Kinship Carers

Sam Carling Excerpts

Wednesday 13th November 2024 Westminster Hall

[Janet Daby]

I thank my hon. Friend for that example. If he will allow me to continue, I will address the inconsistencies across local authorities. We have heard about such real-life examples, and we recognise that the situation is not good enough. As I continue, I will explain how the new Government have already begun to address it.

I met some kinship carers during my first visit as a Minister, and it was clear to me that the challenges I witnessed years ago when I was a children and families social worker are still being felt today. That is shocking. I listened to the stories that hon. Members told, like the one that my hon. Friend just raised, and I was very troubled by them—how could I not be? However, we are in government; we want things to change, and change has begun. The evidence shows that children in kinship care often do better in school. They have better health outcomes and do better in later life, in terms of employment and their ability to socialise. Kinship carers are to be thanked, applauded and celebrated for providing a safe and loving home for children who can no longer live with their parents, but are instead being cared for by family members or friends who love them.

[Sam Carling (North West Cambridgeshire) (Lab)]

Will the Minister give way?

[Janet Daby]

I will make some progress, but if I have time later, I will let my hon. Friend in.

The Government recognise the important role that kinship carers play. Our manifesto is committed to working with local government to support children in kinship care and kinship carers. We are already making progress, as we have heard. In the Budget, the Chancellor announced £40 million to trial a new financial allowance for kinship carers, equivalent to the allowance for foster carers. That will take place initially in up to 10 local authorities. I have already been lobbied on this, and I say again that we are looking at how it will be rolled out, but Members will need to be patient. We will get the information to them as soon as possible. I recognise the desire for this in local authorities.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sam Carling]

In my North West Cambridgeshire constituency, we have a huge number of kinship families, and Peterborough city council is doing a lot of work around that. It has sent the Minister a letter, and I think it will follow that up with a business case next week. I will not ask for a commitment from her, but can she reassure me that that will be taken into consideration when deciding which local authorities will be included in the trial?

[Janet Daby]

There we are—another bit of lobbying. I recognise the work of local authorities and the letter; a process will be rolled out, and we will give everybody the opportunity to apply.

SEND Provision: East of England

Sam Carling Excerpts

Tuesday 8th October 2024 Westminster Hall

[Sam Carling (North West Cambridgeshire) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure, Sir Mark, to have you in the Chair today. Pupils with special educational needs and disabilities make up well over one in 10 of all pupils, and that number is growing. In the east, nearly 34,000 children have complex disabilities. Most of those pupils are in mainstream schools, and they need support in mainstream schools.

One of my greatest frustrations with the constant discussions from Opposition Members about our policy of VAT on private schools is this: the majority of children with SEND are not in private schools but mainstream schools. That is where the support is needed. It is not fair in any way to expect parents to send children with a special educational need or disability to a private school, and pay all of the fees associated with that. It is completely unacceptable.

As my hon. Friend the Member for Lowestoft (Jess Asato) mentioned earlier, in our region there is a particular problem with education, health and care plans not being issued within statutory guidelines. Nationally, around 50% are; in our region, the figure is much lower so we have a particular regional issue. Demand for support is currently outstripping supply and, as a result, many children with SEND have been forced to leave school altogether. In a SEND debate in March, the issue of non-elective home education was highlighted: parents feel they have no choice but to take their children out of school to meet their needs.

[Alison Hume (Scarborough and Whitby) (Lab)]

The report issued last December for SEND provision in Scarborough and Whitby will chime with other Members: a 40% increase in the number of requests for EHCPs compared with the previous year, and an increase of nearly 30% in the number of suspensions. Charities such as Closer Communities in Scarborough are now supporting families looking after children whose needs are not being met in school. Does my hon. Friend agree that as we go forward we must not simply pay lip service to those charities, but actively include them as we make plans to improve provision?

[Sam Carling]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. I am about to mention a charity in my own constituency that is doing amazing work in this space and encountering some difficulties. We need to support them.

I was speaking about non-elective home education. For years, the Education Committee has criticised the lack of clarity on the numbers of parents taking their children out of school for this reason, or indeed on the number of home-educated children overall. I therefore welcome the Children’s Wellbeing Bill, announced in the King’s Speech, that includes provisions to require local authorities to set up and maintain “children not in school” registers. Knowing the scale of the challenge will be critical to addressing it and allow us to provide much needed support to parents.

Family Voice Peterborough, a charity in my constituency that seeks to improve services for young people with disabilities, is having particular problems—it is not just the crisis within the sector, but the crisis around the economy, that is worsening things in many ways. It is having problems with energy bills, for example; it paid about £8,000 before the pandemic, and the figure is now about £40,000. Its work is impacted by the damage there. The needs of such charities are so important for understanding the needs of local areas. Family Voice has revealed concerning SEND trends in Peterborough, a large part of which I represent, with increased strain on the system and a more difficult experience for parent carers.

Like all children, those with SEND have the right to an education provided by the state. That right has been gutted by previous Governments, but we will clean up the mess that has been made and restore certainty and trust in SEND provision, to make education accessible for all.

--- Later in debate ---

[James Wild]

My hon. Friend makes an interesting point. We need to track the outcomes and the support that children get, so that is a thoughtful comment.

