Asked by Baroness Eaton To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in
the light of the Children’s Commissioner’s Report on Vulnerability,
published on 4 July, which estimates that 670,000 children in
England are growing up in high risk families, what further action
they are taking to support families. Viscount Younger of Leckie
(Con) I welcome...Request free
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Asked by
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To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the
Children’s Commissioner’s Report on Vulnerability,
published on 4 July, which estimates that 670,000 children
in England are growing up in high risk families, what
further action they are taking to support families.
-
(Con)
I welcome the Children’s Commissioner’s report, which is a
valuable contribution to the growing evidence on vulnerable
children and families. Measuring the scale of the challenge
is important; so too is action to improve children’s lives
through building children’s resilience as well as
addressing vulnerability. Across government, we are taking
action, whether through reforming children’s social care,
prioritising mental health, tackling child sexual
exploitation or better protecting victims of domestic
violence and abuse.
-
(Con)
I thank my noble friend for that Answer. In the report, the
category with the highest number of vulnerable children in it
by a long way is children in non-intact families—some
3,043,000. The Early Intervention Foundation and others state
that a national strategy is needed to address relationship
breakdown in families. This would need to be
cross-departmental. What are Her Majesty’s Government doing
to develop such a strategy?
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The figure that my noble friend has given gives rise to
concern, certainly. Influential evidence from the Early
Intervention Foundation and the Centre for Social Justice,
among others, has shown the importance of strong family
relationships. The evidence is clear that, when conflict
between parents is frequent, intense and poorly resolved, it
leads to negative outcomes for children. The report builds on
cross-party and cross-government recognition of the
challenges that need to be addressed and are often
entrenched. That is why the Government are developing a new
national programme to reduce conflict between parents, led by
the Department for Work and Pensions, working closely with
the DCLG and the Department of Health.
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(Lab)
My Lords, I welcome this very substantial report from an
excellent Children’s Commissioner. Will the Minister reflect
on the fact that one missing category from the report are the
children of families where one of the parents has been sent
to prison and where, after lengthy prison sentences, the
impact on the children will have not just a concern for us
morally but a societal impact down the line that we will need
to take practical measures to overcome? Will that be
considered in reflecting on the report?
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The noble Lord makes a good point. I have in front of me the
four key categories highlighted by the Children’s
Commissioner. Within those four categories are 32 cohorts. It
is true that the issue of children linked to prisons is not
in there, but there are some very interesting statistics
under the heading of “Children with family-related
vulnerabilities”.
-
(LD)
My Lords, children are joining gangs and carrying knives for
protection because they feel vulnerable. They are living in
fear of being attacked, getting their guidance from
glamorised violence and social media instead of absent
fathers. Many are traumatised because they see their friends
being murdered on the streets. What are the Government doing
to educate children about the consequences and dangers of
knife crime to stop this rising violent culture from
spreading?
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There are certainly a good number of actions—and schools play
their part in this. As a result of the work, particularly in
this House, on the Children and Social Work Act 2017, which
received Royal Assent in April, many actions are being taken
reforming further children’s social care, focusing on
childhood mental health, and addressing parental drug and
alcohol abuse. I could name a lot more, but a lot of actions
are being taken in that important area.
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(CB)
My Lords, I feel sure that the noble Viscount and the rest of
the House will recognise that a high proportion of these
children will be being supported day by day, week by week, by
local authority social workers. This is very tough and
demanding work, and we in this House ought to do all we can
to support those social workers in their work, rather than
concentrate on the occasional tragedy that happens, against
which the profession is judged as if it happened day in and
day out. Day in and day out, children are being supported by
social workers—and is not it a pity that we have lost so many
Sure Start schemes?
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I acknowledge the point that the noble Lord has made. The
figure that I have is that 580,000 children are supported or
accommodated by the state, a figure that is clearly of great
concern, but it provides an extremely good start on a very
difficult, entrenched problem—that at last we have statistics
that we can base actions on. This has not happened before,
and we should applaud the work that the Children’s
Commissioner has done. As she says herself, the figures are
not particularly robust, but it is a start and part of her
long-term review of the issue.
-
(Con)
Will my noble friend the Minister accept that, whatever the
circumstances, the interests of the child should be
paramount?
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Yes, indeed. In this House, in a number of other Questions
and debates, the issue of focusing on children from an early
age, right through to the age of 18 and beyond, is very
important. There is a whole range of things that we are
looking at.
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(Lab)
My Lords, would the Minister accept that the problems
identified in the report and supported by the noble Lord,
, require additional
public expenditure in England? Would he give a categorical
undertaking that the same criteria that we use to measure the
needs in Northern Ireland—which I do not denigrate in any
way—will be used to assess the needs in England, which has
fallen behind? When will the Government act urgently to meet
those needs in England?
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The noble Baroness would not expect me to commit to a
guarantee on this—we need to go back to what the issues are.
This report allows us to have some sort of initial base from
which to work and to look forward to see what resources there
are and where they should be directed in order to address the
issue. The noble Baroness will know that we have made
considerable progress on the troubled families programme, for
example, which is just a small part of a big problem.
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The (CB)
My Lords, there is another side to this coin, as the noble
Lord, , highlighted
in response to my Question on Tuesday. There are many
families who are put through absolute hell because they are
accused of fabricated or induced illness in respect of
children with ME. The social workers try very hard, and I
realise that they are the lead when proceedings are started
against these families. Can the Minister say what ability his
department has to increase the strength of the social workers
when they face teachers, paediatricians and police who are
determined that these children will be put into care?
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This is a matter that my department would want to work on
with the Department of Health. The category that the noble
Countess has raised includes 2.3 million children who come
under the heading of health-related vulnerabilities, and ME
definitely comes into that. The question that she raised
about carers is important; I shall certainly take that up
with the Department of Health and see what more information I
can give her.
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