Children and Social Work Bill [HL]

Lord Ramsbotham Excerpts

Monday 11th July 2016 Grand Committee

Moved by

[Lord Ramsbotham]

105: Clause 12, page 12, line 11, at end insert—
“a “place of detention” means police custody, the prison estate, mental health detention, immigration detention and military detention;”

[Lord Ramsbotham (CB)]

My Lords, I am aware that my noble friend Lady Meacher and others have indicated their intention to oppose the proposition that Clauses 12 and 13, to which my amendments in this group refer, should stand part of the Bill. In advance of that debate, I will offer a brief explanation of what my amendments are designed to ensure.

Amendments 105 and 107 are linked to Amendment 135, which was tabled on Monday by my noble friend Lady Howarth of Breckland, in that they relate to a specific recommendation in the recent UN Rights of the Child report that the United Kingdom should ensure automatic review of child deaths in institutions. Amendment 105 is a description of what is meant by a place of detention, to which Amendment 107 refers. If my amendments are accepted, Amendment 105 should appear in new Section 16B(9), after Amendment 107, which will appear in new Section 16B(8) —to thoroughly confuse the Committee.

Like my earlier Amendment 92A, Amendment 109 is designed to bring existing statutory guidance into primary legislation. Noble Lords will recall the very disturbing footage of the physical and emotional abuse of children in Medway Secure Training Centre broadcast in a BBC “Panorama” programme in January of this year. The Ministry of Justice’s usual response to such allegations is to convene an in-house National Offender Management Service panel, which is not the same as a national Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel.

During my time as Chief Inspector of Prisons, this was exemplified by the refusal of successive Home Secretaries to allow judicial review of the circumstances leading to the murder in Feltham of a young prisoner, Zahid Mubarek, by a known racist psychopath, until ordered to do so by the Law Lords then sitting in this House. This resulted in 78 recommendations for future improvement, plus the naming of 28 individuals who had failed in their duty—serious matters that might otherwise have remained hidden. Both incidents show why it is so important that the new arrangement, and this legislation, should include children in places of detention.

Amendment 109A is designed to ensure that concerned individuals and organisations have a channel through which to share significant information. The amendment allows for boundaries for public notification to be set by statutory guidance in order to protect the national panel from inappropriate referrals.

Finally, Amendment 110 clarifies that a regulated setting, in respect of a local authority’s duty to notify the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel of a child’s death, includes places of detention, as listed in Amendment 105. I beg to move.

[Baroness Walmsley (LD)]

My Lords, my Amendment 106A is in this group. It was Amendment 108 but for some reason has been retabled. The arrangements for the national review panel appear to omit its opportunity to review cases of serious mistreatment and/or physical injury caused by restraint in youth custody institutions or other kinds of institutions. This amendment makes it clear that these cases should be looked at by the panel because they raise serious issues of national policy and practice. I do not think that it should be restricted to just deaths in custody, as suggested by my noble friend Lord Ramsbotham, although I fully support what he said about that.

The noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, referred to the BBC “Panorama” programme about the Medway Secure Training Centre. Reports obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests reveal that children in custody suffered serious physical injuries following restraint on three separate occasions in 2013-14 and on four separate occasions in 2014-15. As the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, mentioned, Ministers will often refer to the National Offender Management Service. But that is not a safeguarding panel. One of 10 recommendations made by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons, following its review of the new system of restraint in child custody, urged more effective independent oversight of restraint by local safeguarding children boards and local authorities.

The Government have tabled an amendment to abolish LSCBs, which makes it even more important that this new arrangement of a national panel includes harms to children in custody and other institutions, not just deaths. This matter is of a very serious nature and is not really suitable for review at local level. The children in these institutions are often not located in their home authority, so it is essential that the new national panel looks at these cases—unless, of course, these clauses do not eventually stand part of the Bill, which will be debated later.

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[Baroness Walmsley]

For the sake of an accurate record, may I point out that Amendment 108, referred to by the Minister, was retabled as Amendment 106A?

The noble Lord suggested that the national panel would have the discretion to choose whether to investigate situations such as those described in my amendment involving,

“harm caused by unlawful or abusive restraint in any institutional setting”.

