Children and Families Bill

Stephen Twigg Excerpts

Monday 25th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Twigg (Liverpool, West Derby) (Lab/Co-op)]

I congratulate the Minister both on his opening remarks and on his wider handling of the Bill. In the tone and substance of what he has said today, he has risen to the occasion on these important subjects.

Reforming the systems for children in care, for children with special educational needs and for family justice is surely right. The Opposition welcome the opportunity to debate those important issues. The case for reform is clear. The system to support children with SEN all too often leaves families struggling to get the support their children need and deserve. More than a quarter of parents of children with autism say they have had to wait more than two years to get the support their child needs at school.

The time it takes for children in care to find suitable permanency is often far too long. As the Minister has said, on average, it takes more than two and half years for an adoption to be completed. For children who are black and minority ethnic, it takes an average of a year longer. Although we must ensure that the best interests of the child are upheld, delays to finding the right match are at the expense of a child’s development.

The family justice system needs to work in the interests of resolution and mediation, retaining the primacy of the interests of the child. I place on record my thanks to David Norgrove for his work for both the Government and the Welsh Assembly Government on reforming family justice. I also thank the all-party parliamentary group on child protection for its recent report, “Making Care Proceedings Better for Children”. We have an opportunity to build a cross-party consensus on lasting reforms. For example, strengthening the role and remit of the Office of the Children’s Commissioner could ensure that the primacy of children’s rights is protected in future. I thank John Dunford for his work for the Government on that.

The Children Act 2004 created the Every Child Matters framework, which I believe is as relevant and important today as it was in 2004. A decade ago, children and young people told us that five outcomes are crucial to their well-being, both as children and in later life: being healthy; staying safe; enjoying and achieving; making a positive contribution; and achieving economic well-being. Our ambition was then, as it is now, to raise the educational outcomes for children from all backgrounds, but particularly for those from the poorest families, for children with SEN and disabilities, and for children in the care system.

Hard-working families, who are currently being hit by the rising cost of child care and cuts to maternity pay, will welcome changes that enable flexibility for parental leave following the birth of a child. The previous Government introduced statutory paternity leave, which was an important turning point for many families. Although the current Government’s failed economic plan is hitting families hard, parents will benefit from greater flexibility for parental leave.

On special educational needs, the Select Committee on Education was right in its report to say that the 2011 Green Paper set high expectations and high hopes for parents and for children with SEN. All hon. Members will have been contacted by parents of children with SEN in our constituencies. The story is a familiar one.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

I appreciate that the Minister tried to cover a lot of ground quickly, but his response to the hon. Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys (Paul Maynard) was extremely disappointing, and there is a broad concern. Does my hon. Friend agree that too many children will be left out by the proposals? That is particularly true of children with dyslexia, who are excluded from the Minister’s current plans.

[Stephen Twigg]

I share my hon. Friend’s concern and I will come to a number of ways in which the Bill needs to be improved in Committee.

All hon. Members will have experienced a familiar story in their constituencies. Parents have a lack of information about the support available. They then have a long, drawn-out battle to secure the additional support their children need. Even when that support is offered, they have to jump endlessly through hoops to get the services their family needs. There is no doubt that we need a radical transformation of the SEN system.

Going back to 1981, the Warnock inquiry introduced the process of statementing, as well as provisions for inclusion of children and young people with SEN in mainstream education. Since then, we have seen several reforms—for example, the requirement on the Secretary of State to publish annually the numbers of children and young people with SEN and their outcomes, following a campaign led by the shadow children and families Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Washington and Sunderland West (Mrs Hodgson).

[Geraint Davies]

My hon. Friend may know that the bottom 25% of middle-class children, on measures of cognitive ability at 22 months, have overtaken the top 25% of the poorest children by the age of 10. Is he therefore concerned that most children with speech, language and communication needs will not in fact be statemented or included in education, health and care plans, and that problem will continue and be exacerbated?

[Stephen Twigg]

Like my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Steve McCabe), my hon. Friend anticipates points that I will make later in my speech. However, he is right, both in his general point, which makes the case for early intervention, and—crucially—about some of the weaknesses in the Bill, which we hope to probe today and in Committee.

[Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham) (Con)]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way. If I may, I will take this opportunity to congratulate the Minister on his introduction of the Bill.

As the hon. Gentleman knows, I am especially interested in what happens to people with autism. The all-party parliamentary group on autism and others, including the National Autistic Society, have pointed out that the most difficult time for those with autism is the transition to adulthood. In Committee, will he probe further on whether we could have individual transition plans for those people with autism as they move into employment or further education, because that is often the most difficult point for individuals and families?

[Stephen Twigg]

I pay tribute to the right hon. Lady for her lengthy record of work on this issue, including securing legislation as an Opposition Member under the previous Government. I shall move on to the elements of the plan that we do support, including the extension to the age of 25. I know that she has campaigned for that, and the Government now propose it. We very much welcome that proposal, in part for the reasons that she has set out.

We support the switch from statements to education, health and care plans, and we absolutely share the ambition to encourage joint working between different agencies in drawing the plans up and providing the services described in them. We also welcome changes that have been made following campaigning by charities and parents, supported by Labour, and also through the pre-legislative scrutiny, which will maintain access to independent special schools and colleges as an option for children with SEN, and the extension of education, health and care plans for those young people on apprenticeships.

What is striking about this part of the Bill is not so much what it contains, but what it does not. If the Government are to meet the high expectations that they have themselves raised, important changes will need to be made during the Bill’s passage. As the Bill is currently drafted, the education, health and care plans will offer no more legal entitlement to support from health and social care than statements offer at the moment. We will press for stronger requirements on health and social services throughout the passage of the Bill, as well as a strengthening of the plans for those in post-19 education.

[Mr Graham Stuart]

I agree with the hon. Gentleman about imposing as best we can on health, but the NHS has a constitutional requirement that can conflict with attempts to impose duties on it. Has he thought up some creative ways past that barrier?

[Stephen Twigg]

The hon. Gentleman refers to an important point, which makes the case for the agenda on health and social care set out by the shadow Health Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for Leigh (Andy Burnham), which moves towards a whole person approach. That has been a focus for adult health and social care, but the Bill is an opportunity to demonstrate that that can also be the case for children and young people.

Let me turn to the point raised by the hon. Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys (Paul Maynard). We, too, agree with the Select Committee that disabled children should be included in the provision of education, health and care plans whether or not they have a learning difficulty. Education, health and care plans should codify and bring together the current entitlements for disabled children and young people. The statutory rights that disabled children and young people have in terms of both assessment and provision are already laid out in disability legislation. Including disabled children, therefore, would serve to promote better co-ordination and integration of the duties that already exist, and could even lead to savings.

[Stuart Andrew (Pudsey) (Con)]

Having spent time working in the children’s hospice movement, I am well aware of families constantly complaining about a lack of co-ordination between all the services that they have to access. Some children and young people are not in education and will therefore miss out. Does the hon. Gentleman not think that we must look at that area again in order to help families both inside and outside the hospice movement?

[Stephen Twigg]

Absolutely. The hon. Gentleman raises an important point, and I will come on to the Government’s proposal in the Bill, which we welcome, on the position of children in that situation and the virtual school leadership model.

One in six children with additional needs will not be catered for under these plans, and it remains unclear what the provision will be for children who currently have school action or school action plus, which are to be scrapped. For example, will this mean that access to specialist teachers and educational psychologists might be at threat? Parents deserve a straight answer from Ministers on what will fill the void following the abolition of school action and school action plus. Will the progress of those children still be measured and published as they are now under the Special Educational Needs (Information) Act 2008? We share the Select Committee’s concerns about local offers. Of course, we welcome parents having more information about the services available in their area, but we will be seeking amendments to toughen up local offers to prevent this reform from simply exacerbating the postcode lottery that we know already exists.

On a matter relating to Parliament itself, unlike the current code of practice, a statutory document that sets out how the SEN system should work, the Bill requires only that the revised code is laid before Parliament under the negative resolution procedure. We believe that it should be subject to a positive resolution procedure, given the importance of its contents. Can the Minister—in his winding-up speech, or, even better, now—tell the House when the code will be published, and commit to its publication in full so that it can be scrutinised by the Bill Committee?

