Children and Families Bill

Baroness Northover Excerpts

Wednesday 29th January 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch]

My Lords, I move the amendment in the name of my noble friend Lady Hughes—who has asked me to speak on her behalf—and will also speak to Amendment 57F. These amendments seek to address the need for clarification and accountability in the exercise of the Secretary of State’s powers to intervene in the delivery of children’s services by local authorities.

Clause 82 amends the Education Act 1996 and the Local Government Act 1999 to the effect that when a Secretary of State intervenes in a local authority, usually in response to poor performance, any legislative provision applying to the local authority can be read as passing to a third party which has taken over the local authority’s functions and service delivery. Subsection (2) of Clause 82 applies these provisions to children’s services and subsection (3) to any best-value services across a local authority. I have to say at the outset that there is no disagreement with the need for intervention powers. It is absolutely necessary to protect services for local people.

In Grand Committee, we sought to clarify the effect of the Government’s intentions here and the Minister assured us then, and subsequently in letters to my noble friend, that the intention was simply a helpful clarification of the effect of a direction under the Secretary of State’s last-resort power and did not expand those powers. She gave the example of clarifying for a family court in the case of a care order or adoption that the court can legally recognise the decisions and arrangements of a third party which has taken over the local authority’s functions, even though that third party will be exercising legal responsibilities and powers vested in local authorities.

I am also grateful to the Minister that her officials met with my noble friend to discuss the clause in more detail. However, the Government’s clause still leaves some uncertainties about where the accountabilities lie following interventions. I apologise if this all gets rather technical, but it requires some further clarification. In essence, the clause as it stands leaves open the question as to where the statutory roles of the director of children’s services and lead member will reside after intervention and whether they, or the third party, are accountable for the way in which local authority functions are executed. Taken at face value, Clause 82(2), underpinning the roles of director of children’s services and lead member, could be read as transferring accountability to a third party. If so, the local authority would no longer be required to appoint to these positions and accountability would no longer rest with the local authority. The local authority would then effectively be severed from delivery of children’s services and accountability would reside with the Secretary of State and the third party.

These amendments do two things. First, they insert a process in which a specific decision is taken about whether the roles of the director of children’s services and lead member transfer to a third party following a direction. Secondly, they allow a local authority to make representations to the Secretary of State as to which functions are transferred to that third party and which remain with the local authority. This is a belt-and-braces amendment to ensure there will be no loose ends or lack of clarity as to where accountability resides, and for what functions, following a direction. It is necessary because while the Minister in her examples has sought to reassure us that the clause is very limited in effect, in fact the wording is very wide in scope and potentially goes far beyond the specific cases of family courts considering care orders and adoptions.

If the Minister is not minded to accept my amendment, perhaps she can explain why not and put on record the practical process that will take place, including discussion with a local authority, when a direction of this sort is under consideration. I look forward to hearing her response.

[Baroness Northover]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, for giving me the opportunity to clarify the scope of the Secretary of State’s intervention powers under Section 497A(4A) of the Education Act 1996 and Section 15(6)(a) of the Local Government Act 1999, as amended by Clause 82. Using these powers in a failing local authority would be a serious step, and it is right that we are very clear how they might be used. I hope to be able to satisfy the noble Baroness’s desire for such clarity.

Noble Lords will recall that these provisions are intended to put beyond doubt the Secretary of State’s existing powers to shift, in cases of very serious failure, the exercise of some of a local authority’s functions to a third party who will deliver them on behalf of the Secretary of State. Clause 82 clarifies the effect of the exercise of those existing powers—for example, in relation to care and adoption, and Ofsted’s powers to inspect the performance of the local authority’s functions—in whatever form they are delivered.

I will address each of the points in turn, because I know, as the noble Baroness mentioned, that meetings have been held with my noble friend, and that there is a wish that this be put on the record. That is what I shall do, if noble Lords will be patient.

Amendment 57E seeks assurance that a direction under subsection (4A) of Section 497A of the 1996 Act, as that section is amended by this Bill, would not automatically result in the transfer of the functions of director of, and lead member for, children’s services to the Secretary of State’s nominee. Amendment 57F does likewise for a direction under subsection (6)(a) of Section 15 of the 1999 Act.

I can be quite clear that a direction under the provisions in question would not result in an automatic transfer of the role of director of children’s services or of lead member for children’s services, to a third party who had taken on a local authority’s functions. That is, in part, because Sections 18 and 19 of the Children Act 2004, which set out the requirements on local authorities to appoint a director of and lead member for children’s services, are not functions which may be subject to a direction under subsection (4A) of Section 497A of the 1996 Act.

