The Department for Education (DfE) has merged responsibilities for children’s social care and schools under new minister Kelly Tolhurst.
The DfE confirmed this week that Tolhurst would be its sixth minister with responsibility for social care in four years, three weeks after Brendan Clark-Smith left the children’s minister post to take up a role in another department. The hiatus was caused in part by the mourning period following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
As with her social care ministerial predecessors, Tolhurst’s brief will also encompass other issues concerning disadvantaged and vulnerable children, including special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and early help.
Read the full article in Community Care here.
Hundreds of English schools still at risk from crumbling concrete
Hundreds of schools in England are still at risk of collapse from crumbling concrete, according to previously unpublished figures. Official data, which the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
Thousands of young people placed in council care more than 20 miles away from home, analysis shows
A third of children in council care in 2023 lived over 20 miles away from their local area, school and family – around 4,600 people in total.
£600m boost for social care next year announced in Budget
Councils’ available spending to grow by an estimated 3.2% in real terms in 2025-26, with authorities also given £250m to test new approaches in children’s
