SPOTLIGHT ON EDUCATION OF CHILDREN IN CARE WITH LAUNCH OF SOCIAL EXCLUSION UNIT CONSULTATION
The Social Exclusion Unit is today (12 July 2001) announcing a major consultation to find ways of raising the educational achievement of children in care.
More than two-thirds of children in care leave care at 16 with no qualifications at all compared to only six percent of all children; less than one in 20 obtained five good GCSE passes compared with nearly half of all children.
Today health minister Jacqui Smith said:
"We know that doing badly at school has a major impact on these children’s chances later in life and we must do more to see that they get the same educational opportunities that we would expect for our own children.
"That’s why I’m delighted that the Social Exclusion Unit will be consulting widely on the issue so that we can get to the bottom of the problem and come up with recommendations that will make a real difference.
"We are determined that children in care should have the same life chance opportunities as other children. This is a central theme of the Government’s Quality Protects Programme."
Baroness Ashton, Minister for Early Years and School Standards, commented:
"The government is very committed to raising education standards for children in public care. I welcome the Social Exclusion Unit study which will help to build on the initiatives already in place to ensure that young people and children in public care are able to fulfil their potential."
The Government introduced Quality Protects to overhaul children’s services as a whole as well as issuing specific guidance on the education of young people and children in public care. The SEU’s project will build on these existing policies. Key features of the guidance include:
Personal education plans for all young people in care;
Designated teachers to be a resource and advocate for children in public care in school; and
Information sharing between schools, local education authorities and social services.
Care leavers are significantly more likely to be socially excluded in later life. For example:
Children in care are ten times more likely to be excluded from school;
A quarter of all prisoners have been in care;
Up to a third of rough sleepers have been in care; and
Children in care are two-and-a-half times more likely to become teenage parents.
The Social Exclusion Unit’s consultation takes in social services departments, education authorities, schools, carers, young people in care, care leavers, children’s charities, business and anyone else with an interest in the topic.
As well as the formal consultation, the Social Exclusion Unit project team is carrying out six in-depth studies of particular local authority areas alongside a series of visits to projects to help identify best practice.
Barbara Roche, Minister of State at the Cabinet Office, said:
"The Government is committed to creating opportunities for our most vulnerable young people to thrive in childhood and succeed in adult life. The Social Exclusion Unit’s project has a key role to play in helping us to achieve this ambition.
"By carrying out such in-depth research and consultation, the SEU’s policy recommendations are based on solid evidence and involve people with direct experience of the issues in the project."
The consultation document can be downloaded from the Social Exclusion Unit website at www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/seu or contact Jamil Mohammed on 020 7276 2118 for a copy. The closing date for the consultation is 8 November.
The final report will be published in 2002.
NOTES TO EDITORS
The Social Exclusion Unit is part of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in the Cabinet Office. In addition to the project on children in care and education, the Unit’s current work programme is focusing on three further topics – young runaways, transport and social exclusion and reducing re-offending among ex-prisoners.
The Social Exclusion Unit’s past reports are: Rough Sleeping, Teenage Pregnancy, Bridging the Gap:16-18 Year Olds not in Education, Training or Employment and Truancy and School Exclusions. The SEU published A New Commitment to Neighbourhood Renewal: National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal in January 2001. This set out new policies on improving life in England’s most deprived neighbourhoods.
The SEU’s most recent publication is called Preventing Social Exclusion. This sets out the Government’s approach to tackling social exclusion and outlines delivery of results on the ground. All SEU reports can be downloaded from the website:
www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/seu.
Launched in September 1998, Quality Protects is the Government’s five year programme designed to transform the management and delivery of children’s social services.
As part of the Quality Protects programme, joint Department of Health and Department for Education and Skills guidance on the education of young people in public care was launched in May 2000. Key features include personal education plans, designated teachers, improving co-ordination between services and introducing tighter timetables for placing children in care in schools. A team of Education Protects Implementation Advisers have been appointed by DfES and DoH to support local authorities in implementing the guidance.
Media enquiries to: SEU Press Office on 020 7276 2067/2083/2123
Cabinet Office Press Office 70 Whitehall LONDON SW1A 2AS
Tel: 020 7270 1271 - Fax: 020 7270 0618
www.cabinet-office.gov.uk
Out of hours telephone 07699 113300 and ask for pager number 721338.
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