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These updates provide information about the most recent progress made with the Aiming High for Disabled Children (AHDC) programme. Items are listed in date order, with the most recent first.

If you would like to receive email alerts about updates to the AHDC programme, including additions to this news page, please register and select your 'interest' as 'Aiming High for Disabled Children' (located under 'Social care, welfare, protection').

Programme headlines

Disabled children's services indicator screening survey
Work on the second disabled children's services indicator will start in July with a large-scale screening survey of parents. The screening will be sent out to 750,000 households of school aged children across England. This survey will be used to identify parents and carers of children with a wide range of disabilities to take part in the main stage questionnaire.

The main questionnaire will ask parents about their experience of local disabled children’s services (health, education, and care and family support) being delivered to the core offer standards. A research company (BMRB) has been contracted to carry out the surveys on behalf of the DCSF and the resulting indicators will be published in December.

The method of producing the indicator, based on two surveys of parents, has proved itself. A first national baseline measure of the disabled children’s services indicator was published in May 2009 showing that parents’ rating for services was 59 out of 100 and a set of sub-indicators were published in June 2009.

Further information has been developed for parents of disabled children and professional working with this group comprising of an information leaflet, a timetable of next steps for the indicator and an example of the main stage questionnaire. Email the AHDC implementation team with questions.

Transforming best practice into common practice conference
The Government's commitment to disabled children was firmly underlined at a joint Department of Health (DH) and DCSF conference held on Wednesday 3 June 2009 with three ministers attending to highlight the progress made as a result of the Aiming High for Disabled Children (AHDC) programme. Opening the conference Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families highlighted the significant growth in short breaks provision, the transformation in parental engagement and the successful recent launch of the disabled children’s services national indicator.

The conference was attended by over 200 local authority and PCT managers with responsibility for delivering on the AHDC programme at a local level. The conference showcased practice from the pathfinders and pilots across the programme and launched two publications Best practice to common practice and the Delivering the core offer standards.

The conference materials, ministers' speeches and conference presentations are available here.

National and local data on the disabled children's services national indicator (NI 54) published
A second report on the disabled children's services national indicator (NI 54), published on 10 June 2009, sets out the national and local level data on the national survey of parent’s views of services for disabled children. This report provides a breakdown of the national survey, independently undertaken by the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB), by the 15 sub-indicators (i.e. each of the five core offer standards as they apply to each of the three broad service areas of health, social care and education). The first report on the parental survey, published on 13 May 2009, stated that on average, parents rated the services for their disabled child as 59 out of 100. The national indicator updated timetable provides more detail on the next steps. For more information on the disabled children’s services national indicator and survey go to the 'AHDC core offer and national indicator' page.

New guidance on short break tender invitations
Kids and the Council for Disabled Children are issuing a practical guide, Short breaks procurement guide - advice for efficient and effective block contracting, for local authority managers and commissioners involved in seeking tenders for short breaks contracts. Through simple and practical advice, this short guide seeks to provide insight into how authorities can avoid pitfalls in their tendering processes and ensure that the market is able to respond with high quality proposals. The guide draws on the experience of Kids and other children's charities and is aimed at supporting the Aiming High for Disabled Children programme.

Parents rate local authorities on services for disabled children for the first time
On 13 May, Sarah McCarthy-Fry, Minister for Children, Schools and Families, announced the results of the first ever national survey of parents' views of services for disabled children. On average, parents rated the services for their disabled child as 59 out of 100. The overall score is based on the results of a large national survey independently undertaken by the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB). The primary purpose of the survey is to provide the 2008-09 national baseline on parental experience of services for disabled children (indicator 5 of PSA 12 Child Health and Wellbeing) as well as local baselines for 30 local authority areas (NI54 of the national indicator set) and local baselines for 21 corresponding Primary Care Trusts (VSC33 of the ‘vital signs’ indicator set). The overall score reflects parental experience of three sectors (health, education and social care) against each of the five AHDC core offer standards (information, transparency, assessment, participation and feedback) for services provided to disabled children. A full report by the contractor, BMRB, will be published on the AHDC website in June.

Individual Budget pilots announced
In March 2009 a small number of LAs along with their PCT partners were invited to apply to pilot AHDC Individual Budgets (IB) for families with disabled children. The pilot sites have now been selected. Each site will offer IBs to a target number of families with disabled children. While offering IBs to the full range of eligible children and families, each site will also have identified a beneficiary group upon whom they wish to focus. More information on the pilot sites is available here.

