Source: Gloucester County Council published on this website Friday August 4 2023 by Jill Powell

Inspectors from Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) conducted a Joint Targeted Area Inspection of the county council, police and NHS from 12 to 16 June 2023. It considered the county’s response to the identification of initial need and risk (often referred to as the ‘front door’).

Their report praises the strength of Gloucestershire’s strategic partnership between the county council, NHS and police, which is testament to the collective commitment of all partners to keeping children and young people in the county safe. It notes this mature relationship is supported by effective governance in the Gloucestershire Safeguarding Children’s Partnership (GSCP).

Inspectors found that most children living in Gloucestershire who are identified to be in need of help and protection receive a swift and appropriate multi-agency response. They highlighted a daily multi-agency vulnerability meeting held in the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH), or ‘front door,’ as a key strength. It promotes effective partnership working where information on the current impact of risks to children is shared and next steps are identified and considered, including who is best to work with children and their families.

The report found that when children’s needs warrant further children’s social care intervention, assessments are detailed and thorough with children seen promptly, including the same day if required. Children are visited at home and when appropriate, in school. Inspectors said children’s plans lead to children receiving the right help and intervention.

Senior leaders were found to have appropriate oversight and knowledge of the effectiveness of multi-agency safeguarding arrangements and inspectors noted their commitment to a continuous learning environment, which they said results in proactive intervention to improve services for children.

The strong partnership between schools and the police was praised in the report. Gloucestershire Constabulary provide training and attend assemblies to talk to children about keeping safe in areas such as online safety and knife crime. Inspectors found this is valued highly by schools who say it is effective in de-escalating issues that may otherwise increase risks to children.

The report also highlights a multi-agency child exploitation meeting which allows partners to effectively share intelligence and information about local hot spots, perpetrators, and persons of concern enabling professionals to identify emerging themes and develop targeted disruption activity. Dedicated teams in the police and the youth support service focus on missing children and the inspection found professionals know these children well.

Steps are being taken to make progress in the areas that inspectors found needed improvement including the efficiency of partner recording systems, the consistent use of police vulnerability screening tools and making sure children’s voices are used to inform decisions across all partner agencies.

Source: Ofsted published on this website Monday 10 July 2023 by Jill Powell

The consultation will provide the sector with the opportunity to share its views on how supported accommodation should be inspected.

The consultation runs from 10 July to 8 September 2023 and will inform Ofsted arrangements for inspections starting in April 2024. Ofsted began accepting applications to register providers of supported accommodation in April 2023, when regulations came into force. Regulation and inspection will provide essential oversight and assess whether children in supported accommodation are safe and well supported.

The consultation is an opportunity for providers, children, care leavers and the wider sector to give their views on proposals relating to inspection outcomes, the notice Ofsted give for inspections and the main features of effective supported accommodation.

Inspection outcomes

For the first round of inspections, Ofsted propose that there should be 3 possible outcomes for inspections of supported accommodation:

Consistently strong service delivery leads to typically positive experiences and progress for children. Where improvements are needed, leaders and managers take timely and effective action.

Inconsistent quality of service delivery adversely affects children’s experiences and limits their progress. Leaders and managers must make improvements.

Serious or widespread weaknesses lead to significant concerns about the experiences and progress of children. Leaders and managers must take urgent action to address failings.

This proposal reflects the unique context and wide scope of the supported accommodation, providing a nuanced statement of quality across extremely diverse provision.

As this is a newly regulated sector that does not yet have an established benchmark for excellence, there is no outcome that identifies exceptional practice.

Ofsted will use the learning from the first round of inspections to inform longer-term inspection arrangements in the future, including how we make judgements.

Notice of inspection

Ofsted propose to give 2 working days’ notice of inspection to providers. This is the minimum notice required to deliver effective and efficient inspections and is consistent with the notice that we give for other ‘provider-level’ social care inspections.

Main features of effective supported accommodation

Ofsted's inspections of supported accommodation providers will lead to outcomes that consider the following areas of evidence:

• overall experiences and progress of children
• how well children are helped and protected
• the effectiveness of leaders and managers

To help shape the final evaluation criteria, Ofsted want to hear views on the main features of effective supported accommodation. These views, in addition to existing research and the views of care-experienced community, will help make sure inspections focus on what makes the most difference to children living in supported accommodation.

Read the consultation proposals and have your say.

If you need an alternative format, please email eyregulatoryandsocialcare@ofsted.gov.uk.