Following a subsection (4A) direction, the DCS and lead member would remain in place, although their responsibilities may be altered by agreement with the local authority as part of the transfer of functions from the local authority to the Secretary of State, or a nominee. The DCS and lead member would not, of course, exercise control over the local authority functions which had transferred to a third party following a direction under Section 497A.

Although the powers under subsection (6)(a) of Section 15 of the 1999 Act apply to Sections 18 and 19 of the Children Act 2004, I again reassure noble Lords that a direction under subsection (6)(a) would not result in the automatic transfer of those functions. If the Secretary of State wanted to transfer those functions to himself or a nominee, the direction would need specifically to set that out. I also point out that the amendment to Section 15 of the 1999 Act in Clause 82 of the Bill does not alter that in any way.

I also reassure the noble Baronesses that proposed new subsections (4AE), (4AG), (6E) and (6G) in their amendments, which are intended to ensure that the Secretary of State gives the local authority written notice of a proposed direction, are not necessary. Whenever in recent years we have contemplated issuing a direction, we have conducted initial discussions about its content beforehand. We have then formally given notice of our intention to issue a direction and formally invited representations from the local authority and other interested parties—I am glad that I am going to hand this to Hansard, so that they can make sure that the record is exactly as it is supposed to be. We will continue with the practice that I have just laid out.

Further, were we looking to transfer the exercise of some of a local authority’s functions to a third party, as these powers envisage, we would of course have to follow the provisions of employment law in respect of any employees. That would require consultation and appropriate due diligence around the terms of the transfer, which could only be done together with the local authority. In any event, in all but the most urgent cases, common-law principles of procedural fairness and good governance would require that notice of a direction be given to a council and an opportunity be afforded for representations to be made before a direction is given.

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Moved by

[Baroness Northover]

59ZA: After Clause 85, insert the following new Clause—
“Provision of free school lunches
(1) The Education Act 1996 is amended as follows.
(2) In section 512ZB (provision of free school lunches and milk at maintained schools)—
(a) in subsection (2)(a) after “subsection (4)” insert “or (4A) (or both)”, and(b) after subsection (4) insert—“(4A) A person is within this subsection if the person—
(a) is a registered pupil at a maintained school or pupil referral unit in England, and(b) is in reception, year 1, year 2 or any other prescribed year group at the school.(4B) The Secretary of State may by order provide for the following to be treated as persons within subsection (4A)—
(a) registered pupils, or any description of registered pupils, at a maintained nursery school in England;(b) children, or any description of children, who receive relevant funded early years education, or any description of such education, in England.(4C) In subsection (4A)—
“maintained school” means—
(a) a community, foundation or voluntary school, or(b) a community or foundation special school;“reception” means a year group in which the majority of children will, in the school year, attain the age of 5;
“year 1” means a year group in which the majority of children will, in the school year, attain the age of 6;
“year 2” means a year group in which the majority of children will, in the school year, attain the age of 7;
“year group” means a group of children at a school the majority of whom will, in a particular school year, attain the same age.”;
(c) in subsection (5), after ““prescribed”” insert “, “relevant funded early years education””.(3) After section 512A insert—
“512B Provision of school lunches: Academies
(1) Academy arrangements in relation to an Academy school or an alternative provision Academy must include provision imposing obligations on the proprietor that are equivalent to the school lunches obligations.
(2) “The school lunches obligations” are the obligations imposed in relation to maintained schools and pupil referral units in England by—
(a) section 512(3) (provision of school lunches on request), and(b) section 512ZB(1) (provision of free school lunches to eligible persons). (3) Academy arrangements in relation to an Academy (other than a 16 to 19 Academy) that are entered into before the date on which section (Provision of free school lunches)(3) of the Children and Families Act 2014 comes into force are to be treated as if they included the provision required by subsection (1), to the extent that they do not otherwise include such provision.”

[Baroness Northover]

My Lords, in September last year the Government announced their intention that all children attending state-funded schools in England in reception, year 1 or year 2 should be offered a free school lunch. Amendment 59ZA places a duty on all such schools to provide lunches to those children and also provides a power for the Secretary of State for Education to extend that provision to other age groups by order, subject to decisions by future Governments and the will of Parliament.

We know from pilot schemes in Durham and Newham, which commenced under the previous Government in 2009 and concluded under this one in 2011, that the provision of universal free school meals has the potential to deliver considerable benefits for children, and particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

One of the most striking positive effects demonstrated by the pilots was the impact of universal free school meal provision on educational outcomes. Independent evaluation showed that pupils were on average two months ahead of their peers in English and maths and that these improvements were most marked among children from less affluent families. Noble Lords may wish to note that these improvements were not reflected in a third pilot area, where free school meal entitlement was extended to more pupils but not offered to all children.

