Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 7:05 pm on 21 April 2008.

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Photo of Baroness Butler-Sloss Baroness Butler-Sloss Crossbench 7:05, 21 April 2008

My Lords, I, too, support this amendment and also speak to Amendment No. 85A, which is linked. Actually, it is a stage before Amendment No. 85—it is a new amendment that comes through the Standing Committee for Youth Justice. The committee has asked me to put this forward, which I am very happy to do. It bears a certain resemblance to my earlier amendment, to make Section 37 of the Children Act 1989 part of the youth justice system. This is intended to amend the Children and Young Persons Act 1969, Section 9, in a similar way. We are back, on both amendments, to the welfare of the child appearing in the youth court.

The local authority has an obligation, where a child is looked after or in need, to provide proper proposals for that child and, where appropriate, a care plan. Lying behind Amendment No. 85A is the need for careful communication and working together between the social workers of the home local authority and the YOTs. Often, there is a lack of that working together, and a lack of communication. In too many cases, there appears to be a feeling by home social services departments that, when the child is coming up before the youth court, it is the job of the YOTs, which of course include a social worker, to get on and deal with the child. They get asked by the YOTs, from time to time, what proposals they have for the child. All too often, the home local authority says, "We'll wait to see the outcome of the court proceedings". That is not good enough, because the YOTs, and the magistrates of the youth court, would find it extremely helpful to know what social services think should happen; and to know the contents of the care plan for the child who is looked after. There should be a genuine working together between the local authority, which has the care of the child, and the YOT that is taking over—but should not be taking over to the exclusion of the home local authority and, of course, the court, which needs all the help that it can get.

The excellent White Paper, Care Matters: Time for Change, summarises clearly the indisputable evidence of the poor outcomes for children who are in care, particularly the children who get into trouble and end up in the youth court. That admirable document is a reflection of a series of system failures. It is those system failures that this amendment is intended to address. We need to put pressure on local authorities—overworked, understaffed, under-resourced—that all too often say, "That person is now the subject of the YOT and the criminal court. We can sit back and deal with the child who has not yet got there". It absolutely is not good enough for the local authority to take a back seat.

The Howard League for Penal Reform has taken up a number of serious cases of children who have not been identified by the agencies—children who have slipped through the net. There is a need for effective structures that are at present lacking. The purpose of giving the criminal court power to seek help from the home local authority, which is not here at present, is to give the YOT and the court proper help from the home local authority. It is to plug the gap and provide real pressure—a kick up that which I would not mention in this august Chamber. We do need home local authorities to play a proper part and they are not doing so in too many cases. These are children for whom the local authority is responsible and if, as I sincerely hope, Amendment No. 85 is agreed to by the Government, they would have help from the home local authority at the point where they go before the youth court, and before and after they go into custody. We must remember that these children who offend are children in need, children who have welfare concerns, and they are not getting the help that they need.