Children: Welfare, Life Chances and Social Mobility

Baroness Young of Old Scone Excerpts

Thursday 1st November 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Young of Old Scone (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lady Massey for prompting this debate. We have heard how many factors shape the life chances, welfare and social mobility of young people. Poverty alleviation, parenting and early educational intervention all have proven impacts, but austerity over the past eight years has had major adverse effects.

The Local Government Association told us that, after core reductions of £16 billion, local authorities have largely managed to protect social care, but there has been a substantial increase in demand. For example, there has been a 158% increase in demand for child protection services in serious cases where a child is suffering significant harm. Spend has tended to move away from preventive and early help work into services to protect children who are at immediate risk of harm. Councils predict a further funding gap for children’s services of at least £3 billion by 2025, and that does not take account of any further rise in demand.

Early intervention services face particular pressures, with demand rising but funding falling by 40% in real terms between 2010 and 2016. The Chancellor’s £84 million in the Budget to help a measly 20 local authorities reduce the number of children entering the care system is a drop in a bucket.

In addition to service cuts, recent tax and welfare reforms have meant difficult parenting situations for many of the most vulnerable families. I find it difficult to reconcile the Government’s “You’ve never had it so good” statements on the lowest-ever levels of unemployment and more people than ever in employment with the rising reliance on food banks. I see stagnant wages and people having to juggle several part-time or zero-hours jobs to survive, with resulting impacts on parenting. As is always the case, austerity has fallen heavily on our children. I, for one, am not convinced that its ongoing impact is over.

Let us be less gloomy. Removal from poverty, good parenting and early educational intervention can have demonstrable effects on both life chances and indeed, as has already been said, on future health. I commend to the House and to the Government the benefits of outdoor education and encouragement of children to connect with green spaces and trees. I should declare an interest as the chairman of the Woodland Trust.

Our children are the fattest and run the risk of being the sickest for many years—for generations, in fact—with life-shortening conditions such as type 2 diabetes being diagnosed in children at earlier and earlier ages. That will have a lifelong impact on not just their physical health but their mental health and life chances. A Sutton Trust review of research evidence identified four key dimensions of good-quality pedagogy for all children under three. Two of these are a focus on play-based activities and routines which allow children to take the lead in their own learning and opportunities to move and be physically active, as we have already heard from the noble Baroness, Lady Bull. A study of adults has shown that walking in green open space with trees for 13 and a half minutes a day reduces the risks of depression by 50%.

I commend to your Lordships and the Minister the work of the growing network of schools that have signed up as forest schools. These are schools where much of the teaching is based on outdoor activities and woods and offer a unique activity-based way of building independence, self-esteem and a positive attitude towards learning in children and young people as they explore and experience the natural world for themselves. The little beasts go out to learn in their local woods in all weathers and are encouraged to explore their thoughts, feelings and relationships through the use of emotions, imagination and senses. At the same time they improve their physical activity, health and mental health. The experience of a combination of freedom and responsibility is beneficial, especially to children with little confidence or challenging behaviours. The Woodland Trust is delighted to provide local woods and profuse quantities of mud for many forest schools.

In a spirit of total self-promotion, I commend the Woodland Trust Green Tree Schools Award, which has rewarded 10,000 schools for competing in environmental projects and encouraging outdoor learning. I should say, of course, that other green school and educational initiatives are available. Can the Minister tell us what support the Government can give to these sorts of outdoor education initiatives? In Wales, every child born receives two trees funded by the Welsh Government. One is planted by the Woodland Trust in Wales and the family is sent the co-ordinates so that they can visit their trees. The other is planted in Uganda to help create a sustainable future for Ugandan forests and indeed, the planet. The scheme is rather confusingly called Plant!, which does not mean what noble Lords think; it is Welsh for “children”. This reinforces early in the family’s formation the importance of green open spaces and trees and encourages them to take their toddler, although we have had babes in arms as well, into the woods. Perhaps the Minister might introduce such a scheme for children in England and demonstrate the Government’s commitment to the importance of outdoor education.

