
HM Treasury
26
Recommendation
Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul…
Rejected
The government have plans to join up more data sets. For example, the Department for Education told us about work it has planned to link anonymised data on education, hospital admissions, mental health services, community services and maternity services. In response to our questions about how quickly it would develop …
Government response. The government disagrees with the recommendation, stating that different agencies define vulnerability differently and need flexibility, therefore it's not appropriate for one department to set a common approach for collecting and using data to assess outcomes for all vulnerable adolescents; …
HM Treasury