UPDATE NO 505 13 May 2022

Aspirant DCS Programme NOW BOOKING

The Staff College, Institute of Public Care, Skills for Care, and GatenbySanderson – supported by DfE – invite applications for the upon Aspirant Directors Programme. Applications close 13 June 2022

Starting in late September 2022 and running until March 2023, the upon Programme will welcome around 40 Aspirant Directors. The flyer is here or contact upon@thestaffcollege.uk or call 0161-826-9450.

Social Work England – Consultation on new education and training approval standards for approved mental capacity professionals

On 9 May, Social Work England published a consultation on new education and training approval standards for approved mental capacity professionals. This consultation relates to the role of the approved mental capacity professional (AMCP), the successor qualification to best interests assessor, which is being consulted on in the DHSC’s consultation on Liberty Protection Safeguards.

The consultation period is 12 weeks and will end at midday (12pm) on Monday 1 August 2022.

You can complete the online survey here

SWE is also consulting on the role of approved mental health professionals (AMHP).

Data to Insight – National Project – May 2022 Briefing

Alistair Herbert of Data to Insight writes

“A quick note to alert you that we’ve updated ChAT to include a new “RIIA” tab which calculates many of the measures for the revised RIIA quarterly data collection.”

“We’ve also stored the RIIA collection template itself on the D2I website, so that we can maintain this with periodic updates as required.”

The Relationship Between Poverty and Child Abuse and Neglect: New Evidence

On 31 March Paul Bywaters and Guy Skinner (and others, University of Huddersfield) published The Relationship Between Poverty and Child Abuse and Neglect: New Evidence

The evidence for this relationship between poverty and child abuse and neglect is much stronger than five years ago. Seventeen studies show that changes in the economic conditions of family life alone – without changing any other factors – impact on rates of abuse and neglect.

The full report is here

Fostering Network report shows allegations process is failing both children in care and foster carers

On 27 April The Fostering Network published State of the Nation’s Foster Care 2021. It includes two thematic reports, one on the status of foster carers and the other on the allegation process in foster care.

The press release is here

The full report is here

The thematic report on allegations is here

Commission on Young Lives publishes ‘All Together Now: Inclusion not exclusion – supporting all young people to succeed in school’.

On 29 April the Commission on Young Lives published ‘All Together Now: Inclusion not exclusion – supporting all young people to succeed in school’. 

The report looks at how thousands of vulnerable children are falling through gaps in the education system, putting them at risk not only of low attainment but also serious violence, county lines, criminal exploitation, grooming and harm. It calls for a new era of incentivising all schools to become more inclusive and makes a series of recommendations for how schools can be supported to divert vulnerable teenagers away from crime and exploitation and enable them to thrive.

The full report is here

Future dates for network meetings

Lead Members Group: Friday 8 July 10.00am.  More from Alison Michalska (contact details below)

Data Benchmarking: Tuesday 12 July 10:00am More from Alastair Lee (contact details below)

Adoption and Special Guardianship Leadership Board: Wednesday 20 July 10.30am-12noon More from Rebecca Eligon (contact details below)

AD Education: Friday 1 July 10:00am. More from Chris Owen (contact details below)

AD Safeguarding: Friday 10 June 10:00am. More from Mark Evans (contact details below)

QA Network: Thursday 16 June 2:00pm – 5:00pm. More from Amanda Meadows (contact details below)

Fostering Network: Wednesday 13 July 10-11.30am More from Rebecca Eligon (contact details below)

SEND SE19: Tuesday 17 May SE19 SEND Network: Green Paper meeting with DfE 12:00 – 13:30. More from Tracey Maytas (contact details below)

Early Help: Wednesday 25 May 1.30pm. More from Rebecca Eligon (contact details below)

Family Hubs Community of Practice: SEND workshop via Teams 9 June 9.20 – 11.30. More from Carly Bain (contact details below) 

Women in Leadership Course NOW BOOKING

Applications to join the Women in Leadership (WIL) Programme Cohort 10 in London are now open. The price for this course is £695 + VAT and it starts in October 2022.

Family Hubs – Community of Practice (South East)

The webpage for the Family Hubs – Community of Practice (South East) is now live.

Please see the Family Hubs Lead Contact page, also now live. For further information, download the newsletter (see above) or contact Carly Bain (details below)

Children in custody: secure training centres and secure schools – NAO report

On 28 April, the National Audit Office published “Children in custody: secure training centres and secure school“. The number of children in custody in England and Wales is expected to double by 2024; it also highlights that black and minority ethnic children are increasingly over-represented in the youth justice system.

The report said that after long-term decline, the number of children in custody is expected to rise rapidly as a direct result of increased police recruitment, moves to tackle the court backlog caused by Covid and tougher sentencing after the passing of the police, crime, sentencing and courts reform bill.

A summary report is here. The full report is here.

EPI seeks school leaders’ views in new DEEP survey

On 25 April EPI launched the Decisions in Education in England Panel (DEEP) survey

EPI says “If you are a leader of education, whether in a school, trust, local authority, federation or diocese board of education, you can complete the survey.

We particularly want to hear from: headteachers and principals from all types of school, CEOs of academy trusts, local authority Assistant Directors of Education or Children’s Services, Dioceses Board of Education Directors of Education”

You can start the survey here