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Children and Young Persons Bill [HL]

My Lords, in October last year, in response to the Statement on the Green Paper, Care Matters: Transforming the Lives of Children and Young People in Care, I said that the care of children in the guardianship of the state had been a shameful side of the welfare system for too long. Too many children have been overlooked, not looked after. Much of what we have been asking for for several years, and much of what was in out manifesto on children at the last general election, are covered in the Bill. We therefore extend a warm welcome, and thank the Minister for his clear introduction. All of us taking part in the Bill have a keen interest in the welfare of children, and many of us will have first-hand experience of the many difficulties and heartbreaks that face looked-after children and their families. None of us, however, will have the Minister’s insight, so it will be a particular pleasure to work with him on the Bill. There is work to be done, and we are concerned that much of the Government’s commendable ambition will not be achieved without a motivated and rewarded workforce. The Minister has given some depressing statistics, but it is worth reminding ourselves of the challenge that we face. The Centre for Social Justice working group tells us that children in care and care leavers are far more likely to end up in jail, on drugs, on the streets or to be teenage parents than their peers. Care leavers comprise 27 per cent of all prisoners, and between a third and a half of all homeless people. The educational failure is also worrying, with only 8 per cent of looked-after children achieving five or more A*s to Cs at GSCE and only 6 per cent of care leavers going to university. More than a third of children in care are not even entered for a GCSE exam. The numbers are simply staggering. Improving the plight of children in care goes some way to addressing more widespread social breakdown. Half of all prostitutes and 80 per cent of all Big Issue sellers have been in care. Twenty-two per cent of care leavers—three times more than all school leavers—will be unemployed by the September after they leave school. The statistic that always troubles me the most, however, is the alarming fact that the children of children in care are 66 times more likely to be taken into care, thus creating a generational vicious cycle. As the Minister said, we must do all we can to ensure that children do not enter the care system in the first place. Early intervention, respite care and kinship care are key to breaking the cycle. As the NCH says in its excellent briefing, intensive family support for families with children on the edge of care can, where appropriate, prevent the need for a child to be placed in care in the first place. The NCH runs a number of these preventive services, in partnership with local councils, and on average four out of every five referrals are deemed to be successful. The voluntary sector has much to offer in this area and should be encouraged wherever possible. It is, however, also an area in which social workers generally would love to do more. Children’s social workers operate very much at the sharp end of children’s services, and their dedication and professionalism are crucial to the delivery of the Bill. To do this, however, they must be properly respected, trained, motivated and resourced. There are still too few dedicated children’s social workers, and vacancy rates in London and the West Midlands are currently running at 18 per cent, with turnover in London at some 15 per cent. This makes it hard to provide the much needed consistency of care and time for essential preventive work. This is a vital area, and one that we will pursue. It is also of keen interest to the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, who is at a degree-awarding ceremony today but who will take part in later stages of the Bill, where her considerable expertise will add greatly to our deliberations. The Bill will enable local authorities to delegate local authority functions in relation to looked-after children to providers of social work services and, after the pilot stage of this scheme, it will enable there to be regulation of providers and requires them to be registered. We welcome the chance to test the idea of having groups of social workers undertaking work with children in care that is commissioned by, but independent from, the local authority. As the White Paper, Care Matters: Time for Change, shows, it is vital for children and young people to know who their social worker is and to have a real relationship that can evolve with trust and a sense of respect over time. I welcome the Government’s recognition that children need not merely care, but a continuity of care. If this new model of social work practice can go some way to provide this, the result would be a significant improvement in a young person’s experience of care. It is important that these pilots take place in a diverse range of local authorities and that they are run for a sufficient length of time to allow for robust evaluation of effectiveness, as well as ample opportunity to understand what could be improved. A key issue will be the concept of accountability. Another will be to allow the social work practice the freedom to operate in its own way. Would the Minister be willing to give assurances that this will be the case? We are pleased to see the prohibition of moving a child from a placement with a local authority foster parent or children’s home to other arrangements and the emphasis on local provision. We have long been critics of children suffering the dual horror of being taken away from home, and placed somewhere remote and unfamiliar. But it is important that in this we do not allow the welfare of the child to be affected by too much emphasis on what can sometimes be arbitrary geographical distinctions. There might be cases where a child or young person lives in one local authority, but has stronger connections with a neighbouring community, or circumstances in which the neighbouring local authority is closer. We must also recognise that where a child has a severe disability or is in need of very