Other benefits demonstrated by the pilots included higher take-up rates of free school meals, including among that the group of pupils who had previously been eligible for a free school meal but had not taken one. This is important: we know, due in large part to the good work done under the previous Government, that school meals are far more likely to meet good nutritional standards than the packed lunches that children bring to school. Offering all infants a healthy lunch will allow schools to play their part in helping children to develop long-term healthy eating behaviours.

Noble Lords will also be interested to know that the pilots demonstrated certain social benefits. Universal free school meals help to engender a culture where children sit down to eat with classmates and teachers in a civilised environment. Shared mealtimes are a natural training ground for learning to talk, behave, take turns, be polite and share. The pilots showed that a universal approach was valued by parents and staff for building a school community and sense of cohesion and increasing equality and fairness.

We will support schools in introducing this. In his autumn Statement my right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that over a billion pounds of new revenue funding would be allocated to this policy between 2014 and 2016. In addition, the Government confirmed that £150 million of capital funding would be provided by the Department for Education in 2014-15 to improve kitchen and dining facilities in schools.

Subsequently, the Department for Education has confirmed more details of how this funding will be allocated, including that special provision will be made in 2014-15 to assist small schools to implement this policy. The department will also, shortly, announce details of a comprehensive package of implementation support and advice to be targeted at schools that might be expected to find delivering this policy most challenging.

Head teachers need to know that the Government are as committed to this policy as we expect them to be. That is why we have concluded that this amendment is necessary to provide both certainty and confidence, so that head teachers can plan ahead.

This policy has been widely welcomed across the school food sector, by trade unions and by other stakeholders, including the Children’s Society. I appreciate the favourable comments from the noble Baroness opposite and from the noble Lord, Lord Laming, on the Cross Benches. We spoke to them about introducing the amendment at this stage and we appreciate their support in this. I am very pleased to put this amendment forward. I beg to move.

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[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch]

My Lords, I welcome the amendment and welcome the coalition, belatedly, to the table of the free school meals cause.

As I told the Minister the other day, I am an inaugural member of the School Food Trust, set up by Labour after Jamie Oliver’s turkey Twizzler scandal. Therefore, I do not need to be persuaded of the importance of this announcement. When I was thinking how I might respond to this debate, I was initially tempted to run back through the history of this initiative, not least the Government’s early decision to cut the funding of the School Food Trust and the associated rollout of the nutritional standards. However, in the circumstances I felt that this was rather churlish. However the transformation of policy came about, it is absolutely the right thing to do. I agree with the Minister that it will bring health, educational and social benefits to this group of children. It will, I hope, teach them good eating habits which will stay with them and encourage them to continue eating nutritional school lunches in later years. It will also provide considerable savings to hard-pressed families who would otherwise have to pay for these meals.

The challenge now is to make sure that the policy is implemented successfully for September, and I very much hope that the Children’s Food Trust is able to play a major role in assisting that rollout. There will obviously be different challenges for different schools to adapt their kitchens and dining spaces to meet the new demand. I hope that schools, and particularly head teachers, embrace this challenge positively and do not try to cut corners. The school lunch has the capacity to be at the heart of the school’s community and brings a wealth of other benefits as well. I very much hope that in a short period the policy will justify itself. I am pleased that the amendment allows scope for extending the age group via secondary regulation in due course, and I am pleased to support the amendment.

[Baroness Northover]

I thank noble Lords for their welcome for this proposal. I look forward to hearing the report from Dagenham. The department will be very interested in that trial. I say to the noble Baroness, Lady Lister, that pupil premium funding will not be affected by the introduction of universal school meals for infant pupils. In particular, the funding for the next financial year 2014-15 is informed by school census data collected in the January 2014 school census. This census is taking place prior to the introduction of universal infant free school meals. In subsequent years, we will be gathering the same data in the school census on the number of pupils whose families are in receipt of the relevant benefits that currently entitle the children to a free school meal. This information will be used to allocate pupil premium funding, as well as other deprivation-related school funding.

In terms of evaluating the impact of this policy, it will obviously be carefully monitored. The universal free school meals pilot provided a full and compelling evaluation of the benefits and challenges of the policy, as I have just laid out. We will be measuring the take-up of lunches via the school census and are sure that others will want to measure the specific benefits arising from this policy.

There are currently no plans to extend the universal free school meals eligibility to further age groups. It will be for future Governments to decide whether they want to do so. However, we thought that it was important, while we were asking Parliament to consider legislating on the principle of this, to include an enabling power to give future Governments the flexibility to extend the policy using secondary rather than primary legislation. This of course will still be subject to the will of Parliament.

I think that I have covered everything, although I am not sure whether I have covered all the points raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Jones. If I have not, then, given the hour, I will write to noble Lords. Once again, I thank your Lordships very much for their welcome of this policy.

Amendment 59ZA agreed.