Children's Services Weekly Number 219, 2 February 2015

CHILDREN’S

SERVICES WEEKLY No. 219

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ISSN: 1741-9867

Monday 2 February, 2015

Youth justice annual statistics published

he youth justice annual statistics for 2013 to 2014 for England and Wales show that 20% fewer First Time Entrants into the youth justice system than the previous year, the average population of young people in custody was 1,216; down by 21% and that the number of young people in the reoffending cohort was down by 25%.

But the smaller cohort of young people currently in the youth justice system, and in custody in particular, is complex and challenging and many of them have a propensity to reoffend. The statistics also show that during 2013 to 2014, young people under 18 accounted for just 1% of the total custody population. In December 2014, the Youth Justice Board’s unofficial records showed the lowest ever figures of young people in custody, which was under 1000 for the first time.

However the YJB said it would continue to work closely with NOMS to identify and address the root causes of violence in the secure estate; and to roll out training to all staff in YOIs to improve the behaviour management techniques they use when working with more challenging young people. The YJB said it would also work closely with local partners to improve the support available to young offenders released from c ustody.

The statistics also saw the introduction of further breakdowns of data to reveal ethnicities of young people in the youth justice system in 2013/14: • 75% were from a white ethnic background accounted for 75%, 60% of which received custodial sentences.

• 8% were from a black ethnic background; 22% of which received custodial sentences.

• 5% were from an Asian ethnic background; 7% of which received custodial sentences.

The YJB said it remained concerned about the high proportion of young people in the youth justice system from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, as compared to the general population. It added there was also a higher proportion of BAME young people in custody, as compared to those convicted.

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News Youth justice annual statistics published The youth justice annual statistics for 2013 to 2014 for England and Wales are published.

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10-year-olds given contraceptives Girls as young as 10 have been given the contraceptive implant by the NHS.

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London council mergers The merger plans of Wandsworth and Richmond councils leave Richmond’s neighbour Kingston in the lurch.

Youth smoking variation across England New figures have been released that estimate smoking rates among young people in local areas for the first time.

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Schools given £5 million to work with nurseries Minister for Childcare, Sam Gyimah has announced a new initiative backed by £5 million of government funding to boost the quality of early years education.

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New Children’s Commissioner for Wales Sally Holland is the new Children’s Commissioner for Wales.

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Fewer NEETs More young people are staying in education, training or employment.

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Children’s music and arts boosted A range of projects that support children’s music, film making, dance and local-heritage activities are to receive funding worth more than £109 million

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Suffolk closes children’s centres Suffolk is to close 9 of its 47 children’s centres.

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Newcastle closes Sure Start centres Plans to cut Sure Start centres in Newcastle have been approved by the City Council.

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Powys County Council plans cuts More than £16 million of cuts including secondary school closures are being recommended by Powys County Council.

Children’s visits to natural environments A new report has revealed, for the first time, the scale and scope of the visits children in England make to natural environments, including parks, playgrounds and woodlands.

Parliament - Debates 10 Young people in care Graham Stuart MP, chairman of the education select committee, introduced a debate in the Commons on his committee’s report on children in care.

12 Female genital mutilation

Keith Vaz (Lab, Leicester East) introduced a debate on female genital mutilation.

Parliament - Questions 14 House of Commons

Answers to written questions last week included those on behaviour disorders in children, offensive weapons in schools and female genital mutilation.

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Warning on delay in merging Welsh councils Sir Paul Williams, chairman of the Commission on Public Service Governance and Delivery in Wales, has warned that delaying council reorganisation will harm public services.

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Feature Birmingham schools update Nicky Morgan made a statement on the progress in implementing the recommendations contained in Peter Clarke’s report on Birmingham schools.

Answers to written questions last week included those on medicine, internet bullying, free primary school meals, special educational needs and children out of school.

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Youth smoking variation across England

ew figures have been released that estimate smoking rates among young people in local areas for the first time. Commissioned by Public Health England and NICE, and modelled by the University of Portsmouth and the University of Southampton, the figures are estimates of youth smoking rates for every local authority, ward and local NHS level, based on factors known to predict smoking in young people.

The data, which will help local organisations to respond to high levels of smoking within their areas, is available on the PHE Local Health website. PHE’s ambition is to reduce smoking rates among young people to secure a tobaccofree generation. Nationally an estimated 12.71% of 15 year olds are regular or occasional smokers, but the data shows considerable variation between areas.

