Adoption
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| www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/socialcare/childrenincare/adoption/ |
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| This site on the Every Child Matters portal website provides access to other pages on the DCFS website that will provide you with up to date statutory guidance on the new provisions of the The Adoption and Children Act 2002 due to be fully implemented on 30 December 2005.
The act represents a comprehensive overhaul of adoption legislation and replaces much of the now outdated Adoption Act 1976. Practitioners in the children and families' sector will be affected by the changes the Act brings.
Training materials supporting the implementation of the Adoption Act 2002 will be made available on this website and the site also provides access to the adoption area of the DCSF site. |
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Association of Directors of Children’s Services
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| www.adcs.org.uk/ |
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| The Association of Directors of Children's Services - ADCS - is the national leadership Association in England for statutory directors of children's services and other children's services professionals in leadership roles |
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Audit Commission
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| www.audit-commission.gov.uk |
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| The task of the Audit Commission is to ensure that public money is used economically, efficiently and effectively in local government. From April 2004 it will cease to be involved in joint reviews or other inspection or assessment work on social care, thought it will retain its duties with respect to other local authority services, including Comprehensive Performance Assessment work. |
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Best Value
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| www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=5184420#http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=5184420# |
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| Best Value, located within the Office of Deputy Prime Minister, specifically refers to the duty of continuous improvement for local authorities as set by the Local Government Act 1999. It was one of the first instruments to stress the government's explicit commitment to high quality public services.
Best Value runs the whole gamut of local services – from continuous improvements in service to costs and quality. The key principles of Best Value assert that the duty of Best Value is one owed by councils to council tax payers and residents; achieving it is not just about economy and efficiency, but also about effectiveness and quality. There is no presumption that services should be privatised, but there is no reason why services should be directly delivered if other methods are deemed more efficient. Competition remains important, but is only one tool of many.
The basic framework of provision should be set by central government and
• detailed local targets should have regard to national targets and performance indicators
• while local and national targets should be based on performance information
• Audit processes should "confirm the integrity and compatibility of performance information
• external audits will monitor best value achievements
Last, the secretary of state, on the advice of the Audit Commission, can intervene where a local authority fails |
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Building Schools for the Future
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| www.bsf.gov.uk |
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| This is the website of Building Schools for the Future (BSF). BSF is the biggest single government investment in improving school buildings for over 50 years. The aim is to rebuild or renew every secondary school in England over a 10-15 year period. Building Schools for the Future (BSF) offers the chance for every local authority in England to not only to renovate its secondary schools, but to reform and redesign the pattern of secondary education provision to best serve communities in the future. The site contains information for all key stakeholders and information about current key pathfinder authorities. |
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CAFCASS
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| www.cafcass.gov.uk |
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| CAFCASS (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) was set up on 1 April 2001. It was created by the amalgamation of the 54 services of the Family Court Welfare Service, which was part of the probation service, the 57 panels of the Guardian ad Litem and Reporting Service, which was run by local authorities, and the children's branch of the office of the Official Solicitor. CAFCASS is independent of the courts, social services, education and health authorities and all similar agencies.
The functions of CAFCASS are set out in the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000. They relate to family proceedings where the welfare of children is or maybe in question. CAFCASS functions are to:
• Safeguard and promote the welfare of the child
• Give advice to the court about any application made to it in such proceedings
• Make provision for children to be represented in such proceedings
• Provide information, advice and support for children and their families.
• Children and Family Reporters become involved when parents who are divorcing or separating have not been able to reach agreement about arrangements for their children. Sometimes agreement can be reached without having to involve the court any further but if not the Children and Family Reporter writes a report for the court.
• Children's Guardians represent the interests of a child during cases in which social services have become involved and in contested adoptions.
• Reporting Officers ensure parents understand what adoption means for them and their child and whether or not they consent to it.