Higher Education and Research Bill

Baroness Young of Old Scone Excerpts

2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords
Tuesday 6th December 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Young of Old Scone (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as chancellor of Cranfield University, a postgraduate university that as its stock in trade works very closely with business to bring practical benefits to society. I am also a member of the Science and Technology Committee of your Lordships’ House. It is quite late and it is getting later. I thought I might just try standing up and saying, “I agree with Lord Mair”, but then I thought perhaps no one would have remembered what the noble Lord said since this has been a very long speakers list, so I shall bore the House for a bit longer.

I shall focus on the provision for enfolding Innovate UK into UKRI. Innovate UK has done a good job of promoting innovation, so you could ask the question, “Why change?”. If pressed, the Government say they are implementing the recommendations of the Nurse review, but in his report Paul Nurse said:

“Innovate UK has a different customer base as well as differences in delivery mechanisms, which Government needs to bear in mind in considering such an approach, and which this review, according to its remit, has not looked at in depth”.

So I do not think the Government can really rely on that, since he seems to be saying, “There are pros and cons, and by the way I haven’t looked at it very much myself”.

My concerns are similar to those outlined in the Nurse report. Innovate UK has been a strong influence for good in the commercialisation of university research and has a great track record in working with the research councils. However, its pre-eminent effectiveness has been in its business-facing role, helping businesses, particularly SMEs, and indeed individuals to bring ideas to market. The most significant driver of innovation and R&D in business is the kind of ecosystems that Innovate UK plays an important role in developing, including the role of supply chains and customers in helping businesses to talk to other businesses.

In particular, Innovate UK plays a unique role in fostering very early-stage development. It is probably caricaturing a bit to say that it helps mad, scary inventors with a high passion for a bright idea at a stage when it is only a twinkle in their eye, but it certainly engages with the sort of ideas that have not reached proof-of-concept stage and therefore are not the sort of thing that the banks are going to support—higher risk but worth a punt, as it were. That is where Innovate UK plays a unique role that nobody else does. It is quite telling that the current split of Innovate UK activity is less than 20% on the commercialisation of university research and 80% on business-facing activities.

Although expanding support to the universities for the commercialisation of its research is important, this must not mean that Innovate UK within the UKRI simply just becomes the creature that is there to commercialise the work of the research councils. The research councils, of course, will be a very big factor in UKRI and Innovate UK will simply be a small part of it. It is interesting that, when these concerns were raised with the Government—I am delighted to see that the long-standing, temporarily sitting, and now again standing Minister is still with us tonight—the Minister kindly issued a fact sheet in October 2016 and gave assurances that,

“Innovate UK will retain its current business-facing focus. Innovate UK will not become just the commercialisation arm of the Research Councils. … Innovation is a complex, non-linear process with much innovation occurring business-to-business”.

After that stirring start, the fact sheet goes a bit flaky from its early promise and proceeds to list the extensive benefits of academic to business partnerships, and seems to lose the plot on the business-to-business innovation. In a number of subsequent briefings that we have been lucky enough to have with the Minister, his focus very rapidly shifts to university research when he talks about Innovate UK.

I should reassure the House that I am not against the principles of UKRI. There is a need for the promotion of cross-cutting research, for having a strategic capability to review research agenda in the UK, to have more weight for research in the industrial strategy, and indeed to have a united and strong voice for research in the face of Brexit. I make one simple request: the Government should honour the commitment to enshrine Innovate UK’s business-facing focus in the legislation. The current wording in Clause 90 is inadequate. We need a new clause that lists briefly all the terms of reference of Innovate UK, which is very much needed if we are to be reassured that the Government and UKRI will not tend to forget the business-facing role in the future.