Areas with high estimates included Hartlepool (15.87%), Gateshead (15.92%), Plymouth (15.93%), South Tyneside (16.27%) and Kingston upon Hull (16.68%).

Areas with the lower estimates were concentrated in Greater London, including Harrow (5.15%), Newham (5.37%), Redbridge (5.68%) and Brent (5.70%). The figures closely mirror adult smoking rates which are falling less rapidly in some areas, with smoking rates considerably higher in deprived communities. Of the 8 million people who still smoke, 90 per cent started before the age of 19.

Schools given £5 million to work with local nurseries

Sally Holland is new children’s commissioner for Wales The new children’s commissioner for Wales has been named as Prof Sally Holland, an academic from Cardiff University who specialises in family and child welfare.

Welsh ministers said she was “internationally acclaimed” for her work representing children’s views through her research. Prof Holland said she was “delighted and honoured” to have got the job. She replaces Keith Towler who is stepping down after seven years.

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he Minister for Childcare, Sam Gyimah has announced a new initiative backed by £5 million of government funding to boost the quality of early years education. The funding will be awarded to more than 60 teaching schools which will partner up with local nurseries to drive up standards and share best practice. Mr Gyimah said that all partners would be able to learn from each other to provide better early education and care for children and families, and support effective transitions from nursery into primary school.

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More young people continuing in education, employment or training

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housands more students are staying in education or going on to employment or training. The data showed that between October 2012 to March 2013, 91 per cent of pupils had continued down one of the three routes after key stage 4 (normally 16 years old), rising from 89 per cent the previous year, a total of 6,500 pupils.

The annual key stage 4 and key stage 5 destination measures, which predominantly cover the post-16 age group, are being released 6 months earlier than previous cohorts. The Schools Minister, David Laws, said that while thousands more pupils were going on to further education, training or employment, some schools could be doing more to make sure all their pupils could get on in life. He added that the data would be extremely valuable in helping hold those school leaders to account.

Children’s music and arts initiatives receive £109 million boost

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range of projects that support children’s music, filmmaking, dance and local-heritage activities are to receive funding worth more than £109 million in the 2015 to 2016 financial year. More than £4 million will be distributed to a number of organisations to support cultural education programmes, including: the BFI Film Academy; National Youth Dance Company; and Sorrell Foundation’s Art and Design Saturday Clubs.

The network of 123 music education hubs that supports schools is set to benefit from £75 million of funding in the 2015 to 2016 financial year. An additional £1.1 million will be allocated this year to support education through 6 In Harmony programmes, and National Youth Music organisations such as the National Youth Orchestra and Music for Youth’s School Proms. In addition, funding for the Music and Dance Scheme that supports exceptionally talented young musicians and dancers will increase to £29 million.

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Newcastle Sure Start centres to be closed in affluent areas Plans to cut Sure Start children’s services in Newcastle have been approved

by Newcastle City Council which said it needed to cut its budget for the centres and concentrate them in the most deprived parts of the city. The council added that the move was part of a planned £4.67m reduction in the £11.7m Family Service’s budget.

Suffolk agrees to close nine Children’s Centres

he closure of nine of Suffolk’s 47 children’s centres has been agreed by Suffolk County Council’s cabinet. The ruling Conservatives insisted that the closures were needed as part of £38.2m budget cuts it needed to make this year. The opposition Labour group said that the loss of the children’s centres would hit parents. But the Conservatives said that the services would be provided in alternative buildings, such as libraries.

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Powys County Council plans swingeing cuts

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ore than £16 million of cuts including secondary school closures are being recommended by a Powys County Council after its cabinet voted unanimously to agree its 2015/16 budget plans. The schools service is facing £1.8 million of cuts, including a review of school meals, a reduction in the number of pupils attending schools, and removing the library service from schools’ delegated budget.

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Delay in Council mergers will harm services

ir Paul Williams, chairman of the Commission on Public Service Governance and Delivery in Wales, has warned that delaying council reorganisation will harm public services. In his report on the issue Sir Paul called for the 22 councils to be cut by around half. While three pairs of councils offered to merge voluntarily, the Welsh Public Services Minister Leighton Andrews rejected them for a lack of a compelling vision.

Sir Paul said that the minister had been right to pause the process, but he warned that uncertainty over reform was affecting the public and council staff. Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen, Bridgend and the Vale of Glamorgan, and Conwy and Denbighshire had proposed pairing up. Sir Paul urged councils to look at leadership and the way services were delivered as well as their boundaries.