If we eventually have a national panel, this is exactly the sort of situation they should look into, because it is a matter of national policy and because children in such institutions come from a range of different local authorities. Despite the guidance, very often they are not located in their home authority. My point is that these cases should be investigated by the national panel on all occasions; it should not just be left to its discretion.

[Lord Ramsbotham]

I am grateful to the Minister for his carefully considered response. I just hope that between now and the next time we meet, there will not be a fourth huge volume of government policy for us to consider during the passage of the Bill. I am sure it is very reassuring to think that the Department for Education is producing all this stuff, but I must say that it would have been helpful to have had it before we began our deliberations, rather than having it fed in during Committee.

When the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay, was speaking, I could not help but reflect on my hopes when we introduced the corporate manslaughter legislation. I hoped that it would provide the stick to make certain that the outcomes of such investigations were taken seriously. But nothing has yet happened to bring corporate manslaughter charges against the managers under whom these unnatural deaths have taken place. It is something that is worth considering.

I was going to comment on my noble and learned friend Lord Judge’s remarks in the discussion on Clause 15. But, as the noble Lord, Lord Watson, mentioned his comments on the regulation, I will repeat what I said at Second Reading. I quoted the noble Baroness, Lady Smith of Basildon, who, during the debate on the balance of power between the Government and Parliament, said of this Bill that there were,

“more provisions for the Secretary of State to use regulations than there are clauses in the Bill, including on issues that should be considered matters of significant policy”.—[Official Report, 9/6/16; col. 860.]

I also quoted my noble and learned friend Lord Judge, who, in addition to making some devastating comments about the increasing number of Henry VIII clauses in current legislation, highlighted the number of them in this Bill and asked,

“when are we going to actually achieve something before our ... arrangements disappear into some vague unknown future?—[Official Report, 9/6/16; col. 875.]

I must admit that I am extremely alarmed at the number of them in the Bill, not least because the impact assessment on the Bill states:

“The Bill’s contents have been reviewed and ruled out of scope for the regulatory impact assessment exercise”.

To my mind, nothing could be more inappropriate because the regulatory impact assessment really needs to be carried out in spades on this Bill, as many noble Lords have said.

I am grateful to the Minister for offering his meeting on the national safeguarding panel, to which I look forward. In the meantime, and until Report, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.

Amendment 105 withdrawn.

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[The Earl of Listowel]

My Lords, before speaking to my amendment in this group I make clear that I support those noble Lords who call for the clause to be removed from the Bill. This is not the time to erode the rights of vulnerable children. As the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, said, we are facing a period of austerity. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has just removed his target to pay down the deficit by 2020 but we should certainly not think that that is the end of austerity; we can expect it to extend for many years to come. Unfortunately, that means that local authorities will continue to have severe downward pressure on their budgets, so I share the noble Baroness’s concern that whatever the good intentions of this clause, it might result in cutbacks on protections for children in order to save money.

The purpose of my Amendment 131A is, where a local authority has been exempted, to enable a child, his advocate or a professional to ask for the exemption to be released for that child. For instance, if the responsibility for putting in place an independent reviewing officer was removed, a child could, if he decided to do so, call for an IRO to be instated. The Minister referred to the role of IROs at Second Reading.

I draw your Lordships’ attention to research by the National Children’s Bureau. It has found that the area in which the IRO service has been seen to make the biggest difference is in ensuring timely reviews of the care plan. Nationally, the survey found that that was where IROs were perceived to have made the greatest difference, with 91% of IRO managers, 82% of IROs and 72% of directors of children’s services strongly agreeing that, since 2011, IROs have contributed to the timeliness of reviews. Another area in which IROs are seen to have had an impact is in ensuring that the care planning process remains firmly focused on the child and that the child’s wishes and feelings are taken into account. Nationally, the survey found that 90% of IRO managers, 72% of IROs and 73% of directors of children’s services strongly agreed that, since 2011, IROs had ensured that children’s wishes and feelings were recorded and taken into account.

