Queen’s Speech
Baroness Benjamin Excerpts(8 years, 11 months ago)
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Baroness Benjamin (LD)
My Lords, there is a fundamental belief that every child deserves the best chances in life. It is such an easy belief to hold, but it can be a very difficult one to convert into reality. However, difficult though it is, this is a task the Government must try to undertake. The Government must ensure that the most vulnerable children are not left behind. First, the Government need to address children’s academic success, which is determined before they even set foot in the classroom. I am proud to say that the Lib Dem policy of the pupil premium provides vital extra funding for schools so they can support these poorer children and help them catch up with their peers. The next step is to extend extra support for the poorest three and four year-olds, and not just those on free school meals.
The gracious Speech contained some welcome proposals for young people, with the promise of 3 million more apprenticeships. But employment provision also needs to offer realistic opportunities for young people who have been in care, those who have a disability and those who care for a family member at home. The full employment and welfare benefits Bill is an excellent opportunity to transform the road to employment. For the first time, we could have a system where the most vulnerable and the most in need of support are at its very heart.
One of the major challenges we face today in relation to children is child sexual exploitation and child abuse. These are horrific crimes, and the effect they have on children is unimaginable, on both girls and boys, from all areas of the UK and from all social, cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds. Thankfully, we are finally beginning to wake up to the reality of this horror, but there is still a long way to go according to the charity Barnardo’s, because more and more children are seeking its help. Much more must be done to ensure that joined-up help and support reach those who need it.
Easy access to online pornography is causing children as young as 10 to inflict sexual abuse on each other. I have been told of victims as young as four. The Government must ensure that all schools provide age-appropriate sex and relationship education, and must keep their promise to provide better online protection, coupled with stringent penalties for those who flout laws designed to protect children and their innocence. We must encourage children to speak out, and tell them they are worthy and that the abuse is not their fault. I say this when I go into schools, and once an eight year-old boy put his hand up and said, “Floella, my dad comes into my room at night and pulls my pants down and does things to me I do not want him to do. Can you make him stop?”. Does that not bring a tear to your eye?
It is great to hear the Government’s decision to place children at the top of their priority list and to continue to make progress to give every single child the best start in life. The All-Party Group on a Fit and Healthy Childhood, which I am proud to chair, has promoted this vigorously. Our reports have been widely influential, and the group believes that prioritising the health and welfare of children makes social and economic common sense—both in the long term by protecting and safeguarding our future and in the short to medium term by tackling the problem of childhood obesity, which has become the plague of today’s society. Among its 100 recommendations, the group’s early years report argued that it is crucial to extend the excellent measure of universal free school meals to all children of school age, because food plays an essential part in their learning and concentration. However, most importantly, the report highlights the need to ensure that policies are co-ordinated at the very highest level by a Cabinet Minister with specific responsibilities for children and a remit to ensure that all departments form policies that are truly child centred.
I have spent my entire working life making this argument: making the case for all our children and campaigning to help families reach their full potential. What is so encouraging is that I am no longer a voice in the wilderness. More and more people are beginning to get it, so I am now asking the Government to help us make the group’s policies a reality. I would welcome a meeting with Ministers to begin the most important dialogue we can have, so that together, and from a genuinely cross-party basis, we can protect every child’s right to be fit and healthy, both physically and mentally.
Finally, I turn my attention to one of my favourite subjects, children's television—and of course I declare an interest. Much progress was made by the last Government around supporting and investing in children’s television. I worked with the Producers Alliance for Cinema and TV, the BBC and others to secure changes to child performance regulations through the Children and Families Act, which now ensures that equal opportunities as well as performance and development opportunities in a safe environment are available to all children across the UK. We also secured animation tax credit, as well as the introduction of a tax relief for children’s live action television productions. But despite these positive steps forward, there is a crisis looming—a crisis in investment in children’s public service content. Over the last 10 years, there has been a dramatic fall of 95% in spend on original content on all four main television channels. They now show less than two hours per week of first-run children’s programming, down from 12 hours in 2003. Is this what our children deserve, endless repeats of content that is years old and does not originate from the UK? Interestingly, only 1% of new UK productions are made here in this country.
The children’s television industry has become heavily reliant on the BBC for new productions, which reduces diversity of programmes and competitive stimulus and creates risk, given the threats to BBC budgets and the licence fee. We should be creating content that is rich in cultural terms for children. Childhood lasts a lifetime, and we all remember our children’s television programmes—so they, like us, deserve their own cherished content that is relevant to them. Therefore, we need more commercial PSB investment in children’s television. Will the Government encourage Ofcom to report on this issue in their next PSB review? Also, will they encourage broadcasters to take a voluntary approach to improving their investment in children’s content? If they fail to do this, will the Government consider applying some form of quotas for children’s content?
Children deserve the best we can provide for them, and the Government have a responsibility to do just that. We must not stand by and let down our children—we have a duty to protect, love and nurture all children. So let us get on with the job.
Education: Black British Students
Baroness Benjamin Excerpts(10 years, 1 month ago)
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Baroness Benjamin
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to raise the academic attainment levels of black British students, and especially those of Caribbean descent.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools (Lord Nash) (Con)
My Lords, the Government aim to improve education for all and our policies to achieve this are working. Attainment for black pupils is increasing strongly while performance gaps have closed and are narrowing substantially. In the past five years, we have seen a 17% increase in black Caribbean pupils attaining five GCSEs, including English and maths; it has gone up from 36% to 53%. For black African pupils the achievement rate now stands at 61.2%, which is above the national average of 60.6%.
Baroness Benjamin (LD)
My Lords, students of Caribbean heritage are at the very bottom of the attainment league table. Chinese and Indian students are at the top yet they are always lumped together as if they are one group, giving the impression that ethnic minority students are outperforming white students. Can my noble friend the Minister tell the House what is being done to ensure that Caribbean-heritage students are attaining the Government’s GCSE benchmark and going on to further and higher education? How is the Education Endowment Foundation being encouraged to use its substantial government funds to address this problem?
Lord Nash
I assure my noble friend that we publish detailed attainment data by specific ethnic category and that schools and Ofsted study their internal data on this carefully to ensure that all pupils are making good progress. Sponsored academies have substantially higher intakes of black pupils than the rest of the state sector, and those pupils are significantly outperforming pupils from similar backgrounds in maintained schools. Sponsored secondary academies have 79% more black Caribbean pupils and are increasing their performance at double that of other state schools, while sponsored primary academies have 38% more black Caribbean pupils and are increasing their performance at three times that of other state schools. Disadvantaged black Caribbean pupils are also outperforming the disadvantaged group as a whole: 45% are achieving the GCSE measure compared to the national average of 41%, while it is 33% for white disadvantaged pupils. Through the pupil premium we are providing £2.5 billion this year, which will benefit more than half of black pupils, while the EEF is funding a number of projects including an increasing pupil motivation project to help black pupils.
Children: Racist and Islamophobic Bullying
Baroness Benjamin Excerpts(10 years, 3 months ago)
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Lord Nash
The noble Baroness is extremely experienced in these matters. Ofsted does look specifically at all types of bullying—cyberbullying and race and religion-related bullying—and in its inspectors’ handbook it says that they will look at the,
“types, rates and patterns of bullying”,
and at the school’s effectiveness in dealing with them. The noble Baroness raises a very good point on peer groups which I will undertake to discuss with Ofsted.
Baroness Benjamin (LD)
My Lords, I was a victim of racial abuse so I personally know the distress and trauma it can cause. Some children react very violently when they are racially abused at school and find themselves excluded, which is even more traumatic—they have long-term complications and implications because of it. Can my noble friend tell the House what sort of counselling and support victims of racial abuse receive from their schools?
Lord Nash
I am very sorry to hear of the distress that my noble friend suffered when she was at school. School staff should support all pupils and the nature of that support will depend on the circumstances. It may well be that the staff can support the victim adequately but otherwise the school can involve a specialist charity or organisation which can provide counselling or mentoring, such as Kidscape or Beat Bullying, which my department funds, or Place2Be, a very good counselling charity.
Children and Families Bill
Baroness Benjamin Excerpts(10 years, 3 months ago)
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Lord Hylton (CB)
My Lords, both amendments in this group are full of good points. Therefore, I ask the Minister to take them both away and come back at Third Reading with a consolidated and generally agreed amendment that incorporates all the good points from both.
Baroness Benjamin (LD)
My Lords, I, too, support the amendment in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Massey. Whenever I go into schools to speak to young people under the PSHE banner, I am amazed at how many are affected by being told that they are worthy and at how their confidence is boosted. Some are never told that they are loved unconditionally and that they can achieve. They have no parental guidance. PSHE helps them to cope with the materialistic, commercially led world they are living in. It helps them to learn how to deal with morality, honesty and integrity, and to understand that they can grow up in our society and be someone in whom people can put their trust. That is very important in today’s society, and children need guidance in that direction. Every child in the country, no matter what their background, needs to be exposed to good PSHE. We owe it to our future generation, so I support the amendment wholeheartedly.
Baroness Howarth of Breckland
My Lords, I also support the noble Baroness, Lady Massey, in her campaign and I believe that the Minister supports her too, whether or not it is through this amendment. Having been to the recent round-table discussion and knowing of the progress that the Minister has made, I simply ask my question again. Although the timescale may be shorter than he would like, with what speed does he think he can bring about a culture change in schools whereby PSHE is central to and a core part of all schools in all sectors? Many of us believe—and it has been enunciated very clearly in the debate—that this would make a real difference to the lives of our young people, who are trying to grow up in this very difficult, changing world.