The First Minister, Carwyn Jones said that Sir Paul’s recommendation of 10 to 12 authorities remained the preferred option, but he invited party leaders to meet him to agree on a new map for local government.

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Wandsworth and Richmond merger leaves Kingston in the lurch Richmond Council has agreed to merge services with Wandsworth after Thames Agreement discussions with Kingston stalled last year. After Richmond chief executive, Gillian Norton, retires in summer 2016, Wandsworth chief executive, Paul Martin, will take over the position for both councils.

Although Richmond had planned to merge services with Kingston under the Thames Agreement, talks were suspended in December.

Girls as young as 10 given contraceptive implant by NHS

igures obtained under freedom of information requests have revealed that girls as young as 10 have been given the contraceptive implant by the NHS. Charities expressed concern that the practice was putting vulnerable girls at increased risk of abuse, while doctors said they were worried about the long-term effects of the hormones on pre-teenage girls.

But the NHS trusts argued that the decisions had been made due to “exceptional circumstances” and to safeguard a child or for health reasons. In the last five years, almost 10,000 implants had been given to girls under 16, including to 56 girls aged 12 or younger.

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Birmingham schools update from the Secretary of State

he Secretary of State for Education, Nicky Morgan made a statement in the House of Commons on the progress in implementing the recommendations contained in Peter Clarke’s report on Birmingham schools. She pointed out that the Government had accepted all Clarke’s recommendations and since she had last updated the House in July, all the recommendations had either been implemented or were on track.

The Secretary of State said she was therefore confident that if the events in Birmingham were to be repeated again, they would be identified and dealt with more quickly and far more effectively. She explained that while there had been good progress at two of the three Park View academies, more needed to be done at Park View academy itself, where the significant number of suspended staff had hampered progress.

She added that through the regional schools commissioners network her Department had supported the trustees to find new staff, and it would consider all reasonable requests for additional funding if and where it could help. Turning to Oldknow academy, Mrs Morgan pointed out that the trustees had voted to bring in Ark, a well-established multi-academy sponsor with the capacity and capability to turn the academy around. She added that the trustees of the Park View Educational Trust had recently announced that Golden Hillock would also join the Ark network. She said that in April 2014, Ofsted had judged that Saltley school and specialist science college required special measures.

The governing body had resigned in June, and an interim executive board had been appointed.

Since 1 September leadership at Saltley had been the responsibility of Washwood Heath academy, which had been praised by Ofsted in 2014 for its “strong lead on issues of religious extremism”, and was currently sponsoring Saltley’s application to convert to academy status, which would take place on 1 March.

The Secretary of State confirmed that the National College for Teaching and Leadership was investigating a number of teachers and that officials were considering formal action against other individuals involved. She explained hat some key people involved in Birmingham schools were leading figures in the Association of Muslim Schools UK, which performed some statutory functions in state-funded Muslim schools. Ms Morgan pointed out that they had been removed from their positions, and AMSUK had a new constitution that recognised the importance of member schools upholding and promoting fundamental British values.

Mrs Morgan appointed Sir Mike Tomlinson as education commissioner for Birmingham in September 2014 to work with the council and oversee the necessary reforms. The minister said that the review of governance in Birmingham city council by Sir Bob Kerslake, which had been published in December 2014, had showed the scale of the challenge. She added that she had welcomed Sir Bob’s recommendation that Sir Mike and Lord Warner, who would continue as children’s social care commissioner in Birmingham until March, should be ex officio members of an improvement panel that would oversee the much needed reform. Ms Morgan said that while she welcomed the fact that the council now had an education services improvement plan, she stressed that much more needed to be done to put it into practice. Schools needed to be confident that any concerns they raised with the council would be tackled quickly and effectively. She added that if the council did not take urgent steps to improve its leadership capacity, she was prepared to use the powers available to her to issue a statutory direction to the council. Mrs Morgan announced that she had extended Sir Mike Tomlinson’s appointment to March 2016 to oversee the council’s delivery of its plan. She said that following Peter Clarke’s recommendation, she had increased her Department’s capacity and expertise in counter-extremism by expanding the due diligence and counter-extremism group in the Department and placing it under the leadership of a full-time director.