Healthy Lives, Brighter Futures: The strategy for children and young people's health: Disabled children, and safeguarding for all
The Secretaries of State for Health and for Children, Schools and Families have written to PCT chairs about the announced funding for disabled children within PCT allocations. The funding is part of the strategy for children and young people's health. A second letter from the Chief Nursing Officer and David Flory gives chief executives further detail. The letters are available to dowload from the Department of Health website.

Transition Support Programme funding 2009–10
From April 2009, funding of £10,000 and support will be provided to every local area to help build multi-agency engagement into planning processes. The funding will also enable greater engagement with young people about access to recreation facilities, training and work as well as completion of an annual questionnaire. In light of responses from this year's questionnaire three differentiated bands of support are available to local areas:

1. direct grant and support from the national transition team to develop best practice and drive change in other areas

2. regional-adviser days, to help promote use of networks and best practice, from the National Strategies and the Child Health and Maternity Partnerships (formerly CSIP)

3. regional-adviser support days, to move practice on from minimum standards, from the National Strategies and the Child Health and Maternity Partnerships.

For more information, visit the Transition Support Programme website.

New disabled children's services national indicator leaflets
Two leaflets, one for stakeholders and one for parents, have been produced to give further information on the disabled children's services national indicator (NI 54) and the indicator survey. NI 54 will look at parental experiences of services for disabled children and young people aged 0 to 19.

Second phase of the AHDC parent participation grant programme is now open
The second phase of the AHDC parent participation grant programme is now open – applications must be made by 15 May 2009. Over the year 2009/10, £2 million of grants and adviser support will be available to develop parent participation activity across England. One hundred and forty-five LA areas have already received grants through the first phase of the parent participation grant process. Full information and application details are available from the Together for Disabled Children (TDC) website.

National framework for assessing children and young people's continuing care
Responses to the consultation on a National framework for assessing children and young people's continuing care closed on 31 December 2008. All 170 responses are currently being considered and the Government intends to publish a response to the consultation in April and to publish the final version of the framework by the end of May 2009.

Child Health Strategy
The Department of Health has published the Child Health Strategy Healthy lives, brighter futures, which states that £340 million has been given to primary care trusts (PCTs) for disabled children from 2008–2011. This is in addition to the £340 million revenue funding allocated to LAs through the Aiming High for Disabled Children programme and the £90 million capital funding from the Children's Plan bringing the Government's total funding allocation for disabled children to £770 million.

Local areas show their commitment to improving transition support
Almost 100 per cent of local areas have completed the national transition support team (NTST) self-assessment questionnaire (SAQ) by the deadline of 30 January 2009. The purpose of the SAQ is to help identify how well each local area is working towards or beyond offering basic standards in transition services. The information will help NTST to identify the level of support each local area needs to build on their existing transition services. Information from the SAQs will be used along with other data to complete a report for Government with recommendations of what level of support and funding would benefit each local area. The deadline for completing the SAQ has now passed; to find out more about the SAQ visit the NTST self-assessment questionnaire webpage. For more information on the Transition Support Programme, visit the 'AHDC transition support' page or the Transition Support Programme website.

Valuing people now: A new three-year strategy for people with learning disabilities
The Government has published which sets out the Government's strategy for people with learning disabilities for the next three years following consultation. It also responds to the main recommendations in Healthcare for All, the independent inquiry into access to healthcare for people with learning disabilities.

NHS operating framework for 2009/10
The NHS operating framework for 2009/10 sets out NHS priorities for 2009/10 and will help deliver Lord Darzi's vision of an NHS that has quality at the heart of everything it does, as set out in his report High quality care for all. The framework will allow the NHS to focus on ensuring care is safe, compassionate and personal to patients.

NHS Constitution
The NHS Constitution offers, for the first time, a set of NHS-wide values created with the help of patients, the public and staff. The draft NHS Constitution now records in one place what the NHS does, what it stands for and what it should live up to. It sets out principles to guide how all parts of the NHS should act and make decisions.

The secretary of state's 2008 report on disability equality
The first ever secretary of state's report on progress towards disability equality from the DCSF was published on 1 December 2008. The report not only describes what is happening within the DCSF to promote disability equality but also what the entire sector is doing. The DCSF report is structured around the Department's Public Service Agreements (PSAs) and one Departmental Strategic Objective (DSO7), as well as priorities identified by disabled children and young people and their families, and disabled adults. It celebrates the impact of the 2006 Disability Equality Duty but also says how the DCSF will help the sector to make more and better differences in future. For more information and to download the report visit this DCSF webpage.

Better communication action plan published
The Government has published Better communication: An action plan to improve services for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs in response to the Bercow Review of services for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). For more information visit the SLCN web pages.

