Articles by Date : October 01 2007 - October 31 2007

Diary: A lighter take on the working week.
An early intervention team social worker writes more
(11 October 2007 00:00)

Service User Voice: Now My Question to You...
It is true that face-to-face consultation is costly but what social benefi t is there in replacing these meetings with questionnaires? more
(11 October 2007 00:00)

Editorial Comment: The right direction?
All the talk of a funding squeeze initiated by the comprehensive spending review, expected as we go to press, will not have been surprising to most.... more
(11 October 2007 00:00)

Mental health charities welcome £170m pledge on talking therapies
Mental health charities welcomed a government pledge yesterday to roll out talking therapy services across England to treat depression and anxiety. more
(11 October 2007 00:52)

Nacro calls for better mental health provision in custody
All police stations and courts should have a statutory duty to provide access to multi-agency services for offenders with mental health needs, crime.... more
(10 October 2007 14:37)

Asylum children beg and sell sex to raise money for legal advice
Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are selling sex, begging or doing other forms of illegal work to pay for legal representation due to.... more
(10 October 2007 14:26)

Private equity accused of undercutting long-term home providers
Children’s home and fostering leaders have raised concerns about the impact of private equity firms on the sectors, after one of the largest.... more
(11 October 2007 00:01)

Council chiefs call for more NHS spending on long-term care
The NHS should spend more money on long-term care packages for people whose needs fall short of the continuing care threshold, local government.... more
(11 October 2007 00:48)

Health given a welcome injection
Other headlines today include: Mother ‘gave drugs to shield her children’; Man kills himself and son a day after losing wife; Parents ‘ill-equipped’.... more
(10 October 2007 10:25)

Nine out of 10 children victims of crime
The government plans to pilot newly-qualified social worker status from 2008 for children's practitioners, but appears to have ruled out splitting.... more
(10 October 2007 10:08)

Ministers to pilot extra support for graduates but shun degree split
The government is working on proposals to pilot newly qualified social worker (NQSW) status from 2008. more
(10 October 2007 09:55)

Ministers accused of reneging on child poverty promise
Campaigners have accused the government of reneging on its commitment to halve child poverty by 2010/11 and eradicate it by 2020, following today's.... more
(09 October 2007 17:07)

Ex-staff slam Birmingham over children's services work culture
High caseloads and a culture of “sink or swim” have been driving social workers out of Birmingham Council’s children’s services, former employees.... more
(10 October 2007 08:00)

Government promises green paper on adult social care
The government will produce a green paper on adult social care to ensure state spending is used effectively and services promote choice, it announced.... more
(09 October 2007 16:44)

UK Muslims say prejudice is damaging their mental health
Most Muslim people in the UK are reluctant to use mental health services and think that the prejudice they face affects their mental health, said.... more
(10 October 2007 06:02)

Local strategic partnerships
These are seen as central to the neighbourhood renewal strategy along with Neighbourhood Renewal Community Chests (qv) and the .... more
(09 October 2007 13:56)

Local Network Fund for Children and Young People
A much lesser known stable mate of the Children’s Fund ( qv ), the purpose of the fund is to help children and young people in poverty.... more
(09 October 2007 13:49)

Learning and Skills Council
Set up in 2001, this body brought together the Training and Enterprise Councils and the Further Education Funding Council. It is responsible for.... more
(09 October 2007 13:43)

Learning Disability Partnership Boards
The boards, established in October 2001, were announced in Valuing People , the White Paper on learning difficulty services published in that.... more
(09 October 2007 13:39)

Improvement and Development Agency
Created by local government for local government (in effect, by The Employers Association and the Local Government Association), IDEA draws on.... more
(09 October 2007 13:30)

Information Centre for Health and Social Care
This was created in April 2005 out of the former NHS Information Authority and the Department of Health Statistics Unit. It claims to be a leader.... more
(09 October 2007 13:25)

Health improvement and modernisation plans
Originally health improvements programmes, they were renamed because they are, said the Department of Health , “the plan and vision” for the.... more
(09 October 2007 13:22)

Health and Social Care Change Agent Team
When set up in 2002, CAT , as it is known, was to help health and social care agencies tackle the problems of patients staying longer than.... more
(09 October 2007 13:20)

Health Care Commission
This is the popular title for what is officially the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection , the independent inspectorate for the.... more
(09 October 2007 13:13)

General Social Care Council
The GSCC was established after more than 20 years of debate which transformed the idea from a general social work council to a general social.... more
(09 October 2007 13:03)

