The Youth Crime Action Plan failed to address several issues in The Children's Plan. In particular, the action plan does little to address the high use of custody or focus on the treatment of 10- to 15-year-olds within the criminal justice system. And, sadly, the promised resettlement green paper addressing how services might be improved for young people once they leave custody on the supervision of a youth offending team also failed to materialise.
Perhaps the greatest failure of the Youth Crime Action Plan was its naive assumption that youth crime only occurs across 69 local authorities in England. These areas received the bulk of the money set aside for developing youth justice services, creating a real possibility of a two-tier youth justice service across England and Wales.
Sector Score: 3/10
SOCIAL CARE
Kevin Williams, chief executive, The Adolescent and Children's Trust
One year into the 10-year plan and the world for children feels like a different place - not because The Children's Plan has delivered on its promises but because external factors have had such an influence.
The tragic death of Baby P and the public outcry against social workers will make it more difficult to work in a preventive manner and more children will come into care. With a continued shortage of carers it's hard to see how we will deliver the stability that leads to improved education and health outcomes, which are so very much needed if children in care are to compete with their peers.
The credit crunch will see many families entering into poverty and the government's welfare reforms could exacerbate the situation. Our youth justice system remains a scandal, with far too many young people incarcerated for minor offences. These children often lead chaotic lives and are victims of abuse themselves, so more support in the community would improve their life chances.
One year on there is so much hope but still many children are not receiving the right support to avoid crime, improve their education and have their physical and mental health needs met. Let's hope the intentions behind the plan can be met in the coming years. A difficult start for a long-term project of improvements so desperately needed by so many.
Sector Score: 5/10
THIRD SECTOR
Joe Levenson, director of policy, Children England
The Children's Plan received a warm welcome from the voluntary sector when it was published. At Children England (formerly the National Council of Voluntary Child Care Organisations), we were especially pleased with the scale of the ambition, the recognition of the voluntary sector's role and the commitment to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. A year on, there have been some really encouraging signs, as well as some disappointments.
For example, social mobility remains disappointing. There also remains a gap between national ambition and local reality, and the commissioning process is still not sensitive enough to meet complex needs.
We also remain concerned that many voluntary organisations, especially the smaller ones, continue to miss out both on funding and influence opportunities. Emerging findings from a forthcoming Children England report indicate that many small voluntary organisations are facing uncertainty, cutbacks and redundancies. The Audit Commission's report into children's trusts also highlighted concerns within the voluntary sector about the extent of their influence.
It will be essential for the government to address these issues during 2009, as well as protect children's services and the voluntary sector from the worst of the economic crisis, if it is to build on its achievements and fulfil its commitment to making England "the best place in the world" for children to grow up.
Sector Score: 7/10
YOUTH WORK
Susie Roberts, chief executive, Association of Principal Youth and Community Officers
The Children's Plan aimed, among many other things, to "keep children and young people on the path to success and on the right track".
For some things, the government has done very well in the past year. On providing new spaces and places to go and making additional money available for Friday and Saturday evening youth service provision, it scores particularly high. There is also ample evidence of significant improvements in positive activities - not only in terms of quantity but also in quality.
The Youth Crime Action Plan and, in particular, a recognition of the contribution detached youth work can make to reducing young people's involvement in street disturbances, is welcome too. Really good progress is also being made in terms of increasing young people's voice and influence in shaping services.
However, young people who live in rural areas still face significant barriers, provision for disabled young people is patchy and there are still too many young people whose difficult family lives leave them turning to drugs and alcohol to cope. It remains a challenge to create a system that appropriately balances universal and targeted services, as well as a society that values young people as positive members of the community and recognises non-formal learning as highly as academic achievement.
But we are getting there. Fortunately, the generation that will stay in learning until they are 18 have much more to look forward to than previous generations.
Sector Score: 8/10
PLAY
Alan Sutton, development team manager, London Play
When The Children's Plan was announced last year, it offered redress for play rights that have been lost over the last generation. Our enthusiasm remains largely undimmed.
