Children and Young People
The transition to integrated care boards and integrated care partnerships provides an opportunity to improve the planning and provision of services to make sure they are more joined up and better meet the needs of babies, children, young people and families.
	To ensure that the integrated care board specifically considers the needs of babies, children and young people, the Act requires the integrated care board to set out any steps it proposes to take to address the particular needs of children and young people under the age of 25, in the annual joint forward plan with its partner NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts.
	NHS England has committed that statutory guidance to integrated care boards will contain provisions for an integrated care board executive lead to be appointed to act as a "children and young people’s lead", with responsibility for championing the needs of children and young people. To ensure child safeguarding and SEND duties receive sufficient focus in the integrated care board, NHS England statutory guidance will contain provision for the delegation of responsibility for these duties to an integrated care board executive lead. NHS England statutory guidance will also clarify that the integrated care board annual report should set out how the integrated care board has discharged their duties in relation to child safeguarding.
	The Government has committed that statutory guidance will contain provisions for the integrated care partnership’s integrated care strategy to consider child health and wellbeing outcomes and the integration of children’s services.
	The Act also requires the Secretary of State to publish a report by July 2023 that will describe the Government’s policy on information sharing, by or with public authorities, in relation to the safeguarding of children. It will include an explanation of the government’s policy on a consistent identifier for children. It will also include the government’s approach and actions to implement the policy set out in the report.