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(Continued from previous page) Finally, do you not see how great an affront it is to families to have as your logo {Note: this is contained in Connexions' letterhead}the statement that "Connexions is the best start in life for every young person"? It demeans the whole concept of the family and epitomises the separation between parents and their children that seems to permeate the Connexions service. Such separation is fundamentally in breach of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The best start in life for any young person is within a family, not a government agency, and in our view, families should be supported, not subverted. Rather than supplanting parents' care, government resources would be better concentrated upon eradicating the root cause of social exclusion and alienation: the poverty ? and concomitant distress ? within which millions of families in the UK struggle to exist. Yours Sincerely Terri Dowty Connexions reply to ARCH 21.12.02 Dear Terri, Thank you for your letter of 28 November. I am sorry that you decided not to take up my offer of a meeting, as we do not seem to be reaching an understanding in writing. I do not intend, in this letter, to clarify points I have previously made. I would however like to address your point that Ofsted "has voiced the same concerns about data sharing, and about the training, supervision and skills of Personal Advisers." Ofsted did make points related to these areas, but their concerns were that these were underdeveloped, not that there was information being misused. Many of the Connexions partnerships inspected had only been operational for a number of weeks. I have confirmed with Ofsted that this is the case. Ofsted found that, in some cases, information sharing protocols and agreements were yet to be developed, with the result that information was not yet being shred sufficiently to make the service as effective as it will become. Until policies and procedures relating to consent and confidentiality are developed, personal advisers and others are reluctant to disclose information. Similarly, where personal advisers had not yet had the skills, knowledge or support required, they would not yet be making decisions about young people's information. Ofsted pointed out that, in best practice, personal advisers use personal information sensitively to assist young people in making important transitions in their lives. They point out that, at the time of the inspections, the role of the personal adviser was in the early stage of development. It is the development of this, and of information sharing agreements, that need to continue, in order to help the service to become more effective for serving young people. Anne |