Children’s Social Care: Enduring Relationships Strategy

Debate between Baroness Smith of Malvern and Lord Wills

Monday 8th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

The reason why we discussed that in the proceedings on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill was precisely because we were taking action in that legislation to tackle this problem. We are empowering local authorities to secure the best placements for looked-after children at a price that is fair to the taxpayer. We know that local authorities cannot do this alone, so we are also taking action at national level to reshape the market through our package of measures, including those set out in the Act. We are rebalancing the market and improving competition, regulation and the commissioning of placements through the regional care co-operatives I have already talked about, and we will shine a light on the level of profit being made and bring greater visibility to the prices that local authorities are paying. In that legislation, we also took provision to introduce a profit cap if necessary.

[Lord Wills (Lab)]

My Lords, like all the other speakers, I very much welcome what the Government have done in this area and the emphasis they have placed on the importance of enduring relationships. I am very pleased to see that they have in many ways taken up the cause that my noble friend Lady Armstrong has championed for many years. How will the Government integrate these enduring relationships, whether with grandparents, aunts and uncles, former teachers or sports coaches, into the care process right from the outset, so that it is not an add-on but something that is fundamentally integral to the process?

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

That is a very important point. One of the important things we legislated for in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act is the requirement for the use of family group decision-making in precisely that way, when thinking about children coming into the care system, by engaging their families and those who might have the capacity to support them at that point. That is a really important statement at the very beginning of the process about the need to think about kinship care and the support that families can provide.