Children and Social Work Bill [HL]

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath Excerpts

Tuesday 14th June 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, this has been an excellent debate. The broad thrust of the Bill, in particular Part 1, has been welcomed by noble Lords. It is a sobering thought that the reason the Bill is needed is the continuing evidence about the poor life outcomes for so many looked-after children, although I think that we should recognise the strength of what the noble Earl, Lord Listowel, said when he described some of the progress that has been made in recent years. The noble Baroness, Lady Howarth, emphasised the positive outcome of preventive work if it is allowed to flourish. I see Part 1 as building on that progress and I am wholly supportive of it.

However, we are very much less supportive of the measures in Part 2 concerning the regulation of social workers. Of course no one should be complacent about the state of social work in this country, but whether the profession needs a complete upheaval in its regulated arrangements just four years after the previous one must be open to question. Moreover, those doubts are added to by the unsatisfactory nature of the skeletal provisions in Clauses 20 to 40. My noble friend Lady Pitkeathley asked the Minister whether he is really serious about taking this part of the Bill forward. I think that it is a substantive question that the Government will need to answer.

On corporate parenting, it is clear that the provisions are warmly welcomed, but the question is whether they should be extended. I take very much the point made by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay, about the distinction between the role of the local authority as the corporate parent and the roles of other agencies like health and central Government. It is clearly an important one. My noble friend Lady Hughes and the noble Baronesses, Lady Tyler and Lady Walmsley, talked succinctly about the impact on mental health outcomes of children in care, while the noble Lord, Lord McNally, referred to the need for full mental health assessments. How can we find some way of incorporating those wider responsibilities, and indeed the responsibilities of central government, within the Bill without undermining the clear accountability of the local authority as the corporate parent? I look forward to our discussions in Committee on this matter.

Other points were raised about the first part of Part 1. My noble friend Lady Massey and the noble Lord, Lord Farmer, asked about kinship care, while my noble friend Lord Wills asked about whistleblowing protection in relation to local government. My noble friend Lord Judd mentioned the issue of communication in relation to language difficulties to which I hope the noble Lord will be able to respond.

Clauses 4 to 8 are very important in relation to increasing the duties of local authorities to previously looked-after children. The question again is this: can the Government go further? My noble friend Lady Hughes asked in particular about the role of the virtual school head teacher and whether that can be extended to colleges. Again, I hope the Government will consider that. I also ask him about the local offer for care leavers. Does he consider that there should be some elements in statute to ensure that local offers do not vary in quality across the country? Picking up on the intervention from the noble Lord, Lord Storey, will the Minister clarify what qualifications and capabilities will be required for the new personal advisers? I also echo the plea from the noble Baroness, Lady Stedman-Scott, for benchmarking figures so we can judge progress.

We now have government amendments on the child safeguarding review panels. We will consider those carefully, but will the Minister respond to my noble friend Lady Dean on the report of the Constitution Committee about submission of material subject to legal or medical privilege?

My noble friend Lord Watson has already spoken about our concerns with Clause 15 and on some of the risks of outsourcing. We also have a real worry that the introduction of a power to become exempt from statutory duties could be seen by local authorities as an opportunity to drop certain provisions at a time of great financial pressure. Can the Minister put my mind to rest?

We now come to Part 2. Like my noble friend Lady Massey, I admire social workers. Over the past 30 years they have been misunderstood, vilified and too often subject to a blame culture. This is not to defend poor practice—there have been far too many inquiries into far too many tragedies to do this—but it is a profession that needs support and encouragement. I like the statements that the Secretary of State for Education has made. The noble Baroness, Lady Howarth, referred to one of them. I looked at her statement from January 2016, when she said she wants to set up plans,

“to transform children’s social work so that social workers get it right for vulnerable children and families”.

I completely agree with that aim. But my problem is she went on to say that she wants to set up a new body, created in conjunction with the Department of Health,

“charged with driving up standards in social work and raising the status of social workers”.

There has to be a serious question about the Government’s approach. We have seen a most extraordinary reversal of policy in a matter of six years. We had a stand-alone body: the General Social Care Council. I took legislation through to set it up, a long time ago in 2000. By the way, we set it up in primary legislation, with very few regulatory powers involved. It had a difficult start, but under its last leadership it had begun to make progress. But the Government decided to abolish it. In our debates on the abolition of the GSCC the Government defended that decision on the grounds that the arm’s-length body review that they had established found that the General Social Care Council, as an executive, non-departmental public body, was anomalous as it was the only professional regulator answerable directly to the Secretary of State for Health. So the GSCC was abolished and its function was transferred to the Health Professions Council, which was deemed to be satisfactorily at an arm’s-length distance from the Secretary of State for Health.

Four years on from the establishment of the HCPC as the social worker regulatory body—you could not make it up—we will now have a new body where there is no arm’s length at all: the Secretary of State will have his arm right up the back of this body, because he can be that body himself. Clause 21 makes it clear: the Secretary of State may appoint herself as the regulator. Even if the Secretary of State decides not to do that, through the power given in Clause 21 she can tell the regulator exactly what to do.

I had reservations about the HCPC taking over this role, but I have to admit it has done it very well indeed. In fact, as my noble friend Lady Pitkeathley said, it has done an outstanding job. Why is this being done? I know from listening to Ministers that they continually focus on the professional development and leadership of the profession. I get that. I agree with it. But that is not the role of regulation, which, as my noble friend said, is about public protection.

There is the issue of running costs: who is going to pay the huge extra cost this will bring? Is it going to be the Government or social workers? And what will happen to adult social care workers? There has been no discussion whatever, but they form a really important part of the workforce. We are stressing the necessary integration between health and social care. What on earth is the point of taking social workers out of an integrated health and social care regulator? I just do not understand it.

We have the very helpful comments of the House of Lords Constitution Committee, to which my noble friend Lady Dean and the noble Lord, Lord Lang, its chairman, have referred. Clearly the Bill is not going to get through your Lordships’ House with its current provisions, judging by the mood of the House. I have a suggestion to make to the noble Lord: why not withdraw Clauses 20 and 21, leave regulation with the Health and Care Professions Council, await the consultation on regulation being conducted at the moment by his honourable friend Mr Ben Gummer, and establish a royal college of social work, as suggested by the right reverend Prelate, which can concentrate on the issues that obviously concern Ministers, which are professional development and leadership? All he has to do is take away Clauses 20 and 21 and he can get on with the establishment of a college of social work.

The Minister’s intention today to publish indicative draft clauses before Committee stage is very welcome indeed. I assume it will cover all regulations that are contained in the Bill. I would also like to ask him about the issue of timing. The noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, and other noble Lords have expressed the concern that we go into recess tomorrow and on the first day we come back we are into Grand Committee. I understand that this has been negotiated through the usual channels but, on reflection and listening to the debate, I have some concerns about noble Lords’ ability to prepare properly before we come back. It is also quite likely that, when we come back, there will be an extensive government Statement on the outcome of the referendum, for which I suspect all noble Lords will wish to be present. I doubt that they would want to start Grand Committee at 3.30 pm. We on these Benches would be very happy to have further discussions about the timing of this if it would be helpful—although I recognise that there was agreement about it in the usual channels and I am not going to criticise the Minister at all for the way it has been scheduled.

Overall, there is much to commend in the Bill. We look forward to Committee stage for a constructive debate. Equally, I hope the Government will be able to reflect on many of the substantive points made.