Guardians ad Litem are occasionally appointed by the court in cases when parents who are divorcing or separating have not been able to reach agreement. This only happens if there is some particular difficulty in the case. The role of the Guardian ad Litem is to provide separate representation of the rights and interests of the child. |
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Care Quality Commission
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| www.cqc.org.uk |
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| Launched on April 1 2009 the Care Quality Commission is the independent regulator of health and social care in England. It’s responsibilities include the regulation of health and adult social care services, whether provided by the NHS, local authorities, private companies or voluntary organisations. It absorbs the previous responsibilities of the CSCI social care function, the Healthcare Commission’s role in health regulation and the Mental Health Act Commission’s responsibility for protecting the interests of detained patients. |
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Children and Young People’s Workforce Strategy
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| www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/strategy/childrenandyoungpeoplesworkforce/workforcestrategy/#http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/strategy/childrenandyoungpeoplesworkforce/workforcestrategy/# |
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In December 2008 the Government published the 2020 Children and Young People's Workforce Strategy. This sets out the Government's vision that everyone who works with children and young people should be:
Its aim is to ensure that members of the workforce have the skills and knowledge to do the best job they possibly can to help children and young people develop and succeed across all the outcomes which underpin Every Child Matters: being safe, staying healthy, enjoying and achieving, making a positive contribution and achieving economic well-being.
The development of the strategy has been supported by an Expert Group of professionals and leaders from different parts of the children and young people's workforce, which has had a major influence on both the overall direction and detail of the strategy. |
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Children’s Centres
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| www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/earlyyears/ |
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| In March 2003, the Government announced plans to rebrand Early Excellence Centres, as well as Sure Start projects that offer childcare and Neighbourhood Nurseries, as Children's Centres. The programme is an important part of the Government's strategy for raising standards and integrating services for young children and families in England.
It aims to develop, demonstrate and disseminate models of excellence in the delivery of centre-based integrated multi-agency services, which meet the needs of children and families, raise standards and achieve national impact. Specifically, by integrating care, education, family support and health services, Children's Centres are intended to better meet the needs of families in the 20% most disadvantaged wards in England and improve both children's life chances and their parents' access to work and training.
On the 24 September the Minister, Margaret Hodge, announced the names of 61 extended schools that will be funded to provide a full range of community services. By 2006, at least one school in every local education authority will receive this funding. The Minister also named 29 further examples of joined up early year's services, which have today joined a growing network of Sure Start Children's Centres, providing full day-care, education and family support services for the under-fives.
The services that will be provided by the extended schools include childcare, health and social care, life long learning, family learning, study support, sports, art and access to information and communications technology. The children centres will all provide integrated early education, childcare, health services, family support and help into employment.
By March 2006, the Government expects Children's Centres will be reaching 650,000 pre-school children - 350,000 through pre-existing Sure Start programmes and 300,000 new children through Children's Centres that have either been developed from other existing provision, such as nursery schools, or, in a small number of cases, are entirely new. |
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Children’s Services Network
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| www.csn.info/ |
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| The Children's Services Network (CSN) was launched in 2006 and developed from The Education Network (TEN), originally launched by the LGIU in 1997, to help develop, promote and disseminate the role and good practice of local authorities in the delivery of education. The site contains helpful set of regularly updated policy briefings and other publications. |
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Children’s Statistical Returns
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| www.dcsf.gov.uk/datastats1/guidelines/children/ |
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| This site provides access links to a range of the Department for Education and Skills children's social services statistical returns and to information on the latest statistical developments.
Data for all these returns is provided by Local Authority Social Services Departments with the exception of the data collection regarding secure children's homes, which is collected directly from the homes themselves.
This site also provides links to recent Children's Social Care research publications. |
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Children's Commissioner for England
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| www.11million.org.uk/ |
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| In March 2005 the Government appointed Professor Al Aynsley-Green as England's first Children's Commissioner. The need for a Children's Commissioner was established through the consultation that led to the Children Act 2004. The role aims to give a national voice to all children and young people, especially the disadvantaged and the vulnerable.
