My Lords, I shall speak to Amendments 129 and 132 in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Hunt. I am also a signatory to Amendment 131 in the name of my noble friend Lord Wills, but I shall have less to say on that.
As regards the third and fourth subsections in Amendment 131, the huge controversy surrounding Clause 15 and the Government’s intention to enable local authorities to be exempted from providing local child protection and other children’s services requires a firmer base than a local authority simply approaching the Secretary of State to seek permission to do so. Some form of independent oversight is necessary to assuage the widespread concern among charities and other organisations prominent in the sector, not to mention local authorities themselves, as to the possible effects of Clause 15. It is essential that, as advocated in Amendment 132, a local authority is not exempt from corporate parenting principles—a subject on which we talked at length in previous sittings—just because it has been exempted from some of its statutory responsibilities. An assurance from the Minister on this point, even if he does not accept the amendment, would be valuable.
The Government have not made a case as to why Clause 15 is necessary. The Minister needs to explain to noble Lords precisely what problem this proposal is designed to address. As to the underlying premises of Clause 15, frankly, who knows? Suggestions have been put forward by several people and organisations. They vary from requirements in primary and secondary legislation blocking the delivery of effective children’s services to the suggestion that it might make it more attractive for private companies to get involved in the delivery of social work services.
No evidence has been published by the Government to support the notion that legislation is an impediment. Indeed, their Putting Children First strategy published last week, refers to creating,
“a controlled environment in which we could enable local authorities to test deregulatory approaches that are not currently possible, before taking a decision to make substantial changes to existing legislation that would apply across the board.”.
However, the document does not set out the deregulatory approaches, which cannot be tested presently, and a box insert in the report quotes Professor Eileen Munro referring to “unnecessary legal rules”, although, again, they are not specified.
Is it the case that all legislative duties in respect of children’s social care are potentially problematic? I think not, because the Government’s Red Tape Challenge concluded in 2014 that only five regulations needed to be scrapped, three of which were already redundant, and 14 separate regulations were actually improved as a consequence of that consultation. Despite that, the breadth of legislation that can be exempted by Clause 15 is extraordinarily wide. I need do no more than refer noble Lords to Clause 19.
Are the problems in children’s social care so serious that the Secretary of State and her officials require a fast-track process to repeal or change legislation? That is what appears to be the case from the way in which the Bill is framed, because Clause 15 marks a major break with the ordinary legislative process where Ministers publish Green Papers, identify policy problems and potential solutions, expert organisations and individuals respond, White Papers are issued and legislation is then introduced to Parliament. In the Bill, only Ofsted’s chief inspector and the Children’s Commissioner need to be consulted. When legislative changes are proposed
by the Minister or by an individual sent into a local authority as part of a ministerial intervention, there is no duty to consult the local authority.
That is relevant because the Government’s ambition was stated in Putting Children First as being that,
“over a third of … local authorities will either be delivering their children’s services through a new model or be actively working towards a different model”,
by 2020. We see the shape that the Government want to achieve in four years’ time, but the route to get there is what concerns many people, not least noble Lords on this side of the Committee.
At Second Reading, the Minister referred to the need for innovation. As I said, we on these Benches are certainly not opposed to that concept. We support innovation if it improves outcomes for children and standards in local authorities, but innovation can and does take place effectively within local authorities. Indeed, several have already developed and successfully piloted innovative approaches within children’s services while meeting their statutory responsibilities.
The Minister will no doubt be aware of this but, while Leeds is probably the most frequently mentioned, I can also cite Cambridgeshire, Durham, Hampshire, Lincolnshire and the London boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston, Richmond, and Westminster. Each of those local authorities already has the necessary freedom to innovate to improve front-line children’s social services by developing new systems of delivering social care and piloting new ways of working with families. They have all been able to do so without the need for new legislation, so again I invite the Minister to demonstrate why, when all the innovation that I have just listed is already possible, the provision is necessary. Indeed, Ofsted’s latest annual report on social care includes several positive case studies and comments. In the best local authorities, leaders have developed ambitious and innovative approaches to practice that are firmly grounded in sound research, confirming again that innovation is possible. I am sure that the Minister will say, “Yes, well, that’s just some local authorities. Some are performing poorly or could even be described as failing”. That could well be the case, but it does not mean that we need a sledgehammer to crack a nut when many local authorities are able to do what the authorities I have mentioned are already doing. There are real concerns about where this could lead.
I shall go into this in a little more detail. At Second Reading the Minister outlined three areas where he foresaw different ways of working. These were: relaxing the assessment process for children’s placements with family and friends; the removal of independent review officers from low-risk children in care; and disbanding adoption and fostering panels. The third of these is by far the most controversial, with noble Lords receiving many emails outlining why it is a foolhardy and potentially even dangerous step. Indeed, statutory guidance on adoption states that adoption and fostering panels,
“play an important quality assurance role, providing objectivity and having the ability to challenge practice which is felt not to be in the interests of children”.
In 2012 the Government consulted on reducing the membership of adoption and fostering panels, claiming
that too many members cause delay. However, the proposal was overwhelmingly rejected and in May 2013 the Government concluded:
“We will not introduce a maximum number of adoption or fostering panel members or restrict the number of non-panel members attending an adoption or fostering panel meeting”.
So why the change now? The Minister’s announcement of the removal of the panels altogether goes well beyond even the September 2012 proposals, which, as I said, were strongly rejected. The majority of respondents to that consultation were involved directly in adoption and fostering service, and knew from personal experience the important role that the adoption and fostering panels play. Indeed CoramBAAF, an organisation at the forefront of adoption and fostering, and indeed in training people in those sectors, has said that this is the worst possible move that it could have imagined the Government to have made.
I will not comment at this stage on the other potential areas for exemption, but it is strange that others seem now to be emerging. I quote removing looked-after status from children remanded in custody; removing the duty to review a child’s care when he or she is in a stable placement; and the relaxation of children’s homes’ planning rules. When I say that they have emerged, that is not to say that they were announced by the Government or by anyone on their behalf; they emerged at the recent conference of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services. Those are the sorts of areas where these senior people in the field anticipate that some of those services may be exempted. That is a serious matter. If the Minister is able to respond to that, it would be helpful, although I understand that he has not had much notice.
As was discussed in Committee last week when considering Clause 9, removing the burden of requirements to meet statutory obligations enshrined in children’s social care legislation enables local authorities to incentivise private and not-for-profit providers to bid for parts of the children’s social care pathways. The danger outlined by a number of people, and one that we echo, is that this further threatens the extent to which children’s social care can be fragmented into multiple pathways and perhaps diverse provision, threatening the provision of those services that really are best delivered in a joined-up manner to make them as effective as they can be.
Both at Second Reading and last week in Committee I asked the Minister whether he had made an assessment of the risk to children in allowing local authorities exemptions from some key duties in keeping children safe. I did not get a response. I hope it will be third time lucky and that he will be able to give me an answer to that important question, because I am not the only one who is asking it. It has been widely asked by those who have contacted noble Lords.
As it stands, the Bill’s proposals in Clause 15 are too wide-ranging, without adequate safeguards to protect children and young people if plans to outsource services go wrong. For that reason, it is our intention to return to this issue on Report when the House will have the opportunity to express its opinion if it wishes to do so. It is not appropriate for Clauses 15 and 18 to stand part of the Bill unless and until the Government can
offer persuasive evidence of their necessity and significantly improve on their transparency and safeguards. I beg to move.
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