Source: UK Parliament House Commons Library published on this website Tuesday 19 July 2023 by Jill Powell

Number of home educated children

It is not known how many children are home educated in England. However, estimates are available for the number of registered home educated pupils. These estimates are likely to underestimate the total number of home educated pupils because registration with the local authority is voluntary.

In the Autumn 2022 school census the Department for Education collected information from local authorities about registered home educated pupils for the first time. After adjusting for non-responses there were an estimated 80,900 home educated pupils known to local authorities in England in October 2022, and around 86,200 in January 2023.

As this is the first time this data has been collected, we do not know whether this increase is due to seasonal variation or other reasons.

Third party surveys of registered home educated pupils are now several years out of date (as of October 2021 for the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, and March 2019 for the Office of the Schools Adjudicator). These estimates suggest that the number of registered home educated children have increased over time.

Responsibilities of those home schooling

Under the Education Act 1996,  parents and guardians, including those who choose to home-educate their children, are responsible for ensuring that the education provided is efficient, full-time and suitable to the child’s age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs they may have. They are not required to provide a broad and balanced curriculum and do not have to follow the National Curriculum. Home educating parents must be prepared to assume full financial responsibility, including the cost of any public examinations.

The DfE has published departmental guidance for parents (PDF) on home education.

The role of local authorities

The DfE has also published guidance for local authorities (PDF). Local authorities have no formal powers or duty to monitor the provision of home education. However, they do have duties to identify children not receiving a suitable education, and to intervene. As part of this, the Df recommends that authorities should contact people home educating on at least an annual basis, so they are aware of the suitability of the education being provided.

If it appears a child is not receiving a suitable education, intervention could include issuing a school attendance order, although the Government encourages authorities to address the issue informally before serving a notice.

Local authorities also have powers relating to safeguarding, which may be used if it appears that a lack of suitable education is likely to impair a child’s development.

Plans for a register of children educated outside of school

In April 2019, the Government published a consultation on proposed legislation concerning children not in school. The consultation closed on 24 June 2019.

The consultation sought views on proposals to create four new legal duties effecting schools, local authorities, parents and guardians:

1. A duty on local authorities to keep a register of children of compulsory school age who are not registered at a state-funded or registered independent school.
2. A duty on parents to provide information to their local authority if their child should be on the register.
3. A duty on education settings attended by children on the register, as part of or in conjunction with their home schooling, to respond to enquiries from local authorities about the education provided to individual children.
4. A duty on local authorities to support home educated families if the families request it.

The Government’s response to the consultation was published in February 2022. It set out the Government’s continued intention to legislate for a register of children not in school, and that the Government would engage further with local authorities and the home educating sector in developing its proposals.

In May 2022, the Government published a Schools Bill which included provisions for a home schooling register. These provisions, and others in the Bill, proved controversial. The wide-ranging Bill was abandoned in December 2022, although the Education Secretary has said legislating for a register remains a priority.

Education is a devolved issue; this briefing covers the position in England only. Read the full report

Source: National Crime Agency published on this website Tuesday 16 may 20203 by Jill PowellA former coach driver who made more than 600 payments to direct and live stream the sexual abuse of children has been sentenced to eight years.

Bernard Grace, 72, from Wythenshawe, Manchester, was investigated by National Crime Agency officers after intelligence suggested he had made a number of electronic money transfers to a woman in the Philippines. NCA investigators established that Grace, who used to transport children as part of his job, was paying people in the Philippines in exchange for live streaming of sexual abuse.

Searches of Grace’s home when he was arrested in March 2021 resulted in the seizure of a laptop. Enquires into GRACE’s financial activity showed he had made payments totalling over £20,000 to various women between January 2015 and March 2021.The laptop was forensically examined and 23 Skype chats between Grace and Filipino women were found where he offered to make, or had made, payments. These included a payment to a woman under investigation in the Philippines for sex trafficking offences. When interviewed, Grace admitted making the payments..

Grace was charged with 11 counts of arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence and two counts of making an indecent image of a child.He pleaded guilty during a previous hearing at Manchester Crown Court and was sentenced at the same court on Friday (12 May).

NCA Operations Manager Graham Clare said:

“Bernard Grace was an unrelenting offender, whose actions led to several children being abused in the most horrific and depraved manner for his own sexual gratification. He may have thought he’d avoid detection by arranging for abuse to take place against vulnerable children on the other side of the globe, but the NCA has the capabilities to investigate online and internationally. We work with overseas partners to tackle the abhorrent abuse of children, and actively target offenders who pay for it to be live streamed. There is no bigger priority for us than protecting children, wherever they may be.”