Independent of government, the Commissioner's remit is to promote awareness of views and interests of children. He is expected to raise the profile of the issues that affect and concern children in England, and promote awareness and understanding of their views and interests among all sectors of society. |
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Children's Commissioner for Wales
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| www.childcomwales.org.uk/ |
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| Wales’ first Children’s Commissioner started in his post on 1 March 2001. The establishment of the Commissioner's post followed a 10 year campaign led by children’s organisations and co-ordinated by Children in Wales. This page provides information about the Children's Commissioner and details about the work that his office currently undertakes. |
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Children's National Service Framework
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| www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Children/NationalServiceFrameworkdocuments/index.htm#http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Children/NationalServiceFrameworkdocuments/index.htm# |
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| Launched in April 1998, NSFs are to help and promote clear national standards for services for improvement and to reduce unacceptable variations in care and treatment. They are seen as key to the government's health and social care modernisation programme.
The frameworks set national standards and define service models for a discrete service or care group; put in place strategies to support implementation; and establish performance "milestones" against which progress within an agreed timescale can be measured.
NSFs have already been published for cancer, mental health and services for older people.
In February 2001, the Secretary of State announced a new Children's National Service Framework that will develop new national standards across the NHS and social services for children. The Framework will be based on key NHS Plan principles - modernisation, breaking down professional boundaries and strong partnerships between agencies.
Most importantly, the Children's NSF will be about putting children and young people at the centre of their care, building services around their needs.
The National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services – Emerging Findings report was published for consultation in April this year, ending in August. A full summary of responses is currently available on the website. |
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Children's Plan
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| www.dfes.gov.uk/publications/childrensplan/downloads/The_Childrens_Plan.pdf |
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The Children’s Plan sets out the plans for the Department for Children, Schools and Families Strategic Objectives for the next ten years. It is intended to:- strengthen support for all families during the formative early years of their children’s
- take the next steps in achieving world class schools and an excellent education for every child
- involve parents fully in their children’s learning
- help to make sure that young people have interesting and exciting things to do outside of school
- and provide more places for children to play safely
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Children's Trusts
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| www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/about/aims/childrenstrusts/childrenstrusts/#http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/about/aims/childrenstrusts/childrenstrusts/# |
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| Children's Trusts bring together all services for children and young people in an area, underpinned by the Children Act 2004 duty to cooperate, to focus on improving outcomes for all children and young people.
They will support those who work every day with children, young people and their families to deliver better outcomes - with children and young people experiencing more integrated and responsive services, and specialist support embedded in and accessed through universal services.
Children’s Trusts will:
• strengthen existing local partnerships and pilot new children's trust models for integrated services.
• enable local partners to jointly plan, commission, finance and deliver services for children.
• better focus mainstream children and young people's services to ensure that those in need are identified early and receive an effective response.
Please remove the Connexions website (the existing one is incorrect) and add the following:
Children's Trusts bring together all services for children and young people in an area, underpinned by the Children Act 2004 duty to cooperate, to focus on improving outcomes for all children and young people.
They will support those who work every day with children, young people and their families to deliver better outcomes - with children and young people experiencing more integrated and responsive services, and specialist support embedded in and accessed through universal services.
• strengthen existing local partnerships and pilot new children's trust models for integrated services.
• enable local partners to jointly plan, commission, finance and deliver services for children.
• better focus mainstream children and young people's services to ensure that those in need are identified early and receive an effective response.
Work on precise models is at an early stage of development. Pilots will run initially for three years, with some initial financial and practical support from central Government to help them. Once the pilots are established, their experience will be evaluated so that the learning can be used across the country to inform the development of Children's Trusts in other areas.
The new Children's Trusts will:
• strengthen existing local partnerships and pilot new children's trust models for integrated services.
• enable local partners to jointly plan, commission, finance and deliver services for children.
• better focus mainstream children and young people's services to ensure that those in need are identified early and receive an effective response. |
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Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC)
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| www.cwdcouncil.org.uk |
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| The focus of the work of the Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) is to ensure that the people working with children have the best possible training, qualifications, support and advice. It also helps children and young people's organisations and services to work together, so that the child is at the centre of all services. It is concerned with a wide range of childcare workers (over 500,000 workers) including early years and childcare, education welfare and social care for children and young people. It is one of the one of five bodies forming the UK Skills For Care and Development Sector Skills Council and it also coordinates the Children's Workforce Network. |
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Common Assessment Framework
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| www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/deliveringservices/caf/ |
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| The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) for Children and Young People is a key part of the strategy to shift the focus from dealing with the consequences of difficulties in children's lives to preventing things from going wrong in the first place. It is a nationally standardised approach to conducting an assessment of the needs of a child or young person and deciding how those needs should be met.
