My Lords, I support my noble friend Lord Listowel’s Amendment 132A and his other amendments in this group. One does not need to look very far to understand why the Government are so keen to promote innovation, about which we have already heard a lot this afternoon. At present, 43 of the 87 local authority children’s services have been judged by Ofsted to be failing or inadequate. Clearly, this is highly undesirable, and we can and must do much more to ensure that the services we offer for vulnerable children are the best they can possibly be. I none the less support my noble friend’s Amendment 132A and his other amendments because I am concerned that the Bill fails to put in place rigorous and robust mechanisms to ensure that the well-being of children is not inadvertently affected by the exemption of local authorities from crucial clauses in children’s social care legislation.
In recent years, local authorities have developed some highly innovative approaches to children’s social services in areas such as Trafford. Trafford has maintained a good and an outstanding rating for the past five years, and its approach, particularly towards care leavers, has been commended by the Government. This in many ways represents the best practice that could be encouraged by the comprehensive and strengthened set of corporate parenting principles we have the opportunity to create in this very Bill. Trafford is widely considered a success story for innovation in local authorities, but this has all been achieved without the need to repeal the safeguards afforded to children through the Children Acts 1989 and 2004. I am still struggling to see where these key pieces of legislation are hampering innovation, and I would welcome it if the Minister gave examples of the benefit that the Government believe will derive from such a provision.
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