National child database at heart of Children Act reforms says Clarke

The Children Bill aims to encourage partnership working and sharpen accountability by:

> a new duty on agencies to cooperate among themselves and with other local partners to improve the wellbeing of children and young people so that all work to common outcomes;

> a tighter focus on child protection through a duty on key agencies to safeguard children and promote their welfare through new Local Safeguarding Children Boards and a power to set up a new database containing basic information about children;

> clear overall accountability- through a Director of Children's Services who will be accountable for local authority education and children's social services and lead local change, and a Lead Council Member for Children's Services;

> enabling and encouraging local authorities, Primary Care Trusts, and others to pool budgets into a Children's Trust, and share information better to support more joining up on the ground with health, education, and social care professionals working together based in the same location such as in schools and children's centres;

> creating an integrated inspection framework to assess how well services work together to improve outcomes for children; and

> new powers to intervene in children's social services where an area is falling below minimum standards and intervention is absolutely necessary. The Bill will also create a Children's Commissioner, a historic first for England, to be a voice for all children and young people, especially those who are most vulnerable. The Commissioner will:

> draw on children's views and make sure they are fed into policy making and service delivery, both locally and nationally;

> advise Government and engage with others, such as the media and business, whose decisions and actions affect children's lives;

> work with relevant ombudsmen and statutory bodies to ensure complaints systems are in place and are effective and child friendly;

> at the Direction of the Secretary of State, investigate individual cases that have wider relevance for children; and

> be independent of Government and report annually to Parliament via the Secretary of State.

Secretary of State for Education and Skills Charles Clarke said:

"This Bill is the most far-reaching reform of children's services for 30 years ensuring those improving children's services is given top priority at all levels. We are placing children and their families at the heart of the services we provide.

"We are embarking on a long term programme of change for children. The Children Bill will put in place the legislative steps, but the reforms are about much more than legislative changes. Our response to the consultation on the Children's Green Paper sets out our vision for a new approach in which the needs of children and families are given higher priority both nationally and locally."

Secretary of State for Health, John Reid said:

"The NHS along with education, social services, and the police - has a vital contribution to make to improving the outcomes for children and young people at all stages in their lives.

"The Children's National Service Framework (NSF), published later this year will set standards for improving the delivery of health and social services for children, young people, and maternity services. It will cover universal services for children, and address the needs of particular groups such as those with disabilities, mental health problems, and children in hospital. The NSF will help ensure that care services meet children's needs, that the right services can be accessed at the right time and that children and their families play an active part in making decisions about their care.

"Yesterday we announced a major public consultation on improving the nation's health, including that of children. This will look at roles and responsibilities for everyone in exploring how best to tackle a range of health issues, including improving diet and exercise for all children."

The Government is also responding to proposals for the youth justice system set out in 'Youth Justice - The Next Steps' and 'Stopping Youth Crime'. Responses were received from over 60 national organisations and 8,000 children and young people.

Paul Goggins, Home Office Minister responsible for youth justice said:

"We are pleased with the response to our proposals. There was particularly strong support for making sure that families are more involved in efforts to stop young people reoffending. People also wanted to see a greater role for Intensive Supervision and Surveillance - a tough community sentence for young people.

"The Children Bill will help to establish closer links with other key services which will be good for young people and good for the community as a whole."

The Next Steps, the Government's response to the Children's Green Paper Every Child Matters, sets out the Government's plans for reforming children's services. This includes:

> creating a UK-wide Sector Skills Council for Social Care, Children and Young People to bring employers together to lead reforms;

> extending the role of the Teacher Training Agency to become the main delivery agency for the training and developing school support staff;

> creating a £20 million fund for 2004-5 to support the local changes set out in the Green Paper , and the development of effective workforce practice and information sharing;

Related links to this article:

Department for Education and Skills

Download the Children Bill from this linked page.

The Children's Green Paper, Every Child Matters, was published in September 2003, and available at this link, as is 'The Next Steps'.