Interesting links, articles, news and blog posts sent out to members on 15/07/22.
Report: Improving children and young people’s mental health services – The Health Foundation
July 2022. Local data insights from England, Scotland and Wales:
News: Online Safety Bill put on hold until new prime minister in place – BBC News Online
14 July 2022, Andre Rhoden-Paul & Kate Whannel. The Online Safety Bill aims to lay down rules in law about how platforms should deal with harmful content. It had been in its final stages and was to be discussed in Parliament next week, but will now be paused until MPs return from their summer break:
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62158287
Article: Brendan Clarke-Smith named new children and families minister – Nursery World
13 July 2022, Catherine Gaunt. Brendan Clarke-Smith has been made the new children and families minister, with his brief including early years and childcare:
Article: EDM brought to the House of Commons by Tony Lloyd MP – Nursery Management Today
12 July 2022. An EDM, ‘Draft Mental Health Bill’ has been tabled in the House of Commons by Tony Lloyd MP highlighting the importance of early intervention:
Link: https://nmt-magazine.co.uk/edm-brought-to-the-house-of-commons-by-tony-lloyd-mp/
Article: Brendan Clarke-Smith named new children and families minister – Nursery World
13 July 2022, Catherine Gaunt. Brendan Clarke-Smith has been made the new children and families minister, with his brief including early years and childcare:
Article: EDM brought to the House of Commons by Tony Lloyd MP – Nursery Management Today
12 July 2022. An EDM, ‘Draft Mental Health Bill’ has been tabled in the House of Commons by Tony Lloyd MP highlighting the importance of early intervention:
Link: https://nmt-magazine.co.uk/edm-brought-to-the-house-of-commons-by-tony-lloyd-mp/
Comment: We need education and children to be front and centre in the leadership race – Conservative Home
13 July 2022, Robert Halfon. With a large parliamentary majority for our next Leader to utilise, is it time for some more radical thinking when it comes to education?:
Article: Classrooms after Covid: The impact of the pandemic on children’s mental health – Politics Home
12 July 2022, Tom Sasse. Covid had a profound impact on schools and children – from lost learning to mental health and child development – that we are only beginning to understand:
Article: Current early years and childcare system ‘not fit for purpose’ – research – Nursery World
12 July 2022, Catherine Gaunt. Young children’s lives are increasingly marked by inequality and uncertainty, according to a new report published by the Nuffield Foundation, which calls for an ‘ambitious’ early childhood strategy:
News: North-east England overtakes London as UK’s child poverty hotspot – Guardian Online
12 July 2022, Patrick Butler. Almost two-fifths of children in north-east live in poverty after a decade of decline as campaigners warn of worse to come:
Report – A Head Start: Early support for children’s mental health – Children’s Commissioner
7 July 2022. The Children’s Commissioner’s vision for improving children’s mental health, based on the views of children and young people. With hope that the Government will use this to inform the development of their Mental Health and Wellbeing Action Plan. This Plan must put children, their views, and experiences, at its core:
News: A new mental health act: Time to deliver for children – Nursery Management Today
30 June 2022. As Parliament awaits the government Bill to reform the 1983 Mental Health Act, Baroness Frances D’Souza, Honorary President of The Children’s Alliance believes that ‘It’s time to deliver for children’:
Link: https://nmt-magazine.co.uk/a-new-mental-health-act-time-to-deliver-for-children/
Article: Children too anxious to attend school being failed by English councils – report – Guardian Online
7 July 2022, Sally Weale. Ombudsman says children are going months and even years without proper alternative education:
Comment: Childcare regulation needs a major overhaul. Here’s what it should look like – Conservative Home
6 July 2022, Ruth Kelly and Connor MacDonald. The Government has finally announced a long-awaited set of childcare reforms. Their central aim is to reduce costs while maintaining high quality options:
Early Day Motion: Draft Mental Health Bill – Parliament UK
5 July 2022. Early Day Motion (251) seeking pro-child amendments to the Draft Mental Health Bill:
Link: https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/59957
Article: Early years is ‘an invisible workforce’ – report – Nursery World
5 July 2022, Catherine Gaunt. More than nine in ten workers in the early years sector feel they are not respected by Government and policymakers:
Link: https://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/article/early-years-is-an-invisible-workforce-report
News: Kellogg’s loses court case over sugary cereal supermarket offers – BBC News Online
4 July 2022, Jennifer Meierhans. Kellogg’s will not be allowed to promote sugary cereals in supermarket special offers, a court has ruled:
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62034220
Research and analysis: Parental perceptions of childcare in England – Department for Education
4 July 2022. A research report on qualitative interviews with parents of children under 5 years old covering affordability, availability and flexibility of childcare:
Link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/parental-perceptions-of-childcare-in-england
Press release: Drive to reduce the cost of childcare for parents – Department for Education, Department for Work and Pensions, HM Treasury, Will Quince MP, Helen Whately MP, The Rt Hon Nadhim Zahawi MP, and The Rt Hon Thérèse Coffey MP
4 July 2022. Package of measures will increase childcare support for parents, boost the number of childminders and drive take up of childcare offers, to address rising costs:
Link: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/drive-to-reduce-the-cost-of-childcare-for-parents
News: More children than ever being prescribed Valium as mental health woes soar – The Express Online
3 July 2022, Lucy Johnston and Danny Buckland. Children are being prescribed record levels of anti-anxiety drugs such as valium, statistics have revealed:
Link: https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/1634680/children-valium-anxiety-prescription-drugs-NHS
Press release: Thousands of rural primary schools to get huge broadband upgrade – Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, Department for Education, The Rt Hon Nadine Dorries MP, and The Rt Hon Nick Gibb MP
1 July 2022. Up to 3,000 primary schools across rural England will get lightning-fast gigabit broadband:
Link: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/thousands-of-rural-primary-schools-to-get-huge-broadband-upgrade
News: Government announces U-turn over Schools Bill academy laws – Independent (in Yahoo News)
30 June 2022, Catherine Lough. The Government has removed large sections of its Schools Bill following concerns in the House of Lords that the Bill would undermine academies’ autonomy:
Link: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/government-announces-u-turn-over-130154011.html
News: Concern for the inequality gap has increased as children from ethnic minority and disadvantaged backgrounds missed out on “considerably more” early years education – Family and Childcare Trust
20 June 2022, Ellie Grace. Implications of COVID for Early Childhood Education and Care in England, a study found that the number of children attending ECEC in the autumn 2021 had dropped to 90% of expected levels based on pre-pandemic patterns. The latest local authority figures continue to shows substantial variation in attendance rates:
Article: Maintained nursery schools running at a loss forced to cut teachers and support for disadvantaged families – Nursery World
30 June 2022, Catherine Gaunt. More than half of maintained nursery schools had an in-year deficit in 2021-22, with many forced to lose teaching staff, a survey by Early Education and education unions suggests: