An introduction to the National Plan for Music Education and Music Hubs 

On 25 June, the Department for Education (DfE) and Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) published a refreshed National Plan for Music Education, setting out government’s priorities for music education from birth until they leave education. The Government confirmed the Arts Council will facilitate a new investment process for Music Hubs. The Arts Council has shared a webinar, which introduces the plan, outlines the changes to the new Music Hub programme including some early thinking on the investment process, and what they’re looking for in a Hub Lead organisation. Watch the webinar on Arts Council's website.

Home to school transport contracts

The LGA and the Institute of Licensing have produced a guidance note on home to school transport contracts. It provides a brief overview of the role of responsible councils with regards to home to school contracts and licensing authorities with regards to safeguarding in taxi/ private hire vehicle (PHV) licensing, and suggests some recommended actions. 

School roof safety 

DfE recently ran a survey in relation to Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) in school roofs. Many responses are still outstanding and the LGA is strongly advising its members to respond to the DfE RAAC survey as soon as possible – survey registration remains open. Please share this message with the relevant members of your staff. 

RAAC is a lightweight form of concrete used in roof construction between 1950s-1980s, primarily in schools and offices although it has been found in a wide range of buildings. RAAC is now life-expired and liable to collapse – this has already happened in two schools with little/no notice. Many building owners are not aware that it is present in their property so the LGA is advising all councils to check as a matter of urgency whether any buildings in their estates have roofs made of RAAC. 

Supporting children and young people’s mental wellbeing in schools

Early years consultations

Two consultations on early years have been released. These consultations look at early years funding, including exploring the data that sits underneath the calculations for allocations. The other consultation explores regulatory changes, looking at increasing the number of two year olds that can be cared for by one practitioner from 4 to 5. Please do get in touch if you would like to share your thoughts and views with flora.wilkie@local.gov.uk. The consultations close on 16 September.

Family hubs and Best Start for Life

75 councils will have been approached and invited to apply for family hubs and Best Start for Life funding, receiving draft guidance of what is expected. If you are one of these councils and you’d like to discuss your experience to date or feedback on the continuing process please do get in touch with flora.wilkie@local.gov.uk

Nuffield Foundation: Early years strategy 

The Nuffield Foundations has developed an early years strategy, setting out the changes seen in childhood over the past twenty years, current challenges in early childhood policy and practice and what is needed to overcome these. This includes increased choice for parents, services that understand the needs of families with young children and a commitment to tackling the causes and effects of childhood poverty.

Child Exploitation Toolkit

The Child Exploitation Toolkit has been updated. It includes powers and approaches that professionals can use to tackle child exploitation. The toolkit also sets out how to build an accurate picture of the nature and extent of child exploitation and how to share information between partners.

Piloting devolved decision-making for child victims of modern slavery – LGA webinar Tuesday 2 August 

Ten council pilot sites have now been managing devolved decision making for potential child victims of modern slavery in their areas for just over a year and, following positive interim findings including significantly swifter decisions, the Home Office has confirmed that all pilots have been extended to run to 2023. The Home Office has also confirmed it will be expanding the pilot to a further ten sites, with bids expected to be invited in September.

To support councils who would like to hear more about the pilot and/or are considering bidding, the LGA has arranged a webinar running from 2pm-3.15pm on Tuesday 2 August. The session will hear from two of the existing pilot sites about their experience, as well as from the Home Office about the mechanics of applying. 

To register for the webinar visit our Eventbrite page.

Home for Ukraine: Supporting unaccompanied minors 

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has published guidance for councils on supporting children who wish to join the Homes for Ukraine scheme without a parent or guardian. You can also view:

• Guidance available for sponsors
• Guidance available for parents or legal guardians.

Structural change in children’s services 

We have published new research, carried out for us by Isos Partnership, looking at the lessons learnt by councils that have undertaken large-scale structural change of children’s services. This research considers a range of models, including alternative delivery models, partnership-based models and local government reorganisation, and identifies nine enablers of effective structural change. The research highlights that different models work best in different areas in response to different contexts, and discusses four “design principles” to consider in any model.

Civil claims of non-recent abuse 

The Independent Inquiry into Child Abuse (IICSA) recommended, as part of its investigation into accountability and reparations for victims and survivors of abuse, that the LGA produce a code of practice for councils to improve their responses to civil claims of non-recent CSA. We have worked closely with councils that already have significant experience in responding to such claims and have drawn on evidence given by victims and survivors to IICSA, to develop the code. We encourage all councils to adopt this code to support their responses to victims and survivors. IICSA is due to publish its final report later this year. 

Engaging children and young people in policy development 

We have published a series of case studies outlining different ways in which councils are engaging children and young people in policy development. These case studies show a variety of mechanisms for engaging young people, and look at how to give young people a say across a wide range of policy areas.