Children and Families Bill

Baroness Young of Old Scone Excerpts

Wednesday 29th January 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Brinton (LD)]

My Lords, I, too, offer my thanks and congratulations to the Minister and the Government for the considerable progress made since Committee and for the frankly stunning indicative guidance. It is not yet out for consultation, but it is extremely helpful. Of course, the problem with providing your Lordships’ House with such prospective guidance is that we all have things that we think could better it. I will not repeat the points that noble Lords have already made, but will add briefly the two or three that I am concerned about.

I reiterate that the guidance must make it explicit that children with diagnosed health conditions are given an individual healthcare plan, even if there are no obvious actions, not least because medical and health conditions change and for a child at school suddenly to have to go through that process, when it was known about at the start, seems rather foolish. It will speed up the planning process and the school’s ability to monitor the child’s health if they are already on the radar of the school.

I particularly like the section in paragraph 39 on unacceptable practice. This is extremely helpful, but there is one glaring omission. Nowhere does it say that schools must take account of a doctor’s diagnosis rather than make their own. In Committee I mentioned a young man who was struggling with severe ME and chronic fatigue syndrome; but because the head did not believe that ME existed, he was given no rest times and was actually excluded because he was unable to take part in sport, which was deemed to be bad behaviour. Despite the fact that his hospital consultant had given the school formal advice, the head chose to ignore it. That is unacceptable bad practice and, in my view, it needs to be included.

That relates also to the ambiguity in the guidance about whether pupils with medical conditions should have individual healthcare plans. We must not have a get-out clause for schools. I hope that the Minister will be able to give reassurance on that point and others that my colleagues have made.

Finally, I give my particular thanks to the Minister and his team for meeting me to discuss my idea about access for teachers with frequently asked questions on a range of health conditions. This is now progressing: discussions are about to start with officials in the Department of Health. I know that the Health Conditions in Schools Alliance already has a date to discuss that and other things with the department in the very near future. When a school nurse is not around, this tool for teachers is going to be absolutely vital. It is not going to be technical and complex but will help to alleviate the fears that a teacher will have if a child suddenly moves into their class with a condition of which they have no experience at all, and if they want to understand both the learning and social implications of such a condition.

[Baroness Young of Old Scone (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, at this time of night I shall be brief and not repeat anything that has already been said. However, I wish to make effusive remarks about the Minister’s response to the case made by the Health Conditions in Schools Alliance and for bringing forward a government amendment to the Bill, for which we are grateful. I thank the Minister for ensuring that the indicative draft of the guidance was available before we discussed this element of the Bill.

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, for proposing this very important amendment. He sought a response from the Minister on what happens if a school—schools now have a very clear responsibility to look after these children—fails to get an adequate input from the local health system in terms of support and making plans for individual children. From time to time staff at schools across the country say that they would like to provide a better response in this regard but are unable to do so because they do not get adequate training and support from the local health system. Therefore, this amendment is important as it would reinforce the existing duties under the Children Act—which, alas, are currently ignored—and make sure that a school is not put in the impossible position of having a statutory duty but no means of carrying it out if it is not given the necessary support.

School nurses are important but so are specialist nurses for various conditions because in many cases their specialist knowledge will be required to establish an adequate plan for each child. Therefore, this issue cannot be left simply to school nurses, quite apart from the workload issue that the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, raised.

I know that this issue is of great concern to the trade unions. It was, indeed, their only stumbling block. I held the mistaken belief that the trade unions were not willing to take up this challenge on an ideological basis. However, their concerns were practical ones. They were very willing to see teachers give this support to children provided they were properly supported and trained to do so. Therefore, the question is: what does a school do if the NHS does not step up to the plate in providing training and support for it?