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Children’s visits to natural environments

new report has revealed, for the first time, the scale and scope of the visits children in England make to natural environments, including parks, playgrounds and woodlands. Natural England, Defra, English Heritage and King’s College London have been working with the Monitor of Engagement with the Natural Environment (MENE) survey to find out about the visits children make to natural environments; where they go, how often and who with.

MENE, which has national statistics status, had previously only surveyed adults over 16. But in 2014, the survey also included new questions which related specifically to children’s visits. The results showed a link between social inequalities and the opportunities that children had to experience the natural environment. It also highlighted the importance of local greenspace to all children, especially those who visited less frequently. Many children visit frequently, but a significant minority never visit: • 70% of children (around 7 million children) visited the natural environment at least once a week.

• 12% (around 1.3 million) rarely, if ever, visited the natural environment.

• There are regional variations - for example, more children living in the north east of

England took frequent visits than children living in the west midlands or London (74%, 64% and 62%

respectively) .

The frequency of children’s visits is linked to ethnicity and socio-economic status: • Children from non-black, Asian and minority ethnic households were more likely to visit frequently

than those from black, Asian and minority ethnic households (73% compared to 59%).

• Children from higher income households were more likely to visit frequently than children from

lower income households (77% compared to 64%).

There were strong links between adult and child visiting behaviours: • In households where the adults were frequent visitors to the natural environment, 80% of children

were also frequent visitors; in households where the adults rarely (or never) visited, only 39% of

children visited frequently.

• In an average month: •76% of children visited with the adults from their own household.

• 15% of children took visits with their grandparents.

• 10% of children visited with their schools or teachers (although children in the DE socio-economic

group were only half as likely to visit the natural environment with their school as those in the AB

group).

• 22% of children took visits to the natural environment without any adults present (on their own or

with other children).

Most children’s visits were to local natural environments: • Local natural environments were important to all groups studied regardless of ethnicity or socio economic status. In an average month, 47% of all children (4.8 million) visited local urban parks.

Data from the pilot has been adopted by the Office of National Statistics as part of their indicator set for children’s wellbeing. It will be used by Defra as part of their indicator set for monitoring delivery of the Natural Environment White Paper and by Public Health England to complement their public health outcomes data.

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Young people in care

he Chairman of the Education Committee, Graham Stuart (Con, Beverley and Holderness) introduced a debate on the Second Report from the Education Committee, Into Independence, Not out of Care: 16 plus care options, HC 259, and the Government’s response, HC 647.

(House of Commons, Backbench Business Committee debate, 27 January 2015.)

He said that while the Committee welcomed the progress that had been made and the commitment to improve the care provided to the vulnerable young people that it has shown in its response, unfortunately the Government had not explored with local authorities how to ban the use of bed-and-breakfast accommodation for the age group. Mr Stuart also regretted that the Government did not plan to inspect and regulate all accommodation that was provided to children in care.

Graham Stuart MP

He explained that the Committee’s inquiry had looked at the kinds of accommodation that were provided for young people aged 16 and 17 who were looked after by local authorities; the suitability, safety and regulatory nature of alternative accommodation; whether the Staying Put principle whereby young people were allowed to stay in their accommodation for a longer period should apply to those in residential children’s homes; and whether the provision of alternative accommodation should be extended to the age of 21.

Mr Stuart pointed out that in its report, the Committee had recommended that the Department should consult local authorities to determine a reasonable time frame to allow them to build up capacity so that there could be a total ban on using Bed and Breakfasts and a strengthened requirement for local authorities to commission sufficient emergency facilities. He said that the in its response, the Department had accepted the recommendation on temporary measures and asserted that there should be a limit of two working days on the time that a young person could spend in a B and B.

Mr Stuart said that while that was welcome, it still fell short of an outright ban. He urged the minister to set out what the DFE had learned from its consultation to date and when further action could be expected on the issue, with a view, in the opinion of the Committee, of moving towards an outright ban.

Mr Stuart said that the Committee had also been concerned about the regulation of “other arrangements” for looked-after 16 and 17-year-olds which included placements in a family or domestic setting where the adults responsible for their care were not approved as foster carers; foyers, which were meant to offer integrated housing, learning and personal development services, and other kinds of supported accommodation; and placements in independent accommodation with “floating support” where housing support workers made regular visits, or they were supposed to.

