Clause 25

Part of Children and Young Persons Bill [Lords] – in a Public Bill Committee at 5:15 pm on 1 July 2008.

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Photo of Kevin Brennan Kevin Brennan Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Children, Schools and Families) (Children, Young People and Families) 5:15, 1 July 2008

I am sorry to be so disappointing. It is part of the job sometimes. We all welcome the clause. The hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham was right to single out the Secretary of State for the work that he has done. Many other hon. Members, including my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) and my right hon. Friend the Member for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill (Mr. Clarke), had parliamentary hearings on this matter.

As the hon. Member for Upminster said, we all come across examples in our constituencies of parents who have these sorts of caring responsibilities, looking after children who are often severely disabled. One of my constituents, Nia Wyn, wrote a bestseller on the subject called “Blue Sky July”, which was the book of the week on Radio 4 and book of the month on Radio 5. It was published by my wife, incidentally, and I recommend it to all members of the Committee. That is not a plug; the book is very pertinent to this subject.

This is very serious matter and everybody welcomes this initiative. Without respite services, parents often have no relief from their caring responsibilities. I am in no doubt that without short-break provision, the care population would grow considerably. That would be a cost to the state and to society as a whole. We should not forget either the wider benefits of short-break provision beyond relieving parents. Any parent can testify that it is beneficial and healthy for children to gain positive experiences away from home, to develop wider social networks and be exposed to new influences, be that with another trusted adult or in leisure or youth work based activities, where disabled children and young people can mix with their peers. Such opportunities for children’s personal and social development are vital.

Members of the Committee will know that the Government are committed to transforming short-break services and have set aside, as the hon. Gentleman mentioned, significant additional funding for short-break services over the next three years: £359 million is to be provided to local authorities, alongside further funding to health care bodies to enable a combined approach. Clause 25 will ensure that short-break provision becomes a recognised part of local authority essential services, reflecting the importance that is attached to these services by families.

When I spoke to the young carers at Fairbourne manor last weekend, one of the things that they greatly welcomed was respite provision, because about a third of young carers look after a sibling rather than a parent. They welcomed the additional funds, as well as the broader measures in the carers strategy. The clause adds the provision of short breaks for parents and others caring for disabled children to the range of services that local authorities must provide for families, and in so doing puts the services on a statutory footing.

The new duty makes it clear that breaks should be provided not just for those carers who are struggling to maintain their caring role, but to those for whom a break would improve the quality of the care that they can offer. Short breaks should not only be used as crisis intervention, but should also help carers to maintain and improve the quality of care that they naturally wish to provide. I saw good examples of that in Cardiff a few months ago, when I visited an NCH home where respite care was provided for children. The children I saw there were at the severe end of the autistic spectrum. We cannot take a one-size-fits-all approach.

We are taking steps to ensure that the significant investment that the Government will be making over the next three years will result in transformed services that are responsive to individual needs. It will include the appointment of a national support body to assist local authorities and primary care trusts in delivering change. We will also use a combination of regulation and guidance to ensure that local authorities design and deliver a range and variety of short-break provision capable of fitting the often complex lives of disabled children and their carers.

Now for the disappointing bit. The hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham may not be surprised to hear that we believe that the amendment is unnecessary. Clause 25 adds provision for short breaks for parents and others caring for disabled children to the range of services that local authorities must provide. Part 1 of schedule 2 to the Children Act 1989, which the clause amends, provides for some of the specific services that the local authority must provide under its general duties under section 17 of that Act. The general duty is

“to safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need” and to

“promote the upbringing...by their families, by providing a range and level of services appropriate to those children’s needs.”

I thank hon. Members for their kind support for the clause and for their indulgence on the legal and technical point of substance. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will agree that the amendment is unnecessary, and I therefore ask him to withdraw it.