1. Health Dimension of Access All Areas Campaign Martin Hazlehurst – Catch22 NCAS

2. Access All Areas Published in April 2012, Catch22, Princes Trust, Care Leavers Foundation and A National Voice Aim Action for all government departments to support young people’s journey from care to adulthood Influenced the Care Leavers Strategy October 2013

3. What AAA asked for Care Proofing Explicit recognition of the vulnerability of care leavers aged 18-25 and prioritisation of them in policy documents. Automatic entitlement for care leavers aged 18-25 to provisions addressing the needs of vulnerable adults. Widespread favourable interpretation of priority need and vulnerability for care leavers up to the age of 30 in all relevant policy areas where regulations and guidance have discretionary elements. Create or maintain robust systems of information and data sharing between different government departments and local services. Ensure joint working and protocols are in place between different government departments and local services and leaving care services Responsive, personalised services to care leavers.

4. Health and AAA Recognise and prioritise the specific vulnerability and emotional health and wellbeing needs of care leavers as young adults, Recognition in Strategic Planning and Commissioning Automatic assessments for adult services Free prescriptions to 25 Emotional health and well being services to 25 Mental health first aid training for those working with care leavers DFE work in partnership with the Department of Health to ascertain the quality and availability of lower tier mental health services for those care leavers aged between 17 and 25 Leaving care services should be represented on Health and Wellbeing boards

5. Care Leavers Strategy – what we have done The government’s Mandate to NHS England (November 2012) includes an expectation that the NHS, working together with schools and children’s social services, will support and safeguard vulnerable children -- including looked after children and, by extension, care leavers; The mandate mentions looked after children but not care leavers. We are assured this represents an understanding with DH and NHS England that this does include care leavers. This does not address how it is interpreted by local commissioners who are also supposed to have regard to it, Health and wellbeing boards are required to undertake Joint Strategic Needs Assessments and agree Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies to improve the health and wellbeing of the local community and reduce inequalities. Revised statutory guidance (March 2013) says that they must consider the needs of vulnerable groups -- such as looked after children and care leavers; Looked after children are mentioned in the actual document but not care leavers. The same may apply as above in terms of DH and NHSE agreeing this but it is guidance for 152 local authorities and their partners – how are they going to interpret this?

6. Care Leavers Strategy – what we have done The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) produced a quality standard for the Health and wellbeing of looked-after children and young people in April 2013, which sets out for health and social care the priority areas for quality improvement. It builds on public health guidance issued in 2010. Both cover care leavers. The quality standard includes sections on fulfilling potential and moving to independence and makes clear in the introduction that it refers to care-leavers. As a social care quality standard this does not have a statutory status The mental health strategy, No health without mental health (February 2011), highlights looked after children and care leavers as a group whose mental health needs are greater than those of the general population of the same age. DH is investing £54 million in 2011-15 in the Children and Young People's Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme, to drive service transformation in CAMHS. We would like to see care leavers a specific beneficiary of the investment.

7. Care Leavers Strategy – What we will do Statutory guidance on Promoting the Health and Well-being of Looked After Children (November 2009) highlights the importance of care leavers being able to continue to obtain health advice and services. In updating it in 2014, DH and DfE will set out how organisations in the reformed health system should work with local authorities to improve support for care leavers; Looked after children are mentioned in the actual document but not care leavers. The same may apply as above in terms of DH and NHSE agreeing this but it is guidance for 152 local authorities and their partners – how are they going to interpret this? The Royal Colleges and other health professional bodies will shortly update the intercollegiate framework,Looked after children: knowledge, skills and competences of health care staff (May 2012), in light of the NHS structural changes in England. It covers responsibilities to support care leavers; We believe a draft will soon be available.

8. Care Leavers Strategy – What we will do The Care Quality Commission (CQC), Ofsted and the other inspectorates are developing plans to commence multiagency inspections of local arrangements for safeguarding children and for looked after children in 2015. In the meantime, CQC introduced in September 2013 a new programme to inspect local health service arrangements for these groups, including care leavers. DH will launch interactive e-learning programmes to support children and young people’s mental health, via an e-Portal, in 2014. This will help extend the skills and knowledge of NHS clinicians, teachers, social workers, counsellors and supervisors working in a range of health, educational and youth settings. The e-Portal developers will invite care leavers to help shape its content and presentation. This will be welcomed