He pointed out that while Ofsted’s single inspection framework assessed the experiences and progress of care leavers through scrutinising a representative sample of 25 tracked cases, individual properties or settings were not inspected. Mr Stuart explained that the Committee had therefore recommended that the DFE should consult on a framework of individual regulatory oversight for all accommodation that fell within “other arrangements” to ensure suitability, while allowing for diversity of provision. He asked the minister to think again, or at least to explain why he believed that a new regulatory framework would not lead to the improvements in quality that had been seen in other settings that were individually regulated by Ofsted.

Education Committee member Bill Esterson (Lab, Sefton Central) said that the Committee had made recommendations about better preparation for young people who were leaving care, including through the development of life skills. He pointed out that it was not good enough for the authorities to describe what 10

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type of support should be available and who should provide it. Mr Esterson stressed that young people often had relationships with those they did not necessarily want supporting them. He added that it was therefore very important to listen to young people in deciding who was best placed to provide support for them.

Another Education Committee member, Craig Whittaker (Con, Calder Valley) pointed out that all young people in foster care were offered enhanced support up to the age of 21. But he added that the “big scandal”, was that the extension to foster placements excluded the 9 per cent of young people in care who were in children’s homes. Mr Whittaker said that while ministers appeared to see living in a family as the best option for children in care and the only setting in which children would thrive, that was not reflected by some social workers, who saw children’s homes as a place for children who had failed family placements and as somewhere the more challenging young people could be placed. He pointed out that the Education Committee’s recommendation had been that young people living in residential children’s homes should have the right to remain there beyond the age of 18, just as young people in foster care had the right of staying put until the age of 21.

Yet despite the evidence taken during the inquiry, the Government did not agree because too many children’s homes were not of sufficient quality and the immediate priority was to improve significantly the quality of residential care. He explained that the scoping exercise had discussed four options and the results were interesting: 25 per cent of the young people had preferred option 1, which was that care leavers should live in the same children’s home until they were 21; 13 per cent preferred option 2, which was that care leavers should live in a separate building but in the same grounds as the children’s home; another 13 per cent had preferred option 3, which was like supported lodgings, where care leavers lived in a different house and needed to be at least 16; and 25 per cent had preferred option 4, where care leavers lived independently in their own flat down the road or close to the children’s centre, and they had a key worker. Mr Whittaker pointed out that the cost of extending the four options to all children would be about £75 million a year.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education, Edward Timpson (Con, Crewe and Nantwich) said that while he agreed that bed-and-breakfast accommodation was not suitable for care leavers, the Government did not believe that an outright ban would be the right approach. He added that the Government’s position was supported by the Association of Directors of Children’s Services and by the Local Government Association. The minister cited the Care Leavers Foundation which had reluctantly conceded that permitting use of B&B in emergency situations was probably a necessary caveat, as there may be circumstances where in the absence of a B&B option a care leaver could potentially be at risk of street homelessness or being warehoused in a hostel.

The Department for Communities and Local Government had provided £1.9 million to support local authorities in developing sustainable solutions to stop the unlawful use of bed and breakfast for families and children. The seven funded councils had achieved and sustained a 96 per cent reduction in the number of households with children in bed and breakfast for longer than six weeks. Mr Timpson said that, following the Committee’s report, the Government had strengthened its statutory guidance to make it clear that for 16 and 17-year-olds emergency placements in B and B should be used only in exceptional circumstances and should be limited to no more than two working days. He pointed out that on 31 March, the Government would receive data collected on the accommodation of 19, 20 and 21-year-olds and whether it had been deemed suitable, including a breakdown on bed and breakfast. The minister explained that for the first time, in 2016, the Government would also collect data on 17 and 18-year-olds.

Graham Stuart asked the minister what the situation would be for 16-year-olds. Mr Timpson said he had been told that for technical reasons, the Government could not collect data until after the age of 16 as young people were still in care before that point. He explained that the data were collected on the young person’s birthday as opposed to at the end of the financial year. The minister said that the Government would look at how it could retrospectively analyse the data and establish how many 16-year-olds had been in bed-and-breakfast accommodation during that year. Turning to the issue of alternative accommodation, he said that legal duties required that children were placed only in accommodation that would meet their needs.

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Mr Timpson added that Ofsted, through its new single inspection framework, monitors local authorities’ performance in supporting care leavers, including the quality of accommodation provided.

He pointed out that care leavers had access to a personal adviser who could advocate on their behalf and challenge decisions by the local authority if, for example, they believed that the accommodation provided was unsuitable. The minister said that although the Government was considering whether further external oversight would be needed of the decisions that local authorities made, he was not persuaded that the establishment of a new inspection regime would be necessary.

