Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Introduction
- 1 What Drives Children’s Services Reform?
- Part I Children’s Services Reform Under the Labour Government (1997– 2010)
- Part II Children’s Services Reform Under the Coalition and Conservative Governments (2010– 19)
- Conclusion: the Politics of Children’s Services Reform
- Appendix: Chronology of key Reports
- References
- Index
4 - Every Child Matters and the Children Act 2004
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 March 2021
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Introduction
- 1 What Drives Children’s Services Reform?
- Part I Children’s Services Reform Under the Labour Government (1997– 2010)
- Part II Children’s Services Reform Under the Coalition and Conservative Governments (2010– 19)
- Conclusion: the Politics of Children’s Services Reform
- Appendix: Chronology of key Reports
- References
- Index
Summary
Introduction
Responding to the inquiry headed by Lord Laming into Victoria's death, we are proposing here a range of measures to reform and improve children's care – crucially, for the first time ever requiring local authorities to bring together in one place under one person services for children, and at the same time suggesting real changes in the way those we ask to do this work carry out tasks on our and our children's behalf. (Blair, in HM Government, 2003: foreword)
As Lord Laming's recommendations made clear, child protection cannot be separated from policies to improve children's lives as a whole. We need to focus both on the universal services which every child uses, and on more targeted services for those with additional needs…. We need to ensure we properly protect children at risk within a framework of universal services which support every child to develop their full potential. (HM Government, 2003: 5)
When the ECM Green Paper (HM Government, 2003) was eventually published in September 2003, it was framed as a direct response to the Victoria Climbié inquiry (Lord Laming, 2003). Its publication signalled the beginning of a period of major change for all agencies working in the children's sector, however, ECM was not exclusively focused on child protection and safeguarding. The Green Paper introduced a new framework of ‘five outcomes’, and related performance targets, covering all aspects of children's policy. New centrally designed assessment and information-sharing processes and procedures were also introduced as part of a drive towards the earlier identification of needs and the extended provision of preventative services. However, the most controversial proposal was the merger of education and children's social care services, involving the break-up of social services departments created following the report of the Seebohm Committee (1968), to create unified children's services departments under the leadership of a single DCS in every English local authority. These structural changes were mandated under the Children Act 2004 just over a year later. This chapter considers the background to the ECM Green Paper and discusses the progression of Labour's structural reforms.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Politics of Children's Services ReformRe-examining Two Decades of Policy Change, pp. 61 - 74Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2020