Government launches review of policy on children and young people

The Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Ed Balls, and Schools Minister, Andrew Adonis, today launched the Government’s policy review of Children and Young People, which will inform decisions in next year’s Comprehensive Spending Review on what further steps can be taken to improve the life chances of children and young people.

The launch of the Review coincides with the first of series of parliamentary hearings taking place this afternoon. Launching the review at TreeHouse, a children’s charity which runs a special school for children with autism in North London, Ed Balls said:

“Every disabled child deserves the best start in life – but too many families with disabled children have to struggle on a daily basis to get the proper respite care they need, access to out of school activities and to combine work and caring for their child. This review will look hard at how we provide services for disabled children, high risk families, and to deliver a step change in youth services so that teenagers have places they want to go and things they want to do after school and at weekends. We must listen to young people themselves and involve them directly in delivering youth services. Parliamentary hearings with MPs, experts and parents with disabled children will ensure our review asks the right questions and addresses the challenges facing parents and service providers across the country.”

Andrew Adonis said:

“Today we are demonstrating our commitment to address the challenges faced by disabled children and their families. For too long disabled children and their families struggled to get access to good quality co-ordinated services. The situation is now much improved, but we are not complacent which is why we are launching a review of disability services, to help us to deliver better outcomes for every disabled child and their family”.

Notes for editors

1. The public consultation on this review will be accompanied by a series of parliamentary hearings organised by a consortium of charities campaigning on behalf of disabled children, which will involve disabled children themselves, other young people, parents and childrens charities. The first of the hearings, chaired by Tom Clark and vice chaired by Joan Humble, will take place today at 3pm. Those wishing to attend the hearings or to make a written submission should contact Victoria Silver on 07866 757 389 or visit www.cafamily.org.uk/hearings.html.

2. In Budget 2006, the Chancellor announced a policy review of Children and Young People to inform the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review. It will consider how services for children and young people and their families can build on the three principles identified in Support for parents, the best start for children – rights and responsibilities, progressive universalism and prevention – to improve outcomes for children and young people.

3. Under the umbrella of the children and young people review, sub-reviews will focus on:

how services can provide greater support to families with disabled children to improve their life chances;
what strategy should be adopted over the next ten years to deliver a step change in youth services and support for young people; and
how services for families and children at risk of becoming locked in a cycle of low achievement, high harm and high cost can be reformed to deliver better outcomes.

4. In 2005 Treehouse received a £5 million loan investment from Futurebuilders, a government-backed fund set up to increase the capacity of the voluntary sector to deliver public services.

5. Click here for the terms of reference

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