As I write this, we are still awaiting the government announcement on the final shape of Fair Play, the national play strategy, following extensive and very favourable consultation earlier this year. This marked a welcome break from the previous media-driven negative focus on antisocial behaviour. Now government policy accepts children have a clear stake in public space and their right to play should be accepted by everyone.
We also advocate spending more money on public relations work by local play associations and networks through local play strategies to challenge negative perceptions and a fear of going out among children and young people.
There have been other gains from The Children's Plan too. These include a promised new play indicator in the National Indicator Set for local authorities, and statutory guidance for children's trusts and directors of children's services setting out their role as champions of children's play. The imminent new guidance for planners on children's play and new guidance on risk in play are also welcome. The government-backed Design for Play publication has also been a runaway success, with 27,000 copies distributed.
The play pathfinder and playbuilder schemes will deliver more than 400 new or renewed play areas, and 30 new adventure playgrounds. By 2011, all authorities will receive extra funding. Overall, this represents great progress for the play sector.
Sector Score: 9/10
EDUCATION
Chris Keates, general secretary, NASUWT
The Children's Plan has the potential to bring clarity to the diverse strategies and work streams of the wide range of children's services. It also recognised that schools alone could not meet all the needs of children and young people and that all other key services and players, including parents, have an essential role to play.
One year on, there is no doubt that progress has been made on its implementation. The commitment to the children's workforce highlighted in the plan has continued and the government has worked with unions to introduce measures to ensure that all the contractual benefits and entitlements of teachers and school leaders are implemented.
But The Children's Plan is a 10-year vision and, while the government has stuck to its blueprint and resisted introducing additional reforms, the pace of change for schools has continued to be intense and relentless.
If the plan is to be a success, there should be comparable efforts made to bring other children's services quickly up to speed to secure a fully integrated workforce, with the capacity to meet the diverse range of children and young people's needs.
There is no doubt that the government has demonstrated total dedication to delivering on the strategies set out in The Children's Plan. However, in 2009 we would wish to see a pause in the often frenzied pace of educational change to allow schools some much- needed breathing space so that they can embed, consolidate and build on these reforms.
Sector Score: 8/10
EARLY YEARS
Emma Knights, joint chief executive, Daycare Trust
It's difficult to make a comprehensive assessment of the progress made before we see the government's refreshed childcare strategy, but overall the signs from the past year have been positive.
Affordability is crucial, so the extended rollout of pilots providing the free childcare entitlement to two-year-olds was welcome, and we support proposals to make this entitlement available for all. Too many disadvantaged children still fail to reap the rewards of early years education, so we hope the review of tax credits will allow the poorest parents to claim 100 per cent of childcare costs, rather than the current 80 per cent, and that entitlements will be increased to match the spiralling cost of childcare.
Raising quality is also key. Long-term funding for the Graduate Leader Fund is welcome as we move towards a professionalised workforce and providing higher quality childcare. The Early Years Foundation Stage is also an important step.
We were also pleased the government is looking to place Sure Start children's centres on a statutory footing. There has been talk from all political parties of increased use of outreach workers, such as health visitors, and Sure Start centres are the logical way to deliver these schemes.
Sector Score: 8/10
HEALTH
Jo Webber, deputy director of policy, NHS Confederation
There is a lot in The Children's Plan that is truly excellent. It enshrines the principles of parents, rather than the state, being the best people to bring up children, with a sensible emphasis on making sure there is relevant support when problems occur.
There are other things to welcome too, such as short breaks for carers and children with severe disabilities and complex needs. The approach means people will get the same core service with the extra tailored help.
That said, a number of challenges remain. The Children's Plan stated that a child health strategy would be published in spring 2008. It still isn't out. The plan also relies on local and regional partnerships, which are bound to come under pressure as we enter difficult economic times, so strong leadership is required. In addition, high-profile cases such as Baby P cannot be allowed to move the agenda. These terrible cases must provide learning to make services better rather than skew us off a course of action designed to bring about long-term change.
Sector Score: 7/10
FINAL VERDICT: 7/10
A promising start but plenty of room for improvement.
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