DCSF minister launches Transition Support Programme (TSP)
Sarah McCarthy-Fry, Minister for Schools and Learners, formally launched the Aiming High for Disabled Children Transition Support Programme (TSP) for pdisabled young people aged 14–19 on 2 December 2008. During the launch the minister confirmed that every LA area is receiving £10,000 to assess their current support for transition, including drawing in the views of young people and families and completing a self-assessment questionnaire. In addition, 13 LAs are receiving an extra £37,500 to develop their existing good practice. For more information on the programme, visit the AHDC transition support page or Transition Support Programme website.

Invitation to tender for research on disabled children's short break provision
The DCSF intends to commission a cost–benefit analysis of disabled children's short-break provision, incorporating: an evaluation of the impact of short break provision in promoting severely disabled children's wellbeing; and an evaluation of the financial costs and financial benefits of short break provision for disabled children. The research accompanies a major increase in expenditure by the Government on disabled children's short-break provision through the Aiming High for Disabled Children (AHDC) programme. The closing date for submissions is 2 January 2009. For more information visit the DCSF research pages.

Individual Budgets scoping report published
The DCSF has published the Individual Budgets (IB) for families with disabled children scoping report. As part of the AHDC programme, the DCSF commissioned a scoping study to inform the development of the IB pilot programme, which is due to commence in late 2008 to early 2009. For more information, go to the IB programme section found in the Other areas of work section.

National transition support team announced
The Council for Disabled Children and partners will act as the national transition support team for the AHDC Transition Support Programme (TSP). The programme will seek to raise the standards of transition in all local areas. For more information on the programme, visit the AHDC transition support page or the Transition Support Programme website.

Parent Participation Grants programme launched
As part of the Aiming High for Disabled Children (AHDC) programme, the Government committed £5 million to support parent involvement over the next three years. The Parent Participation Grants programme has now been launched by the DCSF. Over the first two years of the programme (2008–2010), £3 million will be available through a programme of grants and support from Together for Disabled Children to develop parent participation activities in each LA area across England. For further information visit the Together for Disabled Children website.

Childcare Pilot launch
On Friday, 5 September 2008, the Childcare Division hosted the first meeting of the National Learning Set for the Disabled Children's Access to Childcare (DCATCH) programme. Nine of the LAs from the first wave of pilots attended. Introductory presentations from the Childcare and Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Division, and group discussions around proposed 'success criteria' for the pilots took place on the day. For more information on the childcare pilots visit the AHDC childcare pages.

AHDC: Short breaks Implementation Guidance
The DCSF and Department of Health have issued joint AHDC Short breaks implementation guidance for primary care trusts (PCTs) and LAs. The guidance informs the transformation of short-break provision over the next three years and should be read in conjunction with other AHDC resources. PCTs should also consider this guidance in shaping their response to the 2008/09 NHS operating framework priorities. For further information, please read the cover letter regarding associated funding announcements.

AHDC: Transforming services conference materials
These materials, from the conference held on 15 May 2008, include a conference report, PowerPoint presentations, the speech by Ed Balls MP, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, and the DCSF press release.

National support body announced
Ed Balls MP, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, recently announced Together for Disabled Children as the national support body for the Aiming High for Disabled Children programme. Together for Disabled Children is a coalition between Serco and Contact a Family. The body will support LAs and PCTs in transforming their short-break provision for disabled children and their families and in securing excellent parental engagement in disabled children's service design and delivery through parent forums and other forms of participation.

Transforming services conference
At a major national conference in London on 15 May 2008, Ed Balls MP, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, made a series of important announcements on the delivery of the Aiming High for Disabled Children programme. For further information, read the DCSF press release and the Secretary of State's speech.

Joint APPG meeting
On Tuesday 6 May 2008, DCSF Minister Andrew Adonis addressed a parliamentary meeting led by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Children to give an update on progress towards implementing the Aiming High for Disabled Children programme. For further information, read the speech on the DCSF website.

Extending inclusion
The Council for Disabled Children has published Extending Inclusion, a good-practice guide designed to support managers, staff and their partners working to improve access to children's centres and extended schools for disabled children and young people. This project was funded by DCSF.

Transition: Moving on well
The Department of Health has published Transition: Moving on well, good-practice guidance for health professionals and their partners on transition planning for young people with neurodisabilities moving into adulthood.

New strategy for children's palliative care
The Department of Health has launched a new strategy for children's palliative care services, backed with a £20 million grant from 2009–2011 for hospices and hospice-at-home care.