Baroness Benjamin
My Lords, I support the amendment tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Howe, and I congratulate her on doing so because there are grave concerns about the damage being caused to children's mental, physical and moral well-being. Some children as young as six have been affected because of the inappropriate online adult material that they have been exposed to. Websites such as those containing sexual, self-harming or bullying content are taking their toll, as reported by children’s charities, educationalists, newspapers, politicians, religious leaders and child psychologists.
Some people are calling this concern a moral panic, but I call it a moral emergency. I hope that the Minister agrees that unless we do something soon we will have a lost generation of adults who have little understanding of what a healthy, joyful, loving and sexual relationship is, not to mention thousands of girls who will be psychologically damaged by their first sexual encounters with boys who have become addicted to porn since they were very young. These boys themselves are also damaged because psychologically and mentally they find that girls are not matching up to the warped sexual fantasy of the ones whom they see online. Then there are those children who self-harm or commit suicide. Sadly, there are such reports almost daily due to the sites young people are accessing.
I thank the Minister for preparing to revise the statutory guidance on safeguarding children’s personal safety online and protecting them from all inappropriate online content through PSHE. I also congratulate the Government on taking such a robust stance on working with the online industry to find solutions to this plague that is spreading among the nation’s children, many of which are having some effect. However, the amendment, to which I put my name, goes further as it compels ISPs and mobile phone companies to comply with the regulations rather than relying on self-regulation, because some have been found to be avoiding their responsibilities. Who else in the future will do just that?
As well as education for children and parents to help them deal with the dangers of the internet and to show them how to navigate their way about it safely, there need to be other techniques to achieve this. This amendment is another tool to use to do just that. There are arguments by those who fear filtering will threaten their rights and freedoms. But surely the protection and safeguarding of children’s mental, physical and moral well-being override all those.
We must all accept that the internet is both a wonderful resource as well as a place where evil lurks. We need to confront that boldly and strategically. I realise that this amendment has come late in the day to a full and wide Bill where many issues have been adopted generously by the Minister—and I thank him for that. But I also ask him fully and carefully to give consideration to this amendment to take a stance against those who are prepared to harm our children’s well-being.
Lord Harris of Haringey (Lab)
My Lords, I support the noble Baroness, Lady Howe, and her amendment. I wish to make only one point because I associate myself fully with what she has said, and that is in favour of the recommendation in the amendment about robust age verification. The loop that she described of sending an e-mail to the purported address of the parent is simply inadequate.
Requiring robust age verification would mean that ISPs would have to find a way of doing this effectively. That would not only have a spin-off benefit in terms of child protection, but all sorts of other benefits where age verification would be helpful. Therefore, I hope that the Minister will be prepared to accept this amendment, particularly in the light of that point.
Baroness Howarth of Breckland
My Lords, I deeply respect the tenacity with which the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, has followed through this issue. I found some of her arguments rather convoluted and difficult to follow today, but that could just be that the hour is late and by now my brain is rather addled. However, I still contend that the current child protection framework, which identifies physical, sexual and emotional abuse and neglect, provides an effective framework for assessing situations where children have been accused of witchcraft and spirit possession.
Abuse can occur in these situations as a consequence of parental behaviour towards the child and through the response by church leaders in performing acts of deliverance that inflict harm on the child. As I have said before, and I declare an interest as someone who chaired a working party for Trust for London, I have met these children and engaged with some of the pastors, so I understand the issue. However, we also know, and the noble Baroness herself pointed this out, that belief in spirit possession and witchcraft is widespread among many African communities, and current knowledge indicates that the incidence of abuse linked to these beliefs is low. These beliefs occupy a broad spectrum and range, from the harmless to the seriously harmful. When it is the latter, the child protection framework should be applied through recognition, assessment and intervention.
Where the noble Baroness and I might well share a platform is in tackling the real issue here: the lack of training across this area, which is extremely complex. We have to remember that Christians believe some pretty strange things; in my community in the north of England, “He’s got the devil in him” was something that was said quite often. That is quite different from a child being accused of being a witch, ostracised from the family, made to behave in a particular way, taken before a congregation and pointed out and scapegoated. Those are quite clearly issues of abuse but they are not always understood by those working in the field.
As part of the group that worked with the then Trust for London, we explored these issues and the range of abusive behaviour, and that was paralleled by a government group that was set up to look at the issue at the same time. I do not know if the noble Baroness knows what has happened to that group, or whether it has simply disappeared and is no longer continuing.
It is clear to all involved that promoting child safeguarding and well-being is far more effective for engaging communities and churches than a narrow focus on witchcraft and spirit possession. My experience, working with a number of these community groups, has led to improvements in wider child protection, including through changed practice and disclosures. I hope that the noble Baroness will continue to press the cause of awareness and training, but I cannot stand with her in having legislation that identifies witchcraft in this way; it is a far more complex issue.
Baroness Benjamin
My Lords, I support this amendment. It has the best interest of the child at its heart and is targeted to raise awareness among those in our communities who may not realise the psychological, mental and traumatic long-term damage that they are inflicting upon the child. This issue was brought to my attention many years ago and sadly it continues today. I dearly hope that the Government will accept this amendment, as it is necessary to protect our children. If not, I hope that the Government agree at least to work with communities to make it clear that these acts are child abuse and will not be tolerated. The sooner that this takes place the better.
Baroness Northover
My Lords, I too thank my noble friend Lady Walmsley for continuing to press the case with regard to these children, even if there are differences of view between us as to how this is best tackled. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Howarth, for her helpful contribution in Committee in bringing to our attention the Trust for London report on the issue, and she has contributed again from her wide and deep experience. I also thank my noble friend Lady Benjamin for her contribution.
Since this amendment was debated in Committee, my noble friend Lady Walmsley has in correspondence helpfully explained in detail some of the issues that concern her. I hope that I have been able to put her mind at ease on some, if not all, of them and I am grateful to her for the opportunity to explain the position. We share her commitment to safeguarding children from this and all other forms of abuse. A belief system can never justify the abuse of a child. We need to ensure that children are not subjected to abuse, or left vulnerable to potential abuse, because someone alleges that the child is possessed.
The Government believe that the current law is sufficient for this purpose: it provides adequate protection to children from the type of abuse that this amendment is trying to prevent. I will come to that in more detail in a moment. I set out much of the legislative framework during our debate in Committee. I shall not repeat those details again, but I reiterate that while the existing legislation does not specifically mention communication of a belief that a child is possessed by spirits, the current offence of child cruelty already captures conduct likely to cause a child unnecessary suffering or injury to health. Where the conduct could not be covered by the offence of child cruelty, it could be caught by other criminal offences, depending on the circumstances of the case.
I hope that my noble friend Lady Walmsley will be pleased that since Committee, to get further clarity on the guidance, officials discussed the issues around witch branding with the Crown Prosecution Service, which makes any decision on whether a prosecution should be pursued. The CPS was able to provide a copy of guidance for prosecutors that the service produced some time ago. That guidance, a copy of which I have sent to my noble friend, illustrates the legislation and offences that could be considered in different circumstances. We believe that it covered all situations where a child might face potential harm, including those where the perpetrators of potential harm are third parties, such as rogue pastors.
Our approach needs to ensure that the scope of the current legislation is better understood to enable it to work as it should. To do this we must raise awareness among the relevant communities and faith groups. We must provide support and guidance to practitioners to help them understand what behaviours could constitute a criminal offence. Department officials are working with the National Working Group on Abuse Linked to Faith or Belief, and will be discussing with it further how best to disseminate information on this issue to the relevant communities and groups. We understand that some members of the working group are also considering revising the 2007 guidance on this issue and we are grateful to the group members for this. They are the experts, and they have the links to the relevant communities. We are happy to support the development of the new guidance.
When bringing the CPS guidance to the attention of group members, officials took the opportunity to address any potential misunderstanding about which people are covered by some of the legislation. Some members of the working group felt that there had been confusion about whether the 1933 Act could apply to anyone other than parents or those in a parental role, as my noble friend Lady Walmsley said. Officials have now made it clear that while third parties, such as rogue pastors, could not be prosecuted under the 1933 Act, they are covered by other legislation, as set out in the CPS guidance.
Any person whose words or behaviour cause severe alarm and distress to a child could be prosecuted for an offence under Sections 4 or 4A of the Public Order Act 1986. There are other elements. Those responsible can extend beyond those with parental responsibility. For example, they can include babysitters or teachers while they have care of the child.
My noble friend Lady Walmsley will be extremely familiar with Blackstone’s Statutes on Criminal Law because it probably accompanies her noble husband everywhere. It covers this in B2.136 on page 283 on child cruelty. It states that other persons such as babysitters or teachers may also have a responsibility while a child or young person is their care. It is covered. I hope that my noble friend is reassured by that. I am sure that she will agree that, as pointed out by the noble Baroness, Lady Howarth, it is culture that needs to change. We need to tackle that, and schools can play an important role in protecting children from a range of risks. We are working with other government departments and representatives of head and teacher unions to develop processes to raise awareness among staff and pupils of safeguarding risks such as these. Of course, there is a range of other areas in which we are working to try to tackle this. I hope that my noble friend is sufficiently reassured and will withdraw her amendment.
