Childrens and Learners Division

The Government Office for London's Children and Learners Division is the Department for Children Schools and Families' team in London.  It supports the implementation of Every Child Matters: Change for Children in the capital. 

The division's strategic priorities include:

• Providing robust support and evidence based challenge to local areas in delivering improved outcomes for children and young people across London
• To influence the regional landscape in favour of children and young people ensuring better alignment of government strategies and regionalised priorities
• To deliver a place based agenda that utilises processes outlined in the local government white paper (October 2006) to deliver improved outcomes for children and young people
• To lead the way regionally in the delivery of a ‘whole system reform’ for children’s services
• To develop a robust team and division that adds significant value to the GO and is respected and valued by partners
• Supporting the youth crime prevention agenda – London Youth Crime Prevention Board (see Hot Topics)
• Supporting the regional public health agenda 
  
  
  Every Child Matters: Change for Children, was published by the government in 2004, setting out wide ranging reforms in the delivery of local authority services to children and young people (aged 0 –19). Reform based on principles such as the integration of services, reform to the workforce and improvements in information sharing.
  
  We aim to provide both support and challenge to local authorities in their delivery of Every Child Matters; Change for Children and subsequent policy, including (but not only) Youth Matters (July 2005), Care Matters (October 2006) and the Children’s Plan (December 2007), which develop policies to improve outcomes for sections of England’s young population.
  
  The Strategic Engagement Cycle (dowload here) sets out the landmark stages during the year through which we will carry out our role. 
  
  We launched the Young London Matters initiative in October 2006 to address the issues effecting London’s most vulnerable children and young people and overcome some of the London-specific barriers to the successful implementation of Every Child Matters. 

 For in depth coverage of our work visit the Resource Centre.