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Address in Reply to Her Majesty’s Most Gracious Speech

My Lords, I also express my   deepest respect for the work that the noble Lord, Lord Filkin, undertook in his previous role and warmly welcome the Minister to his new post. I also express my admiration for the work of the noble Lord, Lord Pendry. Mothers of boys who are growing up without fathers in the family, especially, have been saying to me how important football is in keeping their boys on the straight and narrow and of the importance of football coaches and the relationship and role modelling that they can offer those boys. Respect for adults; due deference to adults; and due respect for the experience of adults, must flow from and be associated with due respect and consideration by adults to the needs of children. To my mind, most importantly, adults need to pay due respect to the attachments and relationships of children to their siblings, their friends and their parents. Most importantly, all children growing up with no parent involved in their lives need one person, over the years, to whom they can turn for advice who is always there for them. I was very pleased to hear my noble friend Lord   Dearing emphasise the need for smaller schools for some children so that they can relate to a teacher and not feel lost in some factory environment. I note what the noble Baroness, Lady Buscombe, said about the importance of parents having time to spend with their children. We need to think carefully about early-years children—infants—spending long periods of time in nursery provision. Obviously, that is necessary, but we need to think carefully about how that is performed, especially in the light of the latest research. Looked-after children, children in local authority care, call for one person to whom they can turn when they are in the care system and when they leave. They term that person a big friendly giant, after the book by Roald Dahl—someone who is consistently there for them over time. At the start of this new parliamentary Session, this is a time to look back at what has been achieved. I recently visited The Haven in Hammersmith and Fulham, a respite project for families with children with disabilities—severe learning or physical disabilities. Prior to the Care Standards Act, it was housed in a two-storey terraced house. It was cramped. Following the Act, the local authority was obliged to find new premises. It renovated a nursery and it is now set with a large garden on one level. Children who need space for a while can go into the gardens and spend time there. They can returned to the premises and visit whomever they please. It has made an immense difference to the children. Parents see the work when they visit and are astounded by what can be achieved with their children that they can never do at home. Having spoken with children’s homes managers, they have welcomed the innovation of the Commission for Social Care Inspection, which flowed from the Care Standards Act, and the minimum standards for children’s homes. I cite the example of a children’s home manager, Philip Craig, at the Dalling Road children’s home in Hammersmith and Fulham. He now has much more influence on the intake of children into his children’s home, so he can ensure that there is a better environment for all those children and that there is a right balance of children with different needs. He also has more influence over where those children are placed when they move on. Transitions are better. That is extremely important for those children. So good legislation has achieved improved outcomes for vulnerable children. That is just one example of that. The Commission for Social Care Inspection is shortly to be merged with another inspectorate. That may be necessary, but we must reflect on the danger of too much legislation, too much change and not allowing good legislation to be bedded down in full implementation of policy. The noble Baroness, Lady Jay, mentioned that. When I think of respect, I think of the words of King Lear:"““How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child””." I think how, at the end of the play, he recognises that, to a large extent, it is his own folly that has led to his poor treatment by two of his children. In the very opening scene of the play, the Duke of Gloucester, in the presence of his son Edmund, says to Kent,"““there was good sport at his making, and the whoreson must be acknowledged””." I think that that is Shakespeare signalling that when parents cease to respect children and their needs, chaos can arise in the kingdom. Her Majesty’s Government have taken important steps in improving outcomes for vulnerable children, but there are still more than 100,000 families in temporary accommodation. Each year, increasing numbers of children are taken into care. The educational attainment of children in care is still very much below what it should and could be. Barnardo’s recently reminded some of us that the parents of 200,000 to 300,000 children are using drugs and there are perhaps 1 million children of whom one parent or the other has a serious problem with alcohol. There is a great deal further to go and I welcome the fact that, as I understand it, in the education Bill announced in the Queen’s Speech, a new statutory duty will be placed on local authorities to make youth   provision. That has been a neglected area. It is perhaps symbolic that we have been concerned about anti-social behaviour of children—since 1997, a great deal has been made of it—but only now are we introducing a statutory duty on local authorities to make the youth provision that would be so constructive in helping to engage young people and bring them into society to help them to contribute. When the noble Lord, Lord Warner, replies, perhaps he will confirm that indeed a statutory duty will be placed on local authorities and when we can expect the long-awaited Green Paper on youth. On implementation, Margaret Hodge constantly reiterated the need for professionals to come out of their silos to work together. That is an important aspect of the Children Act 2004: working in partnership to improve outcomes for children. However, two recent Select Committee reports, including the other House’s DfES report on the Every Child Matters agenda, summarises by stating that the youth justice system is not effectively working with the other agencies to achieve better outcomes for children. The Home Affairs Select Committee of the other House states that other agencies are not working effectively with the youth justice system to achieve their aims. So there is a great deal of work to do and a need for cultural change. Perhaps one good example of that is the government policy to encourage the publication of the details of children with anti-social behaviour orders. The Home Office has conducted no research into the impact of such publicity on those children, their siblings or families. If I were a youth worker or a social worker and the basis of my ethos was to safeguard children, I would have great difficulty in working in an organisation which, in this aspect, shows so little regard for the welfare of troubling, but also often troubled, children. In conclusion, I look forward to the Government’s work on the childcare workforce, including social workers, early-years educators and foster carers, who are fundamental to it. Last week I visited a local authority secure unit where some of the children had had 44 placements before arriving there. If outcomes for children are to be improved, we must engage in this   agenda. I look forward to the business of the Government and hope that we can implement fully the important achievements that the Government have already made for children.