New government figures have revealed that schools referred more than 119,000 children to social services in 2017-18.
Schools were the second-largest source of referrals after the police, sending more than 119,000 children to social services in the year up to 31 March, up by almost 4,500 compared with the same period in 2016-17.
Source: DfE Date: 25 October 2018
Ofsted has released new guidance on the criteria for, and process of, registering with Ofsted for childminders, nurseries, nannies and others providing childcare. Guidance is provided on: registration exemptions; legislation; inspections; suitability checks; registration for childcare on domestic premises and registration for early years care.
Source: Ofsted Date: 30 October 2018
CASPAR
The Scottish Government has released statistics on the number of homicide cases recorded by police in Scotland for 2017/2018. Data show that between 2008/09 and 2017/18, 36 children under 16-years-old were victims of homicide. 83 percent of these were killed by one of their parents.
Source: Scottish Government Date: 30 October 2018
Further information: Homicide in Scotland 2017-18 (PDF)
Public Health England has released statistics from the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) on adults receiving treatment in England for drug and alcohol related problems in 2017/18. Section 8 relates to parental status and safeguarding children and states that there were 25,593 people who started treatment in 2017/18 who said they lived with a total of 46,109 children under 18 and a further 38,852 who said they were parents but did not currently live with their children. 69 percent (44,647) of these parents and people living with children said that the children were not engaged with children’s social care services.
Source: Public Health England Date: 1 November 2018
Read more on NSPCC Learning: Parental substance misuse
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The NSPCC’s Child Trafficking Advice Centre (CTAC) has produced a leaflet, translated into 12 languages, for children who have come to the UK from another country. The leaflet explains: how to ask for help; who to ask for help; what words like “refugee”, “asylum seeker” and “trafficking” mean; what help is available for children who have come to the UK from another country.
Source: NSPCC Learning: Child trafficking leaflets for children and young people Date: 29 October 2018
Read more on NSPCC Learning: Protecting children from trafficking and modern slavery
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Parental responsibility guidance
The Department for Education has published guidance to help schools and local authorities in England understand and deal with issues relating to parental responsibility as recognised by education law, in particular in situations where parental responsibility can be confusing or unclear.
Source: DfE Date: 03 September 2018
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The Welsh Government has announced that they will focus on a new ‘whole school ‘ approach to mental health and wellbeing in schools to ensure that it becomes central to the way schools work.
This means that the school ethos in Wales will support the broader mental health and wellbeing of learners, and should in turn help to prevent other issues from developing or escalating.
Source: Welsh Government Date: 07 September 2018
The BBC reports that the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee has heard evidence from experts pointing out that bullying, racism and feeling left out of the curriculum are major factors in low school attendance rates among children and young people from the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) community. The Women and Equalities Committee is holding an inquiry to look at inequalities faced by the GRT community.
Source: BBC Date: 12 September 2018
Further information: Tackling inequalities faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities
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The Department for Education (DfE) has updated the Keeping children safe in education statutory guidance for England to include: a link to The Childcare (Disqualification) and Childcare (Early Years Provision Free of Charge) (Extended Entitlement) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 (paragraph 132); and clarification on the point at which a school must make referral to the Disclosure and Barring Service (paragraphs 158 and 159). The flowchart titled ‘Actions where there are concerns about a child’ in Keeping children safe in education: for school and college staff (part 1) has also been updated to make it more accessible.
Source: DfE Date: 19 September 2018
Further information: Keeping children safe in education: statutory guidance for schools and colleges (PDF)
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The NSPCC has released figures from a freedom of information request sent to 43 police forces across England and Wales, and a formal request for information from police forces in Northern Ireland and Scotland, asking them for the number of recorded offences for indecent images (still or moving) of children. Figures show that 22,724 offences were recorded in 2017/18, an increase of 23% on the previous year. The NSPCC Wild West Web campaign is calling on the government to adopt new laws to protect children online.
Source: NSPCC: Child abuse image offence recorded Date: 13 September 2018
Further information: NSPCC Wild West Web campaign
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