Lord Nash
My Lords, I shall speak to Amendments 57A, 64A and 65C, which deal with child performance licensing. I thank my noble friend Lady Benjamin for raising this issue in Grand Committee and for pressing it with such conviction. Her passion and commitment to support children to participate in the creative arts is inspirational. Before Christmas I had the great pleasure of a meeting with my noble friend Lady Benjamin and representatives of the Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television. We discussed how to remove barriers that restrict children’s opportunities, without diminishing the important safeguards currently in place for child performers. Many children grow up to have careers in our cultural industries, which are of real economic significance, and are recognised and admired throughout the world. Some children simply enjoy performing and they want to have fun. Taking part in a performance can increase their confidence and help them develop transferable skills, such as teamwork and communication.
We all agree that children must be able to access performance opportunities and should not be prevented from doing so by outdated rules or excessive red tape. It is essential that those who put on performances with children take steps to keep them safe and ensure their well-being. We all know that paperwork does not protect children. We must refocus the performance licensing system on its true purpose, which is to safeguard children in performances, not stifle their opportunities.
I am pleased to say that we have found a way forward and we plan several actions to improve the system. First, Amendment 57A will insert a new clause in the Bill to repeal Section 38 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1963. That repeal would remove restrictions on the circumstances in which a local authority can issue a performance licence to a child under the age of 14. Currently, a local authority can issue a licence to a child under the age of 14 only where the licence is for acting or dancing in a ballet and the part can be taken only by a child, or where the nature of the child’s part is wholly or mainly musical and either the nature of the overall performance is also wholly or mainly musical or the performance consists only of opera and ballet. Amendments 64A and 65C are consequential amendments relating to the commencement, and the extent, of the repeal.
Outside the Bill, we are taking forward changes to the regulations. We will remove the requirement for medical certificates; remove unnecessary restrictions on the types of activities that children can do each day; and streamline and align the hours that children can take part in different types of performance so that there is consistency between them. In addition to the changes we plan to make to legislation, work is in hand to improve consistency of approach in local administration of child performance licensing. The Department for Education is working with a range of partners, including the local authority sector, professional and amateur theatre groups, the broadcasting sector and casting agencies, to support the development of best practice guidance. We are also working with the Local Government Association to ensure that this work will have resonance and applicability across the local authority licensing sector.
We believe that the combination of actions we are taking will make a huge difference, while ensuring that we get the balance right between increasing opportunities for children and protecting them from undue risks. Our actions should lead to increased opportunities for children to take part in performances, without reducing important protections to keep them safe when they do. I hope that noble Lords will be pleased with our plans and proposed amendments, and the positive impact that they will have for young people. I beg to move.
Baroness Benjamin (LD)
My Lords, I thank my noble friend the Minister from the bottom of my heart for inserting these new clauses in the Bill, as they are a positive move forward. They will not only improve child protection but also provide equal opportunities for children across the country through primary legislation, and enable them to take part in all aspects of the new media environment they now live in. They will also address any postcode lottery issues, which will be welcomed by children who in the past were subjected to rejection and disappointment through no fault of their own, but at the whim of local authorities and outdated regulations.
The amendment also deals with the complex restrictions in the hours that children can perform, which is also most welcome, as it will create a level playing field. Yes, this is truly great news. It is very positive that the Government will revisit a number of other conditions through secondary legislation, and to learn that my amendments not adopted in the Bill will be dealt with under best practice through guidance for local authorities currently being developed by the GLA. However, I would like to emphasise to the Minister that PACT and the industry coalition I have been working with are open to working further with the Government on improving the approach to risk assessment by local authorities, to make the approach more consistent across the UK, and I hope this offer will be taken up.
All in all, broadcasters, producers, theatres and those across the creative industries will be delighted with these amendments. On their behalf, and on behalf of all those working with and employing children, I would once again like to thank the Minister and his team for all their hard work, commitment and consideration. I am also grateful to all the noble Lords who have supported me on these amendments. It shows how this House, no matter how late the hour, can work together to achieve progress, and how we can make a positive difference to the lives of others, so thank you.
Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Lab)
My Lords, in Committee we were pleased to support the noble Baroness, Lady Benjamin, and the noble Viscount, Lord Colville, in seeking to update the legislation applying to child performance. As has just been made clear in the exchanges that preceded my speech, this is something that has been long overdue since 1963. Clearly the world of television and film performances has been transformed since then, and it is good that the Government are bringing forward their own amendment on this point, so that the legislation can properly reflect the full range of opportunities available to young people today, while at the same time building in the necessary safeguards that will protect them from exploitation, or physical or mental harm.
It is good to hear that Section 38 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1963 has been repealed, and that, in parallel, the paperwork that has normally been required, and which was often variable across the country, is going to be streamlined. This is, all in all, a very satisfactory solution. We all heard the pleasure that was expressed by the noble Baroness, Lady Benjamin. I would like to think I could join her in that; however, I would not be able to do it in such a professional and powerful way. Nevertheless, I thank the Minister.
Children and Families Bill
Baroness Benjamin Excerpts(10 years, 5 months ago)
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Lord Elton (Con)
My Lords, I learnt one lesson at the Home Office where I legislated for some years. When you make a list, the longer it is the more that considerations which are not on the list are excluded. Expressio unius est exclusio alterius: if you have a list of what must be done, the inference is that the rest does not have to be done. Therefore, if you are going to have a list, let it be complete.
Baroness Benjamin (LD)
My Lords, first, I thank the Minister for listening to concerns raised in Grand Committee and for the many meetings with all interested parties over the past few weeks to find ways to move forward in dealing with adoption issues.
With regard to Clause 2, I acknowledge the Government’s argument for removing the requirement in primary legislation to have particular regard to,
“religious persuasion, racial origin and cultural and linguistic background”,
as it has become evident that in some cases the current legislation of due consideration has been interpreted too bluntly, with some social workers giving undue regard to racial characteristics and seeking perfect ethnic matches. There is a need to find ways to avoid that happening—to find a balance. Statutory guidance could be the answer if it is fully thought through and applied. However, as we have already heard, there are concerns that the removal of the express requirement to give,
“due consideration to the child’s religious persuasion, racial origin and cultural and linguistic background”,
when matching a child with prospective adopters might increase the risk that a child’s racial origin will be completely ignored in matching decisions.
I would appreciate it if the Minister could tell the House what the Government propose should happen when a child is adopted by a family of different race, heritage or religion. How will the guidance ensure that those families are given help to understand, appreciate and engage with the background and culture of the children placed with them? How will the statutory guidance address identity, background and heritage issues that will almost certainly need to be dealt with at different times in a child’s life as, getting older, they grapple to understand their identity? As we have heard, some find it very difficult if they are not exposed to those issues. In short, how will adopters of a different background and ethnicity access additional training and support to help them understand issues their child might have to face, such as racism and identity crisis as well as religious and cultural differences?
I have spoken to both the NSPCC and CCS Adoption based in Bristol. I declare an interest as I am a patron of the latter. Both believe that a stronger case needs to be made before the removal of due consideration of race and ethnicity when a child is adopted. Some people have asked why we cannot simply amend the welfare checklist specifically to include ethnicity. Can the Minister explain the Government’s reasoning behind the decision not to do this?
One of CCS Adoption’s concerns is that guidance might be considered discretionary and is more likely not to be adhered to or might even be ignored. Just last week it was advised by its local authority that it was not the authority’s policy to undertake life story work with children or to produce a life story book for a child. In the local authority’s view, these tasks should be done by the adopters. Would statutory guidance make this clearly the responsibility of the local authority, as it holds the child’s key information? The life story workbook is key to any child coming through the care system in helping to preserve and develop their identity. To try to delegate these responsibilities to adopters when all the key information is held by the local authority is unacceptable as it does not ensure that the best interests of a child are met. Will this practice be addressed and enshrined in statutory guidance?
As we have heard, the NSPCC welcomes the updating of statutory guidance in relation to this issue and is keen to work with the department to input into this. However, it feels that this is work in progress and that at this stage it cannot commit wholeheartedly to endorsing the guidance. It and others have asked a number of questions to seek reassurance. What impact will the statutory guidance have and how will it be implemented? Aside from whether the guidance is statutory, as the Government are proposing to remove “due consideration” from primary legislation, do they think that stating this in guidance is contradictory and could lead to confusion among social workers as to whether it is a priority issue for consideration? How will the guidance ensure that all families are given help to understand, appreciate and engage with the background and culture of children placed with them? How will the Government ensure that local authorities actively recruit more adoptive parents from a range of ethnic backgrounds?
I believe that when a child is adopted by a family of different race, heritage or religion, that family must fully understand the child’s background and help the child to cherish their birth heritage. Adopters do not have to share the same ethnicity, but they must be able to respect the child’s background. They must be able to help the child to identify with their birth heritage and to be well prepared for issues that may arise as the child develops into a teenager and beyond. These adopters therefore need to be supported and helped by appropriate training to strengthen their skills together with their knowledge and understanding of the child's birth heritage, so that they can meet these needs.
This will undoubtedly avoid situations like the one I was made aware of recently by a young mixed race girl. She wrote:
“Growing up in a completely white family meant I didn’t get a taste of my heritage and not knowing my father meant that I wasn’t introduced to my black heritage until my teens. I feel strongly about this topic as I used to be picked on when I was younger and called an ‘Oreo’ (black on the outside, white on the inside) purely because I didn’t know or understand my black heritage”.
Over the years I have heard many similar stories.
