More than 300 allegations of rape in British schools have been reported to police in the past three years, a rise of 40 per cent. Reports of other sex crimes in schools have also been growing, with 2,865 claims of sexual misconduct recorded by police in 2011 to 2013. These included 1,052 sex offences reported in schools last year, of which 134 were rape claims

Source: The Times

Child protection IT system set for launch

An IT system that will help child protection and health professionals share information about children at risk of abuse and neglect will launch imminently, the Department of Health (DH) has confirmed.

The DH said the Child Protection Information Sharing (CPIS) system will shortly be available for use in the first wave of NHS organisations and councils taking part in the project.

The system is the government’s attempt to improve information sharing on safeguarding between health and children’s services, and comes four years after the closure of ContactPoint, the previous Labour government’s controversial database of children and young people.

The CPIS will alert health professionals of any child protection concerns about children who visit hospital emergency departments, walk in centres, out-of-hours GP clinics, paediatric wards and maternity units. Ambulance services are also included.

It aims to ensure health professionals with concerns can access information about children with a child protection plan or who are looked after, as well as pregnant women whose unborn child is subject to a pre-birth protection plan.

It is hoped that by 2015 eight out of 10 councils will be involved. By 2018 it is hoped that the same proportion of NHS settings will be integrated.

First announced in late 2012, the CPIS has been set up following a number of recent serious case reviews that cited poor information sharing across health and social care as a factor in professionals not taking action sooner.

The system will differ from ContactPoint in that it will not constitute a standalone database, but instead provide a method for basic information to be shared between existing systems.

Among groups backing the CPIS is the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS), the NSPCC and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

Lisa Harker, head of strategy at the NSPCC, said: “In around 60 per cent of SCRs a lack of information sharing is one of the things that has been highlighted as a contributing factor to children not being protected or safeguarded properly. When professionals share information about a child’s circumstances it informs how they respond to a child’s immediate need and a system which underpins that will help keep children safer and save lives.”

However, the ADCS has previously raised concerns that the wide range of software systems used by NHS organisations and local authorities could result in information not being updated properly and so create a false sense of security.

At the time of its launch, the DH estimated the cost of delivering CPIS would be £9m, significantly less than the £224m spent on creating ContactPoint. Coalition ministers scrapped ContactPoint, which held the names of 11 million under-18s and the services with which they have had contact, in August 2010 citing cost and security concerns.

Source: CYPNow

Stonewall: Porn survey shows why we need better sex education in schools

A survey showing sexting is now part of “everyday life” for teenagers highlights the need for compulsory sex and relationships education, says Stonewall.

Research commissioned by the IPPR think tank found 80% of young people said it was too easy to stumble across explicit images and videos on the internet.

Almost half (46%) said the phenomenon of sexting, where people send explicit pictures of themselves to others, was “part of everyday life for teenagers nowadays”.

A majority said pornography was making life harder for adolescents and 70% said watching porn was seen as normal among their classmates at school.

Two-thirds also described porn as addictive. Stonewall, Britain’s largest gay rights charity, said the survey highlighted why the government needed to improve sex and relationships education.

Stonewall Head of Policy, James Taylor, told PinkNews.co.uk: “We know that, all too often, young lesbian, gay and bisexual people aren’t getting the information they need about sex and relationships.

“When those resources aren’t available, pornography can become the sole source of information for young people, setting wildly unreasonable expectations and standards.”

Mr Taylor added: “Schools urgently need to talk about what makes a healthy relationship so that young people can make safe and informed choices. Compulsory sex and relationship education needs to be the starting point for these conversations in schools.”

Today, in a PinkNews interview, former Health Secretary Lord Fowler urged the Tories to back statutory Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) Education, in a bid to safeguard the health and wellbeing of young people.

Under Michael Gove’s reign as Education Secretary, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats whipped their parliamentarians to vote against statutory PSHE.

But Downing Street has indicated to PinkNews that a new position could be struck by Mr Gove’s successor, Nicky Morgan, allowing for support to be given to statutory PSHE.

Such a move could lead to the abandonment of the whipping arrangements, meaning Tory MPs who support the motion would be free to vote in favour.

Last month, Green MP Caroline Lucas tabled a new Private Members’ Bill urging for statutory PSHE. It will receive its second reading in the autumn.

Source: Pink News, Stonewall

New figures show that 221 unexplained infant deaths occurred in England and Wales in 2012.  According to the data, published by the Office for National Statistics, 71 per cent of unexplained infant deaths were recorded as sudden infant deaths, while 29 per cent were unascertained.

The proportion of 16- to 18-year-olds not in education, employment or training (Neet) fell by eight per cent between April and June this year. Figures published by the Department for Education also show that the number of Neet 19- to 24-year-olds fell by 2.2 per cent during the same period.

The number of fines issued to parents in Suffolk for allowing their children to miss school has risen by almost 500 per cent in the space of five years. The East Anglian Daily Times reports that there were 303 fines for unauthorised absences handed out to parents between September 2013 and July 2014, compared with just 61 in 2009/10.