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Children and Families Act 2014

Part 5: Welfare of Children

23.Part 5 of the Act contains various provisions relating to the welfare of children, including to:

  • Repeal section 38 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1963, in relation to England and Wales, removing restrictions on the circumstances in which a local authority can issue a performance licence to a child under the age of 14;

  • Protect children and young people from tobacco and nicotine addiction;

  • Consolidate legislation relating to the rights and support for young carers and parent carers, and extend their rights to assessment;

  • Enable former looked after children to continue to live (“stay put”) with their former foster parents until age 21, if the local authority determines that it would be appropriate for them to do so and both the young person and the foster parent wish to make a “staying put” arrangement;

  • Amend section 22 of the Children Act 1989 to require local authorities in England to appoint an officer for the purpose of discharging the authority’s duty to promote the educational achievement of the children they look after;

  • Place a duty on governing bodies of maintained schools, proprietors of Academies and management committees of pupil referral units to make arrangements for supporting pupils at school with medical conditions;

  • Clarify the law in relation to the Secretary of State’s power to intervene under section 497A(4A) of the Education Act 1996 and section 50 of the Children Act 2004, where a local authority is failing to deliver children’s services to an adequate standard;

  • Support the reform of children’s homes, particularly by enabling the development of a regulation and inspection framework that sets high standards for children in residential care and offers them the support required to achieve positive outcomes;

  • Ensure that all state-funded schools – both maintained schools and Academies – have an obligation to provide free school lunches on request for all pupils in reception, year one and year two.

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