The CAF will promote more effective, earlier identification of children's additional needs and improve multi-agency working. It is intended to provide a simple, non-bureaucratic process for a holistic assessment of a child's needs, taking account of the individual, family and community.
This site contains all the key documentation related to the Common Assessment Framework including the CAF, Train the Trainers materials, a Guide for service managers and practioners and a Quick Guide to Common Assessment. It includes Implementation Guidance for Director’s of children’s services in local areas. |
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Common Core of Skills and Knowledge for the Children's Workforce
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| www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/deliveringservices/workforcereform/ |
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| The Green Paper, Every Child Matters, which was published in September 2003 proposed the implementation of a common core of skills, knowledge and competence for 'the widest possible range of workers in children's services'. The proposal drew on earlier work which suggested that a common core of skills, knowledge and competence would support the development of more effective and integrated services; introduce a common language amongst professionals and support staff, so starting the process of breaking down some of the cultural and practice barriers within the children's workforce. It was viewed that this development - allied to a single framework of qualifications - would promote more flexible development and career progression within the children's workforce.
The web site contains the work that is being done on this initiative. |
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Connexions
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| www.connexions-direct.com/ |
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| Connexions is a service that exists for 13-19 year old and offers advice and support. It also provides support up to the age of 25 for young people who have learning difficulties or disabilities (or both). The service is managed locally by Connexions Partnerships that bring together all the key youth support services in a particular locality. Connexions Direct is its website. |
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Crime and Disorder Partnerships
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| www.crimereduction.gov.uk/regions00.htm |
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| Created under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, partnerships are statutorily enforced groups of police, local authorities (including both councils in two-tier areas), health authorities and probation committees and others. They are charged with working together to develop and implement strategies to decrease crime and disorder in England and Wales.
There are no imposed structures nor is there any assumption that the local authority or the police will lead on any aspect of work and matters like county-wide co-ordination are also left up to the partners.
This mini-site contains a ‘what's new' section containing details of recent events relevant to partnerships, such as government announcements, details of the audits and strategies produced by the 376 partnerships in England and Wales and their contact details together with the contact details for the 10 Crime Reduction Directors and their teams. |
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Department for Children, Schools and Families
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| www.dcsf.gov.uk/ |
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| The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) is responsible for improving the focus on all aspects of policy affecting children and young people, as part of the Government’s aim to deliver educational excellence. The DCSF was set up by the Prime Minister on 28 June 2007 and was one of the three new Departments replacing the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). (The others were the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR)). The website contains the key policy documentation related to the Department’s direct responsibilities for education and children’s services and its role in leading work across Government to improve outcomes for children, including work on children’s health and child poverty. |
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Department of Health
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| www.dh.gov.uk |
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| The home page of the Department of Health which provides a range of documents, guidance and publications related to health and social care policy for adult services, many of which are relevant to child and family work. |
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Every Child Matters: Change for Children
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| www.everychildmatters.gov.uk |
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| The Children Act 2004 provides the legislative foundation for a whole-system reform to support a range of new statutory duties and a new set of accountabilities.Every Child Matters: Change for Children sets out the wider programme of change for children's services. It explains the requirements of the Children Act 2004 and how it fits with other core elements to provide a national framework to build services around the needs of children and young people.
The site provides a portal to a range of critical information about services for children and young people and offers access to a wide range of documents related to services, strategic information and governance.
It also includes a resources and practice database that can be searched by keywords, key publications and consultation documents.