When I spoke on a panel at the Conservative party conference in Birmingham last week, a representative of the Association of School and College Leaders said that there is enough money in the system, but the problem is that there is too much bureaucracy. Clearly, demand continues to rise and funding is a challenge. Council expenditure has tripled over the past decade. Councils are looking for more clarity on the statutory override, which the previous Government put in place to help local authorities to deal with deficits—I think they are now above £3 billion. Only last week, the NASUWT urged the Chancellor in a letter to extend the period that local authorities have to address their SEND deficits. Perhaps the Minister will be able to give a bit more clarity on that very pressing issue for local authorities.

The hon. Member for Waveney Valley (Adrian Ramsay) referred to the pressures in respect of school transport. In Norfolk alone, that budget is £60 million, of which 80% is used to move pupils with SEN around and outside the county. That is money spent on journeys, not education.

I will touch briefly on VAT on independent schools, although a debate about that is going on in the main Chamber. It is clear that this tax on learning will disrupt children’s education. Reference was made to pupils with EHCPs, but 10,000 pupils with special educational needs at independent schools in the east of England will be hit by those fees, and their education will be disrupted. The Government have not even published an impact assessment, even though the Minister in the earlier debate referred to analysis that had been done. It is extraordinary that that has not been shared with the House. I hope the Minister, even at this point, will listen to parents, pupils, local authorities and others, and will delay those plans. I look forward to having an opportunity shortly to vote to do exactly that.

[Sam Carling]

Is the shadow Minister suggesting that it is fair that parents who have children with special educational needs or a disability should have to send their children to a private school and pay all the associated fees? Is that really the best solution we can come up with?

[James Wild]

No; the point I am making is that there are children in schools who will be hit with a very unfair tax of 20%—a charge that their parents will have to pay. That seems to be completely disregarded by the Labour party, which is disappointing, to say the least.

To conclude, the last Government set out a comprehensive package of reform, after a lot of work with the sector. During a debate here in September, the Minister said that the Labour Government were determined to fix the SEND system—alleluia to that. I hope that we will hear much more today about the Minister’s plans for practical action to be taken, rather than her talking about the last 14 years.

The Minister also referred on that occasion to the importance of working together. I will abuse my position to remind her of an invitation that has gone to her and the Education Secretary to join Norfolk MPs and members of Norfolk County Council who are coming to Westminster tomorrow, specifically to talk about SEND. I helped to push for that meeting and I hope that the Minister might be able to come along, even briefly, to hear about some of the challenges that we face. Ultimately, every Member here wants to ensure that children and families in their constituency get the support to realise their potential. I look forward to hearing her comments.

SEND Provision

Sam Carling Excerpts

Thursday 5th September 2024 Westminster Hall

[Peter Swallow (Bracknell) (Lab)]

On Saturday, I joined a group of SEND families in Bracknell to hear their experiences of operating within a broken system. The stories I heard from them, and those I have heard on the doorstep and from Members here today, are heartbreaking. Children are stuck on assessment waiting lists for months longer than they should be. Parents have to juggle work around caring for kids who are off school or find themselves repeatedly excluded because their needs are not being met, and are then left struggling to pay the bills.

There is inadequate provision in mainstream education, and there are far too few state-maintained special schools to meet the demand. As the previous Conservative Education Secretary admitted, the system is “lose, lose, lose”; it is desperately in need of reform.

[Sam Carling (North West Cambridgeshire) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the very serious consequences of the issues he is outlining is the problem of non-elective home education, where parents feel forced to take their children out of school entirely and feel they have no option other than to educate them at home? Does he, like me, welcome the measures in the proposed children’s wellbeing Bill that will require local authorities to set up and maintain registers of children not in school so that we get a better sense of the problem?

[Peter Swallow]

Absolutely. I was proud to highlight in my maiden speech the issue of ghost children, who are missing out on education and too often fall off the radar. That is a really important part of the puzzle.

The Government have rightly placed education at the heart of their programme for change and have a national mission to break down the barriers to opportunity for all children. Nobody needs that more than our SEND kids, who face significant barriers to inclusion. This is a question of social mobility. How can we ensure that, no matter a child’s needs or background, they thrive in school and into their adult life?

I could focus on many areas where improvement is desperately needed, but one issue that is raised time and again by the families I have spoken to in Bracknell—it has been raised by Members here today, including the hon. Member for Gosport (Dame Caroline Dinenage) and my hon. Friend the Member for Washington and Gateshead South (Mrs Hodgson), and I experienced it in my previous career in education—is the lack of adequate training about SEND in schools, both in initial teacher training and as part of a teacher’s continuing professional development. That is why I was proud to stand on a Labour manifesto that committed to introducing a new teacher training entitlement to give teachers the time they need to learn skills that will help them better support SEND kids. When I was a teacher, time was always the most precious resource. I would like to see the pledge include more targeted support for SENCOs and input from SEND families at all stages.

Let me be clear: there are many more areas where this broken system is in great need of reform, and we have heard many fantastic contributions to that effect today, but if we ensured that more SEND kids were supported within the mainstream system—if they were able to attend school and were not shut out of education—we would reduce the pressure on heavily oversubscribed special schools and would be one step closer to fixing the SEND system and breaking down the barriers for all children.