Children and Families Bill

Debate between Baroness Massey of Darwen and Lord Ramsbotham

Wednesday 29th January 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Massey of Darwen]

My Lords, in moving Amendment 59A, I also wish to support Amendments 59B and 59F, to which the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, will mainly speak. I want to make three very quick points about the Children’s Commissioner. One is about human rights, one is about the commissioner’s powers and one is about his appointment.

I thank the Minister and his team for investigating the concerns expressed in Committee and for his helpful and clear letter. We are particularly grateful that the Government have now published the framework agreement between the Department for Education and the Office of the Children’s Commissioner.

The introduction of that framework contains a statement on the independence of the Children’s Commissioner and the overarching principles. However, neither the framework nor the Minister’s letter contain the UN affirmation that national human rights institutions such as the Office of the Children’s Commissioner should clearly state that members and staff of such bodies,

“will not receive instructions from government ministers or other public officials, directly or indirectly”.

I do not see the issue of prohibition directly spelled out in the letter or the framework.

Secondly, I realise that the commissioner still does not have the power under the Human Rights Act to deliver on individual cases. I understand the reason for that: it would be an impossible task. However, the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, with which I agree, seeks to draw attention to particular groups with specific problems—for example, children in custody, unaccompanied migrants and trafficked children. In other words, it is about children who are living without their parents—a particularly vulnerable group. I shall leave the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, to elaborate on that but I have my own concerns.

My third concern relates to the appointment of the Children’s Commissioner. I hope that the appointment will be independent of political bias. It requires someone who has strong experience of working with children and children’s services in the voluntary sector and who understands the wide scope involved in dealing with all kinds of children, particularly vulnerable children, at a national and local level. The person who is appointed, whoever he or she might be, must command the respect of the children’s sector. I know that Parliament, children’s charities and children’s services will follow this appointment keenly to ensure that they are fulfilling all the demands that they have to fulfil. I beg to move.

[Lord Ramsbotham]

I am grateful to the Minister for his letters and the draft framework agreement in which I note that the Children’s Commissioner is classified as a non-departmental public body and that it is for the commissioner to determine what activities to undertake in carrying out his or her primary function. I am therefore glad to see that the provisions that currently allow the Secretary of State to direct the commissioner’s work are to be repealed but, like the noble Baroness, Lady Massey, I do not feel completely confident about the appointment process. That is why I have added my name to her Amendment 59A, to which she has spoken so comprehensively.

Turning to my Amendments 59B and 59F, the aim of Amendment 59B is twofold. First, it is to ensure that the expectation of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child that all children’s commissioners shall have the power to bring and intervene in court cases to ensure that children’s rights are respected is made explicit in the Bill. Legal cases can be complex, lengthy, expensive, intimidating and distressing for children, who are often unable or unwilling to take action themselves. In addition, courts are likely to be even less accessible to children following cuts to legal aid and proposals for further reform of legal aid and judicial review.

The second purpose is to put the commissioner on an equal footing with the Equality and Human Rights Commission in being able to bring cases under the main legal protection for children in this country, the Human Rights Act. It should not be presumed that the commissioner will automatically take up every case but it will be up to him or her to decide which ones to pursue.

Amendment 59F would expand on the list of those groups of children currently under the remit of the Office for the Children’s Rights Director to whom the Children’s Commissioner must provide advice and assistance. At present, Clause 86 prohibits the commissioner from providing advice and assistance to children living away from home or receiving social care who are not within the group defined in Clause 93. As I have seen all too often, there is considerable inconsistency in how children in custody or migrant children are looked after by those responsible for them. I have not had the same practical experience of trafficked children but, in view of their vulnerability and possible legal needs, it would be invidious to leave them out of this proposed addition.

Finally, more generally, as the Bill has progressed—and particularly in relation to the best endeavours rather than duties that the Government expect to be sufficient demand on local authorities and others to ensure delivery of EHC plans and other SEN provision—I see the need for an informed, independent monitor to ensure that those best endeavours are resulting in what the Government expect. As I have said previously, the code of practice is full of “musts” without being specific about how a “must” is to be implemented or overseen. I suggest that the role of overseer of best endeavours and musts is a natural addition to the responsibility of the Children’s Commissioner, being entirely in line with new Sections 2(1) and 2(3)(a) of the Children Act set out in Clause 86. New Section 2(1) states:

“The Children’s Commissioner’s primary function is promoting and protecting the rights of children in England”.

New Section 2(3)(a) states:

“In the discharge of the primary function the Children’s Commissioner may, in particular … advise persons excising functions or engaged in activities affecting children on how to act compatibly with the rights of children”.

Children and Families Bill

Debate between Baroness Massey of Darwen and Lord Ramsbotham

Monday 21st October 2013 Grand Committee

[Baroness Massey of Darwen]

My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Northbourne, for tabling this exciting amendment. Amendment 231 in my name asks all schools to ensure that children are educated and protected through school policies, pastoral care, linking with outside agencies and the curriculum. It goes wider than that in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Northbourne, but is of a similar tone.

