Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vulnerable adolescents

Select Committee
Public Accounts Committee HC 730 22 February 2023
Report Status Response document linked Recorded deadline: 22 Apr 2023

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Conclusions & Recommendations 26 items (14 recs)
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Government response
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirty seventh report from Session 2022-23 · published 30 May 2023
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Recommendations & Conclusions

26 results
2 Recommendation
There is reluctant leadership of the challenges faced by vulnerable adolescents which undermines ownership of...
Recommendation
There is reluctant leadership of the challenges faced by vulnerable adolescents which undermines ownership of the problem. The Department for Education reluctantly confirmed that it is ultimately responsible for ‘holding the ring’ across Whitehall on vulnerable adolescents. However, it is … Read more
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3 Recommendation
Critical local multi-agency safeguarding partnerships are still not working well enough, which risks those vulnerable...
Recommendation
Critical local multi-agency safeguarding partnerships are still not working well enough, which risks those vulnerable adolescents that need support and help falling through the gaps. While in some places multi-agency safeguarding partnerships may work well, in other places, sadly, they … Read more
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4 Recommendation
It is not clear how lessons and learning from changing threats, serious case reviews and...
Recommendation
It is not clear how lessons and learning from changing threats, serious case reviews and child safeguarding review panels are embedded in day-to-day practice. Time and again reviews into child deaths highlight poor coordination between services, including insufficient joined-up leadership … Read more
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5 Recommendation
We are extremely concerned about the waiting time for children to receive support for mental...
Recommendation
We are extremely concerned about the waiting time for children to receive support for mental health issues and about the proportion of adolescent girls seeking help. A survey found nearly 1 in 5 of 6- to 16-year-olds in England had … Read more
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6 Recommendation
The Ministry of Justice and Home Office seem to lack curiosity about the increase in...
Recommendation
The Ministry of Justice and Home Office seem to lack curiosity about the increase in the proportion of children from ethnic minority background in youth custody and appear to have no current plan to address the situation. While the number … Read more
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7 Recommendation
Data sharing exercises need to be better used to understand the support vulnerable adolescents need.
Recommendation
Data sharing exercises need to be better used to understand the support vulnerable adolescents need. The poor outcomes experienced by vulnerable adolescents are often overlapping. For example, 72% of children sentenced in 2019–20 were assessed as having mental health concerns. … Read more
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1 Conclusion
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, in November 2022...
Conclusion
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, in November 2022 we took evidence from the Department for Education, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice about … Read more
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8 Recommendation
The NAO report collates for the first time a wide range of information from across...
Recommendation
The NAO report collates for the first time a wide range of information from across government about the adverse outcomes facing the most vulnerable adolescents. The Department for Education told us it would be challenging to report across government on … Read more
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9 Conclusion
Activities to support vulnerable adolescents cut across at least seven different government departments.16 The Department...
Conclusion
Activities to support vulnerable adolescents cut across at least seven different government departments.16 The Department for Education confirmed to us that it is ultimately responsible for ‘holding the ring’ on vulnerable adolescents and has an overarching responsibility for children and … Read more
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10 Conclusion
We were told government’s approach is to meet the need of many young people through...
Conclusion
We were told government’s approach is to meet the need of many young people through focusing on individual programmes and focusing their join up on those who have complex and overlapping needs.22 The NAO found that while departments work together … Read more
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11 Conclusion
Multi-agency safeguarding partnerships started in 2019, aimed at joining up local NHS, policing, and local...
Conclusion
Multi-agency safeguarding partnerships started in 2019, aimed at joining up local NHS, policing, and local authority services to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children in their area.25 In May 2022, three years after they started, the Child Safeguarding … Read more
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12 Conclusion
The three statutory partners (police, health, and local authorities) of multi-agency safeguarding partnerships’ have a...
Conclusion
The three statutory partners (police, health, and local authorities) of multi-agency safeguarding partnerships’ have a shared and equal duty to protect children and young people. We asked who in the system has responsibility for children who fall through the gaps … Read more
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13 Conclusion
