One Plus One

Comments

Research And Policy News

Current research and policy news from Government departments, research centres, publishers, and relationships and family organisations, along with links to further information.

Subscribe to our RSS news feed

December 2006

21 December 2006

Christmas keeps migrants linked to their families

New research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has discovered how migrant families are able to bridge international divides to celebrate Christmas with their loved ones. Dr Tracey Reynolds and Dr Elisabetta Zontini, of the ESRC's Families and Social Capital research group, have highlighted how Caribbean and Italian families use Christmas to reinforce cultural and family ties both at home and with family members thousands of miles away.

20 December 2006

New support for domestic violence victims

A major new drive to help prevent victims of domestic violence from being forced out of their own homes with their families being uprooted and made homeless has been announced by Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly. She wants every local authority in the country to offer Sanctuary Schemes to their residents, as one of a range of options to support women's choices. A sanctuary scheme will provide a safe room within a home fitted with safety measures, including alarms, mortice locks, security lights, reinforced door frames and CCTV. This will give the victim the confidence and security to stay in their own home, if they wish, where their partner no longer lives them.

20 December 2006

National Audit Office report on Sure Start Children's Centres

Sure Start Children's Centres are valued by most of the families who use them according to a report from the National Audit Office. The families reached by children's centres are some of the most disadvantaged, though early signs are that more still needs to be done to reach and support some of the most excluded groups.

18 December 2006

British people spend over £4 billion on divorce

Research by Norwich Union entitled Cost of Divorce, reveals that spending on break-ups has doubled in three years. The research reveals that failed marriages are costing the nation £4.3 billion, almost two thirds of which (£2.5 billion) being funded by couples' personal savings. On average a couple spends £28,000 when a marriage ends, twice the amount spent in 2003.

18 December 2006

Proposals for revised law on assisted reproduction

Public Health Minister Caroline Flint has published the Government's proposals for a major overhaul of the law on assisted human reproduction and embryo research. The proposals include a statutory ban on sex selection for non-medical reasons, explicit rules for embryo screening, and more scope for embryo research.

18 December 2006

Potential ban on computer generated images of child abuse

The Home Secretary chaired his first meeting of the Task Force on Child Protection on the Internet at which he said that he is consulting cabinet colleagues about how a ban on the possession of computer generated images of child abuse may be put into practice. The Home Secretary also announced that the Task Force has developed an industry standard to help parents protect their children. By the spring all parental control software that meets the minimum requirements will have a BSI Kitemark giving parents the confidence that the product they have chosen is effective and simple to use.

18 December 2006

Better outcomes of children and young people in the family courts

CAFCASS, the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service has issued a consultation paper outlining its plans to deliver better outcomes for children and young people in the family courts by redirecting more resources to the frontline. The consultation paper, Outlining for Quality, sets out a programme for CAFCASS to deliver in full by 2010.

18 December 2006

Grandparents link with church-going

People are more likely to attend religious services if their grandparents did, according to a new study at the University of Manchester.

15 December 2006

White Paper on child maintenance

Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton has set out far-reaching proposals to replace the Child Support Agency with a tough new organisation to deliver a radically different system of child maintenance. Led by a new Commissioner for Child Maintenance, the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (C-MEC) would deliver a simpler and more effective way of assessing, collecting and enforcing child maintenance and is one of the proposals set out in the Government's White Paper, A new system of child maintenance.

12 December 2006

More than 15,500 civil partnerships formed

Same-sex couples formed 15,672 civil partnerships in the UK between December 2005 and the end of September 2006, according to provisional figures released by the Office for National Statistics. Of these, 14,084 took place in England, 537 in Wales, 942 in Scotland and 109 in Northern Ireland.

11 December 2006

New report from the Conservatives - Breakdown Britain

The Social Justice Policy Group chaired by Iain Duncan Smith, former Conservative party leader, has launched a report on Britain's social problems including studying the impact of family breakdown.

08 December 2006

Links between child support and parent-child contact

According to recent research by John Ermish, greater success in enforcing payments of child-support may actually reduce fathers' contact with their children. It is argued however, that it is possible that the gain in income and the reduction in contact will make life better for the child.

08 December 2006

Pre-budget report

In Chancellor Gordon Brown's tenth pre-budget report he specified the importance of addressing child poverty as well as providing help for pregnant women. Along with these statements of intent he also announced that reviews on children and disability, issues of social care and local regeneration will report in the coming year.

06 December 2006

Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre publishes initial findings

Social Networking sites are rapidly becoming central to the way young people forge relationships but in doing so have triggered significant public concern for child welfare, reveals a new Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) report. As the first step in addressing this, the CEOP Centre held a series of seminars attended by parents, young people, teachers, police officers, social workers, industry representatives and other key stakeholders. The aim was to find out more about their experiences of these sites and identify and issues or concerns they may have regarding personal security in the online environment.

News for all months

2010

January	February	March	April
May	June	July	August
September

2009

January	February	March	April
May	June	July	August
September	October	November	December

2008

January	February	March	April
May	June	July	August
September	October	November	December

2007

January	February	March	April
May	June	July	August
September	October	November	December

2006

January	February	March	April
May	June	July	August
September	October	November	December

2005

July	August	September	October
November	December