Funding to allow local authorities to take on financial responsibility for young offenders on remand from April has been cut by 18 per cent. The government’s response to a consultation on the new remand framework reveals that councils will get £20.2m to cover the cost of remand places and treating children on remand as looked-after. They had previously been told they would receive £24.6m. The Ministry of Justice said the reduction accounts for falling numbers of under-18s being remanded to custody.
Protestors in Birmingham have criticised the council’s proposals to slash funding for child protection and early years preventative services. In demonstrations held today to coincide with Birmingham City Council’s approval of its budget, they will warn that cuts to local services will put children at risk of neglect and abuse. “These decisions will precipitate a far deeper crisis in Birmingham’s children’s services than one which is already judged by many communities in the city to be struggling,” said Simon Cardy, convenor of the West Midlands Social Work Action Network.
More than £600,000 funding has been awarded to the University of Brighton to carry out a study into violent attacks by children on their parents. The BBC reports that the European Commission cash will be used to research incidents where young teenage boys and girls use physical or psychological abuse to gain power over parents, usually their mothers. Dr Paula Wilcox, who will be involved with the research, said: “It remains a taboo subject that parents and carers find difficult to disclose.”
Shelter Scotland has called on the Scottish government to take action to protect people from losing their homes as a result of the ‘bedroom tax’. The charity says 100,000 households will be affected by reforms that will see housing benefit reduced if households are considered to have a spare room. Graeme Brown, director of Shelter Scotland, has written to government to demand that no-one be evicted for bedroom tax arrears, and to create £50m fund to protect social landlords from bankruptcy. “Scottish Ministers are not powerless to act to protect council tax payers who will have to foot the bill of increased homelessness or those vulnerable tenants at risk of losing their home,” said Brown.
Increasing numbers of parents are fraudulently trying to get their children into the best state schools. The Daily Mail reports that 91 councils in England responded to Freedom of Information requests in 2012/13, revealing that applications for 1,059 children were investigated, leading to 129 places being withdrawn. In 2007/8, 96 councils responded, with 99 applications investigated, leading to 38 sanctions. The paper said most probes relate to accusations that parents are registering a family member’s address or renting a property in a catchment area.
And finally, a consultation on the criteria for the new Early Years Educator qualification has been launched by the Department for Education. The move follows proposals announced in the government’s More Great Childcare report last month, that advocate the introduction of two new yearly years qualifications: Early Years Educators and Early Years Teachers. The consultation closes on 22 April.