Amendment 131B would ensure that there is excellent parliamentary scrutiny should Clause 15 continue to be in the Bill. Major voices from the children’s sector have been clear that innovation is necessary to ensure, in the face of increasing risks and challenges, that the sector can learn and improve. Like many, I share the concern of all the major children’s charities that the right safeguards should be in place to ensure that innovation is overseen properly and delivers for children and families without disruption to their lives. Such scrutiny is essential and should not be overridden. Local authorities should not be exempted from laws that have been developed and scrutinised with care and attention by both Houses without a comparable amount of parliamentary oversight of the potential impact of any exemptions. That is what the amendment seeks to achieve.

The amendment would ensure that only laws subject to the negative resolution procedure in their formation could be overridden by the same process. Whether in the process of seeking to innovate to improve services for children or otherwise, it is not appropriate or democratic that regulations introduced through a debate and vote in Parliament should be exempted without such a process. Our job is to hold the Government to account, and we should not be prevented doing so. It is imperative that our powers to scrutinise the safeguards needed to protect children from the impact of any exemptions are not disrupted by the desire to innovate to improve outcomes for children.

[Lord Ramsbotham]

My Lords, I return briefly to Clause 15, which is a classic example of regulation too far. I agree with everything that has been said so far. It is inappropriate and ought to be struck out of the Bill. Only two things are needed. One is the minimum list of tasks that must be done with children. If anything, the Secretary of State should seek to improve the list and to improve delivery if there is any failure to deliver what must be done, rather than remove any task. Secondly, as has come up over and over again, we are looking for consistency in delivery and to avoid the postcode lottery in the treatment of children all over the country. If there is a minimum list and machinery for looking at that, we will find, as many noble Lords have said, that individual local authorities will encourage improvement in the way those minimum requirements are operated. The way to improve things is by changing single practice somewhere to common practice everywhere, not by regulation. Therefore, I hope very much that, if not before then certainly on Report, this clause will be struck out.

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In answer to my noble and learned friend Lord Mackay, technically we could modify arrangements to be conditional in a way similar to that suggested by Amendment 131A but we believe that there will be some practical difficulties with that, which I would be happy to talk to him about further. I will write to the noble Lord, Lord Warner, and if we have a meeting as soon as we can arrange it with a number of local authorities, we can discuss these matters in much more detail. That would be the best way forward, and in view of the above, I hope that noble Lords will feel able to withdraw or not press their amendments.

[Lord Ramsbotham]

My Lords, I welcome the thought of a meeting but I would be grateful if the Minister could ensure that somebody from the youth custody arena attends it. I was extremely alarmed when he rather dismissed the example of the legal safeguard that could be lifted, of removing the looked-after status from children remanded in custody. That is very often the first time that they have had any stability in their lives and it would be tragic if it was removed.

[The Earl of Listowel]

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for his reply and for the offer of a meeting, which I am sure will be very helpful for me. I should have said in my earlier contribution that I am the patron of the National Association of Independent Reviewing Officers, so I have an interest and some experience there. I hear what he says about independent reviewing officers; in my mind, there is certainly a question about tying up so many experienced social workers in one capacity. But one of the concerns is that when a child is in a long-term placement, it may go very well but things can suddenly go wrong. One of the chief concerns that often come up when children need advocates is that while they are in a long-term stable placement, a local authority may suddenly have decided that it is too expensive so they are moved on. There is particular concern that a child may be in a stable placement for a long time and he or she may suddenly need the expertise and professional capacity of an independent reviewing officer. However, I see that there is another side to that.

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[Lord Dubs (Lab)]

My Lords, this amendment is concerned with the well-being of unaccompanied children whether they have come as refugees straight from Syria and other parts of the region or from parts of Europe, as was determined by an amendment that passed this House and the House of Commons under the Immigration Act.

These are clearly sensitive children who have been through trauma. We know they may have been subject to trafficking; they may have been victims of crime: they may have suffered sexual violence; they may have been lured into debt slavery—all sorts of things may have happened to them. Some may still be in danger, which is why there is an urgency to bringing them over to this country. Clearly, though, everyone is agreed that they are vulnerable and that they need help and support.

