Daily roundup 26 March: Family debt, Oxfordshire CSE, and health checks

A report by The Children’s Society has found children are being adversly affected by a rise in councils threatening struggling families with court action for falling behind with their council tax. The report, The Wolf at the Door: How Council Tax Debt Collection is Harming Children, found many local authorities are choosing to send more bailiffs round to homes rather than helping families get back on their feet. Based on a survey of 4,500 parents and Freedom of Information responses from local authorities, the report reveals that councils across England sent out bailiffs 1.3m times last year, with 20 per cent of families in council tax debt receiving a visit from a bailiff.


Millions of pounds in additional funding is required to cope with the rising problem of child sex exploitation across Oxfordshire, it has been claimed. The Oxford Mail reports that Ian Hudspeth, leader of Oxfordshire County Council, said the authority will be asking the government for more money to tackle the crime.


The National Children’s Bureau has launched guidance, commissioned by the Department of Health, to support early years practitioners and health visitors as they prepare to deliver new integrated reviews for two year olds. The guidance explains how integrated reviews offer the potential to bring together a parent’s views and concerns about their child’s progress with early years practitioners’ detailed day-to-day observations and health visitors’ expertise in the health and development of young children. The streamlined integrated reviews will be introduced from September 2015.


A survey by the Education & Training Foundation has found 88 per cent of British employers are overwhelmingly in favour of employees having practical maths and English skills so they can better succeed in the workplace. Three-quarters of employers believe that action needs to be taken at a national level to improve maths and English skills because of concerns about the impact that these poor skills have on their businesses. Currently, 37 per cent of pupils do not achieve grade A*-C in both of these subjects, the Foundation said.


Scotland is to ban smoking in cars with children, bringing it into line with England and Wales. The Guardian reports that the Scottish government has announced it will back the smoking prohibition (children in motor vehicles) (Scotland) bill, which has been put forward by the Liberal Democrat MSP Jim Hume.


New research published by the Government Equalities Office has found that the critical age for keeping girls motivated to play sport is Year 3 of school, when they are seven to eight-years-old. A study found that beyond this age, girls become more self-conscious, lose confidence and many stop participating in sport. Research showed that amongst children interviewed, in Year 3, girls are still participating in school sports at broadly the same level as boys and their confidence and body image is good. Factors that influenced them dropping out of sport were playing outside in the cold, and a lack of female sporting role models.