I am grateful to all noble Lords for their contributions to this debate. Although I see the intention behind these amendments and the important issues that noble Lords have raised, we are not persuaded that they require prescription in primary legislation. I am reminded of the comments of the noble Baroness, Lady Howarth, earlier today and in our previous session that we should not overburden the Bill with matters best addressed by other means, particularly guidance.
As we have discussed at length, local authorities will appoint a personal adviser to those care leavers who want one, up to their 25th birthday. This brings with it the responsibility for the corporate parent to assess a young person’s needs and to prepare a pathway plan. This means that a wider group of care leavers will have their needs identified and responded to for a longer period, including those needs linked to parenthood.
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Guidance associated with the Children Act 1989 already covers in detail the matter of assessment of needs through pathway plans for children in care and care leavers. This includes the needs of those care leavers who are either parents or about to become
parents. That guidance makes it clear that considering family and social relationships is a key aspect of assessment as part of pathway planning. It also requires there to be full consideration of how all relationships form part of a care leaver’s transition to adulthood. This would include where the young person was a parent or was to become one. Local authorities must keep pathway plans under review to reflect changing circumstances and needs. One of the specific factors that might lead to a review is, as the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, said, the parenting capacity of a care leaver—as the guidance explains.
The Children Act 1989 guidance on transition to adulthood also states that local authorities should set out how they will support specific groups of care leavers such as lone parents. However, we need to ensure that, as well as there being clear guidance, care leavers and other young parents are able to access the services they need. To this end, the number of health visitors has increased by almost 50% since May 2010. Health visitors deliver the Healthy Child Programme, a universal service for all families. As part of the HCP, health visitors will identify where families need additional support. It states clearly that one of the risk factors for experiencing additional problems is where one or both parents grew up in care.
For disadvantaged teenage mothers, family nurse partnerships, which the noble Baroness, Lady Armstrong, highlighted, also offer an evidence-based, intense programme of supported visits. The FNP supports many teenage mothers who have a care background. In October 2015, robust new evidence was published on the FNP programme’s effectiveness in improving short-term outcomes in England. The FNP national unit is using this evidence to adapt and strengthen the programme so that it provides more flexibility, supporting nurses to tailor the intervention to client needs in order to help local authorities develop a service that meets the particular requirements of vulnerable families in their local area. As the noble Baroness, Lady Massey, said, for the minority who have multiple children taken into care, programmes such as Pause provide new approaches that recognise the complex challenges that these women face.
On the points of the noble Baronesses, Lady Armstrong and Lady Massey, around kinship carers, they will be aware that my noble friend the Minister agreed last week to meet the Kinship Care Alliance to discuss these broad issues. That meeting is currently being set up. I will be able to say more later about the guidance and support available to kinship carers in my response to group 11.
The noble Baroness, Lady Armstrong, asked whether children in care who are accommodated in children’s homes would be able to stay on, like those with foster parents. Today we announced that the department accepts Sir Martin Narey’s recommendation to develop a Staying Close model for those in children’s homes post-18 years. Work on that will be beginning.
I will take back to the department the comments of the noble Lord, Lord Warner, and ask them to be looked into—if they have not already been.
On the comments of the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham about young men, we recognise that programmes to support young fathers are
underdeveloped. Having a child can be a catalyst for young fathers to turn their lives around. I will ask my colleagues in the Department of Health and back at my department to provide an update on services available to young fathers and will write to the right reverend Prelate. I will take back the points made by the noble Baroness, Lady Hughes, in relation to early intervention.
We believe that the amendments of the noble Baroness, Lady Massey, are unnecessary as they duplicate existing provision contained within the Children Act 1989, seeking to re-insert them in this Bill. Although we understand the intention, we believe this change is unnecessary.
I hope that noble Lords will see that the particular needs of young parents and of parents will be fully covered within the corporate parenting guidance and that the Government are undertaking a programme of work to support these vulnerable young people. With that, I hope that the noble Baroness will feel able to withdraw her amendment.