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Children and Young Persons Bill [Lords]

May I belatedly add my congratulations to the Under-Secretary on her new position, to which we warmly welcome her. I wish first to address new clause 19, amendment No. 89 and new clause 6. It is vital to ensure that the welfare of disabled children in long-term residential placements is promoted and protected. I welcome the process by which we have reached these amendments. We talked at great length about the possibility of looked-after status for children placed in long-term residential homes and other settings, both on Second Reading and in Committee, and we had a good response from the Minister in Committee. I may have retained some slight doubts, as I tabled the amendments again immediately after the Committee stage, but I am delighted that new clause 19 and Government amendments Nos. 8 and 9 are before the House today. Clearly, it has been a productive summer for Ministers and officials, as they have continued their positive engagement with the Every Disabled Child Matters campaign on this issue. That organisation has said that new clause 19 and Government amendments 8 and 9, along with their accompanying package of regulations and guidance, are a dramatic step towards ensuring that all disabled children who live away from home are well supported and kept safe and that they maintain good contact with their families. That brings a warm feeling, and I hope that it all works. Also important has been the clarification that local authorities will retain social care responsibility for children whom they place, and that will be especially helpful in ensuring that children's needs are met. I welcome the Minister's earlier assurance that the consultation on the regulation will be of the fullest nature, and that it will include a wide range of organisations and, of course, the families themselves. The debate has touched already on the role of visitors. Will the visitor always be a qualified social worker with experience of working with disabled children? As has been noted, it is very important that the two local authorities are truly engaged when there is a placement away from home. Despite current regulations, however, we know that the necessary notification does not always take place. What steps will be taken to promote and clarify notification duties when one local authority makes a placement in another local authority area? Nevertheless, I am extremely hopeful that the measures before us will offer a new level of protection and support for disabled children and their families. They represent a very exciting move forward. The hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton) has said that he intends to press new clause 24 to a vote, and I can assure him that my colleagues on these Benches will be very pleased to support it. Among the many tragedies involving children, two are especially awful. The first is that 3,000 children are in prison, and the second is that a high proportion of them have been, or remain, in the care system. Those are very vulnerable children, and we have to give them every possible support. We must address as a matter of urgency the problem that some appear to fall through the net and out of care status. Another reason why it is important to fill the gaps is that there can be nothing harder for a young person leaving custody than to find that there is no support when it comes to finding accommodation. That has to be one of the most difficult situations for a child to be in, and it is vital that we close what appears to be a loophole in the law. We must make sure that children in care leaving custody are supported in their search for accommodation. I also welcome new clause 26. In Committee, there was a great deal of debate about the enormous importance of kinship caring. Lots of fine words were probably spoken about promoting kinship caring, and about the need to make sure that good practice was established and spread. Some local authorities are very good at that, but we need to make sure that every child has the same opportunities. As the hon. Member for Stafford (Mr. Kidney) said, we have to make the greatest possible effort to tackle the problems faced by a child on the edge of care. In Committee, I was not convinced about the level of support that might be offered to kinship carers. Yes, there has been some movement in that regard: some money is to be made available, but I still come across kinship carers who, for whatever reason, are not foster carers and who are under considerable financial pressure. I feel that that problem needs further consideration, as does the question of the practical support that a grandparent might need when taking on the care of a child.