[Mr Timpson]

I am grateful to the shadow Secretary of State. Just to try to answer his question, we intend to publish an indicative draft of the code of practice for the Committee stage, but of course it will still be subject to a full public consultation process in the autumn. On his point about a negative or positive resolution, is he mindful of the Select Committee’s recommendation for a negative resolution? The usual principle for other codes is that they are laid before the House through the negative resolution process.

[Stephen Twigg]

I am wary of ever disagreeing with the illustrious Education Committee—[Interruption.] That applies to the entire Committee, including its Chair. This is such an important issue, however, that using the positive resolution procedure merits consideration, although I welcome the Minister’s assurances regarding the publication of the code so that it can be scrutinised in Committee.

[John McDonnell]

We have had situations where affirmative and super-affirmative resolutions have been used so we can have a wider dialogue. One of the other issues apart from the code of practice is the regulations, particularly with regard to the local offer. The component parts of the local offer should be contained in the regulations. Is it not important that we at least have some sight of them during the Committee stage, too?

[Stephen Twigg]

That is absolutely right and sensible. The spirit of the Minister’s speech, and his and the Government’s handling of this issue—and the fact that he is nodding at me—suggest that my hon. Friend will get what he wants.

[Mr Timpson]

indicated assent.

[Stephen Twigg]

I welcome the Minister indicating that that is the case. Parents were told that this Bill would represent an end of the struggle for support and to the adversarial nature of the system, but there are many unanswered questions, which potentially undermine that goal.

I shall now discuss adoption and children in care. Clearly, one of the state’s most important duties is to care for children who, for whatever reason, are without a safe, loving family to care for them. In recent decades, the system has seen step changes in the fulfilment of that duty, but we know only too well that failings have let down some of the most vulnerable members in our society and, in the most extreme cases, have cost children and young people their lives. I welcome the emphasis that has been placed on reducing the time for completing an adoption and increasing the number of adoptions, where that is in the child’s best interests.

Let me put on the record my thanks to Martin Narey, who has done so much to champion the rights of children in the care system, and to The Times for its persistent campaign to address the crisis faced by too many young people in the care system. We should recognise the incredible commitments made by so many who work in the care system. Social workers up and down the country do a fantastic job, often in very trying circumstances, and it is right that we put on the record our thanks for their duty and service.

We should acknowledge important developments in social care, and I welcome the Government’s contribution of funding to the Frontline initiative for social work. Frontline has the potential to play an important role in raising performance in the care system, both for those currently working in the system and for the new recruits that it will bring in. Measures of the educational attainment by children in care show the scale of the challenge; the Minister pointed out the figures for 2012, when fewer than 15% of looked-after children secured at least five good GCSEs including English and maths.

[Alex Cunningham]

My hon. Friend will be aware that young carers can also have lower educational attainment. Does he agree that the work of organisations such as the Eastern Ravens Trust, in my constituency, is crucial in supporting these young people and that such organisations also need to be financially viable?

--- Later in debate ---

[Stephen Twigg]

Absolutely, and I shall briefly address the issue of young carers later in my speech. I pay tribute to that organisation in my hon. Friend’s constituency. We know that voluntary sector organisations of that kind up and down the country do a fantastic job, often with very limited resources, and that they have often borne the brunt of the recent cuts in local government spending.

I welcome the introduction in statute of virtual school heads, whereby a duty is placed on local authorities to promote the educational achievement of the children in their care through a designated virtual head teacher. I also welcome the Bill’s emphasis on reducing unnecessary delays in adoptions, but I have concerns about removing completely any statutory requirement for consideration to be given to ethnicity in determining the placement of a child. We support the Government’s attempt to address this issue; we should indeed reduce the prominence given to ethnicity, but we must not move to the other extreme where it could be ignored entirely, which is the risk in the Bill, as drafted. We do believe that ethnicity should remain a consideration, and it is important that adoption agencies are clear about that. The weight of evidence points to delays being primarily caused by the age and health of a child. Last year Ofsted reported that

“there was little evidence of delay caused by an unrealistic search for a ‘perfect’ ethnic match.”

