Interesting links, articles, news and blog posts sent out to members on 20/12/23
News: Sunak mustn’t let the tech companies evade their responsibility for protecting children from illegal content on social media – Conservative Home
18 December 2023, Andrew Gimson. Rishi Sunak is reported to be considering a proposal to force children under the age of 16 to ask their parents for permission to use social media:
News: Report Shows that Children’s Mental Health Being Threatened By Mounting Financial Pressures On Families – Centre For Mental Health
14 December 2023. The report calls for national Government to commit to ending child poverty through a Child Poverty Act, and to increase funding for local councils to invest in parenting programmes and address the housing crisis. It also calls on local councils to develop an overarching strategy to support children and families impacted by trauma who present with behavioural problems. The report says that mental health and educational settings should embed anti-racist approaches to tackle inequalities in experience and outcomes:
Article: Concerns childminders will cease to exist as DfE survey reveals a 5 per cent drop in childcare providers – Nursery World
14 December 2023, Katy Morton. The latest DfE Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey shows the number of early years providers has fallen by 5 per cent in a year, mainly driven by a loss of 3,200 childminders:
News: Rishi Sunak considers curbing social media use for under-16s – Guardian Online
14 December 2023, Aletha Adu and Dan Milmo. Reports suggest a ban is among potential options to protect young people from online harm:
News: Europe’s wealthiest countries have high child poverty rates, says UNICEF report – Euronews
12 December 2023, Rory Elliott Armstrong. The United Kingdom ranked almost last in the list of wealthy countries fighting child poverty, coming in just above Columbia and Turkey. Slovenia topped the rankings:
Article: Nearly one in five children going without warmth and fresh food – Nursery World
11 December 2023, Katy Morton. Around 2.6 million children are living in material deprivation, going without warmth and fresh food and unable to celebrate Christmas:
Report: Children and young people’s mental health services: Targets, progress and barriers to improvement – Education Policy Institute
10 December 2023. This report assesses the progress that has been made against government targets to improve children and young people’s mental health services since 2015:
Link: https://epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-services/
News: Almost 4 million children not physically active for at least an hour a day – survey – Nursery World
7 December 2023, Katy Morton. Fewer than half of children are meeting the Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines of taking part in an average of 60 minutes or more of sport and physical activity a day:
Publication: A Mental Health Commissioner For England – Centre for Mental Health
6 December 2023, Andy Bell and Jo Wilton. In its report on the Government’s draft Mental Health Bill, a Committee of MPs and Peers made a new recommendation for the establishment of a Mental Health Commissioner for England. But what would this role look like, and how could it benefit the public?:
Link: https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/publications/a-mental-health-commissioner-for-england/
News: Children and young people’s mental health policies tracker – Education Policy Institute
5 December 2023. This tracker records the progress made on policies for children and young people’s mental health:
Link: https://epi.org.uk/cypmhs-policies-tracker/
News: Iceland boss hits out at parent ‘exploitation’ in baby milk market – Guardian Online
1 December 2023, Sarah Butler. Richard Walker calls for price cap on infant formula as competition watchdog finds evidence of greedflation:
Article: Extended hours: New funding rates fail to meet 10 per cent rise to minimum wage, analysis shows – Nursery World
30 November 2023, Katy Morton. Many local authorities won’t receive the headline funding rates the DfE is promising providers from April, with rises well short of the minimum wage increase, according to the NDNA:
Insight: The benefits of sport participation and physical activity in schools – Youth Sport Trust
29 November 2023. This powerful new research shows the importance of young people taking part in sport and physical activity at school, and crucially continuing to take part throughout exam season:
Link: https://www.youthsporttrust.org/news-insight/news/benefit-of-sport-participation