research report

The effectiveness of interventions to address health inequalities in the early years: a review of relevant literature

Review prepared to summarise the relevant evidence base and advise policy colleagues of the known effectiveness of specific early years health interventions.

The review covers the following areas: pregnancy at a young age; maternal and foetal health during pregnancy; maternal and child nutrition and physical and mental health; child development and early education; parenting in the early years; vulnerable groups and longer term impacts.

Protecting disabled children: thematic inspection

Thematic inspection which was commissioned to evaluate the effectiveness of work to protect disabled children and young people at all stages from early support to the identification of and response to child protection concerns.

It examined the actions taken to ensure the protection of disabled children and young people, identifying the key factors which promoted effective protection and the barriers to achieving this.

Looked-after children and young people - the health and wellbeing of looked-after children

In 2011, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) was asked by the Department for Education and the Department of Health to pilot the development of two quality standards for social care. This builds on earlier work in 2009 to establish a quality standards programme for healthcare. This is one of the two standards on the subject of looked-after children.