Young People in Care

Debate between Steve McCabe and Lisa Nandy

Tuesday 27th January 2015 Commons Chamber

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

I congratulate the Chairman and members of the Education Committee, many of whom have spoken today, on the report, which is a model of the well-argued, thought-provoking body of work that we have come to rely on from the Select Committee system. It has proved helpful in focusing attention on the types of accommodation available to young people aged 16 and over who are cared for by local authorities—a population of about 14,000, representing about 20% of the total population of looked-after children,

The Children Act 1989 requires that young people aged 16 and over should be given a personal adviser to help them to progress to independence. That involves helping them to make choices, and ensuring that their pathway plan and review actually happen, and that the plan includes the skills needed for independent living. The Select Committee cites the children’s rights director as saying that almost half—49%—of care leavers thought that they had been badly or very badly prepared for independent life. Key deficiencies include a lack of basic skills such as cooking and financial management.

The report made me wonder whether there is too much focus on the post of personal adviser, and not enough on the task. Foster carers and other significant adults should principally perform those tasks, as they are the people with whom the young person already has an important relationship. I know that the Minister, too, has reflected on that. I was struck during a recent visit to Hackney’s fostering unit by the impressive work that it does, and its use of social pedagogy as a tool for development. The Minister is on the record as saying that the personal adviser is a function, rather than a specifically appointed person, and that there is nothing in the regulations or guidance to stop local authorities using resources such as foster carers or people who work in children’s homes as personal advisers.

[Lisa Nandy]

I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s generosity in giving way, especially as I could not be here for the start of the debate. I was interested in his use of the word “relationship”. Does he agree that a key point about the system that we have constructed for children in care is that often it does not see or value those crucial relationships in young people’s lives? At the time when they most need them the system often drives a coach and horses through them. Does he agree that if we were serious about helping children, sustaining them through the hardest period in their life, we would restructure the system so that it could see, support and value those relationships with key trusted adults, whoever they are?

[Steve McCabe]

That is exactly the point. We should concentrate on continuity and relationships. At times we are sidetracked by posts and appointments.

I want to move on to local authorities, whose responsibilities change when a young person turns 18. Too many people think that local authorities interpret that change as meaning that their responsibilities diminish, despite the fact that they have a continuing obligation to those young people until the age of 21, or 25 for those still in education and training. As we have heard several times, the Minister has recently extended the previous Government’s pilots to create a new obligation or arrangement for staying put in foster care until the age of 21. Like others, I think that that is a welcome measure, although I urge him to look at authorities that are trying to avoid paying foster rates, arguing that such arrangements are in fact board and lodging provision. I have recently been made aware that that is happening in one or two places, and the Minister will agree that that is certainly not what he had in mind.

I welcome the part of the Government’s response to the report which says that they believe that fewer young people should leave care before the age of 18 unless there are exceptional circumstances. In his reply, can the Minister say a little more about what practical steps the Government will take to translate this belief into reality? Despite personal advisers and strengthened guidance, the Committee found that young people are often given neither a choice of placement nor the opportunity to voice a preference. The Coram Group, an excellent organisation, said in its evidence:

“The young person’s views are frequently not adequately considered and advocacy support is vital to ensure this happens”.

An independent advocate is a statutory requirement, yet it is not a service that is always offered or that enough young people are made aware of.

The Government say in their response that they have given the Children’s Commissioner a new power to provide advice and assistance to individual children in receipt of social care services and to make representations on behalf of care leavers. Am I right in thinking that the commissioner has no real new powers? Is the Minister satisfied that the power to make representations is a sufficient new power for the Children’s Commissioner? The Government argue that they have strengthened the guidance on pathway planning and point to the fact that directors of children’s services are now required to sign off the arrangements for any 16 or 17-year-old leaving care. However, as we have heard from a number of speakers today, the evidence suggests that the pathway plans are weak, and one glaring omission is the failure to consider maintaining positive relationships with siblings and other people thought to be important in the young person’s life.

My hon. Friends the Members for Stockton North (Alex Cunningham) and for Stockport (Ann Coffey) both drew attention to the impact that this can have, particularly when it is almost ignored in the planning arrangements. Like others, I wonder how we can expect young people to develop into normal, well-adjusted adults if we deny them the opportunities that we take for granted for our own children and many others. I welcome the addition to the guidance on the pathway plans in this respect and I trust that the Minister will continue to focus on this area in the months ahead.

One of the inevitable results of the “Staying Put” initiative is that, as we heard, it has raised the question of those in residential care and the related issue of staying close. There appears to be a perception in some local authorities that their responsibilities decrease when a child reaches 16. That is certainly the sense among young people who feel that 16 is the cut-off point when they are required to leave care. This came across in the evidence that the Committee took. I am not sure about the equality aspect of “Staying Put” for non-foster care. I do not know whether it would withstand a legal challenge. From his previous incarnation the Minister might be much more familiar with how the law would deal with that. Aside from that, my own view is that 16 is the age for most young people to set out on their own. Like the hon. Member for Calder Valley (Craig Whittaker) I attended a recent meeting of the all-party group for looked-after children, where many of those said that even at the age of 18 they did not feel that they were ready to move on.

I know that this is a difficult matter for many people. I have some doubts about whether it is realistic for someone to continue in a children’s home to the age of 21 or beyond, although I am rather sceptical of the validity of some of the counter-arguments. Particularly on safeguarding, I tend to agree with the Every Child Leaving Care Matters group, which said that it is difficult

“to see how a young person who is settled in a children’s home and enjoys positive relationships with staff and peers should suddenly become a safeguarding risk at 18 when they never were before.”

I am keen that the Government set to work as soon as possible on addressing this matter. We have heard about some of the work involving the National Children’s Bureau, the Who Cares? Trust, Barnardo’s and others. Will the Minister tell us how much money from the innovation programme has gone into that work to date, and what time scale he is considering for further proposals indicating his plans for staying close and “Staying Put”?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Steve McCabe and Lisa Nandy

Tuesday 24th May 2011 Commons Chamber

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

6. What steps he is taking to ensure the effective prosecution of cases involving fraud and economic crime.

[Lisa Nandy (Wigan) (Lab)]

7. What steps he is taking to maintain the capacity of the Serious Fraud Office to investigate and prosecute economic crime during the comprehensive spending review period.