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Children and Young Persons Bill [HL]

My Lords, I begin by thanking the Minister for introducing the Bill and all noble Lords who have contributed to the debate. Noble Lords with far greater experience than I possess have shared passionately heartfelt concerns and I look forward to the Minister’s response. I appreciate the signal being given that the Government have finally taken on board what we on these Benches have for so long been calling and we very much welcome the legislation, though it is overdue. The importance of providing for children cannot be overestimated. In terms of governing, the issue of caring for the most vulnerable children is an instance where any set of beliefs about equality or opportunity will come directly to bear. This is the point where a just state can begin—by being just. The problem is large and it is one with which your Lordships will not be unfamiliar. Although the information about what happens to children in care and after leaving care is shocking, it sadly does not come as a surprise. We on these Benches join in paying tribute to the noble Earl, Lord Listowel, for his outstanding dedication to championing the needs of the most vulnerable citizens in society, in particular children in care or custody. We have been calling for years for a way to combat the problems associated with children in care and we are thankful that those concerns have finally been heeded. However, I still feel that, as the debate has shown, this legislation needs greater clarity to ensure that we can deliver on the very good intentions that lie behind it. In particular we want to ensure that what drives reform is in the interests of the child. The ambition to try to provide looked-after children with the same opportunities possessed by those who are not is very welcome indeed. The proposed changes intended to assist looked-after children in education are one step in the right direction. The Bill places a duty on maintained schools’ governing bodies to appoint a member of staff who will be responsible for promoting the educational achievement of looked-after pupils registered at the school. We strongly support the idea of fostering a personal relationship between the child and an adviser. Such relationships lead to success, as my noble friend Lady Morris pointed out in describing the success of Barnet Council’s education champion scheme. However, we still have a few questions about this specific provision. For example, will the person appointed to be responsible for looked-after children in a school be filling a new role, or will the role be filled by an existing member of staff, perhaps by merging it with that of the special educational needs co-ordinator, as the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, mentioned? What consideration has been given to the increased burden that this will place on current co-ordinators, or on local councils if they are expected to appoint someone new? Moreover, has the Minister considered that some children in care might not want to be labelled as such in school? Is there any provision for discretion or mechanisms to maintain a child’s privacy? Although many of the Bill’s proposals are sound, there seems to be a small degree of one-size-fits-all thinking. As my noble friend Lady Morris said, although it is good to provide mechanisms to keep children in local areas, there is no provision to allow children who may require more specialised care to be moved to appropriate facilities. Children with severe disabilities could be marginalised, and I am sure that the Minister will agree that clarification is needed to ensure that that does not happen. Likewise, what about children in custody who were previously in care? Almost half of children in custody were in care at some point in their lives. The noble Lord, Lord Judd, eloquently spoke about that. What will the Government do to improve educational achievement among this group? This all feeds into the idea that we want a more holistic approach to the needs of the child—whether that means allowing for provision for out-of-council care or trying harder to combat the vacancy rates in the social care workforce. This also bears on the issue of education. Although we recognise the vast distance that must be travelled to improve the educational attainment of children in care, the statistics should not be driving the policy. Educational attainment is perhaps the only measurable standard by which we can see improvement or failure, but we must recognise that if we want the statistics to improve, we will have to endeavour to stop treating children as statistics. That is one of the reasons why we want to try to refocus on early intervention before the child goes into care. Can the Minister assure us that attention will be given to families before care becomes a necessity? Another gap that we have noticed involves provisions for privately fostered children. According to the Office for National Statistics, at 31 March this year, 1,250 children were reported as being privately fostered, whereby parents make arrangements with someone outside their close family to look after their child for 28 days or longer. No one knows the number of children being looked after in this way but estimates from the British Association for Adoption & Fostering range from 7,000 to 10,000 children or more. What are the Government doing to raise the profile of these children and to extend to them the necessary protection? Improving schemes for adoption and fostering goes some way to provide the stability and continuity of care that is so important to some of the most vulnerable young people. The British Association for Adoption & Fostering has expressed its fear that children are missing out on permanent new families because of public ignorance about modern adoption. What are the Government doing to improve people’s awareness of adoption and to encourage more people to adopt? Our primary concern is that the voice of the child is listened to and that his welfare is placed above all other considerations. As has been mentioned, that ambition is most certainly the right one but it is difficult to achieve. We have welcomed the increased provisions for social work practices, and we agree very much with the concerns raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, about proper resourcing for social workers. I hope that social work practices are implemented effectively and in a way that will make wider application possible. We welcome the effort to keep children in stable, local care but hope that mechanisms are in place to allow for important exceptions. We welcome many of the increased powers for local authorities but hope that they have adequate means to deliver what is so seriously needed. Essentially, this is much needed legislation but we still need greater clarity in the Bill to ensure that the appropriate and desperately needed changes come to fruition. In concluding, I thank the organisations that have provided me with excellent briefings. They have been very useful and have enabled me to take a much more informed look at the Bill. I look forward to hearing from the Minister.