Every child needs a loving and stable home, but they also need to be confident about their identity in order to face the world. We all agree that children must not suffer as a consequence of our decisions. So if we end up with statutory guidance, we must all work diligently to ensure that it is clear and understandable to all and not open to misinterpretation. As I always say, childhood lasts a lifetime and a child’s experiences shape their adulthood. So let us get this one right. I am happy to work with the Minister to do just that. In the mean time, I look forward to hearing how the Minister believes the Government can achieve this.
Viscount Eccles (Con)
My Lords, these are complicated matters. We need to come down on one side of the fence. Can primary legislation cope with these matters, or are there so many variables that we have to rely on guidance? Guidance would allow more judgment than could be exercised if faced with a section in an Act of Parliament. My perception is that we would be better advised to rely on statutory guidance. If we do not like it or do not think it deals adequately with all the variations that have been talked about today, we can debate it in Parliament and ask the Government to think again. However, trying to cover what has been talked about today in a clause in a Bill which becomes an Act of Parliament will not work. Therefore we have to rely to a much greater extent on the development of confidence and judgment within the system operated by the courts, local authorities, social services and voluntary agencies. That is the way we should go.
Children and Families Bill
Baroness Benjamin Excerpts(10 years, 6 months ago)
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Baroness Benjamin
“Part 8AChildren participation in performancesChildren participation in performances
(1) Section 25 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 (restrictions on persons under eighteen going abroad for the purpose of performing for profit) is amended as follows.
(2) For subsection (1)(a) substitute—
“(a) for the purposes of taking part in a performance to which section 37(2) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1963 applies,”.(3) In subsection (1)—
(a) for “this section” substitute “section 37 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1963”,(b) omit paragraph (a) and after “granted in respect of him under” omit “this” and after “section” insert “37 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1963”.(4) Subsections (2) to (11) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 are omitted.
(5) Section 37 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1963 (restrictions on persons under 16 taking part in public performances, etc.) is amended as follows.
(6) After subsection (2) insert—
“(2A) For the purposes of subsection (2), a performance does not include participation in—
(a) filming by private individuals for uploading onto the internet for transmission (“user generated content”);(b) observational documentaries in which the child’s life and routine remains to a significant degree the same as it would have been had filming not been taking place;(c) unplanned and spontaneous filming where parental consent is subsequently obtained for the purposes of broadcasting;(d) filming in the context of news and current affairs journalism, or filming in the public interest in circumstances where it is not practicable to apply for a licence, without prejudice to the effect of sections 39 and 49; or(e) any further category as the Secretary of State may specify by way of regulations.”(7) After subsection (3) insert—
“(3A) Where subsection (2A)(b) to (e) applies such that no licence is required, the person responsible for filming the child shall carry out an assessment of risk prior to the filming taking place, save where it is not possible to do so, in which case such a risk assessment must be carried out as soon as possible after such filming takes place.”
(8) In subsection (4) after “will not suffer” insert “and in particular, that the child would not be subjected to any risk beyond that involved in the ordinary course of their life”.
(9) In subsection (5) after “imposed by the authority” insert “; such conditions shall however, seek to minimise any differences in conditions imposed in relation to different media and any such differences must be necessary and objectively justified for the purposes of protecting the child against a specified risk, and in particular, regulations shall not prohibit the recording or broadcast of live performances where the child’s participation in that live performance is permitted by the relevant licence”.
(10) After subsection (1)(b) insert—
“(c) go abroad for the purposes of a performance to which subsection 2 applies save that this subsection shall not apply in any case where it is proved that the child was only temporarily resident within the United Kingdom.”(11) Section 38 is repealed.
(12) Section 42 is repealed.”
Baroness Benjamin
My Lords, first, I declare an interest as an independent film and television producer, making predominately children’s programmes.
So far, we have had a great deal of rich debate on the Children and Families Bill—right to the very end. The majority of our debates have had the protection of children at their very heart. This is no less the case with this set of amendments on child performance—a subject very close to my heart.
For children, having the opportunity to participate on a film or television set, on stage or in a sporting event can be of huge benefit. It may be an exciting step in their performance career, give them an all-important confidence boost or simply be something that they remember for ever.
However, at the moment many children are prevented from taking part in performance due to antiquated and out-of-date legislation from the 1960s. That was a time when there were only three channels, and there were not the wide variety and diversity of opportunities for children that are available today. More importantly, the current legislation fails to provide strong safeguards and protection for children in today’s changing environment. The current legislation is simply not fit for purpose and desperately needs updating.
Under the current regime, seeking a performance licence can be difficult, time-consuming and unpredictable. Some local authorities simply act in such a way as to deny licences to children in their region as a matter of course. Others feel that they must apply the current legislation to the letter, and therefore they, too, deny children licences in their regions, while others try to help parents, children and the industry by pushing the confines of the legislation as far as they feel they can. With some local authorities licensing freely and others failing to do so, we have what can only be described as a postcode lottery in which there is no equality of opportunity for children. This is clearly not what we should be promoting in a progressive and diverse country such as the UK.
In 2010, Sarah Thane, who was a content and standards adviser at Ofcom, carried out a comprehensive review into all aspects of child performance regulations. The report concluded that the system of licensing child performance needed urgent and radical overhaul. In February this year, the Government published the results of a wide-ranging public consultation. While a range of views was given, there was broad consensus in many areas, including on the fact that legislative change was needed to improve the situation.
I am sure that noble Lords will have noticed that there is no current wording on child performance in the Children and Families Bill. However, I see the Bill as an ideal opportunity to deliver much-needed change and to provide a better legal framework that will both protect and safeguard children and young people and, more importantly, give them equal access to opportunities. The changes will give clearer guidance, transparency and consistency among local authorities when dealing with these matters.
At this stage of the Bill, I am not suggesting that we try to change the whole of the out-of-date 1960s Act. These focused and targeted amendments are addressing the major concerns that urgently need reform. So what do they seek to achieve? I will talk about three key areas of focus: first, improving equality of opportunity; secondly, improving safeguarding and risk assessment; and, thirdly, working with local authorities to achieve compliance.
On equality of opportunity, at the moment not all children or even types of participation and performance are treated equally. Currently, the narrow definition covers only acting, singing or dancing and does not include the wealth of opportunities available to children in the 21st century, such as observational documentaries, reality shows or educational programmes. Only recently, an important educational documentary, which was to be filmed at the British Museum, nearly did not get the go-ahead because of the failures of the current legislation. These amendments would do away with this restrictive definition and allow all children under 14 to participate in a range of performances.
At this point, I want to make it absolutely clear that the rules in the amendments would not cover circumstances where someone has filmed content and put it on the internet themselves—also known as user-generated content—or where the filming involves children in the ordinary course of a child’s life, in which case there is no impact on them. This would include documentaries, news and vox pops, where it is simply not feasible to seek a licence in advance.
However, even here the amendments would still require a risk assessment and duty of care for the child when the programme is broadcast. The amendments would also put an end to different mediums, such as television and theatre, being treated differently. This would end the bizarre situation—for example, as happens with the Royal Variety Performance—where children cannot perform after 7 pm purely because the live theatre show is also being broadcast on television. Had the cameras not been there, the children could have performed. This is becoming a recurring problem as many theatre performances involving children are now being recorded live to be shown in cinemas across the country to make art and culture more accessible. Noble Lords might have read recently about the talented choirboy who missed out on the experience of a lifetime of performing in the Royal Albert Hall at the Last Night of the Proms. Because the selected young soloist would have been singing after 7 pm, the organisers had to use an adult to sing instead. The young boy was denied a wonderful opportunity.
I now turn to improving safeguarding. These amendments have the safeguarding and protection of children at their very heart. Even though we are removing old and narrow definitions, this is absolutely not about deregulation. It is about better and more consistent regulation. The amendment would introduce a proper risk assessment for producers to complete which would be approved by local authorities. The risk assessment will cover all health and welfare issues and ensure that they are properly and professionally addressed. These changes will provide clarity and consistency. They will also make sure that any British child performing overseas has the same level of protection as a child performing in the UK. This does not happen at the moment.
Finally, on working with local authorities to achieve compliance, from my conversations with the Local Government Association, I have found that it is supportive and agrees that times have changed since the 1960s. It, too, feels that the legislation needs to be updated. I have met Councillor David Simmonds, the chair of the LGA children’s board. He expressed the LGA’s concern about the existing regulations and said how exposed and uncomfortable it feels with them as they stand. This is why we need to be working with local authorities now, as they, too, recognise that the creative industries are an important driver of the economy and offer many employment and personal development opportunities.
If the amendments are agreed, the industry will work with the LGA to develop a risk assessment framework that will streamline the system and reduce bureaucracy. These amendments are absolutely not about creating more work and headaches for local authorities. The legislation would put the responsibility in the hands of the producer to achieve the required standards of risk assessment. This would be delivered through an agreed and standardised format. Local authorities would then be freed to learn more about the work of production companies and to focus more on the critical compliance issues. A great deal of work has already been done by the industry to develop a risk assessment framework, and it is ready to be developed further.
Finally, I point out that these amendments have been developed in collaboration with an industry-wide coalition of public service broadcasters, including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Pact—the Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television. There is strong support from the National Network for Children in Employment and Entertainment, chaperones, schools and child psychologists. The amendments also have cross-party support, including from the noble Lord, Lord Inglewood, chair of the Lords Communications Committee.
I hope the Minister will agree that this Bill offers a key opportunity to address safeguarding for children around performance. These amendments would make sure that all children, no matter where they live around the country, have equal and safe access to positive development opportunities. So let us take this opportunity to update antiquated legislation that is not fit for purpose. We simply cannot leave this for another 50 years. I ask the Government to support these amendments and send out a clear message to all involved with child performance regulations that government are taking action now. I beg to move.
