August 2010 Archives

Community Care Inform's legal expert, Ed Mitchell, has updated the legislation on the site. Please see below for a guide to what has changed with links straight through to the relevant part of the statute.

Safeguarding                  
Children's Trusts in England now have express statutory underpinning. Amendments made to the Children Act 2004 by the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 provide the new legal foundations for Children's Trust arrangements. The Inform guide to the Children Act 2004 has been updated with an explanation of the effect of the new provisions and links to the new regulations which fine-tune their operation.

Children's Trust Boards, rather than Local Safeguarding Children Boards, are now responsible for producing Children and Young People's Plans for their areas. For further details, including the regulations which set out the required content for plans, see section 17 of the Inform guide to the Children Act 2004. Also, members of the Children's Trust Board are now statutorily required to have regards to the plans (see section 17A of the Inform guide to the Children Act 2004).

The membership of Local Safeguarding Children Boards in England has been expanded. As a result of amendments made to the Children Act 2004 by the Apprenticeships etc Act 2009, LSCBs should now include amongst their membership two representatives of the local community. Also, the LSCB regulations have been amended so that boards should now also include representatives of education providers, such as maintained schools, in the board's area. For further details, see section 13 of the guide to the Children Act 2004.

LSCBs in England also now have to produce annual reports. Amendments to the Children Act 2004, made by the Apprenticeships etc. Act 2009, mean that LSCBs must now publish an annual report about their activities. For further details, see section 14A of the Inform guide to the Children Act 2004.

Fostering and Adoption
Adoptions from Nepal are suspended as a result of a statutory Order made under the Children & Adoption Act 2006. To access the order, see section 9 of the Inform guide to the Children & Adoption Act 2006.

Care Standards       
"Stop notices" can now served on providers of children's homes, and residential family centres, in England and Wales. The effect of the notice is to prohibit the home or centre from admitting any new children. The power to issue such notices is contained in section 22B of the Care Standards Act 2000 (inserted in that Act by the Children and Young Persons Act 2008) which came into force in April 2010. In England, notices are issued by OFSTED and, in Wales, by the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales.

Childcare

Local authorities in England are now obliged to have Children's (or Sure Start) centres. There must also be an advisory board for each centre. These obligations are contained in a number of sections inserted in the Childcare Act 2006 by the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009. 

A new category of exempt child-minding has been created (ie child-minding which does not require registration with Ofsted). It is comprised of childminding for the children of friends where this is not provided in return for a payment of money or money's worth. The exemption is contained in amendments made to the Childcare (Exemptions from Registration) Order 2008. The Order, as amended, is available at section 33 of the Inform guide to the Childcare Act 2006.

Wales
Welsh foster carers (actual and prospective) have new rights to challenge decisions made about them, for example a decision that a carer is not suitable to foster a particular child. The process is set out in the Independent Review of Determinations (Adoption & Fostering) (Wales) Regulations 2010 which are available here.

The regulations setting out the required contents of Single Education Plans and Children and Young People's Plans in Wales have been amended. The regulations, as amended, are available at section 26 of the Inform guide to the Children Act 2004.

Isles of Scilly
And finally, statutory Orders have been made so that functions of local authorities under the Adoption & Children Act 2002 and Children Act 1989 are also functions of the Council of the Isles of Scilly. To access the Orders, go to section 141 of the Inform guide to the Adoption & Children Act 2002 and section 108 of the Inform guide to the Children Act 1989.