The indicative guidance rightly talks about the role of Ofsted in ensuring that schools meet this new duty. However, there needs to be further discussion between the department and Ofsted about the latter’s role and what it will be able to do in relation to this issue. The guidance says that inspectors are already briefed to consider the needs of pupils with chronic or long-term medical conditions and to report on how well their needs are being met. However, that was not quite the impression I got when I met the Chief Inspector of Schools a few weeks ago, so clarity is needed about what requirements will be laid on Ofsted, not perhaps in terms of this duty being fully inspected but at least the forthcoming guidance to inspectors should brief them on it. Perhaps at some stage an ad hoc report could be produced on how well the guidance is being implemented. I press the Minister to tell us what a school will do if it hits a brick wall with the NHS.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools (Lord Nash) (Con)]

My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords for their comments on Amendment 57C, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, and the noble Baroness, Lady Howe, and to all those noble Lords who have brought these matters to our attention. We are in consultation on the guidance and we welcome all noble Lords’ comments on it and on all other matters. I hope that I can assure the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, and other noble Lords that further primary legislation is not necessary.

Children and Families Bill

Baroness Young of Old Scone Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd October 2013 Grand Committee

[Baroness Benjamin (LD)]

My Lords, I, too, thank the Minister for his amendment because it is a great way of starting the debate. I have put my name to Amendments 220 to 222 because, as we have already heard, too many children with health conditions are not getting the support they need in schools and this problem needs to be addressed. They include, as we have heard, children with diabetes, epilepsy and incontinence and many others who all need greater consideration. However, I want to concentrate on children who suffer from sickle cell disorder, an invisible illness.

There is a strong feeling among doctors, medical practitioners and those working with children who suffer from sickle cell that provision of community nurses who deal with sickle cell sufferers should be expanded and more resources made available in schools. According to a British Educational Research Journal article, many young people who suffer from sickle cell disorder report extensive negative experiences at school. Around half have been prevented drinking water in class and going to the toilet. These are simple, basic needs of sickle cell sufferers. More than one-third were made to do unsuitable exercises and were called lazy when they got tired because of their sickle cell condition. Awareness needs to be raised by nurses visiting schools whenever and wherever necessary to support and educate staff, particularly sports teachers, about simple practices such as children getting dried off quickly after swimming, cooling down after vigorous exercise and being allowed to drink freely in class. Staff also need to be aware of the brain problems, such as silent stroke, that can occur at any time to those suffering from sickle cell.

Young people were reluctant to disclose that they had sickle cell, as they found many teachers were not knowledgeable about the disorder and felt it might be seen as a disadvantage. In some cases it can be, because if they have an attack or a crisis they have to miss lessons at school and therefore do not reach their full potential. It is all about equality, about educating schools and about training. The provision of specialist nurses in the community is also patchy and not well resourced. This needs to change.

The Sickle Cell Society believes that there needs to be a specific guide for schools on sickle cell disorder, rather than relying on generic guidance. Managing Medicines in Schools is limited because it refers only to medication and what to do in an emergency. It misses out the whole area of prevention and preventive measures, which is vital to keep those with sickle cell disorder safe and well. Also, it is no good having advice on managing medicines if school staff can simply refuse to administer them. Research shows that only a quarter of schools would agree to give children with sickle cell disorder mild painkillers, which is a problem for those suffering sickle cell, who need such medication if they have a crisis or an attack. We need to rewrite the guidance Managing Medicines in Schools to include sickle cell, which is the most common single genetic condition in England, affecting one in 1,850 of all births in England.

I know that the Government’s view is that the local school is best placed to know the needs of its children, but research has shown that schools are clearly not well placed to do this with sickle cell disorder and need considerable help and guidance to respond adequately. All children with medical conditions are supposed to have an individual healthcare plan, but research shows that only 43% of schools with children with sickle cell disorder even claimed to have such a plan. Checking that all schools have such plans in place for children with sickle cell disorder is essential. If such a policy is implemented it will reduce admissions of sufferers to hospital, which is an added, unnecessary strain on the NHS. Unfortunately, children suffering from sickle cell disorder do not have any provision under special educational needs; therefore I believe that a statement of special educational needs is necessary to help protect these children’s well-being at school and I look forward to hearing the Minister’s views. I hope that these children will be brought into the fold and given greater consideration.