Lord Nash
My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lady Benjamin and all other noble Lords who spoke in this important debate. My noble friend Lady Benjamin makes a heartfelt case for updating the law in this area. Her long involvement with the performing arts and her work with children make her extremely well qualified to speak on these matters—as of course is my noble friend Lord Colville.
The achievements of the UK broadcasting sector and the importance of the creative arts to our economy cannot be overestimated. Our cultural industries are recognised throughout the world for their groundbreaking innovation and their wealth of creative talent. We are proud of that, and we should continue to support them to grow and achieve. We must nurture our young talent. The child performance licensing system was designed to allow children to take part in performances and, importantly, to ensure that arrangements are in place to protect them when they do. The broad framework has done that effectively and continues to do so. This is also something to be proud of.
The system was designed in an age when broadcasting was in its infancy. New forms of media that are commonplace today were unheard of then. Our attitudes to children and to art have also moved with the times. However, some aspects of the licensing framework clearly have not. That is why, last year, the Government consulted on proposals for change. The consultation highlighted a number of problems. Some problems certainly stem from different local approaches to administration, as noble Lords have said. I welcome Councillor Simmonds’s leadership in tackling this. I recognise his concerns, and I am pleased that the Local Government Association plans to promote best practice to achieve greater consistency and reduce bureaucracy in this area.
We want to see more use of the flexibilities that already exist, especially when children perform in a non-professional capacity. More amateur groups and charities with a good track record for safeguarding should be approved to involve children in performances without the need for extra paperwork. Paperwork does not protect children.
Problems clearly exist in the system, but responses to our consultation were split on some key proposals. We do not agree the case for wholesale legislative change at this time. It is important that we get the balance right between increasing opportunities for children and protecting them from undue risk. We do not intend to take any action that could reduce the protections that are in place for child performers.
I recognise, however, that there are a small number of legal provisions that currently prevent children from taking up opportunities, for no good reason. We heard recently from the Royal Opera House about how an anomaly in the regulations meant it could not screen a ballet performance to a worldwide audience, or even to the home town of a very talented young dancer. The well-being of children is paramount, but there should not be unnecessary barriers to their taking part in performance arts, or to the airing of their talents.
I listened carefully to what my noble friend Lady Benjamin said tonight and at Second Reading, and to what other noble Lords said, and I am delighted that I shall meet her tomorrow. I look forward to that. We will explore what might be done to remove barriers without unpicking any of the important safeguards, and we are keen to be as helpful as possible. I therefore urge my noble friend Lady Benjamin to withdraw her amendment.
As this is the last debate in Committee, I take this opportunity to thank all noble Lords—those here this evening and those who have attended previous sittings—for their constructive, insightful and expert contributions to our Committee debates on the Bill. I also thank on behalf of us all the chairs, clerks and Hansard for staying on tonight.
This has been a most thorough and comprehensive scrutiny of the Bill. I and my noble friends Lady Northover, Lord McNally, Lord Attlee, Lord Howe and Lord Younger have learnt a great deal from noble Lords. We have a number of meetings already arranged, and I look forward to speaking to noble Lords here today and to many others about the issues that we have debated. I am committed to ensuring that those discussions move forward constructively so that we can resolve many of the issues that we have discussed ahead of Report.
Baroness Benjamin
I thank my noble friend for that response. I think that there is some sort of encouragement there. I cannot quite read the signs, but I hope that when we meet tomorrow I will get something perhaps a bit more constructive and concrete from him.
I am very grateful to all noble Lords who put their names to these amendments—it means so much to me—and to those who spoke so eloquently at this late hour. It is much appreciated. All noble Lords pointed out that the amendments represent an important step-change in addressing inequality as well as ensuring that there are provisions in place for strong safeguards and protection for all children who wish to perform and take part in any aspect of today’s vast media environment. I am encouraged to hear that the Minister will give guidance and recommendations to local authorities on how to have concise, coherent and consistent guidelines. That is wonderful. I strongly believe that we need to go further. I appreciate that using this Bill to solve the problem of children’s performance regulations might not be possible, but this is an important issue that ultimately will need more permanent change to the current outdated legislation.
I will say something now that I will probably say tomorrow—but I want to say it publicly. I intend to bring a Private Member’s Bill at an appropriate point to deal with child performance regulation, bringing it into the 21st century, to cover the range of concerns that those in the industry have with the existing Act. Will the Minister be able to give me a reassurance that the Government will give strong consideration and support to such a Bill if that were the case?
Baroness Benjamin
I thought that my noble friend might say that, but I wanted to say it publicly anyway. I look forward to discussing this matter further. I, too, thank Hansard for staying with us at this late hour to record what we have said on this important issue. With that in mind, I look forward to meeting my noble friend the Minister tomorrow, and I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.
Children and Families Bill
Baroness Benjamin Excerpts(10 years, 6 months ago)
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Lord Storey
First, I welcome the very clever amendment in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Massey. Sometimes we have to remember the journey we have come on and how we have created some of these problems ourselves. We had a national curriculum with core and foundation subjects which was, if you like, the bible of schooling. At the time it was very progressive and a great deal of thought went into it. There might have been disagreements about what the subjects should be, but it laid down clearly what every pupil would be taught. It was easy for trainers to train teachers because they knew what the national curriculum was.
As the noble Lord, Lord Cormack, knows, the legislation laid down clearly that every school should have a daily collective act of worship. That does not happen in schools any more, although it is still the law of the land. Ofsted, when it reports, has concerns about how schools try to get round it by having a quick prayer in the classroom or whatever. So that was covered, and inspectors came to schools knowing what they were inspecting. It was not just a very narrow definition of inspections. They would look at the whole ethos of a school, and in their reports would actually use the phrase—mentioned by the noble Baroness, Lady Massey, and the noble Lord, Lord Cormack—“feel the ethos”. They would shadow a pupil for a whole day to see their experience in the school. Then as a society we thought, “Hang on a second, we are being too prescriptive here. We need to let schools be free and decide what they want to do. Perhaps the national curriculum is a bit too much for them; perhaps the type of school is all a bit too organised and bureaucratic”.
The previous Government went down the route of academies, particularly for schools that were failing pupils. Academies had slimmed-down curriculums where they did not have to teach the national curriculum so they did not have to do some things which they did not think important, whether that was PSHE or sex and relationship education or whatever. We have built on that tradition and, as political parties have coalesced round it, we have said that we want a slimmed-down curriculum. There is a lot of merit in that because in the past more of society’s concerns have been pushed on to schools, which could not cope. We now have a slimmed-down curriculum so that schools can breathe and build on their strengths. Certain schools, such as free schools or academies, do not have to follow it. What is more, we will move to being more flexible on who can teach.
We have got to a situation with the national curriculum where it is not actually a national curriculum. It does not have to be taught in Scotland and Wales, in academies or free schools. It is not a curriculum for all, so I do not know why we still use that phrase. However, we are now realising that children have a right to learn and teachers have a right to teach. Pupils have a right to be respected and understood. We suddenly realise that some of the pillars of our educational establishments are in danger of being taken away or need to be developed again.
The noble Baroness, Lady Perry, was absolutely right to say that it is not just about looking at what needs to be taught, it is how you teach it and the quality of the people who teach it. I can tell noble Lords from bitter experience that there are hundreds of schools that proudly say in the school prospectus that they teach PSHE. You go in and it is a tick-box exercise; they do not teach it. The same is true of sex and relationship education. We have got to realise that. It is all very well sitting in Committee and saying, “This is what we believe in; this is what we want”. It will not change unless we change the foundations of how things happen.
I say to the noble Baroness, Lady Massey, that I do not know what has gone wrong here. I had always thought that schools produce a school prospectus that sets out the aims and values of the school and states clearly what it does. I remember my vision and the phrase we used. We said that we wanted to, “Ignite the imagination of pupils”. We listed everything we did in the school, and why we have lost that, I do not know. Parents should be able to look through a school prospectus and see exactly what the school is doing and how it is done.
This debate is absolutely fascinating and I will make just one other point. When I first started teaching we had sex education. We followed the BBC “Merry-Go-Round” radio and television programmes and we starting teaching it at the age of seven. If you leave it until children are aged 11 and 12, it becomes a bit of a joke. They get embarrassed and giggle, but if you do it when they are six and seven, it becomes a natural progression. I hope that we realise in our deliberations, and in how we build on this debate, that other fundamentals have to be put in place as well.
Baroness Benjamin (LD)
My Lords, I, too, support these amendments and congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Massey, on her persistence on these matters and issues. Like my noble friend Lord Storey, I believe that the right teaching for vision and delivery can make a difference and change lives in schools. I know this from personal experience, because I often visit primary and secondary schools across the country and always speak about philosophy to children; some as young as four years old but right up to 18 year-olds. I tell them to practise the philosophy of what I call my three Cs.
Consideration is about having respect and empathy for other people and being able to put yourself in the place of others without being judgmental. The more privileged you are, the more consideration you need to show others. The second C is for contentment, which is about having a happy, contented heart and not being jealous and envious of what other people have. The more contented you are, the more ready you are to receive what is right for you. The third C is for confidence, which is about having high self-esteem and high self-worth. If others do wrong to you, it is not your fault. It is about feeling worthy and being able to love and give unconditionally, and practising that at that very young age. I teach children how to deal with temptation and to learn to say no, whether that is to joining a gang, having sex, drinking or bullying others.
