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The Children’s Commissioner for England describes the changes, she is putting forward, as needed in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Source: The Children’s Commissioner for England published on this website Friday January 10 2025 by Jill Powell

Dame Rachel de Souza writes:

“ As Children’s Commissioner, I want England to be the best place for children to grow up, where every child can be safe, healthy and happy. My role was born out of the need to hear children’s voices, who too often are excluded and overlooked in a system designed for adults.

"The death of Sara Sharif, and the recent resurfacing of the crimes by grooming gangs have highlighted that too many services children rely on are failing – whether that is children missing out on the benefits of school and education, or children living in social care who, instead of getting the care they deserve and need, grow up in wholly unsuitable and illegal children’s homes.

"I am pleased to see the urgency with which the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is being introduced and taken through Parliament. The Bill lays a strong foundation for change for every child. It is an important opportunity to better protect children who are at risk of serious harm or abuse, to better support children with complex needs, and to ensure children currently hidden or missed by public services get the help and protection they need. For these children, change cannot come quickly enough.

Strengths of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

"The Bill includes several significant measures for which I have advocated since taking up the role of Children’s Commissioner in 2021. I have called on successive governments to introduce a unique identifying number for children, as well as a register for all children not in school. Writing these two landmark measures into law will be of huge significance for all children in this country, especially those who face the risk of neglect or abuse outside of school.

"The Bill sets out important first steps, but there will be a need for further legislation in this parliament that focuses on children, not least those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). A clear vision of reform for this long-overlooked area of support is crucial and must not be seen in isolation from other improvements to children’s services.

Areas of the Bill needing further work

"There are a number of areas where I would like to see proposals strengthened to go further:

Protection from assault: This is the opportunity to give children the same protection from assault as adults in England. The Bill should send a clear message to children that the state is there to protect them and should eliminate any shades of grey which leave parents, carers, professionals – and children themselves, uncertain about what level of violence is acceptable.
Illegal children’s homes and deprivation of liberty: Some of the most vulnerable children in the country are being placed in illegal children’s homes, denied safe and appropriate care, or are having their liberty deprived without proper safeguards. This legislation is an opportunity to bring an end to both.
Home education: I warmly welcome the introduction of a register of children not in school but believe the Bill should go further to both improve the support for children in home education and to introduce a clear national framework for data sharing, so that local Children Missing Education teams can quickly identify and support children missing education to return to education.
Child protection: To better protect children, I would like to see a requirement introduced to obtain consent from the local authority before a child is removed from school where a child has been referred to social services for a Child in Need or Child Protection enquiry in the last 12 months where the primary need was abuse or neglect. Where children have a Child in Need Plan or a Child Protection Plan, for these reasons, there should always be a named school.
Schools as safeguarding partners: Alongside the police, local authorities and health settings, I would like to see schools made the fourth statutory safeguarding partner. Education settings play a vital role in safeguarding. The Bill only puts in place measures to require education partners’ participation, it does not make them a partner and therefore does not put them on an equal footing with social care, health and police.

"Children have told me that they don’t feel listened to by decision makers. In The Big Ambition survey, just 22% of children agreed that the people who run the country listen to their views. This Bill is the first key piece of child-focused legislation in this parliament. It is therefore essential that its aims are communicated clearly with children themselves, including by publishing a child-friendly version of the Bill at the soonest opportunity, so that children whose lives will be impacted and improved by its measures can understand its significance.

"For children relying on failing services the proposals in this Bill cannot come quickly enough. Over the coming months, I will be monitoring the progress of the Bill alongside my team, sharing insights from children, and sharing more specific recommendations for the Bills with Parliamentarians to ensure the most is made of the opportunity to improve children’s lives."

