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Children and Young Persons Bill [Lords]

There are YOT teams and children's services teams that work well together, and Staffordshire is a good example. In Cheshire, there have been improvements in that regard but they have been achieved by the efforts of those services, rather than as a result of their being required to work together. It is the duty of the Government to ensure that those services work seamlessly in the best interests of the child, rather than the two agencies trying to work together off their own bats. I take what the hon. Gentleman says at face value. That good practice needs to be spread around all local authorities and the best way to do that is through this legislation. May I speak briefly on new clause 26 about support to families and friends? Despite the improvements made through the public law outline to involve families with children who are on the edge of care, there is still the problem of children who tip over into care before the family are involved in the process. In a case in which I was involved it was not until the guardian who had been appointed during care proceedings stepped in towards the end of those proceedings to call a family group conference that it became apparent that the extended family, working as a unit, could provide the necessary level of care and support for those children, who otherwise would have been taken into long-term fostering or into an adoptive placement. We need to ensure that social workers work with families from an earlier stage to identify where the problems are, and to ensure that members of the extended family understand the nature of the problems within the family with which the local authority is dealing. In that way, we can act earlier and prevent a last-minute effort to bring about a family solution to the problem. Therefore, I support new clause 26 and urge the Minister to think carefully about how that will ensure that children who are on the edge of care do not tip over the edge unnecessarily.