specialised care, a restriction to the local area might mean that they do not get the appropriate care. Not every local authority has the resources to provide for children on the more extreme end of the scale. We want to ensure that the decision is driven by the welfare of the child and not cost, the problems of cumbersome bureaucracy or arbitrary procedures. The Children’s Services Development Group related a story to me that captured some of the elements of the problem. A young girl with severe autism who was not in care was struggling in a mainstream educational environment. Her parents were devoted to battling her case and tried in vain to secure more specialist care through the placing authority. Her council did not have adequate resources and told her parents that it was unable to place their child out of the area. Her parents pressed for some time, arguing the legal duty to deliver care on the basis of need. They were finally told that the real reason was simply cost. This young girl was lucky to have parents who could argue her case again and again. What would have been her fate had she been in care or if her social worker did not know her well enough to understand her needs? We also recognise that there are other circumstances where it may be in the child’s best interest for an out-of-authority placement; for instance, if a young person is involved in a local gang or has been the victim of sexual exploitation. Does the Minister share my concern that it is of the highest importance that care services are delivered on the basis on need? We have also been critics of children being passed from pillar to post. The ““What Makes the Difference”” first-class research shows some shocking figures on the number of placements, with wide variations between and within local authorities. Of the young people interviewed, 17 per cent had had more than 11 placements and 6 per cent had had more than 21. It is good that the Government are committed to ensuring placement stability in the two years before GCSEs, but that should be a desired outcome at all stages of a child’s life in care. In the gracious Speech, I welcomed the Government’s commitment to ensuring that young people are not forced out of care before they are ready and to providing them with support and care for as long as they need it. The Fostering Network and BAAF highlight that children in care, despite their vulnerability, are leaving their care setting at a younger age than most young people leave home, which on average is at about the age of 24. Like us they welcome the pilots, but they have concerns about how this will be interpreted and the consideration that will need to be given to the more complex issue of continuing to provide residential care for young people more than 18 years old. Not the least of their worries is whether foster carers will retain their status if they are not also fostering others below the age of 18, with all the implications that would have on their training and allowances, and their annual review. We will be tabling amendments on this at the Committee stage. Further, how does the Minister envisage the transitions working where a young person is not living with foster carers, but is in a home or some form of accommodation? Another important issue addressed in the Bill is the amendment of the duties of local authorities in relation to the appointment of independent reviewing officers, strengthening their role and making it genuinely independent. We welcome this, and the extension of the opportunity for more looked-after children to have independent visitors. That will go some way towards ensuring that the child’s voice is heard, but I wonder if there is scope to include provisions for professional independent child advocacy. A number of other important areas are covered in the Bill, which I am sure that other noble Lords will speak about today, and no doubt we will cover them as we go through the Bill. They cover the state of our children’s homes, the status of disabled children in 52-week accommodation, the 3,300 unaccompanied asylum-seeker children now looked after in the UK, young people in custody, and the health and mental well-being of children in care. I am sure that we will also debate in detail the status and support given to the many relatives, usually grandparents, who struggle to do what is right for their families. And I should like to mention briefly an interesting article in today’s Times about a five-year study from the Royal Wanstead Children’s Foundation on foster boarding, which merits closer attention. There is a long way to go and much to be done, but excellent things are happening already. Learning from best practice is crucial, and the White Paper has given some first-class examples. I should like to mention the particular success of the Conservative-run council in Barnet whose education champion scheme partners a member of the council, from the director down to junior officials and all councillors, with a child in care. They never meet the child or young person they are partnered with, but are responsible for monitoring their progress and speaking with a social worker about their welfare. They take a personal interest. It is this system of personal responsibility that has led to 77 per cent of children receiving one A* to G pass at GCSE, up more than 30 per cent in three years, and 54 per cent achieving those marks in five subjects. Some 12 per cent of looked-after children from Barnet now go on to university, which compares with the national average of 6 per cent. This goes to show that progress can be made. Finally, I would like to place on the record our thanks for all the briefing material we have been sent, and for the many meetings. We are so lucky to have organisations and people who show such dedication and determination. That greatly helps us in the job we have to do. Once again, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, for introducing the Bill and express my enthusiasm for working with him to make sure that the rightly ambitious intentions of this legislation are delivered in the most effective way possible for the sake of all the children and young people who, through no fault of their own, find themselves in the care of the state.