Read her full position, as shared with every Member of Parliament ahead of the Bill’s second reading

The Lucy Lamplugh Trust Statement on John Cannan’s death

Source: Lucy Lamplugh Trust published on this website Thursday January 9, 2025, by Jill Powell

John Cannan was a prime suspect in the disappearance of Suzy Lamplugh, who went missing on the 28th of July 1986. Suzy’s body has never been found, and no perpetrator ever convicted, but she has been presumed murdered and was legally declared dead in 1993. Though not convicted, in 2002 he was named as a prime suspect in her disappearance by the Metropolitan Police.

Cannan was jailed for life in 1989 for raping and murdering Shirley Banks, aged 29. He was convicted of a further sexual offence, an attempted kidnapping and two offences of abduction at the same trial. Our thoughts are with the family and friends of these women.

We recognise that this is a difficult time for the family of Suzy Lamplugh as they process this news. We would like to take this opportunity to recognise the work of Suzy’s parents who set up the Trust to enable individuals and organisations to be and feel safer through campaigning, education and its specialist support services for victims of stalking. We are indebted to their persistence, resilience and their focus on ensuring that what happened to Suzy doesn’t happen to others. Our mission remains focused on reducing the risk of violence, aggression and abuse in society.

We have spent the last 38 years delivering our mission, but there is still critical work to be done to reduce violence and aggression perpetrated in our society, especially against women and girls. We continue to strive for a society in which people are safer- and feel safer- from violence, aggression and abuse. If you, or someone you know, has been a victim of stalking, you can contact the National Stalking Helpline at 0808 802 0300.

Contact the National Stalking Helpline

Predators who create sexually explicit ‘deepfakes’ could face prosecution as the Government bears down on vile online abuse.

Source: Ministry of Justice published on this website Tuesday 7 January 2025 by Jill Powell

Predators who create sexually explicit ‘deepfakes’ could face prosecution as the Government bears down on vile online abuse as part of its mission to make our streets safer.

The proliferation of these hyper-realistic images has grown at an alarming rate, causing devastating harm to victims, particularly women and girls who are often the target.

To tackle this, the government will introduce a new offence meaning perpetrators could be charged for both creating and sharing these images, not only marking a crackdown on this abhorrent behaviour but making it clear there is no excuse for creating a sexually explicit deepfake of someone without their consent.

The Government will also create new offences for the taking of intimate images without consent and the installation of equipment with intent to commit these offences – sending a clear message that abusers will face the full force of the law.

These new offences follow the Government’s action in September 2024 to add sharing intimate images This put the onus on platforms to root out and remove th.is type of content - or face enforcement action from Ofcom.

The new offences will be included in the Government’s Crime and Policing Bill, which will be introduced when parliamentary time allows. Further details of the new offences will be set out in due course.

Major reforms to protect thousands of vulnerable children hidden from sight will take another crucial step forward today.

Source: Department for Education published on this website Wednesday 8 January 2025 by Jill Powell

Major reforms to protect thousands of vulnerable children hidden from sight will take another crucial step forward today, as the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is debated in Parliament (Wednesday 8 January).

Children not in school registers, stronger powers for councils to make sure children are getting the right education, and a unique identifying number for every child are part of major reforms to help tackle the tragedy of children vanishing from education and protect young people from exploitation, grooming and abuse.

The recent Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel Annual Report 2024 highlighted that children experiencing harm outside the home, including exploitation, were likely to be not enrolled in school, missing education or have poor school attendance, and that’s why the Bill will also strengthen multi-agency safeguarding arrangements to quickly identify significant harm. This comes as the government announced action this week on three key recommendations from the Professor Alexis Jay review to address significant failings to keep children safe.

According to the latest government data, around 111,000 children and young people are home educated, up from an estimated 55,000 before the pandemic. This is alongside the 150,000 children missing education all together at some point during the last year. The bill will bring in unprecedented safeguards for home educated children, ratchet up powers for councils and compel local authorities to establish dedicated, multi-agency safeguarding teams to keep track of children.

