Pre-legislative Scrutiny of the Children and Families Bill

Pre-legislative Scrutiny of the Children and Families Bill
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Justice Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2012-12-18
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780215051097

Additional written evidence is contained in Volume 2, available on the Committee website at www.parliament.uk/justicecttee

Legislative scrutiny

Legislative scrutiny
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: Joint Committee on Human Rights
Publisher: Stationery Office
Total Pages: 88
Release: 2013-06-27
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780108551093

This legislative scrutiny report on the Children and Families Bill deals with issues to do with adoption and looked after children (Part 1 of the Bill), family justice (Part 2), Special Educational Needs (Part 3), the Children's Commissioner (Part 5) and statutory rights to shared parental leave and pay (Part 6). The Report also includes an analysis of two issues connected with the Energy Bill.

Great Debates in Family Law

Great Debates in Family Law
Author: Jonathan Herring
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 493
Release: 2015-04-17
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1509958622

This textbook is an ambitious and engaging introduction to the more advanced writings on family law, primarily designed to allow students to 'get under the skin' of the topic and begin to build their critical thinking and analysis skills. Each chapter is structured around key questions and debates that provoke deeper thought and, ultimately, a clearer understanding. The aim of the book is therefore not to present a complete overview of theoretical issues in family law, but rather to illustrate the current debates which are currently going on among those working in shaping the area. The text features summaries of the views of notable experts on key topics and each chapter ends with a list of guided further reading.

Pre-legislative Scrutiny

Pre-legislative Scrutiny
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Education Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 78
Release: 2012-12-19
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9780215051134

This report welcomes the overall direction of the Government's proposed legislation to reform provision for children with special educational needs (SEN), but warns that the NHS Constitution cannot be allowed to prevent the imposition of much stronger duties on commissioning boards to ensure that adequate, joined-up services are put in place. Draft legislation relies too heavily in its current form on the duty of joint commissioning between Health and local authorities to ensure co-operation throughout the system. It will be essential that the forthcoming regulations commit Health providers to specific timetables when conducting SEN assessments and that responsibilities for Health and local authorities in providing certain therapy services are substantially clarified. The Committee also calls for all current protections afforded by a Statement of SEN to be maintained and recommends that the Code of Practice should also remain a statutory document. The Committee notes how the 'pathfinder projects' set up to test the approaches described in the 2011 Green Paper on SEN have not had time to report back in order to advise on the development of the legislation. MPs welcome the Minister's decision to extend the Pathfinders for a further 18 months, but point to several aspects of the new legislation where learning from the Pathfinders will be particularly important, not least how to ensure the 'Local Offer' put in place is sufficient to ensure the needs of young people with SEN, as identified in an Education Health and Care Plan, can be met.

Legislative Scrutiny Update

Legislative Scrutiny Update
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: Joint Committee on Human Rights
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 36
Release: 2013-04-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780108550638

This report provides an update on the the progress of the Committee's lagislative scrutiny work as the end of the Parliamentary session approaches. It identifies the bills still under scrutiny - Children and Families Bill, the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill and the Energy Bill, all carried over to the next session - the bills cleared, and the bills the Committee have not been able to scrutinize properly. The Committee makes recommendations as to how obstacles to effective scrutiny can be overcome.

Adoption

Adoption
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Lords: Select Committee on Adoption Legislation
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 98
Release: 2013-03-06
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780108550409

The Government's focus on driving up the number of adoptions should not be delivered at the expense of other routes to permanence, such as special guardianship or kinship care, for children for whom adoption may not be suitable. The Committee is also concerned that there is a significant lack of information about rates of adoption breakdown. The most pressing issue is that of post-adoption support. Children adopted from care have a range of needs due to their early life experiences, often of abuse or neglect, which are not resolved simply by being adopted. There should be a statutory duty on local authorities and other service commissioning bodies to ensure the provision of post-adoption support. Cost concerns need to take into account the significant amount of money which local authorities save when a child is adopted from care. The drive to increase adoptions must also not undermine preventative programmes and efforts to keep birth families together. The Committee also recommends a pilot scheme offering support to families who have had children removed from their care. Other recommendations from the Committee include: encouraging more local authorities to move towards joint adoption services with neighbouring authorities and adoption agencies; ending the current practice of employing Independent Reviewing Officers (IROs) within local authorities and, instead, employing them externally, giving them the independence needed to promote the best interests of children; providing a designated teacher with responsibility for the wellbeing for adopted children within every school; and improving the training and supervision of social workers