He explained that the chief social worker, Isabelle Trowler, had said that regulating all alternative accommodation would severely limit placement choice and the ability of professionals to use their discretion. But Mr Timpson said that he intended to commission a piece of work in the Department to look carefully at other arrangements to establish in more detail the veracity and likely consequences of taking a different approach, as proposed by the Committee, together with other potential options. He explained that early feedback from children in care suggested that, while the majority of young people in residential care would like to have some kind of Staying Put arrangement, a single model of Staying Put would not be suitable. But he added that he would carefully consider the scoping study and its recommendations, which had had recently received.

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Female genital mutilation

eith Vaz (Lab, Leicester East) introduced a debate on female genital mutilation. He pointed out that the Select Committee inquiry had been especially critical about the lack of action by the police and it had not been very impressed with the evidence given by the Association of Chief Police Officers.

(House of Commons, Westminster Hall debate, 29 January 2015.) Mr Vaz stressed that the Committee did not agree that the answer to FGM was more seminars, discussions and conferences.

He argued that the action required as a result of the report should be on the front line, engaging with community organisations to ensure that action was taken. Mr Vaz explained that the Committee believed that when doctors examined a young girl and found that FGM had been committed against her, they were under a duty to report it. He said that the Committee was in favour of mandatory reporting, with a sanction for those who failed to report.

Mr Vaz congratulated France on the way it had dealt with the issue and he expressed surprise that witnesses from Britain had not visited France to look at good practice. He argued that it was also important for schools to provide training for teachers on the issue on in-service training days. Mr Vaz pointed out that of all the witnesses who had come before the Committee, the royal colleges seemed to lack understanding of the seriousness of the subject as they had kept talking about the need for guidance and guidelines and for it to be dealt with on a disciplinary basis within their professions. He stressed that the medical profession and the royal colleges had not acted swiftly enough to deal with the issue, because they were not sensitised to it and they did not have enough expertise in dealing with it. Mr Vaz said that FGM operations that took place in private clinics should be a criminal offence even if the women had consented.

The Minister for Crime Prevention, Lynne Featherstone (LDP, Hornsey and Wood Green) said that the coalition Government had formally responded to the Select Committee’s report on 9 December, when it had set out how the majority of the recommendations were in line with work that the Government was already undertaking. She explained that the Government’s actions to date included updated guidance, communications campaigns, training materials and a suite of resources for front-line professionals and communities.

The minister said that since July 2014, more than 230,000 orders had been received for the materials, which included copies of guidance, fact packs and posters. She said that the online training tool, while not the end of the line, was making a substantive difference. Ms Featherstone pointed out that calls to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children’s dedicated helpline had almost doubled in the six months since the Girl summit. But she stressed that the coalition Government recognised the 12

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need to sustain and build on the momentum. Keith Vaz asked the minister whether she agreed that it was important to fund organisations that could get into the community, rather than just giving out Government leaflets and doing the work through Government agencies.

Lynne Featherstone said that the Government was already funding community organisations. She added that there was a £270,000 European fund and a £100,000 Home Office fund, both of which were funding community organisations. The minister pointed out that ten community champions had been created to take the message into the communities. She said that the Committee had rightly focused on the low number of prosecutions for FGM. She pointed out that while there was general agreement that prosecutions were not the sole answer and that the well-being of victims is paramount, she added that it was equally important that the people who perpetrated child abuse should feel the full force of the law. Ms Featherstone said that the first people to be prosecuted for FGM in the country were currently before the courts.

The minister explained that prior to 2010 the Crown Prosecution Service had been unaware of any cases being referred by the police for a decision to charge. She added that since 2010, the 14 cases that had been referred had resulted in a case that was currently being heard at Southwark Crown court, and a number of other live cases. Ms Featherstone pointed out that a review of those cases by the CPS had led to some of the changes to the law that were currently before Parliament in the Serious Crime Bill, which would help to ensure that law enforcement and the courts had the powers to bring the perpetrators of FGM to justice. She said that there had also been an increase in the number of police investigations into FGM and between January and November 2014, the West Midlands police had received 118 reports of suspected FGM, which was a significant increase from the 25 reports they had received in 2013.

