Feature - Major Events of 2007: The year in review
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
It has been a momentous year for professionals working with children and young people. Ruth Smith takes a look back.
Jan 21: The children's commissioner for Wales, Peter Clarke, dies of cancer aged 58. He was the first person in the UK to hold such a role.
Jan 26: Rod Morgan quits as chair of the Youth Justice Board. He says on the BBC's Newsnight that evening: "I regard a 26 per cent increase in the number of children and young people that are being drawn into the system in the past three years as swamping."
Feb 01: A new school admissions code comes into force. But experts fear that children in care and those with special needs could still struggle to access schools.
Feb 05: The Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS) is formed. It proves how the vision behind Every Child Matters has become a reality. The association also demonstrates how the once separate worlds of education and children's social services are now united.
Feb 14: Unicef publishes a report showing the UK is bottom of 21 industrialised nations on children's wellbeing. It prompts a public outcry. The Children's Society describes it as a "massive wake-up call".
Feb 28: The government pulls the plug on the youth opportunity card after admitting the technology behind the scheme is not feasible. Billed as one of the key planks of the Youth Matters green paper, the card promised to put "buying power directly into the hands of young people".
Mar 14: The government publishes Every Parent Matters, which sets out the vital role of parents in improving their child's life chances and educational attainment.
Mar 22: From 2015, all young people will remain in some form of education or training until their 18th birthday, under plans set out by the government.
Mar 28: Government figures show the number of children living in poverty in the UK rose by 100,000 during 2005/06 - the first rise in a decade. The increase heightens fears that the government will miss its target to halve child poverty by 2010.
Apr 01: The new Ofsted starts work. Its remit includes the children's work of the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) and the inspection of the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass). At the same time, England's national minimum fostering allowance comes into force.
Apr 11: The number of children using Sure Start children's centres passes the million mark. There are now 1,250 centres up and running, providing services for one million children and their families, says the government.
May 05: Devolution is restored to the Northern Ireland Assembly following the election of a four-party Executive of 12 ministers. Ian Paisley is appointed First Minister and Martin McGuinness is named Deputy First Minister.
May 16: The Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill, which will abolish the Child Support Agency, is introduced in Parliament. It is still being debated by MPs.
May 16: Alex Salmond makes political history by becoming the first Scottish National Party First Minister of Scotland.The office of the children's commissioner for England relaunches as 11 Million. The new name and logo is developed in conjunction with children and young people.
May 17: Shadow education secretary David Willetts accuses grammar schools of entrenching social advantage, prompting a row over Conservative support for selection.
May 23: Ministers promise £280m for short-break services, providing 40,000 more fortnightly short breaks for disabled children by 2011. The funding was hailed a success for the Every Disabled Child Matters campaign.
Jun 03: The Scottish Executive unveils plans to provide free school meals in some of the country's most deprived areas. The £5m scheme will begin in selected schools from October and run until March 2008.
Jun 27: Gordon Brown becomes Prime Minister. Posing outside 10 Downing Street with his wife Sarah, he announces: "Let the work of change begin."
Jun 28: Brown appoints Ed Balls as the first Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families. The Department for Education and Skills becomes the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). The new Ministry of Justice takes shared responsibility with the DCSF for youth justice.
Jul 19: The Mental Health Act 2007 becomes law. It stipulates that young people should be treated in an environment suitable for their age and geared to meet their needs.
Jul 26: The government launches its 10-year strategy. It is supported from 2008-11 by £184m of new money, as well as £495m of continued funding and reinvestment of unclaimed assets from dormant bank accounts. Chief executive Tom Wylie bids farewell to The National Youth Agency at a reception in Leicester and is replaced by Fiona Blacke.
Sep 01: Schools are now under a new duty to promote community cohesion, as provisions in the Education and Inspections Act 2006 come into force.
Sep 05: Children Now and Young People Now merge to form a new weekly magazine Children & Young People Now. The new monthly title Youth Work Now is also published for the first time.
Sep 06: The funeral of Rhys Jones, the 11-year-old schoolboy shot in Liverpool, is held. In London alone, 25 teenagers were killed up to the first week of December, having been either shot or stabbed.
Sep 21: The government publishes anti-bullying guidance on homophobic bullying and cyberbullying for the first time.
Oct 09: Chancellor Alistair Darling announces the Comprehensive Spending Review.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families gets a budget increase of £9.4bn between 2008/09 and 2010/11. Darling re-announces a government pledge that £4bn will be available for childcare and early years, without promising any new funding. A key author of the Unicef report into child wellbeing later brands the review a "disaster for child poverty".
Oct 31: Former Labour MP Oona King is made a political adviser to Gordon Brown. She will head a campaign to re-engage people with their communities, and focus on generating ideas to involve young people.
Nov 06: The Queen's Speech includes plans to raise the education leaving age to 18 in 2015. Teenagers could face fines of up to £200 for failing to turn up to school or a training course.
Nov 07: A national contract aimed at standardising agreements between local authorities and children's homes is launched. It aims to cut duplication and make matters simpler for commissioners and suppliers.
Nov 15: The Children and Young Persons Bill is published. It includes a ban on moving looked-after children out of their local area when it is not in their interest, £500 for children struggling at school, and consulting 16- and 17-year-olds about their care.
Dec 05: Northern Ireland's education minister Caitriona Ruane announces the end of the 11 plus test in the province.
Dec 11: The Department for Children, Schools and Families launches its Children's Plan, a 10-year strategy that sets out how the government will work with parents, the voluntary sector and schools to make sure every child gets the best start in life.