Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Monday, 26 June 2006.

Children: Parental Alcohol Use

Question: My Lords, does the Minister agree that the most important aspect of services to such children is that they are properly joined up? Does he also agree that the best way of finding out whether they are properly joined up and serve the children in the way that they need is to ask children themselves? What are the Government doing about that?

Answer: My Lords, I agree with the noble Baroness. On joined-up services, the new common assessment framework, used by children’s social services departments when assessing the needs of families for specialised services, includes the impact of alcohol misuse. As regards the voice of the child, which is important, we are funding work with the voluntary sector specifically in this area; for example, STARS, a charity that does very good work, runs a national network of practitioners who help substance-misusing parents, including those who misuse alcohol. It has its own website, a chat room and other facilities specifically to ascertain the voice of children, many of whom are very adversely affected.

Secondary information