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Information Sharing
S - Jargon Buster
S17 (Section 17) CHILDRENS ACT 1989
S47 (Section 47) CHILDREN ACT 1989
S140 (Section 140) LEARNING AND SKILLS ACT 2000
SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS (SEN)
SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS CO-ORDINATOR (SENCO)
SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS (SEN) STATEMENT
SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS (SEN) CODE OF PRACTICE
S17 (Section 17) CHILDRENS ACT 1989
Places a duty on Local Authorities to safeguard and promote welfare of children in need.
S47 (Section 47) CHILDREN ACT 1989
Section 47 of the Children Act 1989 places a duty on every local authority to make enquiries when it has ‘reasonable cause to suspect that a child who lives, or is found, in their area is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm’. These are known as Section 47 enquiries. Social services have lead responsibility for undertaking these enquiries with other agencies, in particular the police, health bodies and schools.
S140 (Section 140) LEARNING AND SKILLS ACT 2000 – See also Moving On Plan
This section places a power and a duty on the Secretary of State to make arrangements for the assessment of young people with learning difficulties and disabilities when they are undertaking or likely to undertake post-16 education or training or higher education and is supported by Government Office Action Notes providing guidance for Connexions Partnerships on their role in delivering the requirements of Section 140.
Safeguarding is the term used to describe the process of identifying children and young people who have suffered or who are likely to suffer significant harm, and taking the appropriate action to keep them safe. Section 11 of the Children Act 2004 places a duty on local authorities and other agencies to have regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children when exercising their normal duties.
This is a heath service term used to refer to specialist care services for identified health needs, typically provided in a hospital setting or following referral from a primary or community health practitioner.
Disclosure by the person to whom information has been disclosed to another agency or person for example a doctor provides information to a school and the school passes it to the local authority social services department.
Secure accommodation for young people under the age of 18 comprises: Secure Children’s Homes, Secure Training Centres, and Young Offender Institutions.
SECURE CHILDREN’S HOMES (FORMERLY KNOWN AS SECURE UNITS)
They provide accommodation for young people placed under a secure accommodation order for the protection of themselves or others (i.e. on welfare grounds), and those placed under criminal justice legislation by the Youth Justice Board. Secure Children’s Homes are used by the Youth Justice Board to accommodate the most vulnerable young offenders.
A secure accommodation order is designed to enable a local authority to place a looked after child in secure accommodation for his or her own safety, or to protect the safety of others. A court may make a secure accommodation order (under section 25 of the Children Act 1989) if the child has a history of running away and is likely to run away from any other kinds of accommodation; or if the court believes that he or she is likely to injure himself or someone else if he is not kept in secure accommodation.
Self-harm is when someone deliberately hurts or injures them selves. This can take a number of forms including cutting, taking overdoses of tablets or medicines, punching oneself, throwing their bodies against something, pulling out hair or eyelashes, scratching, picking or tearing at one's skin causing sores and scarring, burning, inhaling or sniffing harmful substances. Some young people self-harm on a regular basis while others do it just once or a few times. For some people it is part of coping with a specific problem and they stop once the problem is resolved.
Data held about an individual which contains both personal and sensitive information. There are only seven types of information detailed in the Data Protection Act 1998 that are deemed as sensitive: racial or ethnic origin, religious or other beliefs, political opinions, trade union membership, physical or mental health, sexual life and criminal proceedings or convictions. Sensitive data detailed in the Data Protection Act 1998 cannot be processed unless at least one condition from both Schedule 2 and Schedule 3 are met.
The Children Act 1989 introduced the concept of ‘significant harm’ as the threshold that justifies compulsory intervention in family life in the best interests of a child. Section 47 of this Act places a duty on a local authority to make enquiries when it has ‘reasonable cause to suspect that a child who lives, or is found, in their area is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm’.
Social exclusion is a broad term that is used to refer to the way in which groups of people or a community can effectively be excluded from society because of a combination of problems, such as unemployment, discrimination, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime rates, illness and family breakdown.
SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS (SEN)
The Education Act 1996 defines a pupil as having a special educational need if he or she has ‘a learning difficulty which calls for special educational provision to be made for him’. The Act imposes duties on schools and local education authorities to identify assess and meet children’s special educational needs. Children with special educational needs but without a statement will have their needs met through School Action or School Action Plus.
SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS CO-ORDINATOR (SENCO)
Adults in education that have responsibility for managing the effective delivery of the education psychology service, learning support, behaviour support, SEN assessment and administration, and parent support.
SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS (SEN) STATEMENT
A statement of special educational needs (SEN) sets out in detail a pupil’s special educational needs, the provision required to meet those needs, and the type and name of school that the pupil should attend. A statement can only be made by a local education authority and only after a statutory assessment of the child’s needs under section 323 of the Education Act 1996.
SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS (SEN) CODE OF PRACTICE
The SEN Code of Practice provides local education authorities, maintained schools, early education settings and other agencies, with comprehensive advice on how to carry out their statutory duties to identify, assess and provide for children’s special educational needs, and to help children with such needs to reach their full potential. The Code of Practice sets out detailed guidance for a graduated response to supporting children.
Where a school is judged by Ofsted inspectors to be failing (or likely to fail) to provide an acceptable standard of education, the school will be judged to need ‘special measures’.
This is a formal and detailed multi-agency assessment of a child’s special educational needs carried out (under section 323 of the Education Act 1996) by the local education authority.
In data protection terms this is the Data subject's formal request to a Data Controller to access the information held about them.
The procedure by which a child is formally assessed under the 1996 Education Act as having significant educational needs - the statement, which must be reviewed annually, identifies these needs and the provision necessary to meet them.
Personal data that contains information regarding race, ethnicity, political views, religious beliefs, trade union membership, health or criminal records.
SOCIAL INCLUSION
To promote the inclusion of all disadvantaged young people to a full and rewarding learning environment.
Substance misuse is the use of illegal drugs and the inappropriate use of legal drugs, including alcohol, prescription medicines and substances such as solvents. Misuse is a broad term encompassing harmful use and dependence. Although interpretations vary, broadly speaking ‘drugs’ refers to any substance that affects how we think or feel. In the UK The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 is the principle piece of legislation for the control and classification of drugs - it places restrictions on the possession and supply, production, import and export of any controlled substance - the Misuse of Drugs Act lists drugs that are subject to control and classifies them A, B and C according to the level of harm associated with their misuse.
Supervision is a method of professional and management accountability that is used by in a number of different agencies. Supervision is generally carried out through a series of regular planned meetings between a practitioner and their immediate line manager, but may also sometimes take place as a team or group activity. Monitoring performance is one of the purposes of supervision, but that is by no means its only role; supervision is also intended to promote problem solving, professional development, and to facilitate the sharing of information by providing a structured format in which practitioners can raise matters of concern that arise in everyday practice.
There are two very different types of supervision order. One is made by the family court under section 31 of the Children Act 1989; it is made on the same basis as a care order, in that the court believes that the child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm that is directly attributable to the care being provided by the child’s parents (or carers), or because the child is beyond the parents’ control. The other type of supervision order is a community sentence given to young offenders by the youth court under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. This order also requires that the young person be ‘supervised’, normally by a member of the Youth Offending Team. Its aim is to tackle the young person’s offending behaviour.
A government scheme which aims to improve the health and well-being of families and children before and from birth, so children are ready to flourish when they go to school.
Page updated: Friday, December 8, 2006 12:03 PM