The reason for my amendment and, I think, for the amendment in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Northbourne, is that pupils, teachers, parents and governors need clarity about what policy and practice is in a school. Otherwise, how can they be clear about what it is and how do they know how to operate? How do children know how to operate? For example, as regards behavioural policy in a primary school, pupils know how to behave because it is in the policy. Policy and practice should give clarity and security.

We have talked about the duties and responsibilities of raising children, and the importance of enabling young people, in an ideal situation, to learn about parenting long before they become parents, or perhaps later if they are in difficulties such as those that the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, mentioned relating to the criminal justice system. I remember seeing a young man in jail being taught how to read to a four year-old with all the interaction that is necessary. It is never too late but it is preferable for that to happen earlier.

However, I take issue with the noble Lord, Lord Northbourne, in two instances. First, education about social and emotional development and responsibilities should happen before and after key stage 3. For a start, it should come from parents to children but, when talking about schools, it should happen from a young age through to when the child leaves. Schools should develop a spiral of curriculum and pastoral care which matches the age and stage of a child’s development. It should not be just at a particular age, and I do not think that it is. The issue is about a child’s right to an education.

On the other issue, I think that the noble Lord, Lord Northbourne, talked about the importance of teacher training. That is right but it is not always teachers who deliver personal, social and emotional education. I have seen many excellent school nurses giving sessions in the classroom to encourage pupils to think about issues around their own health. I have seen first-aiders talk about issues around helping others to be safe. I have even seen a teenage parent come into a class to talk about the experience of having a baby at a young age, which was a quite dramatic experience for the pupils concerned. Therefore, I say yes to all this about personal and social health education, and yes to policies and practice in schools being well advertised. However, I should like to look at just those two issues again with the noble Lord, Lord Northbourne.

[Lord Ramsbotham]

I, too, lend my support to the noble Lord, Lord Northbourne, and will link what I am going to say to my comments on Amendment 56. I have a grandson at a secondary school in Gloucestershire and, like the noble Lord, I was fascinated to see the material with which he and his parents were provided. Frankly, it was all about today and not about tomorrow. Although the quality is fairly good, I am quite certain that it could be improved.

Clause 70, later in this Bill, refers to the fact that education, health and care plans are allegedly to be denied to those being held in detention. Last week I had a meeting with two Ministers in the Department for Education who told me what progress has been made. What is most promising is that young offender institutions are to be classed as mainstream schools as far as the provision of the Bill is concerned. In welcoming the suggestion of the noble Lord, Lord Northbourne, that this guidance should be provided for schools, I should mention that young offender institutions should be included, absolutely for the reasons set out by the noble Baroness, Lady Massey. Above all, we must not exclude people in detention from learning to look after their children.

Health and Social Care Bill

Debate between Baroness Massey of Darwen and Lord Ramsbotham

Wednesday 16th November 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ramsbotham]

My Lords, I was hoping to speak in support of my noble friend Lord Northbourne, who introduced a whole cluster of amendments which had at their heart not just parenting but the development of our children. I do not want to bore the House but my interest in this subject goes back to an occasion when I visited a young offender institution in Scotland. When I was walking round with the governor of the prison he said to me that if he had to get rid of all his staff, the last one out of the gate would be his speech and language therapist. I asked why and he said, “Because none of the children can communicate, either with each other or with us, and unless they can communicate there is absolutely nothing that we can do with them, or for them, and that includes their education, their discipline, their healthcare and indeed their general well-being”. Therefore this group of amendments—Amendments 72A, 81A, 200A, 201ZA, 327B, 327C, 329A, 331C, 333B and 91A—is all to do with getting speech and language communication needs for our children, which is the most common disability shared by children and adults in this country, put properly into the context of the Bill.

I think it is recognised that communication skills are the key life skill and the single most important factor in determining a child’s life chances. They are the means by which people form relationships and make choices and by which people access education, employment and society in general. Over the past few years—ever since I first became aware of this problem—I have been worried that nobody seems to be grasping the fact that every child’s communication ability must be assessed properly and as early as possible in life so that they can be given the best possible chance.

Following that experience in the young offender institution I was responsible for a two-year pilot with speech and language therapists in two young offender institutions. This pilot proved conclusively that if an assessment had been carried out much earlier those offenders may well have not ended up in the institution and that a very large number of them would not have been excluded or evicted from education because they would have been able to engage with their teachers. I have therefore been trying to interject in various education and justice Bills over the past six years the need for such an assessment to be built in to the education of this country. It is interesting that Northern Ireland has listened—now every child there is assessed for their communication skills at the age of two. That might be very early but, on the other hand, it also identifies potential problems. The amelioration of those problems can then begin early enough for the children to be able to engage in education.