Measures will also put more cash back in working parents’ pockets by capping the number of branded items schools can require as part of their uniform. This could save some families over £50 per child during the back-to-school shop, ensuring parents have as much flexibility as possible to shop around and save money. It will also give every parent of a primary school child a legal entitlement to a breakfast club, saving them as much as £450 per year.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, that will bring these measures into law, has its second reading in Parliament today, helping make child-centred government a reality and deliver on the government’s Plan for Change.

Measures to reform children’s social care and help reduce the number of children missing education that are being introduced in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill include:

All councils will be required to hold a register of children who are not in school. Councils will be able to require parents and providers of out of school education to share information like name, address and the nature of the education children are being provided.
A unique number for every child – in the same way every adult has their own national insurance number – to join up systems and make sure no child falls through the cracks. A consistent identifier will allow those responsible for the safeguarding and welfare of children to better join relevant data and identify children who will benefit from additional support.
The removal of the automatic right for parents to educate children at home if their child is subject to a child protection investigation or under a child protection plan. Schools will need to check with the local authority where a parent asks to remove a child from school to home educate, to establish whether the local authority’s consent should be obtained.
If any child’s home environment is assessed as unsuitable or unsafe, local authorities will have the power to intervene and require school attendance.
Making sure every council operates best practice ‘multi-agency’ safeguarding panels, that bring together all the professionals that can best make sure children are kept safe both inside and outside the home.

Wider measures in the Bill include capping the number of branded items schools can require as part of their uniform. Primary schools will be able to require a maximum of three branded items, and secondary schools will have the option to include an additional item if one of those is a tie.

Data shows 24% of primary and 70% of secondary schools still require five or more branded items, with some parents saying they were asked to provide 10 or more.

Limiting the number of branded items having to be bought from designated suppliers could save some parents over £50 per child during the back-to-school shop from September 2026 – thanks to greater flexibility to buy from a range of retailers.

Primary school children will also benefit from the option to attend a free breakfast club, which could save parents up to £450 a year. Clubs will launch from April 2025 at schools taking part in the early adopter scheme.

ACT on IICSA responds to recent press coverage on Child Sexual Abuse

Source: The Survivors Trust published on this website Monday 6 January 2025 by Jill Powell

The press release from The Survivors Trust says:

“Recent press coverage on child sexual abuse (CSA) highlights a troubling trend of misinformation that undermines the true scale of the crisis and the pressing need for reform. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), which heard from over 7,500 victims and survivors, provided a clear roadmap for action. Yet, two years later, none of its recommendations have been fully implemented.

“The government has made hopeful promises regarding the protection of children and responding to IICSA recommendations. Act on IICSA remains committed to assisting them in achieving this task without delay. We urge the government to provide a clear timeline to deliver on these commitments. Politicising the issue of sexual violence fails to acknowledge its lifelong impact and hinders the implementation of vital and urgent overhaul to our systems required.

“It is imperative to keep the focus on radical reform, as evidenced by IICSA’s findings and smaller independent inquiries. The reality is stark: approximately 500,000 children are subjected to abuse each year in the UK. These children cannot afford further delays in meaningful action.

“To address this national crisis, Act on IICSA is calling for the establishment of a Child Protection Authority (CPA). This independent body would ensure the implementation of IICSA’s key recommendations, which include:

Improved, standardised data collection and sharing.
Enhanced analysis and identification of organised networks and abuse patterns, as recommended by IICSA in 2022.
Proactive measures to prevent abuse and support victims and survivors through sustainable funding, reducing pressure on front line services

““Our mission is not to call for new inquiries but to advocate for the full implementation of IICSA’s recommendations. A Child Protection Authority is critical to this process,” said Professor Alexis Jay

“Act on IICSA urges all political parties to commit to the establishment of the CPA. This body would provide a single organisation with an independent framework for safeguarding children, supporting victims, and holding perpetrators accountable. It would also address the gaps in communication between multiple departments currently hindering effective child protection.”