On 25 March 2019, Julie Morgan AM, Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services (the Deputy Minister), introduced the Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment (Wales) Bill (the Bill) and accompanying Explanatory Memorandum. The next day, the Deputy Minister made an oral statement in Plenary in which she explained:

“If the Bill is enacted, the defence of reasonable punishment will no longer be available within Wales to parents, or those acting in loco parentis, as a defence to a charge of common assault or battery. It will be removed under both criminal and civil law. While corporal punishment has long been banned in schools, children’s homes, local authority foster care and childcare provision, adults acting in loco parentis in non-educational settings, including the home, are able to use the defence of reasonable punishment. So, this Bill removes this loophole.”

To see the report and red its recommendations click: http://www.assembly.wales/laid%20documents/cr-ld12708/cr-ld12708-e.pdf

Source: Department of Health and Social Care published on this site Tuesday 13th February 2018 by Jill Powell

This is statutory guidance  to support implementation of part 1 of the Care Act 2014 by local authorities.

To read the guidance and the summary of changes click: http://www.safecic.co.uk/freebies/55-free-downloads-and-safeguarding-links/515-adultseng

Source: NSPCC published on this site Tuesday 27th March 2018 by Jill Powell

The NSPCC Knowledge and Information Services have published a factsheet providing guidance on best practice for PE changing rooms in primary schools. The guidance includes: what schools need to consider when organising changing facilities for children; staff supervision; changing areas for children with additional needs; and using off-site changing rooms.

To read the factsheet click: http://www.safecic.co.uk/freebies/55-free-downloads-and-safeguarding-links/401-eng

Source: Luton Safeguarding Children Board published on this site Wednesday 9th August 2017 by Jill Powell

Child J died, aged 13 months, in November 2015. A criminal trial in July 2016 found his mother and her boyfriend guilty of offences connected to Child J's death. The three Safeguarding Children Boards of Luton, Ealing and Hammersmith & Fulham, join together in expressing our condolences to all family members for the loss of this little boy. Child J died in Luton, but most of his life had been lived in London., Although the Serious Case Review was commissioned by Luton Safeguarding Children Board, the three safeguarding boards have continuously worked closely together during the production of this report.

As soon as the terribly sad news of Child J's death became known, each of our boards began to review our local ways of working based on what was known at the time about the circumstances leading to Child J's death. Each of our boards therefore has its own programme of actions and assurance in response to particular issues. However two findings in the report are of national significance. Consequently, as chairs of three different safeguarding children boards, we wanted to come together and draw attention to these two issues - they affected Child J but affect many other children across England.

. The first of these is about an important national programme - the Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) - and how it works in practice locally when cases are handed over across geographical boundaries. Locally we all value the FNP - a voluntary home visiting programme for first time young mothers, ordinarily aged 19 years or under. A specially trained family nurse visits the young mother regularly, from the early stages of pregnancy until their child is two. When a mother is receiving a service from FNP the family nurse fulfils the role of health visitor. When the mother leaves the FNP programme the expectation is that the mother and child should transfer back to the health visiting service who would provide a level of service based on their assessed needs. However, as we saw in Child J's case, this handover does not always happen.

To read the report click: http://www.safecic.co.uk/freebies/55-free-downloads-and-safeguarding-links/406-relrepo