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Parliamentary Newsletters
Since the beginning of 2020 we have been sending out a monthly roundup of recent news and evidence related to children's health and wellbeing to all MPs, with very positive feedback from busy politicians and practitioners who appreciate the summaries and links. Please click on the date to download each issue.
January 2021 - Issue 12 (or click here for the large print version)
- The Online Harms Bill
- Children's Rights are being eroded
- Junk Food promotions to be restricted from 2022
- Free School Meals Holiday Extension - Good news - it's a good start!
- Comprehensive Spending Review - Welcome funding for children's mental health
- Early Years Provision - Two thirds predicted to close
- Free School Meals Holiday Extension - We haven't given up!
- Mental Health - More and more attention is being paid to the mental health toll on children
- Poverty - New data shows child provery had increased even before the pandemic began
- Food Poverty - We launch our Red Apple campaign to #endchildfoodpoverty
- Mental Health - Calls for a Covid-19 Recovery Mental Health Strategy for Children
- Online Harms - Google and Facebook under pressure to ban children's ads; an investigation into loot boxes; a Westminster Hall debate
- Health and Wellbeing - The Children's Society's Good Childhood 2020 Report
- Inequality - The educational attainment gap has stopped narrowing
- Good news from Scotland - the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to be enshrined in Scottish Law
- School Meals in Holidays - following the success of our campaign to extend school food provision over the summer we are now pushing to make that arrangement permanent
- Early Years - one in four EY settings are predicted to close within the year, according to an Early Years Alliance Report
- Mental Health - More depressing news from several sources about the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of our youngsters
- The Announcement of a New Obesity Strategy - A cautious welcome, but more is needed
- School Food Holiday Provision - Calls for an extension beyond the holidays
- Childcare and Early Years - Children's Commissioner calls for an overhaul
- Holiday Hunger - the campaign to extend school food provision over the summer holidays continues and gathers pace
- Playgrounds - as lockdown restrictions are eased for adult activities, what thought has been given to the vital topic of children's play?
- Inequality - Sir Michael Marmot calls for post-Covid policies to create societies that are truly better than before, with the principle of equality embracing children
- Mental Health - a Young Minds survey found into the mental health impact of the Coronavirus crisis makes for depressing reading
- Children and Covid-19 - in spite of being at lower risk of catching the virus, the hidden victims of the pandemic are children in many different ways
- Food Voucher Delays - chaos seemed to be the norm in April for the school food replacement scheme
- Covid-19 - The lockdown began in earnest on 23 March and concerns immediately emerged about home-schooling, play and food insecurity
- Mental Health - there has been an increase in the number of children living with one or more parents with emotional distress
- Online Child Abuse - a harrowing report on the dark areas of the internet
- Mental Health - During Child Mental Health week, there were calls for "a children's wellbeing commissioner . . . with real teeth"; for mental health legislation to focus on children; and a report that the number of schools buying in support has doubled;
- Child Protection - a call for "joined-up policies"
- Obesity - the outgoing Chief Medical Officer for England calls time on childhood obesity, while a study finds that more than simply increasing activity is needed to combat overweight in children
- Online Protection - Various calls and news around internet safety
