Recommendations & Conclusions
13 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
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
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
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
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