The Metropolitan police had seen a similar increase and it had conducted joint operations at the border with the Border Force. But she acknowledged that not all forces were as advanced in their approach to tackling FGM as the West Midlands police and the Metropolitan police. Ms Featherstone pointed out that the CPS had appointed a lead FGM prosecutor for each CPS area in England and Wales, and joint police-CPS investigation protocols for FGM had been agreed with the 42 police force areas. She added that in addition, 390 police and prosecutors had benefited from training on FGM, and the College of Policing was introducing a new authorised professional practice on FGM.

In the past year the Home Secretary had commissioned Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary to conduct a review into how police forces tackle honour-based violence, including FGM. She explained that the Government was extending the reach of the extraterritorial offences in the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 to habitual residents of the UK, as well as to permanent UK residents. Ms Featherstone explained that changes were being made to grant lifelong anonymity to victims of FGM, to help encourage victims to come forward. She said that the Serious Crime Bill had created a new offence of failing to protect a girl from the risk of FGM. The minister agreed that those in safeguarding professions were absolutely key to reporting FGM and she added that the Government had consulted on how best to introduce a new mandatory reporting duty.

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The following answers to written questions were published in Hansard last week.

House of Commons The Department for Education Behaviour Disorders: Children Chris Ruane (Lab, Vale of Clwyd): To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Incredible Years programme pilot in improving disruptive behaviour; and what plans she has to extend that programme.

Nick Gibb (Con, Bognor Regis and Littlehampton): An assessment of the effectiveness of the Incredible Years programme has been made in The Parenting Early Intervention Programme (PEIP, 2008-11). The Incredible Years was one of five parenting interventions that formed part of this programme. PEIP found that these programmes had positive effects, including on children’s behaviour; a full evaluation report can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/parenting-early-intervention-programme The benefits of the Incredible Years programme have been extended to more parents and children in a number of ways: the CANParent trial, commissioned by the Department for Education in 2012, draws on the principles of the Incredible Years programme amongst others; Coram are running the Incredible Years programme for adoptive parents under funding from a 2013-15 grant from the Department; and the Evaluation of Children’s Centres in England (ECCE) found Incredible Years to be one of the most commonly offered evidence-based services in the most disadvantaged centres.

26 January 2015 Schools: Offensive Weapons Andrew Griffiths (Con, Burton): To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many weapons were confiscated from pupils in each age group in schools in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Nick Gibb (Con, Bognor Regis and Littlehampton): The Department for Education does not collect data on how many weapons have been confiscated from pupils in schools.

The Department has produced and updated advice for schools which makes it clear that school staff can search pupils for their possessions, without consent where there are reasonable grounds to do so. If a pupil refuses to be searched, the school may bar them from the premises. The advice is available online at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/searching-screening-and-confiscation.

29 January 2015

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Department of Health Female Genital Mutilation Seema Malhotra (Lab, Feltham and Heston): To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when his Department last updated the guidance it issues to the NHS on dealing with women who have undergone FGM. Jane Ellison (Con, Battersea): The Department provided an interim update to the health content of the “Multi Agency Practice Guidelines – Female Genital Mutilation” in July 2014 whilst more detailed guidance was being developed to reflect new requirements on National Health Service staff related to the Department’s FGM Prevention Programme. We plan to publish further guidance next month.

The Department and NHS England have also issued FGM guidance to the NHS through a statement of requirements and responsibilities, and have updated the content for health professionals on the NHS Choices FGM web-page. The Department also commissioned Health Education England to produce five new e-learning training sessions on FGM for NHS staff, the first of which is available free of charge to NHS staff on the national ‘eLearning for Health’ platform.

28 January 2015

House of Lords Medicine: Education Asked by Lord Laird To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Earl Howe on 24 October 2014 (HL2125 and HL2126) and 1 July 2013 (WA 191–2), why the review of medical and dental student intakes recommended by the Health and Education National Strategic Exchange for 2014, which was to be led by Health Education England, did not take place; and why, in its absence, they reconsidered the policy of reducing student intake.

Earl Howe: Health Education England (HEE) plans to undertake a review of the medical student intake in 2015 in the context of the HEE Strategic Framework 15, the HEE Workforce Plan for England 2015-16, and the recently published NHS England Five Year Forward View. Working with the Chief Dental Officer for England, HEE took the decision to recommend a reduction in the 2014 student dental intake by 10%. This was in response to a number of issues including detailed analysis supplied by the Centre for Workforce Intelligence that highlighted key changes in the improvement in dental health within England and the need for NHS England to ensure it had available the appropriate workforce to meet the needs of the service going forward.

