The Children and Young Persons Bill has been introduced to Parliament.

The Bill takes forward the ‘Care Matters’ white paper, which originated from a consultation launched in October 2006.

Provisions in the bill include:

• Giving councils powers to organise children’s care in different ways
• Ensuring that young people in care do not move schools in Years 10 and 11 except in exceptional circumstances
• Ensuring young people are not "forced out of care before they are ready"
• Making the designated teacher role statutory
• Improving the quality and stability of placements, and ensuring that looked after children in custody are visited regularly by social workers.

The Bill includes specific provisions for Wales.

The Bill and Explanatory Notes can both be downloaded from Parliament’s website.