Hilton Dawson, chair of the National Academy for Parenting Practitioners (NAPP), told CYP Now that former children's minister Beverley Hughes had promised to respond to his concerns over the academy's proposed merger with the Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC). But he said they had not yet been addressed, prompting his letter to Ed Balls.
In the letter, Dawson said: "We are extremely worried that the recent decision to merge NAPP into CWDC will completely undermine the funding of our work, the independence that is crucial to the application of rigorous assessment of the sometimes cherished programmes of powerful organisations, and the promotion of world class standards, which can effectively address some of the most entrenched problems in our society.
"I appreciate that this has been a time of difficult change in government but our concerns have so far not been addressed." Dawson has called for a meeting with government officials to provide reassurances over the future of NAPP.
CYP Now learned of the merger earlier this month, when Dawson blasted the plans as "a disaster", claiming the level of research undertaken by CWDC did not match up to that of NAPP. He said any merger could compromise the academy's independence.