This philosophy really empowers children. It makes them feel worthy and gives them the spiritual guidance that children crave in the materialistic world in which they live today. It helps them to cope with adversity; to feel as if they belong. Children need that feeling deep in their souls. It gives them the confidence to face the world: it opens up their minds to the world. I have been doing this for the past 30 years or more and I have seen the results. However, more needs to happen: children need to feel as if they are somebody.
Every single day of my life I receive a letter from someone or meet someone in the street who tells me: “What you did for me in school saved my life. What you did showed me I could be somebody. You showed me how to lead my life the way I wanted to, to be who I should be”. I met a woman who said: “I was a crack addict when I was a young teenager. When you came into school and spoke to me, you saved my life. You showed me I was worthy. You made me look at it and see it in a different way”. We need to give that kind of philosophy to children in school: they desperately need that help.
I also agree that we need to have meaningful sex and relationship education as part of PSHE, to demonstrate what loving, respectful relationships are. Too many of our young people are learning from, and being influenced by, online pornography. Girls think they have to behave like porn stars to be liked by boys. Boys expect the girls to behave in a sexually explicit way. They both think this is what love is. Some young people are even raping and sexually abusing very young children—five year-olds are being raped—because teenagers are putting into practice what they have witnessed in online pornography. Children need to have a balanced influence about sex and to learn what love and respect are.
After one school visit, when I spoke to 13 year-old girls, I received several letters from girls who said that no one had ever told them that they were loved unconditionally. Years later, I met one of these girls who told me that she had not got pregnant and was going to sixth-form college. She wanted to be somebody: she felt worthy. We must not assume that children know how to cope or deal with the hard slog of life. We have to teach them so that they can lead the happier life that some are so desperate for. They can then pass that knowledge on to their children. It all starts at school, where they spend most of their early life. They do not always receive that guidance from home, so let us make sure that those who do not get it do not miss out. That is why I support these amendments.
Baroness Lister of Burtersett
My Lords, I hesitate to speak after such a powerful speech, but I want to make three brief points in support of these amendments. First, my noble friend Lady Jones referred to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It is important to have a rights-based approach to sex and relationship education. People sometimes say that there is too much emphasis on rights these days and not enough emphasis on obligations. However, we must remember that this is about the right to safety—a very basic right for children and young people. A few years ago, in Leicester, colleagues and I did some interesting research about young people’s transition to citizenship. We were quite surprised that the young people found it much harder to articulate their rights than they did their obligations. They knew what their obligations were: many of them had expectations about paid work and knew their obligation to be good citizens in the local community. However, when we asked them about their rights they did not know what to say: they did not know about rights. It is a myth that we have got too much into rights and not enough into obligations.
Children and Families Bill
Baroness Benjamin Excerpts(10 years, 7 months ago)
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Baroness Grey-Thompson (CB)
My Lords, I rise to speak in support of my noble friend Lord Low. I have looked to my experience in school—admittedly a few years ago—and thought about how the Bill might have affected me. I do not have special educational needs, and nor does my noble friend Lady Campbell of Surbiton, who is not in her place, but we both have access needs. My noble friend was considered to have considerable needs, and I was considered to have lesser needs. I was sent to a school miles away from where I lived. At the time it was the only school in South Glamorgan that was allowed to take wheelchair users. One might imagine that it was an accessible school. However, access was appalling and nothing in particular was done to improve it. There was an occasional ramp in the wrong place, and six people were employed to carry wheelchair users up and down the stairs. I hope that it is better today. I guess it was a product of its time.
Physical access would be better, but we have to take into account other interruptions for things such as physiotherapy in my noble friend Lady Campbell’s case or missing school. I missed a period of school to have metal rods inserted in my spine to stop it collapsing. I had to wear a plaster cast jacket from my chin to my hips for six months, which left me with very restricted movement, but nothing was done to make sure that I could stay in school. I just had to make do. I then missed a year of university because I snapped my metal rods—admittedly I was training to be a Paralympian, but that is an aside. However, it was such a major procedure that the only option for me was to write 12 essays and sit my exams within two weeks of university or to drop out of the whole year. There was nothing in place to think about how my impairment affected my ability to study. My noble friend Lady Campbell told me that because of physiotherapy and missing classes she was considered and classified as a “slow learner”. Accessibility and these other issues have a massive impact on the ability to learn and the opportunities that might arise out it.
I also wish to speak at the request of the noble Baroness, Lady Wilkins, who cannot be here today because she is at a family funeral. She strongly supports Amendments 87 and 105. She says the government Green Paper, Support and Aspiration, outlined a vision of support for disabled children and young people and those with special educational needs. It provided a vision of a more coherent and joined-up approach to meeting the needs of these children and young people. However, the Children and Families Bill concentrates on children with special educational needs only, to the detriment of disabled children. Despite calls from the Education Select Committee following pre-legislative scrutiny, and Members of the House of Commons during debates on the Bill, the Government have refused to include disabled children and young people without SEN within the scope of the reforms.
Research has estimated that around 25% of disabled children may not have SEN. Yet it is just as vital that these children and young people have access to the improved services and better co-ordinated provision that should be the outcome of the draft provisions. By making the changes proposed in Amendments 87 and 105, the Government would ensure that they keep their promise to make the new system better for all disabled children and young people and their families. In addition, the Government will also ensure that all local authorities work in the most streamlined and efficient way to provide services to disabled children and young people, and those with SEN.
Baroness Benjamin (LD)
My Lords, I, too, thank the Minister for his amendment because it is a great way of starting the debate. I have put my name to Amendments 220 to 222 because, as we have already heard, too many children with health conditions are not getting the support they need in schools and this problem needs to be addressed. They include, as we have heard, children with diabetes, epilepsy and incontinence and many others who all need greater consideration. However, I want to concentrate on children who suffer from sickle cell disorder, an invisible illness.
There is a strong feeling among doctors, medical practitioners and those working with children who suffer from sickle cell that provision of community nurses who deal with sickle cell sufferers should be expanded and more resources made available in schools. According to a British Educational Research Journal article, many young people who suffer from sickle cell disorder report extensive negative experiences at school. Around half have been prevented drinking water in class and going to the toilet. These are simple, basic needs of sickle cell sufferers. More than one-third were made to do unsuitable exercises and were called lazy when they got tired because of their sickle cell condition. Awareness needs to be raised by nurses visiting schools whenever and wherever necessary to support and educate staff, particularly sports teachers, about simple practices such as children getting dried off quickly after swimming, cooling down after vigorous exercise and being allowed to drink freely in class. Staff also need to be aware of the brain problems, such as silent stroke, that can occur at any time to those suffering from sickle cell.
Young people were reluctant to disclose that they had sickle cell, as they found many teachers were not knowledgeable about the disorder and felt it might be seen as a disadvantage. In some cases it can be, because if they have an attack or a crisis they have to miss lessons at school and therefore do not reach their full potential. It is all about equality, about educating schools and about training. The provision of specialist nurses in the community is also patchy and not well resourced. This needs to change.
The Sickle Cell Society believes that there needs to be a specific guide for schools on sickle cell disorder, rather than relying on generic guidance. Managing Medicines in Schools is limited because it refers only to medication and what to do in an emergency. It misses out the whole area of prevention and preventive measures, which is vital to keep those with sickle cell disorder safe and well. Also, it is no good having advice on managing medicines if school staff can simply refuse to administer them. Research shows that only a quarter of schools would agree to give children with sickle cell disorder mild painkillers, which is a problem for those suffering sickle cell, who need such medication if they have a crisis or an attack. We need to rewrite the guidance Managing Medicines in Schools to include sickle cell, which is the most common single genetic condition in England, affecting one in 1,850 of all births in England.
I know that the Government’s view is that the local school is best placed to know the needs of its children, but research has shown that schools are clearly not well placed to do this with sickle cell disorder and need considerable help and guidance to respond adequately. All children with medical conditions are supposed to have an individual healthcare plan, but research shows that only 43% of schools with children with sickle cell disorder even claimed to have such a plan. Checking that all schools have such plans in place for children with sickle cell disorder is essential. If such a policy is implemented it will reduce admissions of sufferers to hospital, which is an added, unnecessary strain on the NHS. Unfortunately, children suffering from sickle cell disorder do not have any provision under special educational needs; therefore I believe that a statement of special educational needs is necessary to help protect these children’s well-being at school and I look forward to hearing the Minister’s views. I hope that these children will be brought into the fold and given greater consideration.
Baroness Young of Old Scone (Non-Afl)
My Lords, I shall speak to Amendments 220, 221 and 222, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Storey, and Amendment 223, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy. I join other noble Lords in welcoming the government Amendments 241A and 274. I declare an interest as chief executive of Diabetes UK. We have been delighted and I thank the Minister and his department for the way they responded to the very real case for improved support for children in schools with health conditions, a case that was made not only by the Health Conditions in Schools Alliance but by some parents and children whom the Minister very kindly agreed to see during the summer. These laid out their personal cases in rather heart-rending fashion and demonstrated just how fundamentally the support given in school can influence not only children’s health but also their self-esteem, their educational attainment and their family’s economic circumstances if a parent has to stop working to meet the shortfalls in support that the school is failing to provide.
