Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Baroness Tyler of Enfield Excerpts

Thursday 1st May 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Tyler of Enfield (LD)]

My Lords, so much to say, so little time to say it. I welcome this Bill and many of its measures, but there is plenty of scope for further strengthening and improvement. I am also very much looking forward to hearing the two maiden speeches.

Although my main interest is in Part 1, I want to emphasise the interrelated nature of the two parts of the Bill. In order to attend, attain and thrive at school, a child needs to feel safe, secure and well supported and have good mental health and emotional well-being. Despite having the word “well-being” in its title, in my view, the Bill currently lacks measures that will improve the mental health and well-being of children. It is of real concern that, according to the latest PISA data, England’s young people have the lowest level of well-being in Europe. Evidence increasingly shows the link between school absences and poor mental health. There is also growing recognition of a gap in mental health support for children and young people who need a greater level of support than is currently available in school mental health teams, but do not require or are not eligible for specialist treatment from CAMHS. I intend to press to rectify this gap, based on my current Private Member’s Bill requiring a suitably qualified mental health professional in all schools, primary and secondary. Linked to this, I strongly support the introduction of a national well-being measurement programme for children throughout England, and I pay tribute to both Be Well and Pro Bono Economics for all their work in this area.

Data on children’s well-being and mental health is currently fragmented across the NHS, schools and local authorities. We should take the opportunity to introduce a national well-being measurement to focus efforts and provide a measurable standard from which we can mark progress. This will give all children a voice on the issues that matter to their well-being, allow regular tracking of national progress, support detailed cross-agency service planning at local level and provide new evidence on what works for improving well-being. It will also provide a framework to understand and enhance the Bill’s impact. Without this, we will never move forward.

There is more to do to strengthen the voice of the child throughout this Bill and ensure that their wishes and feelings are known and fed into decisions about them. As the noble Lord, Lord Bichard, reminded us, serious case reviews have repeatedly shown that a lack of information-sharing, duplicate record-keeping and conflicting information systems have resulted in missed opportunities to identify children and protect them from serious harm. The worst cases hit the headlines, and have been harrowing and heartbreaking. Having a unique consistent identifier for individual children will allow professionals working with them to share information easily and prevent them falling through the gaps, so I welcome its inclusion in Clause 4, but will the Minister commit to the full implementation of a single unique identifier by the next election? If so, can she confirm the use of the NHS number?

Early intervention plays a vital role in providing support to children and young people and giving them the help they need to thrive before problems escalate and families reach crisis point. I intend to bring forward some amendments in this area.

I end by asking the Minister what assessment the department has made of the impact of reductions in early intervention funding on rising demand for child protection services and care placements. There were so many other areas I wanted to talk about, particularly children in care, excessive profiteering, the national offer for carers’ leave, et cetera, et cetera. Time precludes me doing so, but I will certainly be returning to these issues in Committee.