Children Act 2004 Implementation

The Children Act now has royal assent and the DfEs has published further consultation and guidance and can be accessed through the Every Child Matters website, (www.everychildmatters.gov.uk). It was formely known as the Children Bill and was originally published in March 2004 following the Green Paper Every Child Matters.

A Children's Commissioner will be in post and between 2006 and 2008. Local Authorities will have a Director of Children's Services and integrated services through a Children's Trust, a lead Council Member for Children and a Local Safeguarding Board.

In Swindon we have established the Every Child Matters Task Group and the Children with Disabilities Project to take forward the Children Act. The Task Group is not a decision making group but makes proposals for consideration and decision by the Children and Young People's Strategic Partnership Management Group.

The Task Group meets monthly and our vision for integrated services and a draft time table is set out in Children Act developments in Swindon and can be downloaded from the publications section, under Children Act in Swindon, and is also outlined in newsletter 6 (available from publications section).

Members of the Every Child Matters Task Group are:

Joy Kennard    jkennard@nspcc.org.uk

Geoff Hogg   ghogg@swindon.gov.ukLink

Adina Grace   adina.grace@swindon-pct.nhs.uk

Sue Wald    swald@swindon.gov.uk

Mike Welsh    head@goddardpark-pri.swindon.sch.uk

Kate Hannam   kate.hannam@smnhst.swest.nhs.uk

Jean Pollard   jpollard@swindon.gov.uk

Sally Burnett sallyb@connexionsws.org.uk

Andrew Fleet   head@hreod.co.uk

In Swindon we are about to embark on a major change in the way services are delivered. We are committed to ensuring a robust change management process, which ensures that we strengthen our core services first before implementing structural changes.

We are piloting the Common Assessment and better information sharing through Local Preventative Groups. We have undertaken a detailed needs assessment through the publication of ‘Areas with Vulnerable Children in Swindon’. The Options Paper  Developing Children's Services for Swindon January 2005 progresses our development of the structure and systems within the children’s trust.