This is not a small-scale problem: we have heard from many noble Lords this afternoon and there are many more than a million children involved. I shall not go through all the statistics—noble Lords have heard many of them already—or even the heart-rending stories, because I think the Minister got that in bucketloads during the summer. I do, however, want to raise some practical issues that go with the Government’s amendment to lay a statutory duty on schools to provide support. We are very pleased that the amendment includes academies—that is very welcome—but the statutory duty is not enough on its own and we are very pleased that the Government are committed to backing this up with statutory guidance.
Lord Nash
I am grateful for the noble Baroness’s intervention. I shall take away all the points that have been made today and consider them further, including, I hope, understanding more clearly the point that the noble Baroness made. The Bill defines a learning difficulty or disability as significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or a disability that prevents or hinders a child or young person from making use of facilities. This means that the majority of disabled children also have special educational needs, and we have seen from the pathfinders that they have taken a broad view of the definition in shaping their local offers and joint commissioning arrangements.
In addition to the SEN framework, there is other important legislation that protects disabled children and young people. The Equality Act 2010 makes it clear that all education providers and commissioners must make sure that reasonable adjustments are made for those with disabilities, including providing auxiliary aids and services such as specialised computer programmes, hoists and sign language interpreters. Parents can legitimately complain if education providers fail to deliver those adjustments.
Equally, in the health system there are legal protections. Section 3 of the NHS Act 2006 gives CCGs a statutory duty to provide health services to meet the reasonable needs of a child with a complex health need. Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 gives local authorities a general duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in need in their area. Together, therefore, the provisions in the Bill and existing legislative arrangements provide important protections and support for disabled children and their families.
Before amending the Bill, we need to understand which children might not be supported by these provisions and how changing the Bill would help them. I turn to health conditions and my amendment. A number of the amendments in this group—those tabled by the noble Lords, Lord Low, Lord Storey and Lord Kennedy, and the noble Baroness, Lady Howarth—concern children with long-term health conditions. I agree that children and young people with medical needs should not miss out on a full education simply because they have a medical condition. They should not be prevented from active participation in wider school activities that are so vital to their academic attainment and social well-being.
I have heard the evidence that suggests that current arrangements do not always work as they should. That evidence included a meeting with the noble Baroness, Lady Young, and the case made very powerfully by two young people, Beth and Max, whom she brought to see me. I find it appalling that some schools fail their pupils in such a fundamental way. While it remains the case that most schools manage this issue well, and it is important to acknowledge that, it would be wrong to ignore the instances of poor practice. Where there is poor practice, pupils can be placed at disadvantage or risk simply because they are not receiving the right support for their health needs.
Noble Lords will have heard me say on many occasions that this Government trust teachers and head teachers to run their schools and to adjust their provisions for the particular circumstances of their pupils. We believe that this applies to provisions such as PSHE and careers; all good schools should have an active programme on these matters, but they must be free to adjust to the local needs of their particular pupils. However, in the case of medical conditions, this is not a question of subjectivity. When a pupil has an epileptic seizure, there is a clear procedure that needs to be followed; it is not a question of interpretation. At certain times, a diabetic child will need more insulin or more glucose—it is as simple as that, and there is no scope for subjectivity. The same will apply to asthmatic pupils.
That is why I have tabled an amendment giving schools a new duty to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions and to have regard to statutory guidance when meeting the duty. I do not do that lightly; I am aware that many other duties could be placed on schools. However, ensuring that children who already have medical issues are not placed at further risk seems to me to be extremely important and obvious. This builds on the commitment made in the other place by my honourable friend the Minister for Children and Families to revise and reissue the managing medicines guidance for schools later this year, and I thank all noble Lords who have spoken in support of this amendment.
Baroness Benjamin
My Lords, will children with sickle cell disorder also be included? The Minister did not mention them in the list that he just gave.
Lord Nash
I reassure the noble Baroness that the amendment is not just about managing medicines but is about supporting pupils with medical conditions. We do not plan to set out a long list of particular medical conditions but I believe that we intend to cover her concerns in the regulations. I shall go on to explain how we might do that.
I am pleased to hear that news of the new duty has been warmly received by stakeholders. Unison has welcomed the guidance and what it will mean for its members. The Council for Disabled Children has said that this should ensure that the,
“needs of children with medical conditions … are fully met in school, enabling them to achieve the best possible health and education outcomes”.
Diabetes UK has described the duty as a “major step” to help to ensure that children with long-term medical conditions receive the support that they need at school. Those are just three among many stakeholders who have offered their assistance with developing the guidance, and signals strong commitment and determination to deliver guidance that will make a real difference.
The noble Baroness, Lady Howe, and others asked for assurance that we will really make this work. I have therefore asked officials to work with noble Lords who are interested, the Health Conditions in Schools Alliance and other partners, including unions, the Council for Disabled Children and the Department of Health, on the content of that guidance. I hope to be able to report on progress before Report. I note the point that the noble Lord, Lord Northbourne, made in this regard.
Early discussions have already taken place with members of the alliance and other stakeholders, focused specifically on the content of the guidance. We are fully aware of the need for the guidance to cover issues such as the role of school policies and the appropriate use of individual healthcare plans. Other key issues that we would expect to see covered in the guidance include staff training, co-operative working with healthcare and other professionals, and working with parents in the best interests of their children. In addition, we would expect that the guidance will signpost to good-practice case studies and other useful information relevant to specific medical conditions.
I assure the Committee that, in my view, advice from our stakeholders will be invaluable in ensuring that we get the content of the guidance right. Their help will be critical in enabling us to produce guidance that is accepted by schools and that is effective in helping them to support pupils with medical conditions.
Children and Families Bill
Baroness Benjamin Excerpts(10 years, 7 months ago)
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Baroness Benjamin (LD)
My Lords, I support this amendment because as a child I was separated from my siblings for a while, which was quite customary. It happened in the Caribbean, but it is the same experience no matter in which part of the world we are. I know how important it is to feel that we can speak to our siblings if we are going through some trauma in our lives. Children from diverse backgrounds who live here in Britain go through hell almost every day. I always say that their life is like a marathon. To have siblings there to help with bonding and to give confidence to face the world is terribly important. I am here to passionately support this amendment because of personal experience.
Lord May of Oxford (CB)
I turned up explicitly to support the amendment and am reassured that I need not have done. I hope that people will take heed of those remarks and recognise that, in addition to the amendment, somebody should be looking at the idiots who are doing what they are doing.
The Earl of Listowel
My Lords, I omitted to comment on the amendments of the noble Baroness, Lady Stedman-Scott. I support her welcome amendments. Of course, children in residential care are among the most vulnerable. Unfortunately, the way it works is that there tends to be a placement in foster care and, if that does not work out, then it is in residential care several broken placements down the line. So the ones with the most complex needs are often in residential care and they need the most support.
I welcome what the noble Baroness has said. There is an issue about price and other issues around it. One solution offered by Jonathan Stanley, a former chief executive of the National Centre for Excellence in Residential Child Care, is to pair up young people in residential care with foster carers so that—one can do a staying-put—one can ensure that there is a seamless move from a residential setting to a foster setting for at least some of these young people to the age of 21.
Norfolk is a very good exemplar of break-home practice. There they have supported housing right by the children’s home so that there is little movement for the children and they can feel in touch with the staff in their old setting. The noble Baroness has made some extremely important points and I look forward to hearing the Minister’s reply to her concerns.
Baroness Benjamin
My Lords, I support the amendment of the noble Baroness, Lady Young. I would like to draw the Committee’s attention to the case of a young man I know who was brought up in care for many years. For the first 49 years of his life he kept wondering who he was and where he came from. This affected his relationship with his children—when he eventually had children—and with his wife, who had to deal with his depression. He had a loss of confidence, did not believe in himself and did not feel worthy. After much searching he eventually found out who he was and it completely changed his outlook on life. It changed his mental well-being. He got a better understanding of who he was and started to accept his situation in life. That is why I believe that it is an abuse if we deny any young person information which can help them come to terms with their identity, culture and background if they wish to do so.
Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)
My Lords, we have had a good debate and I do not intend to talk at any length. However, I wish to make a few quick points.
First, obviously, I welcome and endorse the points made by the noble Baroness, Lady Young. She made an eloquent speech last week about the importance of identity and she has raised the issue in a helpful way today in a different but complementary context. It is no doubt important for children as they are growing up and becoming fully rounded adults to know about their history. It is their history and it is their right to have access to it. We all accept that point.
The second point to make is that we have talked about children and young people leaving care but very often adults can be well into middle age before they really begin to question their identity and want to search for that information. That provides a particular challenge for the people who keep the data because we are talking about keeping it for a very long time. Nevertheless, it is still people’s right to have access to it.
To pick up on a point made last week by the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, about people in care who had been bereaved, having lost their parents, one would have hoped that somehow or other we could have lined up all these rights to information and brought them together. We are talking here about the same sorts of issues coming up in a number of different contexts. I would have hoped that somewhere in the midst of all that would be a universal right to that information and that we could address it in that way rather than in a piecemeal way.
Thirdly, I was alarmed to hear noble Lords today talking about data being lost, or indeed being dumped on a doorstep. There is a real issue here concerning the security of the information. It is rather alarming, and I absolutely agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Howarth. What has happened to all those accurate expectations of privacy and security and of records being kept properly? You cannot help but wonder whether there is going to be a scandal at some point with all this stuff coming to light, having been left on a rubbish dump somewhere. I do not think that anybody here has a sense of reassurance that this information is being kept securely in a proper place. Perhaps the noble Lord could address that and say what the requirements are for keeping the information secure.
