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Children and Young Persons Bill [HL]

My noble friend Lord Judd left the Chamber and missed a remarkable tribute being paid to him. That will encourage him to stay put in future, in case someone is about to say some extremely nice things about him. He can take my word for it that the remarks were very flattering. I think that we all agree on the importance of children living away from home maintaining links with parents, brothers, sisters and others who are important in their lives. The noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, said that guidance was not enough and, quoting my noble friend, that we needed the provision in the primary legislation. In fact, it is in primary legislation: paragraph 15 of Schedule 2 to the Children Act 1989 contains provisions for the promotion of maintenance of contact between the looked-after child and his family. In particular, it requires the local authority, "““unless it is not reasonably practicable or consistent with their welfare””," to, "““endeavour to promote contact between the child and … any relative, friend or other person connected with him””." Relative is defined in Section 104 of the Act as including brothers and sisters, whether of the whole or half-blood and whether related by marriage or civil partnership. Siblings, however related to the child, and of course the child himself, can also apply for contact orders under Section 34 of the Children Act 1989. The independent reviewing officer is required by regulations to assist the child to obtain legal advice in connection with an application for a contact order. These contact requirements, which as I say are in primary legislation, are further reinforced by the provisions of the Arrangements for Placement of Children (General) Regulations 1991. The schedule to those regulations requires local authorities to consider arrangements for contact and whether there is any need for changes in the care plan to promote contact which is consistent with the child’s welfare. This is echoed in the Review of Children’s Cases Regulations 1991, which require contact with the child’s family and others to be one of the matters considered at the regular six-monthly reviews of the child’s case. The accompanying guidance to the Children Act stresses the importance of contact between the child and all those connected with him or her. So it is in the primary legislation. The noble Baroness, Lady Morris, asked me what the integrated children’s system does practically to see that the case practice of social workers has the effect of promoting such contact. Within the integrated children’s system care plan and placement information records, practitioners are required to record contact arrangements with siblings, including step and half-siblings, and the practicalities as to how this will happen. Guidance notes within the records emphasise the importance of this contact. Having said all that, I know that many contact issues arise because it is not possible to place children together, either because the sibling groups are very large—hence the reasonably practicable requirement in the Bill; it is not a let-out clause but simply recognises the realities of the situation in terms of family structures—or because the needs of different siblings may conflict, as the noble Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, rightly noted. It is absolutely right that social workers and others engaged in these cases should have the discretion to take account of such factors, which is why the provision in the 1989 Act is set out as it is. In so far as there are shortcomings in practice in this area, it is certainly not because the requirements are not sufficiently strongly set out in primary legislation.