Today’s Education in the Media blog looks at funding for children’s services, the dismissal of the chief executive of the Student Loans Company and the Australian vote on equal marriage.
Children’s services
Ahead of the budget, three charities have called on the Government to make further investment into children’s services.
The Children’s Society, Action for Children and the National Children’s Bureau have called on the Chancellor to increase children’s services funding in the upcoming budget amid claims that there are disparities in spending in the richest and poorest areas.
This story has been covered by the Guardian, the Independent, BBC Online and the i.
Local authorities are in charge of how much they spend on children’s services and the money comes from their wider budgets – which amount to more than £200bn up to 2020. To help them make sure their money is well-spent, we have invested £200million into a programme to promote innovation in the sector.
A government spokesperson said:
We want every child, no matter where they live, to receive the same high quality care and support. That’s why more than £200 billion has been made available to councils for local services, including children’s services, up to 2019-20.
Councils have a duty to provide appropriate care for the children in their area, including responding to referrals. We are supporting them to deliver efficient services by investing £200 million in the Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme – this includes projects providing targeted support for children in need.
Australia equal marriage
Yesterday, Tuesday 14 November, Australia took a decisive step towards marriage equality after 61.1 per cent of voters in a national postal survey backed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics approved of a change in the law to allow same sex couples to marry.
The result will lead to consideration of a bill in parliament and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has promised legislation by Christmas.
The Government Equality Office welcomes the news, which represents a huge victory for equality.
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