I have had discussions with the Local Government Association about this, and quite understandably the LGA would like to have some assurances about longer-term funding arrangements for councils that are looking after unaccompanied children. Subsection (1) would require the Secretary of State to consult organisations representing local authorities and providers of children’s services, as well as the Children’s Commissioner, before publishing a national action plan for the welfare of unaccompanied children. That is a rather grand title but I think we know what it means.

Subsection (2) includes a non-exhaustive list of the kind of vital services that children must be able to access wherever they are placed in the country. For example, they will need specialist immigration legal advice to help them know where they stand. They may need special educational needs support. They may have been particularly traumatised by the experiences through which they have gone and those that I described. It is important that they have active health service support. They may have suffered the trauma of war, separation from family members for months or even years, they may have had long journeys in perilous and unsanitary conditions. All of those are important, as is education. Many of these children will not have had an education for some time and it is important that we try to get as many of them as possible to this country by September in order that they can benefit from the beginning of the school year.

I should say that not all of them are traumatised. I was talking to a young man from Syria who had spent a year travelling from the region before he got to Britain. I met him on the green outside. In a chat with him he said his main ambition was to go into politics, so all is not yet lost. Perhaps he did not know enough about our politics; perhaps when he learns a bit more he may think a different career is more important. Those services are crucial and it is important that the national action plan for unaccompanied children takes them into account.

In certain local authorities, Kent in particular, a large number of unaccompanied children are getting help and Kent County Council is clearly having difficulties. I think there is a scheme already but it could be improved to help children who are transferred between local authority areas, mainly to ensure that there is an evenness of pressure and demand on local authorities. The Government have recently announced an enhancement in the funding to be made available, but local authorities are understandably concerned about longer-term provision. If they have money for only one year, they need to know what will happen afterwards.

There is great willingness on the part of local authorities—I have met some. They are willing and anxious to help; they want to be able to get on with it on the basis that they know where they are and can manage to deal with it. For example, there are greater difficulties in London, where housing costs are higher than in other parts of the country, but even in London, the local authorities I have met are willing to step up to the mark and provide accommodation for people, whether under the vulnerable persons scheme or to look for foster parents who are appropriate for their needs. Of course, foster parents will have to be monitored carefully, as are all foster parents. That is all part of the extra responsibility that falls on local authorities.

The amendment is clear: it is intended to provide the right level of support and ensure that everything is handled as well as it can be for the sake of very vulnerable children. I know that the expression “national action plan” sounds a bit pompous—I could not think of a better one—but I think we understand what it means and I hope that the Government will accept it.

I should add that I am due to meet the Immigration Minister tomorrow. I had hoped that that would have happened before now, because then I might have been able to modify what I have said; but I am doing so prior to the meeting with him. I had discussions with the Home Secretary and the Immigration Minister some time ago, and he assured me that the Government would enter into the letter and spirit of the amendment. That is positive, so I look forward to a good outcome from my meeting with him tomorrow. I beg to move.

[Lord Ramsbotham]

My Lords, I support the noble Lord, Lord Dubs, in his amendment and confirm that the issue of sharing children around the United Kingdom has been raised many times because social services near the ports of entry were becoming swamped and these children were being deployed right across the country, which led to inconsistency in their treatment—some people putting them in bed and breakfasts, some looking after them properly.

I raised the issue of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children at Second Reading. I am glad that the Minister has arranged for the meeting with Mr Brokenshire because, among other things, there is a tension between the Immigration Act and the Bill over when such children cease to qualify for support. The Immigration Act makes it clear that that is at age 18, whereas the Bill seeks to extend the support until 21 or 25.

Another clause in the Immigration Act, which I mentioned at Second Reading, states that if an unaccompanied asylum-seeking child wishes to appeal against deportation following the failure of his appeal, he now has to go back to the country of origin even though he may have been born in this country before he can make the appeal. That is denying him all the rights that he has earned during his time in this country. We must remember that two-thirds of these children are actually in foster care now, quite apart from the numbers in care. I am glad that the noble Lord has raised this amendment and I hope that, whether revised or not, it will appear in the final Bill. I am sure that the noble Lord will wish to attend the meeting with Mr Brokenshire and the Minister on this very issue.