We share the view of the House of Lords Select Committee on Adoption Legislation that the requirement for due consideration on ethnicity should be on the statutory welfare checklist that the courts and adoption agencies must consider.

It is important for us to recognise other forms of permanency, alongside adoption—other options that may be in a child’s best interests. We should also be discussing reforms to strengthen support for foster carers, kinship carers and special guardians. As my hon. Friend the Member for Worsley and Eccles South (Barbara Keeley) has said—my hon. Friend the Member for Stockton North (Alex Cunningham) reinforced the point—the Bill contains no provisions to strengthen the rights of young carers.

[Barbara Keeley]

That is a very important point. I have served on the pre-legislative scrutiny Committee for the draft Care and Support Bill. A promise was given that strengthening the rights of young carers would be covered in that Bill and this one. We had a battle to strengthen those rights in the pre-legislative Committee and no provision is made in this Bill to strengthen them. Young carers and their organisations are feeling really let down and it is important that we send the right message to them today.

[Stephen Twigg]

I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention. She anticipates my next point, as I was about to say exactly what she just said. Research by the BBC estimates that there are up to 700,000 young carers in this country, and we believe the Government should use the opportunity of this Bill to improve the identification, assessment and support given to young carers. As she reminded the House, the draft Care and Support Bill will give greater rights to adult carers, but support for young carers surely could and should be clarified and strengthened at the same time.

Ministers plan to write a presumption of “parental involvement” into the Children Act 1989. Labour strongly supports the principle that both parents should be involved in a child’s life, unless that compromises the child’s safety or welfare. However, we believe it is wrong to dilute the principle that the child’s best interests should always come first. Both the Select Committee on Education and David Norgrove have expressed significant concerns about the proposal.

The Select Committee on Justice, whose Chairman is in his place, has expressed a number of concerns, and I shall set them out. The first is that the Bill would not achieve its objectives in regard to shared parenting and that there is no evidence of a bias in the courts currently. The second is that the Bill could have a negative impact on the paramountcy principle, which states that when a court determines any question with respect to the upbringing of a child, the child’s welfare shall be paramount. The third is that the Bill will lead to misunderstandings about the right to particular amounts of time for parental contact because of the use of the word “involvement” without any definition and because of the use of presumption. A similar measure in Australia created an expectation that shared parenting meant equal time and led to courts becoming more clogged up as parents challenged decisions made on the basis of a child’s best interests, thus turning relatively straightforward decisions into lengthy conflicts.

[Tim Loughton (East Worthing and Shoreham) (Con)]

Does the shadow Secretary of State not acknowledge that what was proposed and became law in Australia was very different from what is being proposed here? Anything that can, in any way, be interpreted as meaning equality of time would not work. That is why the wording in the Bill, which has taken a lot of work and effort, is absolutely not a presumption about equality of time, but a presumption that all of us must surely agree that a child does best when both parents have as much involvement in the childhood of that child as possible, subject to the welfare provisions, which absolutely still stay paramount in the Bill. Why, yet again, do Labour Members not recognise that there is a problem and that at last we have legislation trying to address it?

[Stephen Twigg]

I certainly do not doubt the sincerity of the attempt to address this issue and to learn from the Australian experience. Labour’s judgment, as I have set it out today, has taken into account not only what the hon. Gentleman and other Government Members have said, but what has been said by organisations working in the sector, including in the field of children’s law. They tell us that there is a gap between the Government’s intention and what might happen in practice. We have to anticipate those unintended consequences, so although I absolutely agree with his final comments about the importance of both parents being involved, provided there is no threat to the safety or welfare of children, the paramount principle has to be the best welfare of the child—that has to come first. The concern is that what the Bill proposes could take us down the road that the Australians went down. We should explore this issue further in Committee, because there is a real difference of opinion on it. I urge Ministers to listen to those who are expressing a different view, so that we make sure that we do not have, as an unintended consequence of this Bill, something that makes the situation worse.