This is a key site for all childcare practitioners and managers. |
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Extended Schools Link
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| www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/extendedschools/ |
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| Teachernet provide a portal to general information on extended schools, links to relevant guidance, information on the extended schools pathfinders and further contacts |
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General Social Care Council
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| www.gscc.org.uk/Home#http://www.gscc.org.uk/Home# |
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| The General Social Care Council is responsible for setting standards of conduct and practice for social care workers and their employers, for regulating the workforce, and for regulating social work education and training. The GSCC is a Non Departmental Public Body established in October 2001 under the Care Standards Act 2000. It is sponsored by the Department of Health but works also closely with the Department for Children, Schools and Families in delivering the children’s and young people's care agenda. |
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Health Care Commission
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| www.healthcarecommission.org.uk/homepage.cfm |
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| The Healthcare Commission promotes improvement in the quality of the NHS and independent healthcare. We have a wide range of responsibilities, all aimed at improving the quality of healthcare. We have a statutory duty to assess the performance of healthcare organisations, award annual performance ratings for the NHS and coordinate reviews of healthcare by others. |
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Home Office
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| www.homeoffice.gov.uk/ |
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| The home page of the Home Office. This site provides access to a range of resources linked to such areas as crime and policing, immigration and nationality, drug use and race and community issues. The site also contains a research and statistics section. |
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Improvement and Development Agency
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| www.idea.gov.uk |
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| Created by local government for local government (in effect, by The Employers Association and the Local Government Association), IDeA draws on expertise in local authorities, business, professional service firms, not for profit agencies and other parts of the public sector with the purpose of supporting local councils in developing ways to improve services offered to their communities.
It is particularly concerned with leadership, management to suit changing times, member development, cultural change designed to meet the identified needs of the community, e-government, and performance improvement. the site provides examples of good practice, including the Beacon Councils. It also supports councils which are having significant problems with performance. It has carried out work on Best Value, recruitment and retention of social care staff, and local strategic partnerships. |
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Integrated Children's System
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| www.dfes.gov.uk/integratedchildrenssystem |
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| The Integrated Children's System (ICS) builds upon previous developments such a the Assessment Framework and the Looking After Children materials and offers a single approach to undertaking the key processes of assessment, planning, intervention and review. This site has been set up primarily for staff in social services, health and education departments, the voluntary sector and the youth justice system, which is working with vulnerable children and families in the community and with children in public care.
It may also be of interest to families and young people who are participating in the process of assessment or planning with practitioners.
There are 3 main elements to the system which are as follows
• A framework for assessment, planning, intervention and review;
• Core data requirements which set out the information essential for effective practice with children and families and for planning services
• Exemplars, which demonstrate how information gathered in the course of working with children and families, can be recorded in a structured manner and also used to generate particular reports required to support this work.
The latest materials and the findings from the pilot studies as they became available can be accessed on the site. |
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Joint Area Reviews (Ofsted)
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| www.ofsted.gov.uk |
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| You can access information Joint Area Reviews on the Ofsted site. This contains details of the Joint Area Review (JAR) process to which, since September 2005, all local authority services for children and young people, and a wide range of services from other agencies and organisations, are subject. The review provides a comprehensive report on the outcomes for children and young people in the local area. It incorporates the inspection of youth services and replaces the separate inspections of local education authorities, local authorities' social services, Connexions services, and the provision for students aged 14–19. This page contains detailed information about the process and who is involved. |
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Learning and Skills Network
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| www.lsneducation.org.uk |
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| LSN is a not-for-profit organisation offering services to policy-makers, practitioners and organisations funding, managing and providing education. Programmes previously delivered by Learning and Skills Development Agency and continuing beyond April 2006 are being delivered by Learning and Skills Network. Visit this website for information and access to the Key Skills Support Programme, the Vocational Learning Support Programme, the E-Learning and Technology Programme and Centres of Vocational Excellence. |
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Local Government Information Unit (LGIU)
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| www.lgiu.gov.uk/ |
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| The Local Government Information Unit (LGIU) is an independent research and information organisation. Its aim is to represent the interests of local authorities by providing practical, independent advice and training but the information provided is relevant to a range of public and voluntary sector organisations, private sector organisations and academic institutions. The site contains analyses and interpretation of national policy changes and legislation, and provides practical advice on the implications for individual local authorities. |
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National Academy for Parenting Practitioners
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| www.parentingacademy.org/ |
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The National Academy for Parenting Practitioners works to transform the quality and size of the parenting workforce across England so that parents can get the help they need to raise their children well. The work of the academy focuses on focuses on three main areas – research, workforce development and knowledge exchange. It is therefore an invaluable site for parenting practitioners.
