The Children Act 2004 became law in November 2004. It aims to improve outcomes for all 181,500 children and young people - from birth to the age of 19 - across Nottinghamshire.
This means that we need to work together to make sure that they:
- are healthy
- enjoy and achieve, academically and socially
- stay safe from accidents, abuse or criminal activity
- are free from poverty.
The Act is part of the wider Government, 'Change for Children: Every Child Matters' agenda, which includes the Five Year Strategy for Education; 'Choice for Parents: the best start for children - the ten year childcare strategy'; the Children's National Service Framework and the Public Health White Paper - Choosing Health.
Under the Children Act we have a lead member and director of services for children and young people
The director of services for children and young people has three key roles:
- professional responsibility and accountability for the effectiveness, availability and value for money of all local authority children’s services
- leadership within the local authority to secure and sustain the necessary changes to culture and practice and beyond the Authority so that services improve outcomes for all and are organised around children and young people’s needs
- building effective partnerships with other children’s service providers to improve outcomes for children and young people.
The lead member’s role mirrors the director's role, having:
- political accountability for the effectiveness, availability and value for money of all local authority children’s services
- leadership to engage and encourage local communities to improve children’s services and to ensure that services, both within the local authority and across partner organisations, improve outcomes for all
- a particular focus on safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children across all agencies.
The director of services and lead member are accountable for:
- education services – the authority’s functions in its capacity as a local education authority social services – the authority’s social services functions insofar as they relate to children, and the local authority’s functions for children and young people leaving care
- health services – functions exercised by the authority on behalf of an NHS body insofar as they relate to children
- inter-agency co-operation – the new functions in the Children Act to build and lead the arrangements for inter-agency co-operation.
You can find out more about the Children Act 2004 by looking on the DfES website.
