A Bill to provide a system of national service for young persons; and for connected purposes. More information visit: Parliament UK

The Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) has agreed savings of £15m for 2010-11 with the Department for Education (DfE) and has confirmed a revised remit with a strong emphasis on cost-effective delivery to support front-line services. The savings mostly affect CWDC's communications spend and pilot programmes, which includes the confirmation that the pilot on Youth Professional Status will now not proceed. CWDC has confirmed that the third sector workforce capacity building training project with NCVYS and the YMCA George Williams College will continue.

The High Court has ruled that plans for children leaving care must be reviewed by a social worker rather than a personal adviser. The judgment was made at the High Court in relation to a case of an 18-year-old care leaver whose "pathway plan" review was carried out by his personal adviser and not a social worker. Mr Justice Parker said that this was unlawful as personal advisers are employed as an intermediary between social workers and care leavers.

4Children have published Unlocking the potential of young people in Knowsley. The inquiry into the lives of young people in Knowsley has led a panel of national experts to devise a new blueprint for broadening the aspirations and horizons of young people in deprived areas. Among recommendations in the report is for councils in areas of high social deprivation to recruit a peer mentor to help every young person classified as Neet (not in education, employment or training).

The Empowering the Voluntary Sector (EVS) project, run by NAVCA, Compact Advocacy, based at NCVO, and the Public Law Project, has produced a special edition of its newsletter to provide information about challenging cuts. The newsletter gives information about the processes and remedies, such as Compact, public law and equalities duties, that voluntary organisations and community groups can use when challenging cuts.

The think tank New Philanthropy Capital and a coalition of children's charities will be launching a new wellbeing index for children that aims to improve charity impact measurement in October. The index is designed to allow charities to measure several aspects of children's wellbeing, such as self-esteem and family relationships, through a short survey.

Academics David N.F. Bell and David G. Blanchflower have published Young people and recession. A lost generation?. The report reviews the effects of the current recession on youth labour markets. and argues that young people aged 16-24 continue to suffer suffered disproportionately. It argue that there is convincing evidence that the young are particularly susceptible to the negative effects of spells of unemployment well after their initial experience of worklessness

The Audit Commission has published Against the Odds: Re-engaging Young People in Education, Employment or Training. The study looks at the financial, personal and social cost of teenagers who are so-called NEET - not in education, employment or training. It has found that the problem may be worse than annual surveys show, but that a new approach can make scarce resources work harder for those at greatest risk.

Skills - Third Sector is developing a National Skills Strategy to support a skilled workforce for the voluntary sector. There is an online consultation, and there will be regional roundtables and discussions online. For further information...

Prime Minister David Cameron has announced new Structural Reform Plans (SRPs) for making departments accountable for the implementation of the reforms set out in the Coalition agreement. The plans will hand power to the public and every department will publish a plan that sets clear priorities and measureable milestones. A number of departments have published their SRPs so far.