17/09/2021: Will Quince replaces Vicky Ford as children and families minister

Former minister for welfare delivery Will Quince has replaced Vicky Ford as children and families minister as part of the Prime Minister’s cabinet reshuffle. During his time at the Department for Work . . . and Pensions, Quince, MP for Colchester, previously took responsibility for policies on the management and delivery of benefits including housing benefits and universal credit, benefits support for disadvantaged groups and poverty.
Children and Young People Now

16/09/2021: Nadhim Zahawi announced as education secretary

Nadhim Zahawi has been appointed the new education secretary for England – replacing Gavin Williamson in the Cabinet reshuffle. Mr Zahawi leaves his previous post as the minister responsible for the . . . Covid vaccines roll-out.
BBC

16/09/2021: Charities issue stark warning over ‘decimation of youth services’

The National Youth Agency and YMCA have warned that a failure to invest immediately in youth services will “decimate” the sector and leave “a generation of young people without opportunities to . . . thrive”.
Children and Young People Now

15/09/2021: Disadvantaged children least confident being active, research warns

Children from low-income backgrounds are far less confident in being active and taking part in sport, according to the Youth Sport Trust. The Trust found that only around half of 11- to 16-year-olds . . . from low income groups rated themselves as confident taking part in physical activity.
Children and Young People Now

14/09/2021: Children forming ‘new generation of extremists’ in UK as terror threat shifts, Cressida Dick warns

Britain’s most senior police officer has warned of a “new generation of extremists” as increasing numbers of children are drawn into terrorist activity. Dame Cressida Dick, commissioner of the . . . Metropolitan Police, told an international summit that children now make up 13 per cent of terror suspects arrested in the UK after the figure tripled in a year.
Independent

14/09/2021: Families with young children face huge rise in poverty, research warns

One in three children from families with young children are living in poverty, with parents working part-time affected almost as badly as those who are unemployed, new figures show.

Children and Young People Now

14/09/2021: Legal action threat over sending clinically vulnerable children back to school

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson could face legal action if clinically vulnerable children are forced back to school, campaigners have warned. Lawyers working on behalf of The Good Law Project . . . (GLP) have written to the Education Secretary calling for guidance around children’s return to school to be amended to protect disabled children, those classed as clinically vulnerable and those living with a clinically vulnerable person.
Children and Young People Now

13/09/2021: Sharp rise in acute medical beds occupied by children with nowhere else to go

A third of all children’s acute hospital beds in parts of England are being occupied by vulnerable children who do not need acute medical care but have nowhere else to go, safeguarding experts have . . . warned. Doctors say they feel like very expensive “babysitters” for vulnerable children, many of whom are in care but whose placements have broken down because of their violent and self-harming behaviour.
Guardian