All documents on Children's Trusts:

• The Oneplace National Overview report (4.62 MB)

  The Oneplace National Overview report looks across the whole range of local public services and complements local reporting through Oneplace. This report, has information on Comprehensive Area Assessment, or CAA, it covers what helps and hinders improvement in local public services, to guide national and local policy makers; and provides information for local leaders and highlights examples of how their peers have overcome some of the common challenges that they face.

• Giving children a healthy start: review of health improvements in children from birth to five years (3.1 MB)

  In February 2010, the Audit Commission has issued a report on the local implementation of national policy from 1999 to 2009 on the health of children from birth to five years of age in England. The report found that recent increased focus and funding for early years has not produced widespread improvements in health outcomes. Indeed some health indicators have worsened – for example, obesity and dental health –and the health inequalities gap between rich and poor has barely changed.

• A guide to commissioning children’s services for better outcomes (2009) (323 KB)

  This guide is written for Children’s Services Directors and Children’s Trusts who are looking for practical tips and tools for commissioning. It aims to bring together innovative methods and approaches including consideration of the social rate of return on investment (SROI).

• Reaching Out: Providing Inclusive Services for Families of Children on the Autism Spectrum (2.05 MB)

  A toolkit for teachers and other education workforce professionals, including speech and language therapists, providing background information about the types of difficulties experienced and faced by some families, and including good practice guidelines that can be used to develop inclusive and accessible services. It provides pointers to professional services, to enable them to make their services inclusive to lone parents, refugees and asylum seekers, families from ethnic minority groups and families where parents are on the autism spectrum. Links are provided to a range of materials that are written in other languages.

• The Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 received Royal Assent on 12 November 2009 (1016 KB)

  The Act gives Sure Start Children’s Centres a specific statutory basis, and places new duties on LAs to establish and maintain sufficient numbers to meet local needs. This reflects current good practice, rather than creating any new requirements on local authorities or other service providers. It also provides for inspection by OFSTED. Changes will be made so that private, voluntary and independent (PVI) Early Years providers as well as maintained providers will be funded from the individual schools budget and be subject to the school funding regulations. It is also important to note that the Act strengthens Children’s Trusts by putting Children’s trust boards on a statutory footing. The Act will extend the existing duty to cooperate to promote children’s well-being to include all maintained schools, academies, SFCs, FE colleges and Jobcentre Plus. It is anticipated that there will be representation by Sure Start Children’s Centres on the trust board. Note: statutory guidance for Children’s trust boards and Sure Start Children’s Centres will be issued early in 2010.

• Out of authority placements for special educational needs (602 KB)

  This 2007 Audit Commission national report examines the costs and reasons for out of authority placements, and emphasises the need for joint commissioning.

• Services for disabled children (555 KB)

  This 2003 report from the Audit Commission was informed by extensive work with child service users amongst others. It found that limited resources where often concentrated on a small number of families with severe problems, at the expense of smaller, less expensive interventions that could make a big difference to other families where the child has less severe or complex needs. It suggested that earlier smaller interventions may also avoid poor outcomes and greater expense later.

• Person Centred Planning (2.62 MB)

  This toolkit aims to guide parents and professionals, working together, in their consideration of specific issues faced by individuals on the autism spectrum. It is adapted to be relevant to young people through their different stages of education. It has 5 sections: The key features of PCP, The tools of PCP, PCP for young people on the autism spectrum, PCP at key transition points, Getting started – a practical framework for planning, Good practice examples and Useful links. Appendices show an example of a Circle of Support, a Path example and a MAPs example.

• Autism Spectrum Disorders : Good Practice Guidance 01 Guidance on Autistic Spectrum Disorders (277 KB)

  This booklet was publishedin 2002 following the work of the Autism Working Group set up by the then DFES (now DCSF). It is part of a series of guidance publications and is intended to give practical help to those who make provision for children on the autism spectrum. Its aims are to share good practice and to encourage reflection by professionals working in this area on their practice with a view to securing improvements. The guidance is organised in two parts. The first part – sections 1-3 – offers an introduction for teachers and others on the nature of autistic spectrum disorders and the range of educational interventions used to support children with ASDs. It is intended to be read as a whole. The second part of the guidance offers a set of pointers to good practice covering aspects of educational provision for children with ASDs. It can be used by service providers as an audit tool to review and evaluate their practice and select particular aspects for development.

• Autism Spectrum Disorders : Good Practice Guidance 02 Pointers to Good Practice (377 KB)

  Published in 2002 by the DfES following the work of the Government convened Autism Working Group, and building on the reference material in Part 1 of this guidance, Part 2 provides pointers to guide service providers as they develop provision for children on the autism spectrum, learning from effective practice elsewhere. The pointers are a series of indicators that when considered help the service provider to see what has been achieved so far and what else might need to be developed. They will enable an analytical and structured approach to commissioning (planning, reviewing, delivering and improving) services, at a school, Local Authority of regional level. In includes text on ASD friendly schools; ASD friendly LAs, training; funding; ICT and many others – a document of significant help to commissioners who may need to develop more understanding of the unique impact of autism on the development of service provision.