The site includes an evidence-based Commissioning Toolkit that provides a database of evaluated parenting programmes with information about what they involve and how parenting practitioners can be trained to use them. |
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National and Family Parenting Institute
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| www.nfpi.org/ |
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| The National Family and Parenting Institute is an independent charity, which was set up to provide a strong national focus on parenting and families in the 21st century.
The Institute's role is to bring together organisations, knowledge and know-how to enhance the value and quality of family life, to make sure that parents are supported in bringing up their children and in finding the help and information they need.
The NFPI sees its role to:
• Listen to parents and articulate their concerns and experience
• Campaign for policies, which offer, better support to families
• Disseminate information, research and knowledge on what works in families and parenting
• Audit all available support services for parents and families across the country
• Run public education campaigns
• Build a comprehensive Parents Information Service
• Produce a stable of books, information materials and directories for parents and those who work with them
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National Institute for Clinical Excellence
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| www.nice.org.uk |
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| The National Institute for Clinical Excellence - was set up as a Special Health Authority for England and Wales on 1 April 1999.
It is part of the National Health Service (NHS), and its role is to provide patients, health professionals and the public with authoritative, robust and reliable guidance on current “best practice”.
The guidance will cover both individual health technologies (including medicines, medical devices, diagnostic techniques, and procedures) and the clinical management of specific conditions. Its job therefore is to promote clinical and cost effectiveness through guidance and audit, aiming its work particularly at frontline staff. It advises on best practice in treatment and assesses new interventions.
SCIE, the Social Care Institute of Excellence, that is similarly committed to the promotion of ‘best practice' within social care, currently collaborates with NICE on work of mutual interest. |
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National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services
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| www.dh.gov.uk/PolicyAndGuidance/HealthAndSocialCareTopics/fs/en |
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| You can find this site under the menu item National Service Framework. The National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services was published on the 5 September 2004. This framework sets out national standards for the first time for children’s health and social care, intended to promote high quality, women- and child-centred services and personalised care that meets the needs of parents, children and their families. It is a ten year programme intended to stimulate long-term and sustained improvement in children’s health. |
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Northern Ireland Social Care Council
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| www.niscc.info/ |
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| Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC) registers social care staff, and publishes and enforces codes of practice. It is also responsible for promoting and developing education and training for the social care worksforce in Northern Ireland, and for regulating and awarding professional social work qualifications. |
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Northern Ireland Social Services Inspectorate
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| www.dhsspsni.gov.uk/hss/ssi/ |
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| The Northern Ireland Social Services Inspectorate inspects social services provision and criminal justice provision, and its organisation and management. It is also responsible for developing, promoting, and implementing strategies for personal social services training and staff development. |
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Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted)
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| www.ofsted.gov.uk |
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| Ofsted's current inspection role for daycare and childminding will shortly be expanded. Subject to consultation with and legislation in the light of the Every Child Matters Green Paper, it will lead new integrated inspection arrangements for all children's services except for heath care (to be covered by the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection (CHAI). |
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Performance Assessment Framework
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| www.dh.gov.uk/PolicyAndGuidance/OrganisationPolicy/SocialServicesPerformanceAssessment/fs/en |
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| This site provides the Performance Assessment Framework for Personal Social Services (PSS). It gives details of the PAF and the objectives, indicators and targets for social services and sets out the a rrangements to assess the performance of each council with social services responsibilities within the wider Best Value regime. It includes information on Best Value and the joint health and social service agenda. The site sets out:
• the range of sources used to provide a comprehensive
overview of the performance of each council.
• information related to in-depth SSI inspections and SSI/Audit commission Joint Reviews.
