Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to
improve the safeguarding of young children against abuse and
death caused by adult members of their household.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Education () (Con)
My Lords, every child should grow up in a stable, loving home
but, in rare circumstances, children are harmed by those who
should protect them. We have commissioned the Child Safeguarding
Practice Review Panel to make recommendations about how local and
national safeguarding practice should change to protect children
in future, and the panel reports on Thursday this week. We will
carefully consider its recommendations, alongside the reforms in
the care review, with an ambitious and detailed implementation
strategy later this year.
(CB)
My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Baroness, who has vast
experience in these matters, but does she agree that, in these
absolutely awful cases, there are three consistent features? The
first is that the child was not hidden away but was known to the
services; the second is that the dysfunctional nature of the
family was known; and, thirdly, opportunities to protect the
child had been missed in each case? In these circumstances, will
the Government send a letter to each of the key frontline
services, reminding them of their duties in law to safeguard
children at risk and to work together, sharing information which
is vital to the child’s needs?
(Con)
The noble Lord is absolutely right. I remember in a former role
publishing research on this entitled In Plain Sight, about abuse
of children, so I entirely recognise the issues he raises. He
will remember that Ministers from the DfE, the Home Office, and
the Department of Health and Social Care wrote to all chief
constables, local authority chief executives and clinical
commissioning groups’ accountable officers at the end of last
year, reminding them of their duties in this regard. We are
absolutely clear on the importance of this, both locally and in
central government.
(Con)
Does my noble friend agree that one way that safeguarding can be
helped is through the family hubs? I seem to keep mentioning
family hubs in this Chamber, but I should be interested to know
where we are with them. If there are still only the pilot
schemes, can we roll them out further throughout the country?
They will be a one-stop place where people can go to get
help.
(Con)
My noble friend is right, and we absolutely intend, through the
almost £302 million we are investing in Start4Life and family
health services across 75 local authorities in England, to
achieve what my noble friend describes. Yesterday, we announced
seven local authorities that will be receiving transitional
funding. We will also be carrying out a thorough evaluation and
have a national centre for sharing best practice.
(Lab)
My Lords, there was a very similar case during my time as the
Member of Parliament for Copeland, in which a child, a small boy,
was murdered by his stepfather. I know that that is not always
the case, but it frequently is. I regret to say that successive
Governments—Labour, Conservative and even, I may say, coalition
Governments—have not grasped this problem. It may be that from
the report to which the noble Baroness just referred, we will
have some further recommendations about action but, until this
problem is resolved, we might as well say that social services
are not doing their duty. They are not protecting children in
anything like the necessary way to prevent these terrible events.
I hope the Minister will report to the House in due course about
the report, and then perhaps we can see some progress.
(Con)
We will be debating the report in your Lordships’ Chamber later
this afternoon, but I would say that social workers have some of
the hardest jobs in this country and we thank them for everything
they do. We continue to invest in those services to address the
terrible cases such as that to which the noble Lord refers.
(CB)
My Lords, the safeguarding of young children is yet another
important social concern alongside violence against women, racism
in the police and youth crime. They are simply surface sores of
an underlying social malady. Does the Minister agree that the
long-term solution to such problems is a much greater emphasis in
schools on the other three Rs; namely, right, wrong and
responsibility?
(Con)
I am sure that the noble Lord’s suggestion may be part of the
solution, but to expect any single thing to resolve these
difficult and complex problems will not be sufficient, hence the
more comprehensive approach that we are taking.
(LD)
My Lords, when I became a Minister with some of these
responsibilities more than a decade ago, my noble friend Lady
Walmsley gave me two pieces of advice. First, she said, “Always
remember that social workers do not murder children, although
they sometimes get the opprobrium when something wrong happens.”
The other piece of advice was that the interest of the child
comes first.
With that as a background, last year, Emily Dugan, the social
affairs correspondent at the Sunday Times, ran a series of
articles about mistakes being made through either misdiagnosis or
misinformation where children were taken away from families with
traumatic results. Will the report that we are expecting on
Thursday cover this element, because it causes problems for the
families affected and puts additional burdens on social workers
instead of concentrating on the children in real danger?
(Con)
The report on Thursday will focus on the tragic deaths of Arthur
Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson and the lessons to be learned from
them.
(Lab)
I know that this Minister knows of the importance of voluntary
organisations in working with the most disadvantaged, and
sometimes the most vulnerable, families. Is she aware, and has
she made the review aware, that there are too many examples of
the voluntary sector being excluded and not involved in plans for
the future of the family and the child once the issue has been
referred to safeguarding? This cannot continue. It increases
danger for the most vulnerable children.
(Con)
Obviously I cannot comment on what will be in the review on
Thursday, but in the care review led by Josh MacAlister there is
a particular focus on independent domestic violence services.
(CB)
My Lords, can the Minister comment on the shortage of health
visitors in many parts of the country and the reduction in
investment in them? In the past, they have been absolutely key in
identifying at-risk families early and preventing long-term
abuse.
(Con)
The noble Baroness is right: health visitors play an incredibly
important role in identifying families that need support and
children at risk. I know that my colleagues in the Department of
Health and Social Care are looking at this as part of the wider
workforce strategy.
of Darlington (Lab)
My Lords, the Minister is absolutely right to say what she just
said, so does she regret the closure of 1,300 Sure Start
centres?
(Con)
Our focus is on getting effective multiagency support for
children, hence our investment in family hubs and all the support
that goes with them.
(LD)
My Lords, is the Minister aware that both Scotland and Wales have
banned parents and carers from hitting their children? Is she
interested to know that, when I had a meeting with the Minister
responsible for this area in another place to ask why England is
not considering doing the same, she told me that she was working
incredibly hard and that this was not at the top of her to-do
list? In the light of some of the most recent dreadful reports,
does the Minister think it might have gone up her list of
priorities?
(Con)
I cannot comment on another Minister’s priorities. What I can say
is that this Government are prioritising the safety and
well-being of children so that they should all thrive throughout
their childhood.
