Debate on the Address

My Lords, I express my thanks for the very warm welcome that I have received in this House and the endless kindness of the staff in helping a new girl to find her way around a bewildering place. The three and a half miles of red carpet in the Royal Courts of Justice was something of a challenge, but in the past few weeks I have found myself equally challenged here, although staff have been incredibly kind in pointing me in the right direction. However, the carpet, which I was told was the indicator, is not always helpful because between the Chamber and the Royal Gallery it is a different colour, so I had a period of walking around wondering where I should go. I was pleased to see in Her Majesty's gracious Speech a reference to, "““raising standards in schools to help all children achieve their full potential””." This is a pledge that I have no doubt we would all support. However, I should like to refer to a group of children who are signally failing to achieve acceptable standards in education: looked-after children, or children in care. An excellent Green Paper from the Department for Education and Skills, entitled Care Matters: Transforming the Lives of Children and Young People in Care, published in October, refers at Chapter 5 to a ““first-class education”” but recognises the pressing need to improve the performance of this group of children. It acknowledges that children in the care system do markedly less well in examinations such as GCSEs than does their peer group. Such children have significantly underperformed at all stages of school life, so it is not surprising that a high proportion of children leaving care have major difficulties in obtaining employment and are ill equipped with the right skills and qualifications for their adult life. There are many reasons for this, one of which may be the unsettled and unstable lifestyle they have endured before admission to care. Another reason is the inevitable upheaval of the move from home, and probably being moved several times. For some children there are multiple moves. I know of at least one child who was moved 40 times during her time in care. Each move is, of course, an upheaval. There is a need to meet new carers and other people, to get accustomed to a new home and new friends; there is the loss of what has become familiar, and, almost always, a new school. The pattern for children in care is of movement, with a lack of stability and continuity. Many of these children have no single point of continuity throughout their time in care. Each looked-after child should have an allocated social worker. For many children the allocated social worker changes with frequency; for some, that happens every six months, if indeed a social worker is allocated at all. The failure of social services in many areas to provide the child with the continuity of a social worker, who could be a friend and support, is an indication and a sad reflection of the serious lack of social workers around the country. Social workers have a poor image in society. They are damned if they do—that is to say, if they move a child—and they are damned if they don’t. They are poorly regarded by comparison with nurses or teachers. They are at, or near, the bottom of the list of careers that young people would choose, or indeed that advisers would encourage. All local authorities have vacancies that are hard to fill. Some in the inner cities, such as London, may have vacancies as high as 70 per cent. Social workers in deprived areas, where more children are likely to be at risk, are understaffed, under-resourced, overworked and have far too many children allocated to them. Some social workers are at present not very well trained, and I support the social work degree course. Too many social workers are also leaving and not being replaced. I make a plea to your Lordships’ House for a new understanding of social workers, and a recognition of the extent to which their role is underappreciated. The work they do in the protection of children, as well as the care of the elderly or of those with mental problems in the community, is as difficult, sensitive and demanding as that of nurses or teachers. In particular, without social workers, there would be no front-line protection of children at risk other than from the police. I know some local authorities are recruiting from abroad, one at least from the United States. It is significant, in my view, that the career of a social worker in the United States is well recognised, well respected and well paid. From my previous experience in the family courts dealing with children in care, I feel strongly about the need to improve the image of the social worker. That is why I have agreed to be a patron of a Conservative Party commission set up to investigate the status and role of social workers. I should happily support any other initiative that might lead to a reassessment and recognition of the importance of the work of the social worker. Public recognition of status should lead to improved recruitment and retention of social workers. The child in care might then be able to rely upon the support and friendship of the same social worker for a significant period of his or her time in care. That in turn should provide some help, both in settling the child in his or her placement and with improving ability and performance at school.