We asked the Department for Education what is being done to review multi-agency safeguarding partnerships...
Conclusion
We asked the Department for Education what is being done to review multi-agency safeguarding partnerships to ensure they work better and to stop horrific events, such as the cases of Star Hobson and Arthur Labinjo-Hughes from recurring. The Department for … Read more
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14 Conclusion
At 31 March 2021, there were 53,790 adolescents in care between the ages of 9...
Conclusion
At 31 March 2021, there were 53,790 adolescents in care between the ages of 9 and 17, making up 67% of the total care population. Between 31 March 2014 and 31 March 2021 the number of 9- to 17-year-olds in … Read more
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15 Conclusion
The Department for Education explained that the care system was originally set up to address...
Conclusion
The Department for Education explained that the care system was originally set up to address issues that originate from within the home and was not designed to address ‘extra- familial’ harms that take place outside the home.37 It said that … Read more
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16 Conclusion
The national Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, set up to commission reviews of serious child...
Conclusion
The national Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, set up to commission reviews of serious child safeguarding cases, has consistently highlighted cases in which poor coordination between services, including insufficient joined-up leadership and a lack of appropriate and timely information-sharing around … Read more
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17 Conclusion
In 2021, a NHS survey showed nearly 1 in 5 of 6- to 16-year-olds in...
Conclusion
In 2021, a NHS survey showed nearly 1 in 5 of 6- to 16-year-olds in England had a probable mental health disorder. The survey also found that almost 40% had experienced a deterioration in mental health since 2017 and 13.5% … Read more
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18 Recommendation
We asked the Department for Education what it considers it can do to support young...
Recommendation
We asked the Department for Education what it considers it can do to support young girls with their mental health. It told us that it ensures the work it does with the Department of Health and Social Care is built … Read more
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19 Recommendation
The Department for Education also spoke about an NHS England consultation, which closed early in...
Recommendation
The Department for Education also spoke about an NHS England consultation, which closed early in 2022, on introducing waiting time standards for community and A&E mental health care.48 The new standards would comprise a 24-hour standard for urgent community mental … Read more
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20 Recommendation
Between 2010–11 and 2020–21, the number of children cautioned or sentenced for an offence reduced...
Recommendation
Between 2010–11 and 2020–21, the number of children cautioned or sentenced for an offence reduced from 85,300 to 15,751 (an 82% reduction) and the number of first- time entrants to the youth criminal justice system reduced from 46,012 to 8,848 … Read more
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21 Recommendation
Whilst the number of children in youth custody across all ethnicities has reduced (by 73%)...
Recommendation
Whilst the number of children in youth custody across all ethnicities has reduced (by 73%) between 2010–11 and 2020–21, the proportion from ethnic minority backgrounds has increased (from 32% to 53%).54 Furthermore, the Ministry of Justice drew our attention to … Read more
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22 Recommendation
When asked about its plans, the Home Office acknowledged that nobody should be targeted by...
Recommendation
When asked about its plans, the Home Office acknowledged that nobody should be targeted by the police on the basis of their ethnicity, or any other factor linked to their background. It told us that it works with communities to … Read more
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23 Recommendation
The poor outcomes experienced by vulnerable adolescents are often overlapping.
Recommendation
The poor outcomes experienced by vulnerable adolescents are often overlapping. For example, we received written evidence highlighting research which shows people who have been in care are more likely to experience homelessness, long-term physical and 53 Q 39 54 C&AG’s … Read more
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24 Conclusion
The NAO found that Government data sets are not consistently joined-up, which makes it difficult...
Conclusion
The NAO found that Government data sets are not consistently joined-up, which makes it difficult to understand the nature and scale of the adverse impacts faced by adolescents, particularly where these are overlapping adverse outcomes. This makes it harder to … Read more
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25 Conclusion
The Department for Education and Ministry of Justice referred to a joint data sharing exercise...
Conclusion
The Department for Education and Ministry of Justice referred to a joint data sharing exercise they carried out in 2020 to understand the educational and children’s social care background of children who have been cautioned or sentenced for an offence. … Read more
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26 Recommendation
The government have plans to join up more data sets.
Recommendation
The government have plans to join up more data sets. For example, the Department for Education told us about work it has planned to link anonymised data on education, hospital admissions, mental health services, community services and maternity services. In … Read more
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