UPDATE NO 413 24 July 2020

Highlighting an innovative shared approach towards child suicide prevention

The following webinar documents what has been learnt through the development of a shared approach towards tackling child suicide across Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Southampton and Portsmouth.

“We are mindful of national and regional concerns about an increase in suicide and suicidal ideation amongst children and young people (CYP), in response to both wider societal stress and domestic stresses in the current environment. Those at risk of social exclusion and isolation are particularly vulnerable at this time,” says Andrea King, Specialist Advisor, NHS Hampshire and Thames Valley Clinical Delivery and Networks.

“In advance of these developments CYP mental health systems leaders across Hampshire STP have been working on changes to a shared partnership response to CYP suicide prevention. We offer this learning to national systems leaders and are happy to discuss the approach to reaching agreement to implement changes if that would be of assistance.” In summary, these changes include:

1. Introducing free suicide prevention training to the CYP multi-professional workforce
2. Adapting the questions asked at home visit/Rapid Response following the death of a child where suicide is suspected to enable protected characteristics, risk and trigger factors to be more clearly identified; to inform both short-term support for those significant others most affected by the loss and the wider peer network; whilst also informing longer term service design and delivery
3. Using this detail to inform Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP) strategic analysis and systems learning

Access the webinar here; a briefing document is available here.

ADCS Discussion Paper

ADCS has published a discussion paper – Building a country that works for all children post COVID-19, calling for action to tackle the inequalities and vulnerabilities experienced by children affected by COVID-19.

It supports the principal recommendation in Health inequality in England: The Marmot Review 10 Years On (The Health Foundation, 2020), namely the initiation of an ambitious, world-leading health anti-inequalities strategy.

Managing through COVID-19: the experiences of children’s social care in 15 English local authorities

You may recall that Mary Baginsky and her team at King’s College London were seeking partners for this research; colleagues from Hampshire were among the respondents. This research set out to capture the ways in which adaptations were made by UK local authorities in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

It has now been published by the Better Care Network

This report is based on the experiences of 15 local authority children’s social care (CSC) departments that volunteered to participate in the research and whose views were captured between late May and early June 2020.

Full Report (62pp) | Briefing paper (8pp). (The briefing paper is a summary of the main report.)

NFJO discussion paper: What explains marked regional variations in infant care

The Nuffield Family Justice Observatory has published a discussion paper about the reasons behind regional differences in the numbers and rates of newborns and infants in care proceedings. Factors identified, following a series of workshops with 57 local authorities in England, include: austerity and poverty; timeliness and type of pre-birth help; the availability of parent and baby placements; and relationships with maternity services.

The SE region had the second lowest rate per 10,000 in the last year of data (2016) and averaged over the period 2008/16 with only London have a lower rate.

Read the news story: Marked regional variations in infant care
Read the discussion paper: What explains marked regional variations in infant care proceedings (PDF)

Youth Violence Commission – Final Report

The final report outlines the economic and social cost of youth violence, with unique analysis revealing that serious youth violence has cost the UK £11bn since 2008. The Commission’s Safer Lives Survey found 50% of respondents aged 16-19 reported personally knew at least one young person who had been hospitalised by serious violence in the past five years.

To inform the recommendations in its Final Report, the Commission gathered evidence from a series of expert evidence sessions held on the Parliamentary Estate, alongside an analysis of a national survey completed by more than 2,200 young people across England, Scotland and Wales.

The Commission complemented this newly generated data with the findings of the most recent and relevant research to produce a raft of evidence-informed policy. 

