To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to improve support and transitions into adulthood for children aged 16 and 17 years old who have been assessed as being in need and are experiencing mental ill-health, domestic abuse, exploitation or substance misuse.
Answered on
16 May 2018
The government is committed to preparing vulnerable children for adult life and recognises the importance of transitions into adulthood.
We are conducting a range of work to assess and improve the support Children in Need receive, including those experiencing mental ill-health, domestic abuse, exploitation or substance misuse. The Children in Need review and call for evidence, which was launched on 16 March, is looking widely at the educational outcomes for Children in Need, and what support they need to improve those outcomes.
The Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme is also funding projects to assess how early help and contextual safeguarding can help protect adolescents and prepare them for adult life.
The government recognises the significance of specific issues which can affect all Children in Need, including those aged 16 and 17 years old and is taking action to protect and support children facing these specific issues. The government is currently consulting on a wide-reaching package of measures, legislative and non-legislative, to tackle domestic abuse, and has committed to legislation on this issue.
On exploitation, the Department for Education’s communications campaign, ‘Together We Can Tackle Child Abuse’, focused earlier this year on educating the public to spot and report where children and young people were being sexual exploited.
On Mental Health, the new Mental Health Support Teams proposed in the government’s Mental Health Green Paper will provide significant support to 16-18 year olds in schools and colleges. The Department for Education will also test how the teams can support vulnerable 16-18 year olds and other not in school or college such as those in apprenticeships and other work-based learning. Additionally, the Department of Health and Social Care are setting up a new national strategic partnership with key stakeholders focused on improving the mental health of 16-25 year olds by encouraging more coordinated action, experimentation and robust evaluation.