Children and Young Persons Bill [HL]

My Lords, the intention of Clause 14 is to ensure that all looked-after children receive regular visits from a representative of their local authority and have access to advice and support when they need it between visits. Amendments Nos. 24 and 25 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, would require the local authority to ensure that the representative of the local authority who visits is known to the child in all but exceptional cases. The Government agree that in most cases it will be desirable that the representative is known to the child and I can reassure the noble Baroness that the guidance that we issue will reflect that. However, it is likely to be difficult in practice for local authorities to meet this requirement for all children when they first become looked after, and there will be times when the social worker who knows the child is simply not available to visit. Illness, holiday and maternity leave are just three examples of circumstances that are hardly exceptional. Equally, we need to recognise the practical realities: staff turnover is also unexceptional. However, I take the noble Baroness’s point about social workers who simply move teams within local authorities. I will reflect further on how we can meet that point in statutory guidance—to see that where reasonably practicable local authorities ensure that the representative is known to the child. Furthermore, as I explained when I introduced our amendment to this clause, we will make it clear that a representative who visits a looked-after child in custody should be an employee of the local authority children’s services department and not, for example, a member of the youth offending team. Again, this is in general a desirable policy. However, in respect of whether or not that person should be a social worker, local authorities may at times wish, or indeed need, to choose a representative who is familiar to a child—for example, an experienced member of the children’s services team responsible for the child’s case who may not be a registered social worker. Conversely, it may be necessary for registered social workers with particular experience, but who have not previously been involved in the child’s case, to visit the child, perhaps because the child has requested an urgent visit and the familiar representative is unavailable. In addition, the need may arise for someone with particular specialist skills or experience to visit the child at certain times—for example, in relation to the transition from one setting to another—who may not be known to the child. For these reasons, we cannot go as far as the noble Baroness wishes in legislation but I hope that we can go most of the way to meeting her concerns in the guidance that will follow it. I certainly agree with the noble Baroness’s point that a transfer of responsibility between staff should not happen merely for administrative reasons or for the convenience of an area. I appreciate that the intention behind Amendment No. 28 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, is to guarantee that local authorities provide proper support to children and young people in custody whom they have looked after or who remain in their care. We strongly support many aspects of this amendment; in fact, it duplicates much of the effect of Clause 14. I hope that I can resolve this misunderstanding between us, which I thought I had resolved in Grand Committee. I will have another go at explaining the issue at stake. Clause 14 requires the local authority to ensure that visits and access to advice, support and assistance are provided for all children who are looked after. This new duty on local authorities will go beyond those children targeted specifically by the noble Lord’s amendment, which is focused solely on children in custody, and require local authorities to visit looked-after children wherever they may be living, whether it be in children’s homes, hospitals, residential schools including boarding schools, or custodial settings. I reiterate the commitment that I gave when this amendment was debated in Grand Committee: we will use the power to require the local authority to visit children who have been provided with voluntary accommodation by the authority but who then lose their formal looked-after status because they have been given a custodial sentence by the criminal courts and, as a result, are no longer accommodated by the authority. This will ensure that all the children within the scope of paragraphs (a) and (b) of proposed subsection (1) in the noble Lord’s amendment will receive visits, whether they are formally in the category of being looked after or not. We will use the regulation-making power in Clause 14, which is cast in exactly the same terms as subsections (4) and (5) in the noble Lord’s amendment, to prescribe the frequency of visits, the circumstances in which visits must take place and the functions of the person making the visit. The noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, asked whether we shall through statutory guidance ensure that the authority works closely with the youth offending team in planning for a child’s resettlement when they leave custody. The policy intent underlying Clause 14 in relation to children in custody is to make sure that services for this vulnerable group of children are effectively co-ordinated so that the children have the necessary support to re-establish themselves in their home area, which will minimise the risk of their going on to commit further offences. The short answer to the noble Baroness’s question is: yes, we will seek to ensure that there is that necessary co-ordination. We also intend to revise the Children (Leaving Care) (England) Regulations 2001 to specify that one of the functions of a leaving care personal adviser is to visit the young person whom they support, wherever that young person is living. That will include visiting a care leaver who is in custody. The combined effect of the commitment to revise the 2001 regulations, as well as Clause 14 and the regulation-making powers in that clause, will be to impose a duty on the local authority to visit and provide continuing support to all its looked-after children, wherever they may be, and to extend the benefits of that service to young people in custody who are care leavers or children who were looked after at the time they were taken into custody but who no longer have that legal status. I hope that that meets the essential points made by the noble Baroness and the noble Lord and that they do not feel the need to press this amendment.