[Baroness Young of Old Scone (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I shall speak to Amendments 220, 221 and 222, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Storey, and Amendment 223, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy. I join other noble Lords in welcoming the government Amendments 241A and 274. I declare an interest as chief executive of Diabetes UK. We have been delighted and I thank the Minister and his department for the way they responded to the very real case for improved support for children in schools with health conditions, a case that was made not only by the Health Conditions in Schools Alliance but by some parents and children whom the Minister very kindly agreed to see during the summer. These laid out their personal cases in rather heart-rending fashion and demonstrated just how fundamentally the support given in school can influence not only children’s health but also their self-esteem, their educational attainment and their family’s economic circumstances if a parent has to stop working to meet the shortfalls in support that the school is failing to provide.

This is not a small-scale problem: we have heard from many noble Lords this afternoon and there are many more than a million children involved. I shall not go through all the statistics—noble Lords have heard many of them already—or even the heart-rending stories, because I think the Minister got that in bucketloads during the summer. I do, however, want to raise some practical issues that go with the Government’s amendment to lay a statutory duty on schools to provide support. We are very pleased that the amendment includes academies—that is very welcome—but the statutory duty is not enough on its own and we are very pleased that the Government are committed to backing this up with statutory guidance.

Children and Families Bill

Baroness Young of Old Scone Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd July 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Young of Old Scone]

My Lords, I was interested to hear how moved the Minister was by his visit yesterday. I now invite him on another visit, this time to a family who have just experienced a major struggle to get adequate support in school for their son who has type 1 diabetes. I declare an interest as the chief executive of Diabetes UK. However, I am speaking not only on behalf of children and families with diabetes but on behalf of the one million children in this country who have long-term health conditions, such as asthma, heart disease, migraine and epilepsy, who require and often do not get extra support at school.

Several noble Lords have already highlighted the absence of provision in the Bill for this important group. The Health Conditions in Schools Alliance, an alliance of 36 national charities across a wide range of health conditions, has collected evidence from children and parents. We hear about children being excluded from school activities and made to feel isolated and different at a time when they need to feel that they are fitting in. Their academic attainment suffers and, in some cases, their very health or survival is put at risk with crises in their condition being unsupported. In many cases, parents have to give up work or work reduced hours, with serious financial implications for their families and, indeed, for the economy.

Let me give examples. There are 29,000 children in this country with type 1 diabetes. In 70% of cases where a child is unable to inject insulin on their own behalf or where an insulin pump needs simple checks, parents are required to go into schools to provide this simple care. Some 59% of schools do not have a policy of advising staff on how to give medication. There are 63,000 children and young people with epilepsy but less than 40% of schools have an epilepsy policy. Indeed, recently the Children’s Commissioner has criticised ad hoc exclusion of children from schools as the result of long-term medical conditions. Often when schools think that they cannot cope, they simply send the child home.

I should not be critical of all schools because many schools provide excellent support to these children but, distressingly, others do not. It is intriguing that very often that involves neighbouring schools in the same local educational area. So it is not an issue of money, staff or skills—it is a failure of commitment. It is often left to the interest or motivation of a head or a particular teacher. This kind of postcode lottery is unacceptable.

During the debate on the Bill in the other place, the Government spokesman agreed that in some schools support for children with health conditions is below the level we should be seeing and that every effort needs to be made to improve practice on the ground. However, wishing things to be better will not make them happen. We now have a long and deep experience that shows that for those schools which do not voluntarily do the right thing by these children, a statutory requirement is now needed.

I am sure the Minister will have been briefed that the Children Act 1989, the Education Act 2002 and the Equality Act 2010 provide sufficient legislative framework. I simply say that they have not so far. Too many schools have failed to follow the existing guidance given on supporting children with health conditions. I could introduce the Minister, were he in visit mode, to some of the families who have had to fight to get rights through using this legislation. However, for every family that has the tenacity, intelligence and resource to fight that case, there are tens or hundreds who do not.

I would like the Minister to meet some of these families but, more importantly, I invite him also to adopt the amendments tabled on this issue in the other place and lay a statutory duty on schools to have a plan for the support for such children. It is not too much to ask for a million vulnerable children. It will help the Government to meet their ambition of ensuring that all children and young people can succeed whatever their background.