I should just like to add my support for the amendment. The noble Baroness has raised a very important point, as have the noble Earl, Lord Listowel, and the noble Baroness, Lady Stedman-Scott. In particular, I hope that we will get a chance to debate the whole question of staying in foster care until the age of 21. I know that my noble friend Lady Hughes will respond in more detail on that but I want to pick up one point which the noble Baroness touched on concerning the distinction between foster care and residential care. Clearly, there is a distinction and we have to be careful not just to lump the two issues together. There is a difference for young people leaving residential care, which is, after all, still formally an institutional provision. What those young people really need is a phased transition to independence, rather than just the requirement to stay on until they are 21. They need help over a period of time to find their feet and to find independence. Therefore, while the noble Baroness raised absolutely valid points, I think that we need to separate them out and make slightly separate provision for them. I know that we will debate this in more detail when we come to Amendment 38. Apart from that, we have had a very good debate and I thank noble Lords.
Children and Families Bill
Baroness Benjamin Excerpts(10 years, 7 months ago)
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Baroness Walmsley
My Lords, I would like to make two points. First, I agree with the noble Baronesses, Lady Lister and Lady Jones, about the danger of transgressing the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. I will address the point made about respect by the noble Baroness, Lady Perry, when I come to my second point.
I am going to give the Committee an anecdote. I am sorry, but this is why I am so passionate about believing that the well balanced solution of the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, to the perceived problem is much better than taking the issue out altogether. It is the fact that my son and his wife, in addition to having their own two white, blond boys, have adopted a Chinese daughter. Cathryn is a wonderful little girl and she is much loved by the whole extended family. For the past seven years, she has been very successfully adopted and I very much hope that it continues that way. Of course, when going out in public with her family she might as well have a big sign on her forehead saying, “I am adopted”, because she clearly looks different. It was so important that her adoptive parents were sensitive to difference and its importance, and to the importance of cultural, racial and ethnic identity. They are approaching the adoption of their little Chinese daughter with all that in mind. That is why I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Perry, that we must ensure that where there is transracial or transethnic adoption, the matching is right. That is more important than the child and the parents having the same skin colour.
I would also say to the Committee that ethnicity really matters; I absolutely agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Young. That is why it is important that you find the right adoptive family. If the race, culture and ethnicity are different, they have to understand, be sensitive to and take account of that as they help the child to develop into a fully fledged grown-up with an understanding of their ethnic and cultural background. To throw it out altogether puts the Government in great danger of the pendulum swinging in the opposite direction and no account being taken at all of the difference in ethnicity. If they did that, they would be in danger of finding adoptive families who, although they were very well intentioned, did not have that sensitivity to difference and to the importance of the cultural identity of the child.
That is so important when you have a transnational, transracial, transcultural or transethnic adoption. The fact is that we are going to have some of those because there is a mismatch between the pool of children of ethnic majorities who are waiting for adoption and the ethnicity of families who are prepared to adopt them. Until we get equal numbers in those two pools, we will have transracial and transethnic adoptions. However, the important thing for the success of the adoption is that the matching is right. The danger is that if you take out reference altogether instead of putting it in the checklist, as has been so sensibly suggested, you will get a mismatch and have unsuccessful adoptions. Alternatively, the adoption will complete until the child is an adult but that adult will be damaged by the lack of consideration having been given to their background.
This is terribly important. I can tell your Lordships that it can be very happy and successful—because I have personal experience of that—and I very much recommend that it happens where a child needs a loving family. Those considerations really matter, though, and we must not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Baroness Benjamin (LD)
My Lords, I support the amendment. Living in Britain as a culturally diverse person can be very challenging and you need to be well prepared to face the challenges and adversities, which can be never-ending, even if you are living with your birth family. When you are different, you have to be confident about who you are as a person.
Since I spoke about this issue at Second Reading, I have been contacted by those who are for and against my stance that “due consideration” of a child’s religious persuasion, racial origin and cultural background when being placed for adoption should not be removed but should be included as an important part of the Bill.
We all agree that adoption between races adds another invaluable dimension to the adoption experience which cannot be ignored, because living in a loving family is priceless. However, the evidence points to ethnic background being a significant factor which cannot be ignored, and this has been said to me over the past few months by both children and adults who have been adopted. That is why I believe that social workers need to ensure that prospective carers can respond positively to the ethnic background of the child and consider what implications this may have as they grow up, especially during their adolescence, reflecting on their identity and heritage.
The British-Chinese adoption study by the British Association for Adoption and Fostering in 2012 found that this was an important consideration among young Chinese people who were placed with families with whom they could not identify, unlike the story that my noble friend has just told about the little girl whom her family has adopted. If a child experiences racism or rejection because of their religion or culture, they may feel isolated and not able to share this with anyone within the family. Being visibly different from family members can also result in a sense of feeling as though you do not belong, along with a loss of confidence, which I mentioned earlier.
I know that the Government recognise this as an important factor, but I believe that we are in dangerous territory if we remove consideration of it altogether from legislation. Do we really understand what the impact of these changes would be? Do we really understand what would happen and the message that we would be sending out? Nothing that has been said to me can convince me that such consideration by a court or adoption agency when coming to a decision relating to the adoption of a child is not important. Social workers need to be sensitive to this factor and to work with parents, who need to be able to understand the identity of the child they are adopting. This should not be a stand-alone but should be included in the child’s welfare checklist along with religion, culture and language, as so passionately put by the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, and as recommended by the House of Lords Select Committee on Adoption Legislation. It should not be the be all and end all, and nor should all the emphasis be placed on it, but it should be considered.
Equally important is the need to encourage more diverse families to become adoptive parents. That is not something that many people from diverse backgrounds consider, but there are ways in which we can make people realise that they can play an important part in our community.
We also need to improve the long-term stability for culturally diverse children by helping to boost permanence for these children beyond adoption, and the consideration of kinship care and long-term foster care. That is why I believe that everyone needs to support this amendment, for the sake of the well-being of the children whom I speak about who feel that they want to be part of this society and feel as if they belong.
Lord Nash
My Lords, a number of moving contributions have been made to this debate, particularly by my noble friends Lady Perry and Lady Walmsley. I know that we are all trying to find the right way forward in a difficult area. The noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, is vastly experienced in these matters, and I hesitate to gainsay her. The noble Baroness, Lady Young, asked for some evidence. I would like to provide some, underline what is behind the Government’s position and reaffirm that my department’s main aim is to ensure that all children, whatever their background or race, achieve the best start in life.
The Government’s concerns about this can best be summed up in the simple equation that once they have entered the care system, white children are three times as likely to be adopted as black children who have entered the system. Some 6% of white children in care are adopted while 2% of black children are adopted. This is a fact.
The Earl of Listowel
My Lords, I have listened with great interest to this debate. I remember the last days of the previous Government, when there was a great deal of concern from the Minister responsible at the lack of uptake by local authorities of voluntary adoption agencies. She repeated on several occasions, “The evidence is there; the outcomes are better; but it seems that local authorities have the perception that going down that route is more expensive”. Again, there was some debate about the research, but I think it pointed to the fact that in fact it was no more expensive than using local authority adopters. This is just a detail, but I would be interested to know what progress has been made—maybe the noble Baroness mentioned this and I may have missed it in what she was saying—in making better use of voluntary adoption agencies. There has been a huge amount of change in this area.
In the back of my mind, I also have an idea that it might be helpful for a one-page summary of all that has been done by the Government about adoption since they came into office. Maybe I just need to look back at the Second Reading debate; it is probably all there already in the Minister’s opening speech.
Baroness Benjamin
My Lords, much of Clause 3 is perfectly reasonable. It would allow the Secretary of State to take action against local authorities that were failing in their duties to recruit adopters by removing those powers from them—quite rightly, too, as long as that is done in a fair way and takes account of steps that local authorities might be taking to improve. There is, after all, an adoption crisis in the country, which the Minister has pointed out, and some local authorities are not stepping up to the plate.
However, children’s charities such as Barnardo’s—I declare an interest as one of its vice-presidents—as well as the Local Government Association have concerns about the fact that the Bill as it stands would allow the Secretary of State to remove responsibility for adopter recruiting from all local authorities. This proposal has caused alarm, which could lead to chaos in the adoption system. There is no guarantee that external providers would be able or willing to take on these services immediately, and any delays across the system will severely damage the chances of some of the country’s most vulnerable children of being adopted. Of course local authorities should be held to account; it is right that the Government can intervene if they are not doing their job properly. However, Clause 3 as it stands effectively allows the collective punishment of local authorities, and this punishment, as Barnardo’s and others have pointed out, would not even solve the problem but would make it worse. I urge the Government to consider Clause 3 very carefully and remove it from these provisions.
Viscount Eccles (Con)
My Lords, there are fundamental problems with this clause. As has been said, there is no appeal against directions; the recipient must comply, and promptly. There is no parliamentary scrutiny of directions, and for these reasons directions are usually confined to failures in administration, a point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Hughes. I think we all understand that the Treasury is very good at setting out directions about how you should write your accounts. There is not much point in arguing with the Treasury about that matter of administration, but in my view directions are not suitable to implement a change in policy of this type. That is exactly what this clause empowers the Executive to do—change policy. The point has already been made that there is therefore a point of principle here, and I would be grateful for the Minister’s response. Given everything that has gone on, the dissatisfactions or doubts that might emerge between central government and local government could and should perfectly well be settled in the normal course of business. As has been said, Clause 3 goes one step too far, and I could not support it.