Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
David Baines Excerpts(1 week, 6 days ago)
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David Baines (St Helens North) (Lab)
I am both a former teacher and a former council leader, and I speak on behalf of many of my former colleagues when I say that this Bill is welcome and will make a difference to children across St Helens North. It will also make a positive difference to the ability of those who work in education and other services to protect and support children and young people. That is why I will vote for the Bill and cannot support the Opposition’s wrecking amendment.
Breaking down barriers to opportunity is a key Government mission, and one that, in my experience, has been vital to all those who choose to work with children and young people. When I was council leader in St Helens, we made giving every child the best possible start in life the council’s No. 1 priority, and I learned that partnership working is key. Together, we were able to take children’s services from inadequate when I became leader to good and outstanding. I warmly welcome the Bill’s measures to encourage data sharing and multi-agency work in all councils across the country.
Members on both sides of the House should welcome the Bill’s measures to improve child protection and safeguarding, to improve support for children in care and care leavers, and to introduce better regulation of the children’s home sector.
On wider issues under the Bill’s scope, I warmly welcome the concrete measures to put money back in families’ pockets at a time when we know things are difficult for many. Practical measures such as limiting the number of branded items of school uniform and introducing free breakfast clubs in primary schools could save families in St Helens North £450 a year. Perhaps more importantly, these measures will make sure that children can start each day with a full stomach, healthier, happier and ready to learn.
I also want to see higher standards and more opportunities for every child in every school. I say this not just from my professional background and interest but, more importantly, as a parent. I am pleased to see this running right through the Bill and through everything the Secretary of State and Education Ministers have said since taking office. This means putting qualified, expert teachers at the front of every classroom, including in academies, and developing a new national curriculum to ensure that young people are ready for work and ready for life.
However, as I mentioned earlier, I have no doubt that the most important aspects of this Bill will ensure that children and young people are safe at home and at school. This Bill is the biggest upgrade in child protection in a generation, and it should be something we can all support.
I finish by paying tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Rotherham (Sarah Champion), who spoke so passionately and clearly about child protection, as well as the importance of voting for the Bill today and implementing the Jay inquiry’s recommendations as soon as possible. This should be something on which we can all agree.
Children’s Social Care
David Baines Excerpts(2 months ago)
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Bridget Phillipson
It is vital that we drive up standards and quality in children’s social care placements, and we want to make sure that we are providing support for councils, charities and others to do precisely that. The highest possible standards and quality of care are essential for children and young people who have been through some very traumatic experiences and deserve our full support. I agree that we must take action on excessive profiteering. It has been left to drift for far too long, and this Government will act.
David Baines (St Helens North) (Lab)
I warmly welcome this statement, like all colleagues on the Government Benches and hopefully like colleagues across the whole House. I particularly welcome the comments on care leavers; it is important that we do not forget about them. When I became council leader of St Helens in 2019, services for care leavers were rated inadequate by Ofsted. I am proud to say that they are now outstanding. The credit for that goes to Councillor Nova Charlton and the whole children’s services team. The Secretary of State is more than welcome to visit St Helens to hear about the good work they do and how they do it. Will she tell me a bit more about what steps she is taking with colleagues to make sure that local government has the funding it needs to run these services? It has to be a whole council effort—if one part fails, it all falls down.
Bridget Phillipson
I commend my hon. Friend and his council on the work they have undertaken to deliver better outcomes for care-experienced young people. It is crucial, and I am sure there is much we can learn from that work. The Under-Secretary of State for Education, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham East (Janet Daby) will be happy to have a conversation with him to discuss that further. We will be setting out further steps to make clear the funding arrangements, but it is essential that we put more money into children’s social care. We are doing that, and we will set out more in due course through the local government finance settlement.
Oral Answers to Questions
David Baines Excerpts(4 months, 1 week ago)
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Stephen Morgan
Ensuring that schools and colleges have the resources and buildings that they need is a key part of our mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every young person the best start in life. We are committed to improving the condition of the estate through the Department’s annual funding, continuing the school rebuilding programme and fixing the problems caused by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.
David Baines (St Helens North) (Lab)
At the start of the new school year, may I wish all teachers, school staff and children in my constituency the very best for the year ahead?
Does my hon. Friend agree that, as part of the curriculum review, which I warmly welcome and look forward to, we need an education system and curriculum—particularly in primary schools—with much more focus on learning through play, on oracy, and on multisensory movement and the recording of learning? That would benefit not just children with SEND, but all pupils.
Catherine McKinnell
The curriculum assessment review, led by experts, will focus on the evidence—what we know from here and abroad about how we can best help children of all ages and abilities to learn, and that includes children with special educational needs. I am sure that those conducting the review will want to investigate different approaches to the primary curriculum, including those mentioned by my hon. Friend, but I would not want to pre-empt the review’s conclusions and recommendations.