Safeguarding of Young Children

Lord Cunningham of Felling Excerpts

Tuesday 24th May 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

My noble friend is right, and we absolutely intend, through the almost £302 million we are investing in Start4Life and family health services across 75 local authorities in England, to achieve what my noble friend describes. Yesterday, we announced seven local authorities that will be receiving transitional funding. We will also be carrying out a thorough evaluation and have a national centre for sharing best practice.

[Lord Cunningham of Felling (Lab)]

My Lords, there was a very similar case during my time as the Member of Parliament for Copeland, in which a child, a small boy, was murdered by his stepfather. I know that that is not always the case, but it frequently is. I regret to say that successive Governments—Labour, Conservative and even, I may say, coalition Governments—have not grasped this problem. It may be that from the report to which the noble Baroness just referred, we will have some further recommendations about action but, until this problem is resolved, we might as well say that social services are not doing their duty. They are not protecting children in anything like the necessary way to prevent these terrible events. I hope the Minister will report to the House in due course about the report, and then perhaps we can see some progress.

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

We will be debating the report in your Lordships’ Chamber later this afternoon, but I would say that social workers have some of the hardest jobs in this country and we thank them for everything they do. We continue to invest in those services to address the terrible cases such as that to which the noble Lord refers.

Schools: Exclusion of Disabled Children

Lord Cunningham of Felling Excerpts

Wednesday 11th July 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, we have funded the Autism Education Trust and have recently extended that to improve the awareness of these conditions of education staff. We have now brought that awareness to more than 175,000 teachers and education staff in the past five years, which is 25,000 more than when I last answered a Question on autism only a month ago.

[Lord Cunningham of Felling (Lab)]

My Lords, the Minister says at the Dispatch Box that we need more evidence. We do not need any more evidence; the evidence is all around us. Children with disabilities in schools are being discriminated against. The evidence is everywhere. Why do the Government need another inquiry before they act to stop this discrimination?

Social Mobility Commission

Lord Cunningham of Felling Excerpts

Monday 4th December 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, my noble friend makes a very good point, and it is something I will take back to the department for consideration. I can speak personally as someone who never went to university. I realise how important it is that we provide good career paths for pupils leaving school who do not go to university. That is part of the reason why we have created T-levels, which will involve a substantial investment of nearly £500 million a year when they are fully rolled out over the next three years. So I can give some reassurance that we regard this as an important part of the strategy.

[Lord Cunningham of Felling (Lab)]

My Lords, what changes do the Government intend to carry out to restore the credibility of the Social Mobility Commission, which, frankly, is in shreds, as is the Government’s commitment to it? Without a change in attitude on behalf of the Government, let alone new personnel, there seems little purpose in continuing with it at all.