Experience Corps
This is one of the least known of all the new agencies. It was launched as an independent company in November 2001. It was an England-wide scheme to.... more
(09 October 2007 12:03)

Education Action Zones
Among the earliest of new Labour initiatives as part of the priority given to education, they take as a starting point two principles: that, in.... more
(09 October 2007 11:48)

Free childcare has a price for a quarter of families, says report
Other headlines today include: Straw moves to ban incitement against gays; Colleges call for thousands more midwives to ensure safety; Tax credit.... more
(09 October 2007 11:33)

Crime and Disorder Partnerships
Sometimes called community safety partnerships and created under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 , partnerships are statutorily enforced.... more
(09 October 2007 10:58)

How green is your workplace?
With global warming and your carbon footprint to think about, more and more of us are becoming more aware of environmental issues and how to be.... more
(09 October 2007 09:53)

Four councils short-listed for Beacon status on children in care
Darlington, Leicester, South Gloucestershire and Telford & Wrekin councils have been short-listed for Beacon status for looked-after children. more
(09 October 2007 09:38)

Staffordshire Council to probe child protection concerns at YOI
Staffordshire Council will look into child protection concerns raised about Werrington Young Offender Institution, where inspectors found instances.... more
(09 October 2007 08:41)

Fostering: 17 councils fail to pay government minimum allowance
Almost one in nine English councils are not meeting the government’s national minimum allowances for foster care, the Fostering Network said today. more
(09 October 2007 08:20)

Health minister Ara Darzi moots individual budgets for health
Health minister Lord Ari Darzi yesterday signalled the government may drop its opposition to extending individual budgets to healthcare. more
(05 October 2007 17:34)

NCH calls on government to improve children's well-being
Children and young people are struggling to cope with the pressures of modern life and need support to develop emotional wellbeing, say campaigners. more
(08 October 2007 17:03)

Birmingham burnout - stories from the coalface
In response to our story on Birmingham council recruiting children’s social workers from the US to meet staff shortages, former Birmingham employees.... more
(08 October 2007 16:43)

Mother seeks hysterectomy for disabled girl
A mother wants her seriously disabled teenage daughter to have a hysterectomy. more
(08 October 2007 15:42)

Connexions
Connexions , a service for young people aged 13-19 in England , was one of the prime examples of “joined up thinking”: it brought together six.... more
(08 October 2007 15:36)

Community Empowerment Fund
This is another plank in the government’s efforts to build on neighbourhood renewal and another which, inevitably, is aimed at drawing in local.... more
(08 October 2007 15:34)

Commission for Social Care Inspection
CSCI was created from the merger of the National Care Standards Commission, the Social Services Inspectorate and the SSI/Audit Commission Joint.... more
(08 October 2007 15:30)

Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health
Set up in January 2003 as an independent, non-departmental public body, it is sponsored by the Department of Health . Its remit is to ensure.... more
(08 October 2007 15:26)

Commission for Equality and Human Rights Commission
The CEHR is a non-departmental government body which began work in October 2008 when it took over all the powers of the Equal Opportunities.... more
(08 October 2007 15:22)

Children’s Workforce Development Unit
Created as part of the reforms outlined in the green paper, Every Child Matters , the council aims to improve outcomes for children and young.... more
(08 October 2007 15:14)

Big Lottery Fund
Launched on 1 June 2004, it was created from the merger of the New Opportunities Fund and the Community Fund. The aim was to simplified the lottery.... more
(08 October 2007 15:11)

Children's trusts
Announced by the then Health Secretary, Alan Milburn in October 2002, the idea of children’s trusts is to offer an integrated service.... more
(08 October 2007 15:06)

Children's Fund
One of the most prominent and, when launched, one of the most controversial of Labour’s initiatives, it has now absorbed the far less well-known On.... more
(08 October 2007 15:02)

Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Services (CAFCASS)
CAFCASS was created by the amalgamation of the 54 services of the Family Court Welfare Service, which was part of the probation service, the 57.... more
(08 October 2007 14:58)

Centre for Local Government Leadership
Like the Improvement and Development Agency ( qv ), the centre was established in April 2005 on the initiative of local government but in concert.... more
(08 October 2007 14:56)

Third of young people owe more than £5,000
Around 77% of young people now live in debt, with many at a “crisis point” because there is inadequate financial advice and support for this age.... more
(08 October 2007 14:51)

Children's Centres
These did not so much come into being in March 2003 as result from the government’s decision to rebrand early excellence centres and Sure Start ( qv.... more
(08 October 2007 14:48)