The Commission’s key recommendations centre on:

• Substantial and long-term investment in the 18 regional Violence Reduction Units, which were established shortly after the publication of the YVC’s Interim Report in July 2018.
• To give these units the very best chance of success, the YVC recommends a minimum of 10 years’ projected funding to enable them to pursue evidence-informed, long-term strategies for reducing serious violence.
• Using the forthcoming reinvestment in police officer numbers to rebuild the police’s capacity to engage in vital forms of neighbourhood policing. Effective community policing enables the police to gather the intelligence needed to effectively protect young people from serious violence.
• Immediate enhanced funding to better enable schools to support pupils by fostering inclusive educational environments that avoid the harmful practices of pupil off-rolling and exclusion.
• Central Government should provide Local Authorities with statutory funding and a clear statutory duty for providing youth services, the levels of which should be determined by the number of young people living in each Local Authority area.

The Full Report is here

NEET and participation: local authority figures

The DfE has published the 2020 NEET and 16- and 17-year-old participation figures

The data shows the number and proportion of 16- and 17-year-olds recorded as in education or training in each local authority area and an estimate of the proportion and number of 16- and 17-year-olds who are recorded as NEET or whose activity is ‘not known’.

Getting the grades they’ve earned: Covid-19: the cancellation of exams and ‘calculated’ grades

The Parliamentary Education Select Committee has published this report which examines the fairness, transparency and accessibility of this year’s exam arrangements. As it took evidence and asked questions, these were the three guiding principles against which it scrutinised Ofqual’s and the Department’s decisions. 

Its report considers arrangements for GCSEs and A levels, as well as vocational and technical qualifications.

National Statistics – Main findings: children’s social care in England 2020

This release, published by Oftsed, contains:

• inspection outcomes for local authority (LA) children’s services inspections from 1 November 2013 covering all inspections published by 30 April 2020
• the number of providers of children’s social care, and the number of places they are registered for, as at 31 March 2020
• the most recent inspections and outcomes for all regulated and inspected children’s social care provisions, as at 31 March 2020, and published by 30 April 2020
• outcomes for all regulated and inspected children’s social care provision inspections carried out between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2020 and published by 30 April 2020

SESLIP monitors Ofsted inspection results and publishes its own Analysis of Ofsted Inspection Reports.

Table 1: Distribution of visits by year and type; and for SE, who’s had what (page 1)

Table 2: The time it takes for Ofsted to publish a report from the start of the inspection (page 2)

Tables 3.1 and 3.2: Waiting times since any inspection – all authorities and south east authorities , and type of last visit (page 3)

Tables 4.1 and 4.2: Waiting times since the start of last Ofsted full inspection visit with a published report  – all authorities and south east authorities (page 4)

Tables 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3: Outcome of ILACS, SIF, SLAC inspections by region (page 5)

Tables 6.1 and 6.2 Points per day for each SE Authority from date of SLAC and SIF1 inspections to date (page 6)

Tables 7.1 and 7.2: SEND 1 Inspections by Region and by Main Inspection Grade at Time of SEND1 (page 7)

Tables 8.1 and 8.2: SEND 2 Re-inspections by Region and by Main Inspection Grade at Time of SEND2 (page 8)

Tables 9.1 and 9.2: Completed and Uncompleted Waiting Time Between SEND1 and SEND2 (page 9)

Tables 10.1 and 10.2: JTAI Inspections by Region and by Main Inspection Grade at Time of JTAI (page 10)

Teenagers falling through the gaps

The Children’s Commissioner for England has published new analysis that suggests thousands of teenagers in England are falling through the gaps in the school and social care system. The report sets out the risks affecting tens of thousands of teenagers including persistent absence from school, exclusions, alternative provision, dropping out of the school system in Year 11, or going missing from care.

The Children’s Commissioner highlights the heightened impact of lockdown on the 120,000 teenagers in England – one in 25 of all teens – already slipping out of sight before coronavirus. She also warns these children already at risk could be joined by many more who struggle to adapt to a return to ‘normal’ after six months out of school.

The analysis identifies the number of teenagers (aged 13-17) in England, for each local authority, who were already falling through gaps in education and social care provision before Covid-19. The Children’s Commissioner is concerned that these teenagers will remain ‘invisible’ even after the lockdown restrictions ease. It comes at a time when youth services funding has been cut by 60% over the last 10 years.

The Full Report is here