My Lords, in response to Amendments 57, 58 and 64, in the names of the noble Lords, Lord Ramsbotham, Lord Watson and Lord Warner, I wish to speak in support of Clauses 29 to 31. These clauses introduce a new power allowing local authorities to apply for exemptions or modifications to children’s social care legislation, to enable them to test new ways of working. They also limit the duration of the period over which an exemption or modification will allow an innovation to be tested, and specify the consultation requirements that must be met.
I draw noble Lords’ attentions to my entry in the register of interests, which shows that I am currently serving as a vice-president of the Local Government Association. I would also ask you also to note the LGA’s support for these powers, particularly in light of the additional safeguards introduced by the Government through their Amendments 59 and 61. The LGA has concerns about Clause 32, however.
I do not believe Clauses 29 to 31 are signs of a Government recklessly putting our most vulnerable children out on a limb. Rather, they reveal a reforming courage, a willingness to address long-standing inflexibilities that substitute true safeguarding with bureaucratic formality. These clauses and the Government’s amendments—which further tighten them in response to noble Lords’ concerns—are very welcome.
Indeed, SOLACE, the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives, has argued for some time that the inflexible regulation and inspection regimes applied to children’s social care provide little opportunity for innovation. My own 30 years of experience in local government—many of which were spent at the coalface of the issues at the heart of the Bill—have convinced me, too, that this power is needed.
I was chairman of the Local Government Association at the time of the tragic death of baby Peter. Most of our practices surrounding child protection have been based on times when things have gone wrong. The clauses before us today enable us to build on when things are done right. Every day, children’s services departments across the country face a barrage of complex challenges: rising demand, reduced funding, greater awareness of child sexual exploitation, gang activity and radicalisation, as well as a significant increase in the number of unaccompanied child refugees.
Freedom to test new ways of working in such a context is not only welcome but desperately needed. The paramountcy principle enshrined in the Children Act 1989 still stands. Indeed, the best interests of the child are far more likely to be served if overregulation is not allowed to get in the way of good social work practice. Professor Eileen Munro says that the power to innovate is a critical part of the journey set out in her independent review of child protection, towards a welfare system that reflects the complexity and diversity of children’s needs. The culture change she called for in her groundbreaking report, commissioned by the coalition Government, will simply never come to pass without testing innovation in a controlled way to establish the consequences of change before any national rollout. She describes it as,
“a sensible and proportionate way forward”.
Anthony Douglas CBE, who is the chief executive of Cafcass, agrees that the proposed new power will help,
“strip back bureaucracy to a safe minimum level”,
preserving the professional time of social workers and social care staff for the delivery of,
“services and programmes that make a positive difference to children and families”.
Steve Crocker, Director of Children’s Services for Hampshire County Council, one of the Department for Education’s partner in practice authorities, is keen to apply the power by deploying the independent reviewing officer’s role in a much more targeted way. Currently, IROs’ highly skilled professionals are legally obliged to attend some reviews where, frankly, they are neither wanted nor needed by the young people they are there to serve. Children and young people who are in happy and stable arrangements would rather their review was attended wholly by people they are familiar with. At the same time, there are cases when IROs’ time would be far better spent providing more scrutiny and oversight.
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Similarly, North Yorkshire County Council, another partner in practice authority, which has a proven track record in delivering good children’s services, wants to trial freedoms around family and friend carers—carers who are currently squeezed into a fostering assessment regime tailored to the long-term fostering workforce. Such kinship carers may only ever want to take on a single child or sibling group, but they are forced to go through training and procedures intended for a very different purpose.
In conclusion, I sincerely applaud noble Lords’ respect for the legislative framework that is the bedrock of children’s social care services and protects the rights
of children and young people, who are at the forefront of their concerns. However, there has to be some carefully controlled leeway. If automatic process is hampering authorities’ ability to tailor their services to the individual child’s needs and wishes and preventing the testing of potentially transformational practice before permanent and widespread rollout, many in the vulnerable care population could be living in the land of wasted opportunity.