Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

David Simmonds Excerpts

Wednesday 8th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[David Simmonds (Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner) (Con)]

My interest in this all started when I became a governor of the second school ever to become an academy, back in the late 1990s. I then spent some time with the former Director of Public Prosecutions on improving the practice of prosecuting rape gangs and child sexual abusers in the early 2010s. What all that demonstrated to me was that much will revolve around the quality of the professional practice that the Bill leads to, rather than what we put into law in this Parliament. We can debate many things that we want to see improved, but it is important that we recognise and thank the social workers, police officers and medical staff who currently ensure that we in the UK have one of the most effective and safest child protection systems of any nation in the world. It is important to acknowledge that.

As many Members have said, there is much in the Bill that Conservative Members will welcome. For example, the implementation of family group decision making, building on the family group conferencing model, and the work to build on the success that virtual headteachers have had in driving up attainment and ensuring that children in care are now among the best school attenders of any group of children in our country, are to be commended. In particular, in the case of proposed new section 16EB on bringing partnerships together, the working together guidance that was last updated in 2023 will have to do a lot of heavy lifting to ensure that the aspirations we set out work in practice, particularly in respect of education.

The main purpose of the Bill is to create a responsibility for local authorities to bring education to the table, but it does not go so far as to create a duty or obligation on schools, nurseries and childminders to participate reciprocally. That has been an issue for a long time in our system. It was an issue with area child protection committees, local safeguarding children boards and local safeguarding partnerships, so we must ensure that we get it right. Will Ministers ensure that the guidance makes clear to school leaders, governors and trusts that they have an obligation to ensure that they fully commit to, and participate in, those local safeguarding arrangements?

I have two final and important points. First, I entirely agree with the point made by the hon. Member for Lowestoft (Jess Asato). I asked the Deputy Prime Minister about ending the reasonable chastisement defence in law, and although I understand it is a matter of Home Office legislation, I was astonished to hear the Secretary of State for Education say that she was “open-minded” about the issue. I would like a clear assurance from the Government that they will respond to those calls, and that we will ensure that we close that loophole for good, for children such as Dwelaniyah Robinson and Sara Sharif, whose deaths have occurred with people trying to justify violence on the basis that it was reasonable punishment. We must ensure that all children enjoy equal protection in our country.

Finally, let me turn to the call for a national inquiry. The Prime Minister said in response to questions this afternoon that he is open-minded about that, and the Safeguarding Minister has said the same thing. Those of us with experience will know that when we look at publicly available serious case reviews, all of which we can read on the NSPCC website, we see that these cases are often complicated. There are grooming gangs, and there are also drug gangs of people who are both abused and abusers, who coerce boys into sexual activity. There are schoolteachers and clergymen who carry out this activity. We must ensure that, although certain groups of victims and perpetrators may be in the headlines, we recognise the diversity and complexity of this issue if we are to deal with it effectively.