Clause 16
Children and Young Persons Bill [Lords]
12:00 pm
Kevin Brennan (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Children, Schools and Families; Cardiff West, Labour)
May I say croeso and welcome, Mr. Williams? Thank you for joining us midway through this morning’s proceedings. As you ghosted into the room so will I ghost in for the first half of the clause and deal with the amendments, and my right hon. Friend the Minister for Children, Young People and Families will deal with clause stand part and new clause 7.
I agree with the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham that as a general policy it is desirable that the visits should be conducted by a social worker. However, I am concerned that the visits could give rise to problems, and that is why new section 23ZA(5) of the Children Act 1989 requires the local authority to ensure that the visitor has the necessary skills and experience. The supply of social workers has an impact on the extent to which local authorities can comply with that sort of duty, and we have to take account of such practical issues in regulations on the frequency of visits. It would be irresponsible to do otherwise. However, unless the visits are regular and frequent they are unlikely to deliver the policy objective of providing effective long-term supervision of the child’s placement, and of enabling the local authority to respond quickly to any change of circumstances. That means that local authorities must be given more discretion as to who they can appoint to visit the children. We will set out in regulations further details about the functions of the local authority representative and the frequency and circumstances in which the visits should take place. Further details will be provided by statutory guidance.