Unfortunately, although that need has been accepted in education and justice Bills, nothing has happened because neither the education nor the justice department is responsible for funding those who have to make the assessment. Indeed, in 2005, when this pilot scheme came to an end, the Minister—Mr Paul Goggins—was invited to examine the funding of the possible provision of assessment. He could not work it out because neither the Ministry of Justice nor the Department for Education was willing to fund. When it came down to it, we found that individual speech and language assessors were the responsibility of individual primary care trusts around the country. Some of them decided that the assessors were essential and some of them did not and, therefore, it became a postcode lottery.

If we accept that communication difficulties severely limit an individual’s participation in education, in the world of work and in their family and community life then it stands to reason that unidentified speech and language problems can pose a secondary challenge, as they lead to diminished social skills, poor educational outcomes, anti-social behaviour, unemployment and mental health problems. In other words, all the factors that arise from a failure to assess communication skills and to enable people to communicate as well as possible can become a public health issue. I believe that it should be regarded as such, which is why these amendments mention the need for those who are responsible to have an integrated approach in order to ensure that all the relevant healthcare professionals liaise with each other and make certain that every child is given the proper start in life to enable them to engage with all the things that follow. This will require liaison with education and other authorities. I am not going to list all the various things that speech and language therapists can do, but one of the problems at the moment is that the assessment in many places is left, for example, to district nurses who have been trained by speech and language therapists. That is fine, except that we are told that the funding for speech and language therapists is to be cut and therefore it may be that their ability to train those who carry out these assessments will be inhibited.

I ask the Minister to ensure that this issue is examined properly and that the various authorities should be instructed to make these assessments in order to make certain that all our children can access that vital education and the other factors that will make their lives either possible or a failure. I beg to move.

[Baroness Massey of Darwen]

My Lords, I shall speak to Amendment 97. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, about the need for communication skills, but this set of amendments is really all about improving services for children. It is interesting to note that so much has been said during our debates on the Bill about the importance of the co-ordination of services of all sorts, but I would suggest that nowhere should services be better co-ordinated than those for children. That is absolutely crucial to success. I was interested to read the letter sent by the noble Earl, Lord Howe, after our previous sittings. He kindly circulated a series of paragraphs which stated on children’s issues that:

“We are determined to build in children’s health explicitly and clearly throughout the new system, including through the mandate … We want the NHS to play its full part in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and we expect the NHS to continue to improve processes for protecting children”.

I welcome those words, but I will seek further reassurances from him on their validity.

In amending Clause 20, I want to ensure that the Secretary of State will publish an annual mandate specifying the objectives that the NHS Commissioning Board must seek to achieve. This amendment would require that the mandate includes objectives related to improving services for children.

Children and young people are significant players in NHS services. Children account for around 40 per cent of the workload of GPs while making up 19 per cent of the population. Around 26 per cent of those attending A&E departments are children. Every year, about one in 11 children receives specialist out-patient care in hospital, while one in 10 to 15 is admitted for in-patient care. All these are key statistics. However, I suspect that while children and young people make significant use of NHS services, they and their families are often let down by a health system that is incoherent and affords only a low priority to child health services. I want to see this improved. Noble Lords may remember that Sir Ian Kennedy, when reviewing child health services, concluded that there was a,

“varying quality of services … with a large number in need of significant improvement”.

He also said that children were given a low priority when compared with adults, that they often received inappropriate or poor quality treatment or had to travel long distances. He identified a lack of co-ordination between the NHS and other services such as education provision. The question of co-ordination between services is something which comes up all the time. He also pointed out the low investment in services for the early years and a failure to provide safe environments within NHS settings.

I realise that there are particular challenges for children and young people with complex needs. Often little attention is given to how the system delivers for disabled children and young people, but I shall leave it to my noble friend Lady Wilkins to address that. The support group, Every Disabled Child Matters, highlights the range of challenges faced by disabled children and their families in securing good healthcare, but again I shall leave the detail to my noble friend.

The NHS mandate must include priorities for child health. This would ensure that tacking these issues is made a priority within the health service. It is appropriate to include objectives for children's health, because child health services operate on a separate system to those of adults, with separate structures and relevant partners. For example, children receive support from a wide range of child-specific professionals, such as health visitors, community paediatricians, children's nursing services and specialist treatment centres. So again the issue of co-ordinating according to age comes up strongly.

The difference between child and adult health structures is very much demonstrated when disabled young people make the transition from child to adult services, as indeed when other children make the transition to adult services. Without specific objectives for the issues in the system for children's health, there is a concern that the mandate will be ineffective in achieving change for children and young people. So I hope that the Minister will be able to respond positively to this. I suggest that the Government should amend Clause 20 to ensure that the NHS mandate sets out priorities for improving services for children and young people. They should also publish a policy statement setting out how it envisages the revised reforms will deliver improvements for children’s health in general.