Children and families
This page highlights some of the current parliamentary material available on children and families. This includes select committee reports, briefing papers on current legislation and other subjects produced by the parliamentary research services, and the latest Early Day Motions put down by MPs.
Standard Notes
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 04.03.2013 | Calls for reform of the criminal law on child neglect |
| The current criminal offence of child neglect is set out in section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933. The charity Action for Children has launched a campaign calling for reform of the law, arguing that the legislation needs to "catch up" with modern society's understanding of neglect. However, the Government has said it has no plans to change the law in this area as the courts and children's services already interpret the 1933 Act "in a contemporary way". | |
| 15.02.2013 | Community budgets and city deals |
| There have been many recent initiatives to join up or pool budgets between local authorities and other public sector bodies. These have taken various forms since the early 1990s. The latest iteration is a series of pilots of 'community budgets', taking place in fourteen neighbourhoods (within ten different local authorities) and in four 'whole place' areas across local authorities. | |
| 21.01.2013 | Inter-racial adoption |
| This note provides information on the current law and policy on inter-racial adoption. It also provides an update on the Government's proposals to reform the system to reduce delays in placing children for adoption. | |
| 08.01.2013 | Confidentiality and openness in the family courts |
| This note provides information on the new rules which enable duly accredited media representatives (but not the wider public) to attend certain family proceedings held in private, subject to a power for the court to direct their exclusion. It also deals with the rules governing communication of information and statutory reporting restrictions for family proceedings. | |
| 02.11.2012 | Children: Residence and contact related matters for parents, grandparents and others after separation |
| Children: Residence and contact related matters for parents, grandparents and others after separation. By Manjit Gheera. SN/SP/3100. |
Research Papers
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 15.02.2013 | Children and Families Bill |
| The Children and Families Bill introduces a wide range of legislation concerning adoption and children in care, aspects of family justice law, special educational needs, the Office of the Children's Commissioner for England, child care, statutory rights to leave and pay for parents and adopters, time off work for ante-natal care, and the right to request flexible working. This paper has been prepared for the Second Reading of the Bill. | |
| 25.10.2012 | Family Justice (Transparency, Accountability and Cost of Living) Bill |
| The Bill has three parts. Part 1 deals with transparency and accountability in connection with cases concerning children and proceedings in the Court of Protection. Part 2 contains other provisions relating to the administration of justice; and Part 3 deals with the cost of living and measures to achieve lower fuel bills. | |
| 05.05.2011 | Education Bill: Committee Stage Report |
| This is an account of the House of Commons Committee Stage of the Education Bill. It complements Research Paper 11/14, prepared for the Commons Second Reading debate, which examines the range of matters covered by the Bill. As originally presented, the Bill sought to make provision relating to the National Assembly for Wales' framework powers. However, these clauses were removed from the Bill following the 'yes' vote in the Welsh Devolution Referendum. A Government amendment to clause 13 (reporting restrictions on alleged offences by teachers) was agreed to without a vote. This inserted new schedule 11B into the Education Act 2002, and was introduced to secure compliance with a European Electronic Commerce Directive. Several minor and technical Government amendments were also made to the Bill. The Opposition tabled many amendments, a considerable number of which were pressed to a division, but none was successful. | |
| 07.02.2011 | Education Bill [Bill 137 of 2010-11] |
| This paper has been written for the House of Commons Second Reading debate on the Education Bill [Bill 137] on 8 February 2011. The Bill seeks to implement the legislative proposals in the Department for Education's schools White Paper, 'The Importance of Teaching', and measures from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills relating to skills and the reform of higher education funding. It is therefore a very wide-ranging Bill. | |
| 15.02.2010 | Children, Schools and Families Bill: Committee Stage Report Bill No 8 of 2009-10 |
| This is an account of the House of Commons Committee Stage of the Children, Schools and Families Bill. The Bill contained a clause on the charitable status of academies, but the Government decided it could achieve its objectives by non-legislative means, and at the end of the Committee Stage the clause was removed. No other changes were made to the Bill in Committee. There were many amendments proposed by the opposition parties but none was successful. |
Select Committee Reports
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 02.12.2011 | Memorandum to the Education Select Committee on Post-legislative assessments of the Education and Inspections... |
| Education Select Committee report [Commons] | |
| 26.01.2011 | Sure start children's centres. |
| Government response. Education Select Committee report [Commons] | |
| 03.11.2010 | Cafcass's response to increased demand for its services. |
| Public Accounts Committee report [Commons] | |
| 15.03.2010 | Sure Start children's centres. |
| Children Schools and Families Select Committee report [Commons] | |
| 03.03.2010 | The Review of Elective Home Education. |
| Government response. Children Schools and Families Select Committee; Department for Children, Schools and Families report [Commons] |
Early Day Motions
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 16.01.2012 | PREVENTING BABIES' DEATHS: WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE REPORT |
| That this House congratulates Sands, the stillbirth and neonatal death charity, on the publication of its new report, Preventing Babies' Deaths: what needs to be done; notes that 17 ... | |
| 12.12.2011 | FUTURE OF THE CHILDREN'S CARDIAC UNIT AT LEEDS INFIRMARY |
| That this House considers Sir Neil McKay's review of children's cardiac services has unreasonably weighted the odds against retaining the excellent children's cardiac centre at Leeds ... | |
| 08.12.2011 | CHILDREN'S ACCESS TO DISABILITY LIVING ALLOWANCE |
| That this House notes that the parents of ill children often need to live in hospital wards with their children; further notes that living expenses such as meals are not paid for by ... | |
| 05.12.2011 | ACHIEVEMENT OF CHILDREN FROM ETHNIC MINORITY BACKGROUNDS |
| That this House welcomes the joint venture between Wolverhampton University and Walsall Schools to promote the best educational practice that supports the attainment of children from ... | |
| 30.11.2011 | SAVING LIVES CAMPAIGN |
| That this House welcomes the Saving Lives Campaign ... Drive Safely Because i-Count launched by the charity Kids Count and other associated bodies; notes that the campaign draws attention ... |
Lords Library Notes
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 09.06.2011 | Education Bill (HL Bill 67 of 2010-12) |
| This Library Note provides information for the second reading of the Education Bill in the House of Lords. | |
| 02.02.2011 | Early Parenting and Preparing a Child for Success in School: Public Reaction |
| This Library Note summarises the public reaction to an online debate on the BBC Have Your Say website regarding the importance of early parenting. | |
| 28.01.2011 | Debate on 3 February: Early Parenting and Preparing a Child for Success in School |
| This Library Note aims to provide background reading for the debate on the key role of good early parenting in preparing a child for success in school. | |
| 08.05.2009 | Debate on 14th May 2009: the wellbeing of children and families. LLN 2009/006 |
| Debate on 14th May 2009: the wellbeing of children and families. House of Lords Library Note 2009/006 |
POST Papers
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 16.07.2012 | Preventing Diabetes |
| This POSTnote describes the causes of diabetes and the known risk factors, and examines policy options for diabetes prevention. | |
| 22.05.2012 | POSTnote 411 ICT for Disabled People |
| Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) underpin many aspects of modern living, so for the 10 million disabled people in the UK access to ICT is an important factor in their quality of life. This POSTnote summarises the issues that disabled people face in using ICT and looks at progress towards achieving equivalent access to services for disabled and non-disabled users. | |
| 15.03.2012 | Impacts of Video Games |
| There is debate surrounding the impact of violent video games on behaviour. |
