Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
Nadia Whittome Excerpts(3 weeks, 3 days ago)
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Nadia Whittome (Nottingham East) (Lab)
Every year, around 500,000 children in this country are abused. That number is likely higher, because the vast majority of abuse is hidden. The Bill is about safeguarding them. It is about stopping vulnerable children from falling through the cracks—for example, by having a register of those who are home-schooled. It is about trying to prevent horrific crimes, such as those committed against Sara Sharif, from ever happening again. The Children’s Charities Coalition has called it “a major step forward”.
I want to be clear that no party has completely clean hands on this issue. Under successive Governments, vulnerable children have been systematically failed by the institutions that were supposed to protect them, such as the police, social services, local authorities, the Crown Prosecution Service and schools. They were disbelieved and their lives were devalued. We in this House owe it to victims and survivors of the past, present and, sadly, future to give them justice and protection where the state failed so badly. If we are to do that, we cannot turn child sexual abuse and exploitation into a political football. I want to be clear that it is by no means all Members on the Opposition Benches who are guilty of doing that; there have been dedicated, powerful advocates for children on both sides of the House.
However, the Conservative leadership, and Reform MPs, marching to the beat of Elon Musk’s drum, are plainly weaponising the pain and trauma of victims for their own political ends. I do not know whether they just do not realise how deeply painful and retraumatising it is for survivors to hear their abuse being spoken about so flippantly, often in graphic terms, by people who profess to care but did not act when they had the power to, just to bolster their unrelated political agenda, or whether they just do not care.
I implore hon. Members on the Opposition Benches to stop. When they say that child sexual abuse and exploitation are the result of alien cultures or a multiculturalism project that has failed, they mask the reality, which is that child sexual abuse and exploitation are happening in every area of this country, and are perpetrated by members of every social class, every race and every religion. Reform MPs are chuntering on the Opposition Benches, but that is a fact, and when they deny that, they are failing victims and survivors. When they say that abuse is imported from other cultures, they imply that abuse is the norm and is okay in some cultures towards some victims. It never is.
Just as perpetrators are diverse, so are their victims. If we mask the reality, we cannot tackle the problem. What the vast majority of perpetrators have in common is that they are men. Of course, it is not all men, but it is enough men and enough victims for male violence to be a national emergency, and one that the whole House must commit to ending.
Wera Hobhouse
Does the hon. Lady worry, like me, that the recent attempt in the debate to reopen an inquiry is less about supporting victims and stamping out sexual violence, and more about inciting racial tensions?
Nadia Whittome
I share the hon. Member’s concerns. I also take the opportunity to applaud her for her work over many years in this House on the all-party parliamentary group for childhood trauma, raising the issue before it was politically convenient to do so.
I am thrilled that the Bill includes measures to help with families’ costs, such as free breakfast clubs for all primary school children, which will boost children’s wellbeing. I want to see us go further still and provide free school meals for all children. The Bill also allows the Secretary of State to cap the profits of children’s home providers, ending the obscene scandal of local authorities forced to shell out huge sums to private providers. Finally, I urge that this ambitious and important Bill is backed by even further investment in areas that will improve children’s wellbeing. We need more money for children and adolescent mental health services, for children’s social care and to tackle child poverty.
Children’s Social Care
Nadia Whittome Excerpts(2 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Bridget Phillipson
Private providers are making, in some cases, between 20% and 30% profit. That is way beyond what we would expect in any other area. Crucially, when we think about where they are making that profit, it is off the back of the trauma, abuse and sometimes very difficult early childhood experiences of some of the most vulnerable children in our country. My hon. Friend is right that the issue he identifies in Hartlepool is sadly felt right across the country. He may wish to know that there are now more than 1,500 children in placements that each cost half a million pounds every single year. We have got to change that.
Nadia Whittome (Nottingham East) (Lab)
Analysis by the Local Government Association reveals that the top 15 private children’s social care providers are making an average profit of 23%. It is frankly unacceptable that private firms are profiting at all from vulnerable children, let alone when the care they provide is so often poor and is funded by public money, pushing councils to the brink. I commend the Government’s plans to tackle this urgent issue. Will my right hon. Friend also commit to properly fund not-for-profit and public sector provision to improve children’s social care and to end this obscene profiteering for good?
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.
Sudan
Nadia Whittome Excerpts(4 months, 4 weeks ago)
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Anneliese Dodds
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for being very clear about the magnitude of this appalling conflict and the need to do all we can to prevent it. The UK Government have sought to use every lever we can to put pressure in this area, whether political, diplomatic or humanitarian, and to use every venue we can. To be very clear, I reiterate that the warring parties and those supporting them to become engaged in the conflict must cease their actions, which are having such a negative impact on the population. For those who are engaged to the extent that this is becoming a proxy situation, every single day they do that they are contributing to the humanitarian crisis. The UK could not be clearer in our language.
Nadia Whittome (Nottingham East) (Lab)
Despite Sudan experiencing one of the most severe humanitarian crises in the world, the previous Government failed to expand safe routes for those in Sudan, even for those who have family here. In the light of the ever-worsening situation on the ground, what steps will our new Government take to help those fleeing the conflict to reunite with loved ones and find safety in the UK?
Anneliese Dodds
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for mentioning the situation facing those who have been forced to flee Sudan. The pattern for those fleeing conflict is quite differentiated. Many who were already in humanitarian need or with low resources have been forced into Chad, obviously from Darfur. As I mentioned earlier, we are also seeing some being forced back into South Sudan. Many have moved into Egypt, which has seen a really significant expansion in its Sudanese population. I think all of us, as parliamentarians, will remember what happened at the beginning of the conflict when there was the evacuation. I pay tribute to the civil servants who ensured that the evacuation took place, because it was a very difficult time. Of course, we take very seriously our commitments on ensuring that refugees are protected in the region.