Mediation in Family Disputes

Mediation in Family Disputes
Author: Marian Roberts
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2016-04-29
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1317098463

This is the authoritative textbook on family mediation. As well as mediators, this work will be indispensable for practitioners and scholars across a wide range of fields, including social work and law. It draws on a wide cross-disciplinary theoretical literature and on the author's extensive and continuing practice experience. It encompasses developments in policy, research and practice in the UK and beyond. Roberts presents mediation as an aid to joint decision-making in the context of a range of family disputes, notably those involving children. Mediation is seen as a process of intervention distinct from legal, social work and therapeutic practice, drawing on a distinctive body of knowledge across disciplinary fields including anthropology, psychology and negotiation theory. Incorporating empirical evidence, the book emphasises the value of mediation in mitigating the harmful effects of family breakdown and conflict. First published in 1988 as a pioneering work, this fourth edition has been fully updated to incorporate legal and policy developments in the UK and in Europe, new sociological and philosophical perspectives on respect, justice and conflict, and international research and practice innovations.

HC 1120 - Closing the gap: The Work of the Education Committee in the 2010-15 Parliament

HC 1120 - Closing the gap: The Work of the Education Committee in the 2010-15 Parliament
Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Education Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 21
Release: 2015
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0215084195

The Committee has summarised and evaluated it's work during the current Parliament in a short film entitled 'Closing the gap', available on the Committee's website. This report is intended to supplement the film and provide an overview of their work in different policy areas during the Parliament. Earlier summaries of their work in individual sessions of this Parliament are available on the website of the Liaison Committee. Based on discussions with key players in the fields of education and children's services the Committee decided that their future focus would be on the long tail of underachievement in education. This theme informed their work for the remainder of the Parliament as they sought to recommend changes to close the gap between disadvantaged children and young people, and their peers

Family Law in Britain and America in the New Century

Family Law in Britain and America in the New Century
Author: John Eekelaar
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 339
Release: 2016-08-29
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9004304924

In Family Law in Britain and America in the New Century: Essays in Honor of Sanford N. Katz nineteen leading family law scholars in the US and Britain pay tribute to Sanford Katz, Darald and Juliet Libby Millennium Professor Emeritus and Professor of Law, Boston College Law School by giving a critical account of developments in family law in their jurisdictions since 2000. Areas covered include the institution of marriage, financial and property issues, parents and children, the state and children, access to justice, and international issues as well as an overview by the Editor. The volume will provide a stimulating and accessible account of the state and current direction of travel of family law in those countries.

Pre-legislative Scrutiny of the Draft Apprenticeships Bill

Pre-legislative Scrutiny of the Draft Apprenticeships Bill
Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 106
Release: 2008
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9780215525369

This is the Commitee's scrutiny of the draft Apprenticeships Bill which was published on 16 July 2008. While putting much of the current arrangements for apprenticeships onto a statutory basis, the draft Bill provides greater flexibility to allow employers to design and bring forward for approval their own apprenticeship frameworks. The extent of this flexibility was not clear as a key document, the specification of apprenticeship standards, which will determine the core components of frameworks was not published with the draft Bill. Nor did the Government set out in detail how the National Apprenticeship Service would be resourced or organised, or how the legislation would apply in Wales. These as key omissions impeded the scrutiny process. With this in mind it was concluded that in general the legislation is justified because it has the potential to strengthen the structure for apprenticeshipsin England. However there was a major concern of volume at the expense of quality.The Government must ensure that the draft Bill is re-written to promote, monitor and report on the quality of apprenticeships. Without provisions underpinning quality, the legislation risks the devaluation of apprenticeships, and employers, parents and young people as well as adults will cease to see apprenticeships as a progressive route through to a future career.