Local Authority Children’s Services

Luke Myer Excerpts

Wednesday 28th January 2026 Westminster Hall

[Luke Myer (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Western. I congratulate the hon. Member for Woking (Mr Forster) on securing the debate, telling Sara’s story so powerfully and allowing us the space to discuss one of our most important public services.

First, I pay tribute to everyone who works in children’s services across our country, but particularly in my two local authorities of Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland. Before entering this place, I was privileged to be the cabinet member for children in Redcar and Cleveland. I was impressed, every single day, by the extraordinary staff working in that department—under immense pressure, as has been discussed. I often used to say that the toddlers who lost early intervention services in the first wave of austerity were now teenagers coming into care with complex challenges, and I think we are still seeing that today.

I want to highlight the most recent Ofsted inspection in Redcar and Cleveland, which was published just this morning. In 2022, the department was rated as requiring improvement across all areas, and it was a top priority for the Labour council that came in in 2023 to turn that around. I was proud of Ofsted’s recognition of the work we were doing on that front in 2023 and, today, I am very pleased to see that Ofsted have rated Redcar and Cleveland as good, with strong practice and swift support for children and families. That is a big step forward, and a real credit to all the staff, the directors—previously Kathryn Boulton, and her successor Danielle Swainston—and the cabinet member responsible, councillor Bill Suthers. His leadership has been steady and co-operative, and he deserves recognition for that. It is obviously not the end of the journey, but it is a very important milestone in making sure that we serve the children we all have a duty towards.

That is especially welcome given the challenging context that councils face, which we have discussed today. The Institute for Government recently found that nearly every local authority is overspending on children’s social care, largely because placements with private care providers have become much more expensive. It has been described by the Competition and Markets Authority as a “broken” market, and it needs addressing. Private providers extract high margins while councils raid reserves and increase council tax, disproportionately in areas of high deprivation, just to keep children safe. My hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Gareth Snell) mentioned Hartlepool; across the Tees Valley we have a cluster of local authorities under extraordinary pressure in this area, and no one in this Chamber thinks that that is a sensible way to run such an important public service.

There are answers; I welcome the new grant funding, the Best Start family hubs and the Families First Partnership programme. Important changes are coming forward from the Government, but we can do more to disrupt that broken market. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill has given the Department powers to act. We can cap private providers’ profits and set up regional care co-operatives, as recommended by the MacAlister review—which the Minister, as its author, is very well acquainted with. That can improve commissioning and increase in-house and not-for-profit provision. In the Tees Valley, council leaders are exploring that idea together, to stop competing with each other, pool our buying power and shape a more stable local market to get better value for children and taxpayers.

I am convinced that this is a necessary step in our region, and it sits alongside work on prevention, family help and a more stable workforce. I hope that we can look at this. With the right national framework, the right investment and the confidence to try new models, we can build a children’s social care system that is stable, compassionate and worthy of the young people it serves.