Perhaps I may briefly raise the issue of another omission from the Bill. It may look a bit off the wall, but here goes. The Minister will be acutely aware that the Government failed to include in the Queen’s Speech a provision for the introduction of plain packaging for cigarettes and tobacco products, despite the considerable weight of evidence. We are still waiting. Standard packs are designed to protect children and young people from taking up smoking. This Bill is an opportunity to correct that omission. Why not, Minister?

Education: Children with Diabetes

Baroness Young of Old Scone Excerpts

Tuesday 1st February 2011 Grand Committee

[Baroness Young of Old Scone]

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Lexden, on his dextrous maiden speech, which I suppose is an appropriate term for someone who bears the name of a batsman. He is of course steeped in the history and politics of the Conservative variety. Before he came to your Lordships’ House, he was instrumental in writing a history of 175 years of the Carlton Club and 80 years of the Conservative Research Department. I am sure that his historical perspective on politics will come in useful in these days of new experiments in government. As the noble Lord said, the Conservative Research Department was the cradle in which many illustrious Conservative Members of your Lordships’ House and the other place cut their teeth. I thank the noble Lord on behalf of your Lordships and on your behalf, if I may, wish him a fulfilling time in this House.

I also thank the noble Lord for cutting his maiden teeth on an important issue regarding diabetes. I of course declare an interest, which has already been revealed by other noble Lords, in that I am the chief executive of Diabetes UK. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, for initiating this important debate and for his kind words about Diabetes UK, and I thank other noble Lords who have spoken and who will contribute on this heart-rending issue; 20,000 children under 15 have type 1 diabetes, another 1,400 have type 2 diabetes and an increasing number have both types. Noble Lords have given us many statistics and told heart-rending stories, and although many children every day enjoy a full school life, others struggle with control of their condition, without having to deal with the other disadvantages that other noble Lords have mentioned.

Every child with diabetes should be entitled to the full opportunities of education and not be dependent on parents, many of whom, in these straitened times, simply cannot afford to give up work. I want briefly to add my voice to calls for what is needed to allow that to happen. There should, in particular, be an end to inadequate and variable levels of funding for support in schools. If statementing is inappropriate for these children, what mechanism is? There needs to be more access to diabetic teaching assistants and to proper education for teachers, and fellow pupils, to gain an understanding of diabetes and other support that pupils need from time to time.

Can the Minister assure us that the Government will put clear and specific duties on schools and local authorities to ensure continuity of care, in order that children with diabetes can benefit from a proper education? We need an end to the postcode lottery. I hope that there is no increased use of the phrase which struck terror into my heart when I was in conversation about the postcode lottery in healthcare—that this was “no longer a postcode lottery but postcode democracy”. I hope that the excuse of decisions being made on a local basis is not used to support very uneven standards of care and support for these children in schools. I ask the Minister to ensure that all schools be required to have a medical policy to define how they support the health needs of children with long-term conditions; there are more than 1 million children with long-term conditions in schools. There needs to be clarity of responsibility for funding support for children with diabetes in school and an end to the ping-pong between health and education authorities, which are both anxious to pass responsibility for support for these children backwards and forwards. There needs to be clarity on who is responsible and who can be held responsible.

Ideally, we would like to see a full-time qualified nurse for each secondary school and for each cluster of primary schools to help support children with diabetes. Also, as the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, said, we need an individual healthcare plan for each child that is prepared jointly between the child, the parents, the doctors and the teachers, and regularly updated. I hope the Minister can tell us how appropriate healthcare can be assured in educational settings, because it is not just about supporting these very vulnerable and often heavily challenged children in their school lives. It is also about reducing the long-term financial costs of the condition to the NHS, reducing the adverse economic costs and emotional impacts on families, and ensuring that these children have a less tough time than they currently do, as well as achieving physical and economic well-being later in life.