• the results of 'star' ratings, performance ratings formulated from evidence from published Performance Indicators, inspection, Social Services Inspectorate (SSI) / Audit Commission Joint Reviews, reviews of plans and performance
information from both the SSI and the external auditors for each council. |
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Primary Care Trusts
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| www.dh.gov.uk/PolicyAndGuidance/OrganisationPolicy/PrimaryCare/fs/en |
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| Primary Care Trusts are freestanding, statutory bodies accountable to their health authority. They have the same overall functions as primary care groups. However, the NHS Plan states that by April 2004 the “expectation” is that all PCGs will become PCTs by April 2004. By that date, too, PCTs will have responsibility for at least 75 per cent of the NHS budget.
Primary Care Trusts are concerned with the devolvement of health care services to local communities and the unification of primary health and social care provision, commission, planning and development.
PCTs are also involved with delivering the wider objectives for social and economic regeneration, and with Quality Protects, Sure Start, community safety, and youth offending teams - much stress is currently placed on their close working with social services departments- to offer better health and better care. The DoH consultation document, ‘Shifting the Balance of Power Within the NHS', said: ‘[PCTs] will lead the NHS reorganisation for partnership working with local authorities and other partners.' |
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Research Governance
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| www.dh.gov.uk/PolicyAndGuidance/ResearchAndDevelopment/fs/en |
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| The Research Governance Framework for health and social care (RGF) defines the broad principles of good research governance and is key to ensuring that health and social care research is conducted to high scientific and ethical standards.
The Framework was published in 2001 (second edition, 2003) with the aim of raising standards and clarifying the responsibilities of all parties in the research process. The Framework applies to both health and social care. |
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Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care
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| www.carecommission.com |
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| The Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care is commonly known as the Care Commission. Its tasks are to register, monitor, inspect and enforce standards for agencies providng care services. It also hears complaints from service users and providers. |
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Scottish Social Services Council
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| www.sssc.uk.com |
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| The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) regulates and registers the social services workforce. It promotes and develops education and training for the social services workforce in Scotland. It is also responsible for regulating and awarding professional social work qualifications |
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Skills for Care
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| www.skillsforcare.org.uk/home/home.aspx#http://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/home/home.aspx# |
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| Skills for Care is an independent registered charity working with 35,000 adult social care employers to set the standards and qualifications to equip 1.5 million social care workers working in the adult arena with the skills and knowledge needed to deliver high quality care to people who use services and carers |
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Skills for Care and Development
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| www.skillsforcareanddevelopment.org.uk/view.aspx?id=15#http://www.skillsforcareanddevelopment.org.uk/view.aspx?id=15# |
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Skills for Care and Development is the Sector Skills Council (SSC) for social care, children, early years and young people’s workforces in the UK. It is an Alliance of 6 organisations:
Care Council for Wales, Children’s Workforce Development Council, General Social Care Council, Northern Ireland Social Care Council, Scottish Social Services Council, and Skills for Care
Skills for Care and Development (SfC&D) is licensed by government to represent the interests of some 60,000 employers and 1.87 million workers across the UK. These staff are employed by a range of organisations - both public authorities and independent organisations. |
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Social Care Institute for Excellence
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| www.scie.org.uk/ |
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| The Social Care Institute for Excellence gathers and publicises knowledge about how to make improve social care services. SCIE is an independent organisation created in 2001 in response to the government drive to improve quality in social care services across England and Wales. It draws upon the knowledge of users, carers, academics and professionals to discover what works in social care and to promote and improve good practice. SCIE's work Is closely allied to the regulation and inspection responsibilities undertaken by the Social Services Inspectorate, the National Care Standards Commission and the General Social Services Council and their counterparts in Wales and Northern Ireland. It will also be working closely with the training organisation Topss.
As well as collecting knowledge and reviewing research and practice in order to promote best practice. SCIE also offers a range of practical tools to support practice, policy making and management
Part of SCIE's work is extending social care's knowledge base. It therefore holds the Electronic Library for Social Care - www.elsc.org.uk. CareData, a large online database is a major part of the electronic library and the site also provides access to other research sources, such as the material produced by research in practice (with whom SCIE has a partnership). |
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Social Exclusion Taskforce
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| www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/social_exclusion_task_force/ |
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| Based within the Cabinet Office the role of the Social Exclusion Taskforce is to coordinate the Government's drive against social exclusion, ensuring that the cross–departmental approach delivers for those most in need. |
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Social Inspectorate for Wales
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| www.wales.gov.uk/subisocialpolicysocialservices/index.htm |
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| The Social Services Inspectorate for Wales (SSIW), through its inspection and development programme, seeks to promote the provision by social services authorities in Wales of high quality services to service users and carers.
