[The Slim Reaper]

[The Slim Reaper]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-55057126

England's education secretary acted unlawfully in scrapping a string of legal protections for children in care, Appeal Court judges have ruled.

They said Gavin Williamson should have consulted England's children's commissioner and other groups, before scrapping 65 safeguards for children.

The court said consulting such bodies would have been "manifestly in the interest of vulnerable children".

The government says it is disappointed by the ruling.

'Substantial changes'
Children's rights group Article 39 mounted the challenge against what it called a "bonfire of children's rights" after the government changed the rules safeguarding children through the Adoption and Children (Coronavirus) (Amendment) regulations in April.

Parliament did not debate the changes which were introduced in April.

The legal challenge came after a lengthy battle between the government, peers, opposition MPs and children's rights groups over attempts to push through the changes which cover the rights to support for children in care. The High Court previously ruled in the government's favour.

Government challenged on children's rights
Ministers' U-turn over children's rights
'Bonfire of children's rights' opposed
The regulations affected included legal timescales for social-worker visits to children in care, six-monthly reviews of children's welfare, independent scrutiny of children's homes and senior officer oversight of adoption decision-making for babies and children.

The protections affected also cover disabled children having short breaks and children in care sent many miles away from home.

The government had argued in an earlier court hearing that these changes were "minor bureaucratic burdens", but the Appeal Court said the alterations to children's rights were "substantial and wide-ranging".

After the government review of the legislation was begun in February, Department for Education officials had private telephone, email and face-to-face conversations with adoption agencies, private providers and local government bodies.

'One-sided'
But bodies representing children and young people affected by the changes were not consulted, and the children's commissioner - the statutory protector of children's issues - was not informed until after the changes went through.

Announcing the ruling, Lord Justice Baker said: "I can find nothing about the circumstances that existed in March 2020 to justify the secretary of state's decision (if indeed any conscious decision was made) to exclude the children's commissioner and other bodies representing the rights of children in care from the consultation on which he embarked.

"He decided to undertake a rapid informal consultation, substantially by email."

'Potentially misleading'
He said he found it appropriate for the consultation to be carried out that way because of the circumstances of the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

"But having decided to undertake the consultation, there was no good reason why that process should not have included the children's commissioner and the other bodies," he said.

"On the contrary, there were very good reasons why they should have been included."

Lord Baker said it was "potentially misleading" for the government to claim their actions were "broadly endorsed by the sector".

The children's commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, said she would be seeking urgent assurances from the DfE that this would not be repeated in future.

Carolyne Willow, director of Article 39, called the government's actions "shameful, both in the scale of the protections they took away from very vulnerable children in England and the way they went about it".

"This should draw to a close back-room, secret government consultations which exclude the rights , views and experiences of children and young people."

A DfE spokesman said: "Protecting vulnerable children has been at the heart of our response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and our intention has always been to act in their best interests.

"We took swift action to bring in temporary changes during a national crisis, all of which have now expired.

"We will continue working with the Children's Commissioner and children's charities to provide the best possible support to vulnerable children."

[arista]

Yes an Error
soon to be corrected

[Ammi]

...it wasn’t an error, Arista...it was a purposeful act and found to be unlawfully done because it went through an Appeals Court...that isn’t ‘an error and correction’....to have a ruling from a court that it was unlawful...

[joeysteele]

Originally Posted by Ammi

...it wasn’t an error, Arista...it was a purposeful act and found to be unlawfully done because it went through an Appeals Court...that isn’t ‘an error and correction’....to have a ruling from a court that it was unlawful...

It certainly wasn't just an error.
You are right Ammi.

[The Slim Reaper]

[arista]

Well done Carole.

[arista]

[arista]

[The Slim Reaper]

[Mystic Mock]

Originally Posted by arista

The Cock Inn.

[The Slim Reaper]

[arista]

Originally Posted by The Slim Reaper

No we are not Bankrupt

[The Slim Reaper]

Originally Posted by arista

No we are not Bankrupt

It's a rhetorical question.

[Kizzy]

I'd like an explanation as to why we aren't... Are we only bankrupt if the tories say so?

[The Slim Reaper]

A national front poster from the 70's that is basically the tory manifesto.
But of course, the guy who wanted to ask the uber wealthy to pay a bit more in taxes was the extremist.

[Stu]

Bit flustered...

[arista]

Originally Posted by Stu

Bit flustered...

Yes at least no swear words

[arista]

Look Fella, your sign is not good
for kids

[arista]

For Slim.

[The Slim Reaper]

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/13...es-resignation

Tory chief resigns after claiming A&E full of 'fat mums' with 'snot-covered Asbo' children

A TORY chief has resigned after claiming A&E departments were full of "fat mums in Pot Noodle-stained leggings" with their "snot-covered Asbo" children.

Constituency Conservative chairman Gareth Baines claimed women were taking their children into hospital to gain sympathetic “Facebook likes”. Mr Baines later apologised and quit as a chairman of the Clwyd South Conservative Association after several tweets about the NHS. But he remains a councillor.

In one message on New Year’s Eve, Mr Baines wrote: “A&Es in Germany aren’t full of fat mums in Pot Noodle-stained leggings/PJs taking their kids for a day out at A&E to harvest Facebook likes because their darling little snot-covered Asbo fell over.”

In another post, he said: “Our NHS is treated as a sacred cow and cannot be criticised.

“Those arguing for reform are deemed to be Satan incarnate. I’m sorry, but after spending most of my life working on the continent, the NHS isn’t the best in the world – it isn’t one of the best in Europe. Pales when compared with *systems like Germany and Norway.”

Mr Baines – who claims to have an honorary doctorate in business administration – has not quit his role as a councillor representing Chirk Town Council, near Wrexham in North Wales. He later claimed that his comments had been “taken out of *context”.



Mr Baines acted as an agent for Clwyd South MP Simon Baynes in the 2019 election and rival politicians urged him to take action.

Former Lib Dem council *candidate Aimi Waters wrote to Mr Baynes, saying: “As I’m sure you have recently seen on social media, the chair of our local Conservative group in Clwyd South, Mr Gareth Baines, has made some very *unsavoury remarks about mothers and their children in A&E waiting rooms.

“Whilst I understand you cannot possibly comment on certain things, and you cannot control what someone else does, you are able to comment on a member of the local Conservative group – a member who is relatively high *profile and actually represents people in the community too.”

The Welsh Labour Party said: “This is terrible and shows what he really thinks about the people who use the NHS.”

Mr Baines said in a statement: “Whilst I feel my comments have been taken out of context, I do offer my sincere apologies for any offence they may have caused.

“I have also taken the decision to step down from my role as chairman of Clwyd South Conservative Association with immediate effect.”

[The Slim Reaper]

He didn't want any part of broadband communism

[arista]

[The Slim Reaper]

[Tom4784]

The tories love to go out of their way to prove they are rancid rotting ***** at every opportunity, don't they?