The Bill proposes a 26-week limit for care proceedings. At present, children wait for an average of 55 weeks for a decision about their future. The Government are seeking to address that, and we support them in their aim to speed up proceedings. However, speed should never be at the expense of getting it right for children. We want safeguards to be built into the system to ensure that complex issues are not overlooked and siblings are not separated needlessly. Because much of the delay comes from local authorities, the Government must also address the dangerously heavy case loads of social workers.

Again, we support the recommendations of the Justice Committee. It proposes first that the 26-week time limit should be specified in secondary legislation, while primary legislation should specify the power to set such a limit so that it can be amended easily if it proves unworkable in practice, and secondly that the clause should be amended to give judges the power to take cases outside the 26-week timetable.

[Mr Timpson]

The hon. Gentleman’s point about the work done by local authorities before care proceedings is extremely important. That is why we have placed more emphasis on family group conferences, and on the need to ensure that as much as possible of the evidence that is required for a case to be dealt with as quickly as possible is available at the inception of the application. Does the hon. Gentleman agree, however, that we cannot maintain a situation in which the average time for a case to be dealt with is 17 weeks in one court and 89 weeks in another? The tri-borough pilot in London has produced a reduction to 24 weeks, less than the 26 weeks proposed in the Bill.

[Stephen Twigg]

I understand that specifying a time limit in that way in primary legislation is very unusual internationally, and possibly unique, although that is not a sufficient reason for not doing so. I think that the Justice Committee’s proposals address the legitimate points that the Minister has made, but do so in a way that would not only enable timely decisions to be made, but allow for greater flexibility in individual cases. That strikes me as a sensible compromise, and I hope that it will be considered during the Bill’s Committee stage.

There is a child care crisis in this country, with rising costs. The Government’s proposals to change child care ratios have been widely criticised as a threat to quality. We oppose the proposal in the Bill to remove local authorities’ duty to conduct an assessment of the sufficiency of child care at least every three years.

As for child care agencies, we welcome the idea of additional support for childminders to promote work force development and progression, to increase efficiency and share best practice, and to improve local co-ordination to help parents find good childminders. However, as they stand, the plans are rather hazy on detail. Ministers will need to give assurances that they will not cause knock-on effects, such as extra costs to parents. Ministers will also need to clarify what they will mean for local authorities, how often Ofsted will inspect agencies, and how the criteria for the inspection of agencies will differ from those for inspections of individual childminders.

[Meg Hillier (Hackney South and Shoreditch) (Lab/Co-op)]

Does my hon. Friend share my fear that agencies may cream off a profit and add costs to parents rather than supporting better child care? We have seen that happen in the older care sector.

[Stephen Twigg]

My hon. Friend has raised a legitimate concern that has been expressed by a number of other people. I hope that the agencies will provide a genuine opportunity for the raising of standards and improvement of quality in the child care sector, but I think that if the system is not managed and co-ordinated carefully, with a continuing role for local authorities, there will be a risk of our going down the path described by my hon. Friend. The quality and cost of child care, as well as parental confidence in childminders, must surely be at the centre of any changes.

Since 2010, the Government have moved away from the last Labour Government’s emphasis on children’s well-being and early intervention. We welcome the additional funds that have been allocated to adoption, but why do the Government always raid the early intervention budget for such new forms of funding?

We are halfway through a Parliament during which the Prime Minister told us that we would have the most “family friendly” Government in Europe. What have we seen instead? We have seen a £l.1 billion cut in early intervention funds, a 10% reduction in the child care element of working tax credit, and cuts in Sure Start as a result of which there are now 400 fewer Sure Start centres than there were in 2010.

Labour Members welcome the opportunity to debate the children and families agenda, not least because it has been sidelined by the present Government. We will work throughout the Bill’s passage to reach a cross-party consensus on lasting reforms. Our policy will be led by evidence, and by what is in the best interests of the children and families of this country. I think that the Bill gives Parliament an opportunity to reaffirm the principles of Every Child Matters, and to send the Government the message that inclusion and children’s well-being go hand in hand with high standards of education for all.

[Several hon. Members]

rose—