The Inspection Unit carries out inspections of local authority and other social services in Wales, under statutory powers held by the National Assembly. Jointly with the Audit Commission, it commissions joint reviews of local authority social services. It acts as the Best Value inspectorate for social services. It also participates in multi-disciplinary youth justice inspections and in multi-disciplinary inspections of the new Children and Family Court Advice and Support Service (CAFCASS). |
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SureStart
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| www.surestart.gov.uk/ |
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| Sure Start is a cross-departmental initiative that aims to improve the health and well being of children under four and their families and is regarded as the cornerstone of the government's drive against child poverty and social exclusion. Its aim is to work with parents and parents-to-be to improve the physical, social and intellectual development of children before and from birth in the years running up to school. It does this by setting up (in partnership with statutory and voluntary agencies) local Sure Start programmes, of which, by 2004, there will be 500.
Sure Start programmes aims to achieve better outcomes for children, parents and communities by increasing the availability of childcare for all children, improving health, education and emotional development for young children and supporting parents in their role and in developing their employment aspirations.
A range of targets have been set for Sure Start projects and a major evaluation of the project is part of its overall programme. It is therefore worth looking at the National Evaluation of Sure Start Home Page , which contains details of the evaluation of effectiveness of all Sure Start programmes in England. The organisation also aims to spread good practice learned from those programmes to everyone involved in providing services for young children. |
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TeacherNet
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| www.teachernet.gov.uk/ |
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| TeacherNet has been developed by the Department for Education and Skills as a resource to support the education professionals and it provides a range of useful resources, links and advice. |
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Teenage Pregnancy Unit
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| www.dfes.gov.uk/teenagepregnancy/ |
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| The Teenage Pregnancy Unit is a cross-Government Unit located within the Department for Education and Skills, set up to implement the Social Exclusion Unit's report on Teenage Pregnancy.
This website contains information about the Government's Teenage Pregnancy Strategy, including guidance issued by the Teenage Pregnancy Unit as well as relevant publications from other government departments. The site includes research reports that have been commissioned by the Unit from various research bodies. There is also information about local implementation of the strategy and details about the Independent Advisory Group on Teenage Pregnancy. Local Teenage Pregnancy Co-ordinators may also logon and communicate with each other online. |
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Welsh Assembly
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| www.wales.gov.uk/index.htm |
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| The site contains details of Assembly business, Welsh legislation and recent news headlines about government activities in Wales. It includes a Statistics Wales section which collates, interprets and publishes information about Wales. |
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Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA)
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| www.wlga.gov.uk/ |
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| The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) represents the interests of local government and promotes local democracy in Wales. It represents the 22 local authorities in Wales and the 4 police authorities, 3 fire and rescue authorities and 3 national park authorities are associate members. The WLGA’s primary purposes are to promote better local government and its reputation and to support authorities in the development of policies and priorities which will improve public services and democracy. |
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WLGA/Social Services Improvement Agency (SSIA)
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| www.ssiacymru.org.uk/ |
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| The Social Services Improvement Agency (SSIA) is based within the WLGA and on this website you will find specific information regarding work carried out by the Agency but also a wealth of social care information covering; Adult and Children Services and the vast number of groups and organisations in Wales. |
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Youth Justice Board
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| www.youth-justice-board.gov.uk/YouthJusticeBoard/ |
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| The Youth Justice Board for England and Wales is a non-departmental public body. The aim of the Youth Justice Board is to prevent offending by children and young people. It delivers this by developing and supporting strategies to prevent crime and the fear of crime, systems to identify and deal with young offenders, strategies to reduce re-offending as part of a coherent youth justice system.
The Youth Justice System comprises Youth Offending Teams (Yot), the police, youth courts and the institutions in which young people are held in custody and this website contains important information for staff working in these areas.
The site includes a Practioners Portal to support practice and individuals working directly in the field and a research section. |
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