Kevin's speech in the House of Commons
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (Kevin Brennan): I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Stockport (Ann Coffey) on securing this debate, and thank her for the great interest that she takes in the subject. It is a long-standing interest, as she pointed out; she first introduced a Bill on the subject in the House in 1984. As she said, she recently met representatives from Ofsted to discuss her concerns. I am glad that that was a positive meeting. I, too, met her recently to discuss what can be done to improve outcomes for young people in care. I also thank her for her welcome for the Children and Young Persons Bill, which will come before the Commons shortly, having had its journey through the House of Lords, and having been broadly welcomed across the sector for the improvements that it tries to make.Of course, for a child to succeed in life, they need a stable home life, a safe place to go, significant adults taking a real interest in their life, and a strong sense of family. In short, they need to be cared about, and not just cared for. It is imperative that we focus all our efforts on trying to create that environment for children who do not live with their birth families. My hon. Friend raised a number of important points on the inspection of care homes, both tonight and in her meetings with me and with Ofsted. She mentioned that she has received information relating to specific care homes in her area and has concerns about them. I cannot refer to the specifics of her concerns about those homes, for obvious reasons, but she also raised some wider points that result from those concerns, and I hope that I can address those points.I will first try to answer some of the questions that my hon. Friend asked towards the end of her speech. First, on the involvement of other agencies in the inspection process, I understand her concerns about the fact that where the behaviour of children in children’s homes is unacceptable and affects the surrounding community, inspection reports should reflect that, and should, as far as possible, take account of information that is available locally. Obviously, that has to be balanced with the need to take a proportionate approach to inspections. Most importantly, those commissioning places in residential provision must have the right information on which to base placement decisions, and must make sure that the placements are right for the children and young people in question.To achieve that, the Department is currently supporting the development of standardised contracts for local authorities to use when commissioning services, including in relation to provision in children’s homes. The national framework contract for the placement of children in children’s homes is underpinned by a number of performance indicators, including some relating to crime and offending behaviour among children placed in the home. The majority of local authorities are already using these contracts and over time they will start to provide the invaluable information that my hon. Friend is looking for, helping to drive up the quality of care.My hon. Friend asked about consultation with schools about the support provided to pupils living in care homes. That is a well-made point. In their role as corporate parents, local authorities and the services that they use have a vital part to play in supporting the education of looked-after children. The national minimum
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standards that she mentioned highlight that point and set out clearly the steps that providers should be taking to make it a reality. For example, children should have a personal education plan setting out a record of their achievements, needs and aspirations, and they should be given access to appropriate educational facilities. The plan should include the names of staff responsible for liaising with schools and other appropriate bodies.The national contract for children’s homes that I mentioned covers education and includes detailed indicators designed to provide commissioning authorities with information about a home’s performance with regard to the education of the children placed there. I would be happy to consider what more could be done to address my hon. Friend’s concerns.My hon. Friend suggested a pilot to collate information from other agencies in advance of inspection. That is an interesting and innovative suggestion, and I see no reason why that could not happen. I know that she has been in touch with Ofsted to explore the benefits of collating information in advance of inspection.My hon. Friend also asked about recording incidents of young people missing from care as part of the inspection process. In her role as part of the all-party group in Parliament, she will know that a cross-departmental working group is looking into the issue of missing children. As part of a programme of work to deliver the “Care Matters” agenda and improve young people’s quality of care, we will be revising the existing guidance on children missing from care, and including its requirements as part of our plan to update and re-issue guidance to the Children Act 1989 and subsequent legislation. That will provide us with the opportunity to integrate the guidance on children missing from care homes into this important new revised guidance and at the same time consider whether we need to provide more detail about managing support for especially vulnerable groups, such as potentially trafficked children, to minimise the likelihood of their going missing from their care placement.For young people in care, selecting their provision will probably be one of the most important decisions affecting their lives, so when those decisions are made, they must reflect the young person’s best interests, be conducted in a timely manner and assure a high level of quality in the provision that will be received. All those commitments were highlighted in the “Care Matters” White Paper.Clear planning processes for local authorities, rigorous inspection and enforcement processes, to which my hon. Friend referred, and a world-class care system will be the keys to success. We have already announced a number of measures to support care planning, including drawing together the care planning requirements into a single set of regulations. We will also issue accompanying guidance as part of the revision of the Children Act 1989 statutory guidance. Furthermore, we are piloting regional commissioning arrangements, to support local authorities.To ensure that care placements are of a consistently high quality and not just the luck of the draw, the
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national minimum standards are being revised as part of a wider review. As my hon. Friend rightly points out, those standards must be adhered to and maintained, with swift and decisive action if a service is underperforming. It is important that those processes are transparent.In that context, I turn to my hon. Friend’s concerns about the accessibility of children’s homes inspection reports. Although social care inspection reports are available on the website of the chief inspector and the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills, reports relating to children’s homes are excluded. The reason given for that is preventing the identification of young people in residential care and ensuring that people accessing the internet with malign intentions are prevented from acquiring their address or any other personal details. While the existing legislative framework does not prevent the publication of children’s homes reports, certain information is excluded, such as the address of the children’s home. As my hon. Friend has mentioned, the chief inspector will shortly launch a consultation to seek the views of children, service providers and local authorities on whether children’s homes reports should be published on the Ofsted website. It is important that the views of the Members of Parliament, such as my hon. Friend, are taken into account in that consultation.Finally, we must support care staff in their roles. When I speak to young people in my role, they tell me time and again that what really makes a difference is the people who work with them and the quality of their relationships with significant adults. My Department is working closely with the Children’s Workforce Development Council to develop a clear set of standards for residential care staff, which will set out the core skills that they should attain within an agreed and appropriate time scale. That will build on the CWDC’s successful work, which has been funded by my Department, to develop standards for foster carers, with the expectation that those standards are met within a year of their being approved. Not only will that model help to ensure consistently high standards across the residential care system, but it will delineate clear progression paths and career development for residential care staff.To strengthen the quality of relationships between care staff and young people, we will test the effectiveness of social pedagogy as a method of giving professionals extra skills to improve the quality of care they provide to children—an approach with which my hon. Friend is familiar and which has worked well on the continent. The pilot will run over the next three years, and we will look closely at the results to see whether we should encourage the approach more widely.I am confident that, through clear direction from central and local government, rigorous and transparent inspection processes and a world class children’s work force, we will achieve excellence for all children in care, which we are all aiming for. I thank my hon. Friend for her commitment on the subject, and I know that she will hold us to account in that important task. |
