Interesting links, articles, news and blog posts sent out to members on 15/03/22.
News: NHS struggling with ‘long tail’ of pandemic mental ill health – BBC News Online
15 March 2022. The number of referrals for specialist NHS mental health care reached a record high in England by the end of 2021, an analysis suggests:
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-60734769
News: Thousands of children in Ukraine’s orphanages ‘face being left behind’ – Euro News.com
14 March 2022. Children in orphanages and institutions in Ukraine are at risk of being left behind or further separated from family members, a humanitarian organisation has warned:
News: Children’s gender services need transformation – review – BBC News Online
12 March 2022, Claudia Allen. The NHS needs a fundamentally different model of care for children with gender dysphoria to meet their needs, according to a senior doctor:
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-60698414
News: Ukraine: Thousands of vulnerable children unaccounted for – BBC News Online
12 March 2022, Sue Mitchell. Traffickers are targeting parentless children on the Ukraine-Poland border, says a group evacuating orphanages in the war zone:
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60692442
News: Teachers ‘buckling under strain’ of pupils’ mental health crisis – Guardian Online
11 March 2022, Denis Campbell. Experts say educators are under-equipped to help children with rising mental health needs:
News: Covid pandemic fuels deepening education inequalities in England, say MPs – BBC News Online
1 March 2022, Branwen Jeffreys. The “devastating” impact of England’s school closures during the pandemic is leading to greater inequality, MPs say:
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-60683839
Article: Huge numbers of children starting school developmentally delayed – study – Nursery World
10 March 2022, Catherine Gaunt. Around half of four-year-olds were ‘not ready’ to start Reception last September, according to a new survey by education foundation Kindred Squared:
Committee Report: Is the Catch-up Programme fit for purpose? – House of Commons Education Committee
8 March 2022. Fourth Report of Session 2021–22. Report, together with formal minutes relating to the report:
Link: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/9251/documents/160043/default/
Opinion: Babies, children and young people to be integral part of Health and Care Bill – National Children’s Bureau
7 March 2022. After nearly a year of collective effort by the children’s sector – led by the Children and Young People’s Health Policy Influencing Group (HPIG) – NCB and Council for Disabled Children (CDC) are delighted that babies, children and young people will now be an integral part of the Health and Care Bill:
News: Children’s social care generates excessive profits – report – BBC News Online
11 March 2022, Alison Holt, James Melley and Judith Burns. The largest private suppliers of children’s homes and foster care places in England, Wales and Scotland make excessive profits, says a watchdog:
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60676971
Press release: Action needed on “dysfunctional” children’s social care market –
Competition and Markets Authority
10 March 2022. UK has “sleepwalked” into a system in which children are failing to get suitable placements in foster care and children’s homes, finds new report:
Link: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/action-needed-on-dysfunctional-children-s-social-care-market
Commons Debate: Breastfeeding: Government Support – Parallel Parliament
8 March 2022. Text of Westminster Hall debate on Breastfeeding: Government Support:
News: Almost two million pupils regularly missing school – BBC News Online
9 March 2022, Branwen Jeffreys. Almost 1.8 million children missed at least 10% of school in the autumn term in England, according to new estimates:
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-60659304
News: UK government rejects request by thousands of women to examine childcare costs – Guardian Online
8 March 2022, Alexandra Topping. On International Women’s Day petitioners are told there are no plans to look into issue:
Article: Ofsted to make early years its focus over next five years – Nursery World
8 March 2022, Katy Morton. Ofsted is to publish its five-year strategy in the spring, which will focus on the early years sector, the chief inspector Amanda Spielman has revealed:
Article: Government rejects calls to review childcare funding – Nursery World
7 March 2022, Katy Morton. The Government has rejected MPs’ recommendation to carry out an independent review of funding and affordability of childcare:
Link: https://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/article/government-rejects-calls-to-review-childcare-funding
Oral evidence: Universal Credit and childcare, HC 871 – Work and Pensions Committee
2 March 2022. Work and Pensions Committee. Text of Oral evidence: Universal Credit and childcare, Wednesday 2 March 2022:
Link: https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/9814/pdf/
News: More than 1 million girls in the UK lose interest in sport as teenagers – Guardian Online
7 March 2022, Matthew Weaver. Survey by Women in Sport finds fear of being judged and lack of confidence are main reasons for drop in physical activity:
Article: We cannot wait for children to become tomorrow’s problem gamblers to regulate sports advertising – Politics Home
3 March 2022, Carolyn Harris MP. The delayed white paper on gambling reform offers a once in a generation chance to deal with the vast proliferation of gambling advertising that now dominates our screens:
Link: https://www.politicshome.com/thehouse/article/children-problem-gamblers-regulate-sports-advertising
Research briefing: Coronavirus and schools – House of Commons
4 March 2022. Examines the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on schools and pupils in England. Updated following the end of public health restrictions, in February 2022:
Link: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8915/
Statement: World Obesity Day I Call to protect children from the marketing of nutritionally poor food – European Public Health Alliance
4 March 2022. On World Obesity Day, 17 leading European health, social and consumer organisations stress the need for effective EU regulation to protect children from the marketing of unhealthy food:
News: Was moral campaigner Mary Whitehouse ahead of her time? – BBC News Online
5 March 2022, Samira Ahmed. The Christian decency campaigner Mary Whitehouse’s name became shorthand for anti-liberal prudery and censorship, but more than 20 years after her death, do her diaries reveal a woman who was ahead of her time in warning about the corrosive impact of internet pornography on society:
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-60556060
Article: Schools are not as safe as they should be – Willis Palmer
March 2022. Schools are not as safe for children as they should be and children’s interests do not always come first when allegations of sexual abuse are made, a report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has found:
Link: https://www.willispalmer.com/schools-are-not-as-safe-as-they-should-be/
Article: Lack of early intervention leads to re-referrals – Willis Palmer
March 2022. An estimated 64,000 children a year are missing out on early help services and then being re-referred to children’s social care within 12 months, a report by Action for Children warns:
Link: https://www.willispalmer.com/lack-of-early-intervention-leads-to-re-referrals/
Article: WATCH: Upfront childcare payments are forcing mothers out of work, parents warn MPs – Politics Home
4 March 2022, Save the Children. Three working mums warned MPs this week that having to cover upfront childcare payments when receiving Universal Credit is shutting parents, and especially mums, out of the workforce:
Commons Debate: Regional Inequalities: Child Poverty – Parallel Parliament
2 March 2022. Text of Westminster Hall debate: Regional Inequalities: Child Poverty:
Article: 64,000 children a year missing out on early help services, suggests new research – Nursery World
28 February 2022, Katy Morton. Tens of thousands of children a year are missing out on ‘vital’ early help, with spending on services having been cut by nine out of ten councils in England between 2015 and 2020, new data reveals: