Children in care

Source: Department for Education 

Date: 05 December 2019

The Department for Education (DfE) has published statistics on looked-after children in England at national and local authority levels for 2018/19. Figures show that: there were 78,150 looked after children at 31 March 2019, an increase of 4% on 2017/18; 49,570 children were looked after as a result of or because they were at risk of abuse or neglect – the most common reason identified. 

Read the news story: Children looked after in England including adoption: 2018 to 2019
Read the report: Children looked after in England (including adoption), year ending 31 March 2019 (PDF) 

Children and young people in Wales

Source: Children’s Commissioner for Wales
Date: 10 December 2019


The Children’s Commissioner for Wales (CCFW) has published an evaluation of the Commissioner’s plan for all children and young people 2016-19. The evaluation looked at what the CCFW has done to raise awareness of issues including: mental health, wellbeing and tackling bullying; poverty and social inequalities; play and leisure; safety in the community, school and home; and transitions to adulthood.
 

Read the report: Evaluation of our plan for all children and young people: 2016-19 (PDF)

Child sexual abuse: new resource

Source: CELCIS
Date: 05 December 2019

Stop It Now! Scotland has launched a resource, Upstream, to help adults in Scotland to prevent child sexual abuse. The resource, developed with support from the Scottish Government, includes tools to learn about, identify, prevent, and act upon child sexual abuse. 

Read the news story: Upstream: a new project to prevent child sexual abuse in Scotland
Visit the website: Upstream

School governance

Source: UK Parliament
Date: 17 December 2019

The House of Commons Library has published a briefing providing information on school governance structures in England, Northern Ireland and Wales and looks at the main responsibilities of school governors in England.

Read the news story and download the briefing:School governance

Racist abuse in schools


Source: BBC

Date: 01 January 2020

The BBC reports that analysis of Department for Education (DFE) statistics on permanent and fixed period exclusions in England show that there were 496 temporary exclusions for racist abuse from primary schools in the academic year 2017-18, a rise of 40% on 2006-07, when there were 350 exclusions.

Read the news story: Exclusions for racism in primary schools in England up more than 40%
View the statistics: Permanent and fixed period exclusions in England 2017 to 2018 (Table 4)