| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
6.22 pm
Mr. Robert Syms (Poole): I, too, broadly welcome the Bill. The Utting report was published after there had been a catalogue of disasters over the past few years. The Select Committee on Health, on which I am privileged to serve, looked into the case of children looked after. It is fair to say that Governments of all political persuasions have done less than they should have done to safeguard the future of the children who became their responsibility.
About 5,000 people aged 16 or 17 leave care every year. The proportion leaving at 16 has risen from 33 per cent. to 43 per cent. More than 75 per cent. have no academic qualifications, and more than 50 per cent. are unemployed after they leave. Moreover, 17 per cent. of girls leaving care are pregnant. Among prisoners, 23 per cent. of adult inmates have left care, as have 38 per cent. of young prisoners. In addition, 30 per cent. of young single homeless people have left care.
In many ways, British Governments have been penny wise, pound foolish with regard to children leaving care. The cost to society--of prison, and of the catalogue of disasters and horrors that the statistics show befall people leaving care--is very great. It is clear that society as a whole would benefit if we could respond to the problems a little earlier. Moreover, it should be borne in mind that the statistics that I quoted apply to about 1 per cent. of the total in that age group. That is a horrific and frightening thought.
I welcome many of the measures in the Bill, which will at least start to improve matters. When the Health Committee inquired into this matter, we found that most youngsters leaving a home at 16 are not encouraged to go back. When they leave, the posters come down, the bed goes, and that is it. Yet most of us who leave our parents' homes know that we can always go back, and we often do so. When we have to make choices or decisions in our lives, we know that our parents will always provide a home, a bed and a square meal. In contrast, many children leave care and then get lost.
Broadly speaking, the approach adopted in the Bill is the right one. The Health Committee wanted 21 to be the key age. I agree with most of the comments made in the
debate so far, and I hope that the Government will use 21 as the key age. That would make much more sense, given the current economic background and the comprehensive spending review.Many of the Bill's proposals are sensible, such as the duty to keep in touch. Although people who do not want to be found will not be found, the proposal at least means that local authorities will have to pay attention to where people go when they leave care, and to what happens to them afterwards. If pathway plans are to be introduced, there will be a great need for more information about the welfare and progress of children who have left care.
My hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond) made a good point about sanctions in connection with pathway plans. However, the most important thing is that the Bill provides some sort of measure by which to judge a person's progress. If that information is regularly reviewed, it will be possible to judge people's aims and prospects, and pathway plans will be useful.
Personal advisers are another important element in the Bill. The question of whether they should be trained has been raised, but the most important thing is that they should be trusted. All hon. Members know that people who work for local authorities, or social services professionals, would not necessarily be the best people to have as advisers, and that they would not always be able to inspire trust. That is a key issue. When the Health Committee investigated the question of children looked after, we found that having someone who can act as an advocate--just as a parent would--is of critical importance to children.
The Bill moves matters on by providing for vocational support, assistance with employment, and education and training support, all of which are important. People who leave their parental home expect their parents to pay attention to what they do, and to offer help and support. The Government cannot be a substitute for that, but it is better for them to intervene in this way than to leave children to their own devices. The hon. Member for Wakefield (Mr. Hinchliffe) recounted some of the horror stories about what young people have suffered because no one is especially concerned about them once the state's responsibilities for them are over.
Clause 6 deals with removal of benefit, and Save the Children has pointed that one of the most important lessons for people leaving care concerns the management of money. We must be careful about removing benefit from young people, as it is important to allow them to have responsibility for some money so that they can make choices about their lives.
As I said, I broadly welcome the Bill. Many of the details, such as the problem with definitions mentioned by the hon. Member for Wakefield, will have to be considered in Committee. Improvements can be made, but this is a good start. I pay tribute to the former Secretary of State, the right hon. Member for Holborn and St. Pancras (Mr. Dobson), as much progress has been made in a matter to which hon. Members of all parties pay a lot of attention.
We must value our young, or the consequences of the statistics that I gave earlier will be pretty dramatic. I am pleased to have been able to participate in the debate.
My hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge described a difficulty with what might be called the Scottish problem. So long as that can be ironed out, the Bill will immeasurably improve the prospects of young people leaving care. If we can achieve that in the lifetime of this Parliament, we will have done a good job.6.29 pm
Mr. Tom Clarke (Coatbridge and Chryston): I am grateful that the hon. Member for Poole (Mr. Syms) concluded on what he called the Scottish problem, which is a major issue in today's debate. The hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond) did the House a great service by raising it in the way that he did, and I shall return to what he said later in my speech.
I welcome the Bill. It is an excellent Bill and it follows logically on the unfinished business of the Children Act 1989 and the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Wakefield (Mr. Hinchliffe), not only for the tremendous comradeship that he offered in 1989 when we both served on the Standing Committee considering the Children Act, but for saving me the trouble of rehearsing some of the major points that are relevant to tonight's debate. I welcome what he said about the late Joan Lestor, who would certainly have welcomed everything that we are saying and the progressive tone of our discussions. I also recall what my hon. Friend had to say in 1989, and his recollections tonight reminded me of the tremendous impact that was made on that Committee by the young people whose problems we were debating, even though at the time--and perhaps later--we still did not reach a firm conclusion.
I am not at all surprised that Barnardos and Barnardos Scotland have provided excellent briefings. Some of my thinking in this short speech tonight has been influenced by them, particularly in respect of the Scottish issue.
Those of us involved in the passage of the 1989 and 1995 Acts will remember the dreadful stories that we heard. Times have not changed very much. We heard harrowing stories about what actually happened to many young people leaving care. I remember being appalled when we heard that they were told, "You can't get a job unless you've got a house and you can't get a house unless you've got a job." We heard about the great poverty that affects older children leaving care.
I remember too--and I am sure that things have not changed very much since 1989 or 1995--young people telling us that every Monday morning they would queue outside Marks and Spencer and Tesco in order to obtain food that was past its sell-by date. That seemed an extraordinary way of addressing young people at that vital and vulnerable age.
I am glad that the Bill seeks to address many of those problems. It presents practical solutions which, when they are followed through, as I have no doubt they will be, will help to solve problems that have not been properly addressed until now. The pathway plans that are on offer are absolutely excellent, but there is a major change; and here I come to the speech by the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge, which I praised earlier. He dealt with an issue that was raised in another place in respect of devolution, and I agree that it still has not been resolved. However, I can offer some hope to the hon. Gentleman and to the House.
The hon. Gentleman addressed, in passing, the debate that is taking place in Scotland. The Bill clearly deals with the DSS aspects of the problem, whereas the Scottish Parliament deals with the local authority aspects, and the Westminster Parliament deals with both in respect of England. If the hon. Gentleman accepts that, as we have decided on devolution, the hybrid aspects of the Bill should be dealt with by the Scottish Parliament, I encourage him to believe, as I do, that at the end of the day the Scottish Parliament will reach the right decision. I am encouraged by the dialogue that I understand is taking place between Ministers in this Parliament and those in the Scottish Executive.
I realise what the problems are. The hon. Gentleman may not have known it, but he touched on an important constitutional issue--which is the reason why I and a majority of Scottish Members take the view that social security, among other matters, should remain a matter for the United Kingdom Parliament. If that were not so, the prospect of the abuses that the hon. Gentleman envisaged in his speech would be wide open. We cannot have young people who may not have access to social security in England going from Carlisle to Dumfries to get it there. I accept unreservedly, as the Bill does, that we should try to prevent that from happening.
Looking at the more positive aspects of the Bill and what is planned thereafter, one can see that the commitment to a pathway plan for young people leaving care is splendid. Although I do not want to dwell on Scotland, let me for a few moments confirm my optimistic outlook by quoting just a few brief comments from the document issued by the Scottish Executive. The hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge will recall that I pointed out in an intervention that his concerns seemed to be about the views of the Scottish National party, which does not have a majority in the Scottish Parliament. It is arguing its case, but I do not believe that it will carry the day. I believe that the views of the Scottish Executive will carry the day, and those views are consistent with our arguments today.
| Next Section
| Index | Home Page |