DEPARTMENT FOR CHILDREN, SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES – Gordon Brown has given a clear signal that supporting young people is his top priority as Prime Minister and has said “Children and families are the bedrock of our society. The Government’s aim is to ensure that every child gets the best possible start in life, receiving the ongoing support and protection that they – and their families – need to allow them to fulfill their potential.â€?. The appointments are as follows: Ed Balls – secretary of state; Beverley Hughes – minister for children and youth justice (will also attend Cabinet); Kevin Brennan – parliamentary under secretary of state (youth minister); and Lord Adonis – parliamentary under secretary of state
DCSF will have the following responsibilities:
• To coordinate and lead work across government on youth and family policy.
• Pre-19 education policy responsibilities, from the DfES.
• To work with the new Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills to ensure delivery of the 14-19 reforms. Funding for 16-19 education will in future go to schools and colleges via the local authority education budget.
• To raise school standards.
• It will assume responsibility for promoting the well-being, safety, protection and care of all young people – including through policy responsibility for children’s social services.
• It will be responsible for leading the strategy on family policy – including parenting.
• To work with the Department for Work and Pensions and HM Treasury to take forward the government’s strategy for ending child poverty.
• It will be responsible, together with the Department of Health, for promoting the health of children and young people, including measures to tackle key health problems such as obesity, as well as the promotion of youth sport with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
• It will lead on youth issues. This will include working with the Home Office and the DH on tackling drug use and with the Department for Communities and Local Government on youth homelessness and supported housing.
• It will be responsible for promoting the wider contribution of young people to their communities.
• It will assume responsibility for the Respect agenda.
• It will lead a new emphasis on the prevention of youth offending, through joint responsibility with the Ministry of Justice for policy and funding of the Youth Justice Board.
Within the DCSF there is a new dedicated Directorate for Young People, to co-ordinate all youth policy across Whitehall. Under the old DfES, young people’s issues were clumped together with children and families in a single directorate. The three new Directorates are: Children and Families led by Tom Jeffery; Schools led by Ralph Tabberer; and Young People led by Lesley Longstone as Interim Director General.
The Young People’s Directorate will be responsible for:
• Policy and Strategy on the reforms of the 14-19 curriculum and provision
• Funding for all 16-19 provision through Further Education Colleges, Work-Based Learning routes, School Sixth Forms and Sixth Form Colleges
• Sponsorship of schools sixth forms and sixth form colleges
• Budgets and activities to support quality improvement, higher standards, capacity building and infrastructure development in the 14-19 sector
• 14-19 workforce development
• 16-19 joint capital fund
• Young people
• Children in care (Care Matters)
NEW POLICY INITIATIVES – The Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families Ed Balls has unveiled his vision for his new Department. He plans to bring together all aspects of policy affecting children and young people, consulting experts, professionals and children and parents to draw up a new Children’s Plan to set the direction for the department for the next ten years to ensure that every child has the opportunities and support they need to be happy and successful. Three working groups will look at education and other services for children and young people – one for 0-7 year olds, one for 8-13 year olds and another for 14-19 year olds. The working groups will be chaired by members of the National Council for Educational Excellence (NCEE) to ensure a fully joined up approach. The consultation will report in October. Other key measures announced include a £265 million extended schools subsidy over the next three years to ensure that children from disadvantaged backgrounds benefit from extra out-of-hours tuition and after-school clubs in sport, music and drama. There are also plans for ‘a good youth centre in every neighbourhood, started up with £150m taken from defunct bank accounts.’ He has also said that there will be a £456 million investment over the next three years to continue the Children’s Fund and support schools in working with mental health experts. HERE
and HERE
Thanks to CVYS for this update
