My Lords, I will speak to Amendments 247 to 249 in our names. In doing so, I would like to support the amendments of the noble Earl, Lord Listowel, which are very much on a similar theme.
Our first amendment, Amendment 247, seeks to improve the information available on children’s centres and to hold the Government to account for their failure to deliver a vibrant network of children’s centres since coming into office. It requires the information to
be published separately and regularly so that the trends can be clearly observed. The information that is collated on children’s centres is buried and inaccessible. It is tempting to say that this is deliberate since the Government do not want to admit that the Prime Minister has broken the commitment he gave before the election to protect the Sure Start network.
Thankfully, as a result of the work of 4Children and its 2013 children centre census, we now know that 566 fewer children’s centres are serving our communities, and that many of those that still exist are having to cut their hours or charge for services. This is a very long way from the concept of universal early-years provision, which was so welcomed when it was introduced by the previous Government. We would like to see the data set out in a structured and accessible form.
Amendment 248 on the issue of birth registration is similar to that raised by the noble Earl, Lord Listowel. Like him, we believe that there are very real advantages in births being registered at children’s centres. It would encourage a wider group of parents to visit the centres and become aware of the services on offer. It would also enable the staff to have a point of contact to reach out to isolated or dysfunctional families and offer them help.
We have often rehearsed the arguments in favour of early intervention to improve children’s life chances. The reports of Graham Allen and Frank Field both demonstrated that money spent on early years is cost effective in the longer term and helps children meet their full potential. The National Children’s Bureau’s literacy initiative is an excellent example of early intervention that can grow out of children’s centres, combining home visits with increased parental involvement in other well-being events and a dramatic improvement in child literacy. That is just one example.
Unfortunately, while it is possible to use children’s centres for birth registration if the local authority agrees, as the noble Earl, Lord Listowel, pointed out, so far only 6% of centres do that. I hope that the Minister will feel able to support our amendment, given that her own department gave evidence to the Sure Start report highlighting the advantages of birth registration at children’s centres. Our amendment requires the Secretary of State to commission an independent study into the impact on the welfare of children of requiring births to be registered in this way, supported by the option of pilot schemes to inform the study.
Finally, Amendment 249 is also similar to that of the noble Earl, Lord Listowel. It requires NHS trusts to share details of live births with local authorities so that children’s centres and other early-years providers could follow up with appropriate outreach services. Again, there is good practice in some places where data are already shared. Other trusts feel that they are unable or unwilling to share and are concerned about confidentiality issues. This is where the Government could help by being much clearer about the advantages of sharing and the terms on which it should be done. How can local authorities be expected to carry out their safeguarding and child welfare responsibilities or plan adequately for local services if they are not made aware of the total picture of births in their area?
I hope the Minister will support our amendments. When this matter was discussed in the Commons, Jo Swinson reported that a short-life task and finish group had been set up to consider these issues and that it had subsequently made recommendations to the Minister. I hope the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, is now in a position to share those recommendations with us, and to tell us what action will be taken to follow it up. I look forward to hearing from her.
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