Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Baroness Brown of Silvertown Excerpts

Thursday 1st May 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Lab)]

I started my working life as a residential social worker, and I am godmother to a beautiful boy being cared for by his wonderful grandparents. Kinship care is a great solution for many young people whose parents are unable to take on parenting, and this Bill will, thankfully, finally define kinship care in legislation, recognising the tremendous work of so many carers whose dedication is often overlooked and underappreciated. I am delighted.

While I am on the topic of being delighted, I was also delighted to see that the needs of children leaving care are contained within this Bill. I am delighted that care leavers will no longer be classified as intentionally homeless and that local authorities must publish more information on the services available to care leavers. I am also delighted that Staying Close support will be rolled out universally or nationally.

That is all good, but we know that many children in care face challenges adjusting to their new life and 41% have emotional and behavioural assessment scores which are a cause for concern, so I was saddened to hear that the Government have reduced the grant available for assessment and therapy each year to £3,000. I am hopeful that the Minister will keep this decision under review, because I know she will agree that preventive mental healthcare for a child often reduces the cost to the state for the adult they become.

I want to talk about food, because hungry children find it difficult to learn. Creating breakfast clubs in all primary schools for all schoolchildren will provide proper nutrition and, hopefully, install healthy eating habits in growing children. But there is a wider crisis. The Food Foundation tells us that 18% of households with children are currently experiencing food insecurity—that is 18% of all households with a child or a parent who is going hungry. As I have said in this House before, I have been told by children that it is not their turn to eat that night.

The provision of good-quality school food, including breakfast clubs, is, I believe, key to reducing those shameful statistics and helping to reduce education inequality. I know that many in this House will favour the provision of universal free school lunches for all children in primary and secondary education. I know that is expensive and I am fully aware of the financial circumstances of the country, but I also know the heart of this Government, so I am hopeful that we can begin to work towards something that is closer to universal provision in the long term.

Some noble Lords may not be aware of the shockingly restrictive criteria for free school lunch eligibility. Children qualify only if they live in households that both receive universal credit and have an income below £7,400 a year after tax and benefits. An estimated 900,000 children living in poverty fall outwith those restrictive criteria.

The need to raise the threshold is particularly acute at this moment because we are at the end of the transitional protections that were put in place during the introduction of universal credit under the last Government. Until the end of last month, children receiving free school meals would retain access to them even if their household income had subsequently risen above the £7,400 income threshold, but those protections have now expired and children will be reassessed, so it is urgent. I hope the Minister has heard me and others on this issue, and that we may see some movement over the summer.

There are many exceptional parts of the Bill, delivered just nine months after the Government took office, and I am proud to support its passage. It is a shame that the time limit is so short that I have been limited to two small sections and, like Oliver, been left asking for more.