Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to
ensure that children and young people in care are placed in safe
and appropriate accommodation.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Education () (Con)
My Lords, all children in care deserve to live in homes that meet
their needs and keep them safe; that is why we are reforming
unregulated provision for children aged 16 and 17 and have banned
the placement of under-16s. This week, we have announced that we
will invest over £140 million to introduce mandatory national
standards and Ofsted registration. We are also investing £259
million to maintain and build more places in open and secure
children’s homes.
(CB)
My Lords, I am very grateful indeed to the Minister for that
helpful Answer. As the House knows, no child is taken into care
without there being clear evidence of the child’s safety being
severely at risk. Indeed, some of us, or I guess all of us, wish
that some local authorities had acted more quickly in respect of
recent terrible cases. The Minister knows that the Competition
and Markets Authority recently highlighted in its report the
number of children who are still being placed in unregulated and
inappropriate accommodation. Can the Minister kindly expand on
what steps are being taken to rectify this worrying situation?
(Con)
I thank the noble Lord for his question, and echo his sentiment,
and the sentiment of the House, in relation to the two recent
cases to which I think he was referring.
In relation to the CMA report, the department is extremely
grateful to the CMA, which is addressing fundamental and
important issues. We believe that the steps that we have
announced this week will make an important difference in securing
the safety of 16 and 17 year-olds in particular. The investment
that we are making in open and secure children’s homes will also
help to boost supply—but we are waiting for the full report to
give our official response.
(Con)
My Lords, my noble friend will know that this year a record
number of unaccompanied minors have arrived in this country
seeking asylum, and many have been placed in hotels, with minimal
supervision, making them vulnerable to exploitation and
trafficking. What arrangements are the Government making to make
sure that these vulnerable children get the support that they
need?
(Con)
Earlier this week, the national transfer scheme for unaccompanied
asylum-seeking children, to whom my noble friend refers, was made
mandatory for local authorities. As a result of that change, the
majority of local authorities will be required to accept
transfers of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children into their
care. We believe that this will provide those very vulnerable
children with the care and support that my noble friend rightly
says they need.
(Lab)
My Lords, on this day 30 years ago, the Government made a pledge
to the United Nations that they would honour the Convention on
the Rights of the Child, which contains comprehensive state
obligations towards children. Yesterday’s announcement, referred
to by the Minister, on national standards for unregulated
supported accommodation for 16 and 17 year-olds was, sadly, a
further sign that this Government have reneged on that pledge.
Instead of making those establishments follow the quality
standards for children’s homes, Ministers are pressing ahead with
an alternative, rudimentary set of standards, which are devoid of
any requirement to provide care to children. How can it possibly
be acceptable for children to be in the care of the state and not
receive any care where they live?
(Con)
I understand why the noble Lord asks the question, and I am
grateful for the opportunity to try to clarify the point. There
are children with a foster placement or a placement in a
children’s home, which cater for the vast majority of children in
care, whose placements have broken down multiple times or who
have come very late age-wise into the care system, who live in
semi-independent living, which aims to give them the skills that
they will need later in life. I hope that the noble Lord will
acknowledge the important step that is being made with the
introduction of these standards and the powers that it will give
Ofsted to make sure that we give children that care.
(LD)
My Lords, 75% of children’s residential care homes are run by
private firms, making huge profits, and the average placement now
is around £4,000 a week. In spite of this, many London boroughs
are having to place vulnerable children hundreds of miles away,
outside the city and away from their homes and friends. I came
across a case just recently in which a north London borough has
to pay hundreds and hundreds of pounds in taxi fares to bring
children and young people back into the borough to receive
appropriate educational support. These are children who have
severe mental health problems. What is being done to mitigate
this? Surely it cannot be right to send vulnerable children out
of the borough—hundreds of miles away—and then to have to bus
them back again for them to get the support that they need.
Surely that is a terrible waste of funding.
(Con)
The noble Baroness will be aware that the majority of
looked-after children, 74% as at March 2021, were located 20
miles or less from their home, which is a slight increase on
2020. Only 6% of children are placed more than 20 miles away from
their home.
(Lab)
My Lords, is it not clear from the questions to the Minister that
we are dealing with a broken system that is letting children
down? Will the Government think really deeply about this and seek
ways to make sure that care is not the only alternative for
children who are vulnerable? If more families get the right
support at the right time, fewer children will end up at the risk
they are at today—we know this from those places where effective
early intervention is taking place across the age ranges, where
they have been able to hold stable the number of such children or
even reduce them. When will the Government switch their
perspective and go for early intervention?
(Con)
With respect to the noble Baroness and to the House, these
children were originally let down within their own homes, sadly.
That is the tragedy, which I know she knows very well. She will
also be aware that the Government have announced a really
ambitious plan, in terms of family hubs, with a great focus on
the first 1,000 days of a child’s life—she and I have discussed
the importance of that in previous conversations. It is not an
either/or choice: there will be children who need support and
intervention earlier on, and we are committed to doing both well.
(CB)
Is this the place to talk about a very big issue—pardon the
pun—which is the fact that the flow of children out of care into
homelessness and on into the prison system is still carrying on
to such an extent that probably 25% of the people I work with in
and around homelessness and 25% of people in prison have come
from a care background?
(Con)
I thank the noble Lord for the unique perspective and experience
that he brings to this question. He is right, and that is why,
together with the Department for Levelling Up, the Department for
Education published guidance last year to make sure there are
common standards for supported accommodation for young people
aged 18 and over. That is an important basis, as the noble Lord
understands well, but we are committed to providing additional
support also.
(Con)
Do the Government remain committed to helping those children in
care who would benefit from a boarding education to obtain places
in our excellent state and independent boarding schools, through
their boarding school partnerships unit at the DfE? Is it not
clear that children in care suited to a boarding education obtain
good results in our national examinations? Are the Government
supporting charities, such as the Royal National Children’s
SpringBoard Foundation, which are working with boarding schools
and local authorities to increase the number of places for
children in care, mindful always that many children will not
benefit from or be suited to a boarding school education?
(Con)
The Government recognise the opportunity offered by both the
state boarding and the independent sector to provide good
outcomes for children in care. I am extremely pleased to report
to my noble friend that the first cohort of 28 children commenced
boarding placements this September as a result of the Royal
National Children’s SpringBoard Foundation’s work on creating a
national network of schools.