26 January 2015

Internet: Bullying Lord Storey To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Ariel Trust’s recent pilot scheme to teach every primary school pupil how to tackle cyberbullying within Liverpool, what plans they have to tackle cyberbullying in schools across England.

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Lord Nash: The Government believes that schools, internet providers and parents all have a role to play in keeping children and young people safe online. All schools must have a behaviour policy with measures to tackle bullying, including cyberbullying, and they are held closely to account by Ofsted.

The Department for Education has issued advice to schools on preventing and tackling bullying and on supporting bullied children which includes cyberbullying. We have also recently issued advice aimed at parents on how to keep children safe online, spot the signs that a child may be being cyberbullied and what to do if it happens. In addition, e-safety is being taught at all four key stages of the curriculum and covers responsible, respectful and secure use of technology. Pupils are also taught age-appropriate ways of reporting any concerns they may have about what they see or encounter online. The Department is also providing around £4 million in funding to various anti-bullying organisations, such as the Diana Award, Kidscape and the National Children’s Bureau (NCB), who work in schools to combat bullying, including cyberbullying. The NCB has produced a guide for schools on preventing and tackling cyberbullying of children with a special educational need or disability who are especially vulnerable to this form of bullying.

Furthermore, we are currently considering bids through a £25 million voluntary and community sector grant programme to extend the work being done by antibullying charities in schools. A £2 million grant is being offered in conjunction with the Government Equalities Office to support projects which tackle specifically homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in schools. More widely, the Government continues to work to protect children online through the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) which brings together representatives from government, industry, law enforcement, academia, charities and parenting groups.

27 January 2015

Primary Education: Free School Meals Lord Storey To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures they are putting in place to help infants schools that are struggling to provide universal free school meals due to overstretched equipment or logistical problems.

Lord Nash: We have provided substantial support to help schools deliver this policy. We have already allocated £150 million capital funding to universal infant free school meals and are now providing an additional £24.5 million for individual school projects to ensure that the meals provided are of high quality, and particularly that all schools are able to offer hot meals. We recognise that some smaller schools may face particular challenges and have therefore allocated a further £22.5 million transitional funding in 201415 to help schools with 150 pupils or fewer to implement the policy. Each qualifying small school received a minimum of £3000. This is in addition to the £1.2 billion in general capital funding for school maintenance and improvements made available to local authorities this year. We have also set up an implementation support service, staffed by school food experts, which schools can contact for advice and support to help them overcome any issues they encounter. This service will continue to be available to schools until the end of 2015.

27 January 2015

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Special Educational Needs Lord Storey To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to exempt special education and disability services from the 2004 European Union Procurement Directives and the Children and Families Act 2014; what plans they have to reduce bureaucratic procedures for authorities and schools trying legally to place children with special needs; and what plans they have to safeguard the principle of parental choice within their special educational needs and disability policies.

Lord Nash: The EU Directive 2014/24 on Public Procurement replaces the previous Directive (2004/18).

The Department for Education will be implementing the 2014 Directive through new Public Contracts Regulations, on which we consulted last year. The Directive and the Regulations will raise the financial threshold above which EU wide procurement for social, health and educational services must take place and will introduce a new ‘light touch regime’ for procurement of these services. These measures will reduce the current burden on local authorities and schools. The Crown Commercial Service will shortly issue guidance to local authorities. This guidance will cover the interaction between public procurement and user choice. The new Regulations will continue to allow for the preferences of parents/carers and young people which is an integral feature of the Education, Health and Care Plan process set out in the Children and Families Act 2014.

27 January 2015

Children: Education Lord Storey To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many children in England do not attend primary or secondary school on a full-time basis.

Lord Nash: According to the January 2014 school census (see table attached), all children of compulsory school age in primary schools who are on the school roll attend full time. The table can also be found online as Table 1a of the national tables at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupilsand-theircharacteristics-january-2014 There are 90 pupils in secondary schools of compulsory school age who are taught part time. The Department for Education does not collect data on the number of children receiving elective home education. The Answer includes the following attached material: Number of children at state funded schools [Number_of_pupils_at_statefunded_schools.xls] The material can be viewed online at: http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questionsanswers-statements/written-question/ Lords/2015-01-21/HL4311 28 January 2015

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