• assure Ministers that the Government Priorities for children and young people, Children’s Plan and the Every Child Matters (ECM) Outcomes Framework, are being delivered across the West Midlands; and
• inform/shape government national policy thinking with a regional perspective of the needs of Children and Young People in the West Midlands.
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The Children and
Learners Directorate at Government Office West Midlands
works on behalf of the Department for Education in the
region to improve outcomes for children and young
people.
The Department for
Education was formed on 12th May 2010 and is responsible
for education and children’s
services.
This web page is
currently being reviewed and new content will be published
shortly.
To view the new
Department for Education
website,
http://www.education.gov.uk
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How we work
Each year the Children and Learners Team agrees key priorities and
activities with the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF)
for the West Midlands. These priorities include:
- providing challenge and support to the way the 14 Children’s
Trusts, Local Authorities and their partners deliver in the West Midlands;
- improving and co-ordinating joined up strategic leadership across the
system of agencies and partners working for children and young people;
- bringing targeted focus on key priorities and policies; and
- providing intelligence and focus to central government on the needs of
the West Midlands.
Government Priorities are set out in Public Service Agreements (PSAs) and
Departmental Strategic Objectives. These are underpinned by the Every Child
Matters programme, which is a shared programme of change for all children
and young people. It takes forward the government’s vision of radical
reform of support for children and young people.
In our day-to-day business, we take an inclusive approach to working with
others involved in the regional children and young people’s agenda.
We have also worked closely with the Regional Improvement and Efficiency
Partnership and other regional partners, including the Association of
Directors of Children’s Services, to establish a regional
architecture through the West Midlands Children and Young People’s
Forum. This enables key regional agencies to agree joint action and support
in respect of the main priorities to improve outcomes for children and
young people in the West Midlands. (See the links to regional partners' web
sites in the Internet links section below.)
A number of national policy developments around children and young people
have significantly shaped the Government Office role in this important area
of work:
Every Child Matters
Following the consultation, the Government published Every Child Matters:
the Next Steps, and passed the Children Act 2004, providing the
legislative spine for developing more effective and accessible services
focused around the needs of children, young people and families.
Every Child Matters: Change for Children was published in November
2004 as the Government’s approach to improving the well-being of
children and young people from birth to age 19.
The Government's aim is for every child, whatever their background or their
circumstances, to have the support they need to:
- Be healthy
- Stay safe
- Enjoy and achieve
- Make a positive contribution
- Achieve economic well-being
The Children’s Plan
The Children's
Plan, announced in December 2007, is a ten-year strategy to
make England the best place in the world for children and young people
to grow up. The Children’s Plan set out the DCSF plans for the
next ten years under each of the DCSF strategic objectives:
Happy & Healthy: secure the well-being and health of
children and young people;
Safe & Sound: safeguard the young and
vulnerable;
Excellence and equity: Individual progress to achieve
world class standards and close the gap in educational achievement for
disadvantaged children;
Leadership and collaboration: system reform to achieve
world class standards and close the gap in educational achievement for
disadvantaged children;
Staying on: ensure that young people are participating and
achieving their potential to 18 and beyond;
On the right track: keeping children and young people on
the path to success;
Making it happen: vision for 21st Century Children’s
Services.
In the West Midlands
In the West Midlands we have identified the following overarching
priorities for the next 3 – 5 years:
- Reducing child obesity (ECM outcome: Be Healthy)
- Reducing teenage pregnancy rates (ECM outcome: Positive
contribution)
- Supporting local authorities that are making insufficient progress
towards national targets for educational attainment, particularly at the
end of Key Stage 2 and the ‘floor target’ of 5 A* - C GCSEs
including English & Maths. (ECM outcome: Enjoy and Achieve)
- 14-19 agenda, in particular the Machinery of Government changes and
16-19 funding transfer (ECM outcome: Enjoy and Achieve)
- Reducing the number of young people who are NEET (ECM outcome: Positive
Contribution)
- Reducing the number of children in poverty (ECM outcome: Achieve
Economic Well being, PSA9, NI116)
- Progressing safeguarding issues (ECM outcome: Stay Safe)
- Increasing young people’s participation in positive activities
(ECM outcome: Positive Contribution)
- Developing the children’s workforce (cross-cutting issue)
