Clause 9
Children and Young Persons Bill [Lords]
4:30 pm
Beverley Hughes (Minister of State (Children, Young People and Families; Minister for the North West), Department for Children, Schools and Families; Stretford and Urmston, Labour)
I genuinely have no difficulty with the spirit of the amendment. I hope that I can explain how the extra leverage that the hon. Gentleman proposes through the requirement of a written record is accommodated in the care planning system that is being established. According to the figures that I have been given, 9 per cent. of looked-after children are placed with parents and a further 11 per cent. live with related foster carers. That is 20 per cent altogether. It is not enough, but it is rather more than the 4 per cent. that he mentioned.
It is extremely important that local authorities make the right placement decisions for the children that they look after. Such decisions go right to the heart of whether they are providing the best possible care. They will affect the ability of those children to maintain relationships with their birth families, their friends and their local communities. They will affect their chances of reunification. They will also impact on their progress in the longer term.
Enabling children to live with people who they know and trust wherever possible is key to influencing their life chances for the better. If they cannot live with their parents, the arrangements should first and foremost be with family and friends for those within and outside the care system. The Bill provides a clear hierarchical framework to support such arrangements while allowing flexibility for decisions that reflect individual circumstances. We have to do that and I know that hon. Members will appreciate why. The continuing role of family and friends as carers is one the key factors that will be taken into account. Most importantly, placement decisions should be made in the interests of the child.
As the hon. Gentleman said, clause 9 is the product of much consultation and of detailed consideration by many experienced people in the other place. As it is crafted, it will ensure that decisions are made in the way that I have described. It includes much of section 23 of the 1989 Act, but it is much clearer about the kind of considerations that will apply to placement decisions.
Where placement with parents is not possible, the clause requires a local authority to place the child in the most appropriate placement available. The determination of that is subject to a number of constraints. First, subsection (7) requires that the decision be taken in accordance with the local authority’s other duties under part III of the 1989 Act, with particular regard to their duties under section 22 to safeguard and promote the child’s welfare, to ascertain and give due consideration to the child’s wishes and feelings and to those of other relevant persons.
I am setting out the sequence of the legislation and how it works together to provide clarity. When considering the placement options available to it, the local authority must give first preference to placement with a relative, friend or other person connected with the child. That reflects our commitment to the principle that children should, wherever possible, be brought up in their own families and communities.
Sometimes, such placements will not be in the child’s interests, and although we recognise that they might not always be possible, we must make a real push to ensure that local authorities always consider the potential for relatives or friends to care for the child. They should not only do that at the first stage of decision making, but revisit the issue at every subsequent stage. That reflects the commitment that we made in the “Care Matters” White Paper to put in place a gateway approach, and that is what I want to see. At every stage of the process, there should be a gateway mentality, with people asking whether the child should be with family and friends.