Memorandum from the Commission for Social
Care Inspection
Following your letter requesting me to submit
evidence to the Inquiry, I am submitting this letter of evidence
as Children's Rights Director at the Commission for Social Care
Inspection.
My functions as Children's Rights Director are
statutorily determined through the Children's Rights Director
Regulations 2004, and include advising the Commission on methods
for the inspection of its regulated services for children and
young people aged under 18, monitoring the effectiveness of those
methods, securing as far as possible that the Commission safeguards
and promotes the rights and welfare of children and young persons
in exercising its functions, and ascertaining and reporting the
views of children and young persons about relevant services provided
to them in settings regulated by the Commission.
I was commissioned by the Department of Health
to draft the current National Minimum Standards on welfare provision
for Further Education Colleges accommodating students aged under
18, subsequently issued by the Secretary of State, which now form
the basis for statutory welfare inspection by the Commission of
such student accommodation and welfare provision. I was also the
main author of the present National Minimum Standards for welfare
of pupils accommodated in Boarding Schools, and of the National
Minimum Standards for welfare provision for pupils accommodated
in Residential Special Schools, and was co-author of the National
Minimum Standards for welfare provision in Children's Homes.
I was involved in substantial consultation with
both young people and welfare practitioners in these settings
in drafting these welfare Standards.
I do not have any direct knowledge or experience
of care or welfare in the armed services. I am therefore submitting
this invited evidence on the basis of my involvement in setting
care and welfare standards for, developing welfare inspection
methodologies for, and consulting young people on welfare matters
in, residential education settings for young people aged under
18. I understand that these are issues of interest to the Committee's
current Inquiry.
THE COMMISSION
FOR SOCIAL
CARE INSPECTION
The Commission for Social Care Inspection was
established by the Health and Social Care (Community Health and
Standards) Act 2003 as the statutory regulatory body for social
care in England, including the social services functions of local
authorities, care homes for adults, domiciliary care, children's
homes, residential family centres, fostering and adoption services
for children, and the welfare provision of residential schools
and colleges.
The Commission has a statutory general duty,
in exercising all its functions, to "have particular regard
to the need to safeguard and promote the rights and welfare of
children" (section 104, Health and Social Care (Community
Health and Standards) Act 2003). In relation to residential education,
the Commission for Social Care Inspection is the inspectorate
charged with monitoring and inspecting the welfare of children
and young people under the age of 18.
It fulfils this function in relation to welfare
in boarding schools, residential special schools, and Further
Education Colleges accommodating students aged under 18. The Commission's
statutory remit in relation to these schools and colleges is to
"take such steps as are reasonably practicable to enable
them [the Commission] to determine whether the child's welfare
is adequately safeguarded and promoted while he is accommodated
by the school or college" (section 87, Children Act 1989,
as amended by section 105, Care Standards Act 2000).
The Commission has statutory power to seek directly
the views of children and young people in its regulated services,
subject to their own consent, under the Inspection of Schools
and Colleges
Regulations 2002. It exercises this power to
consult children and young people on their experiences of care
and welfare provision as a central element in its inspections.
In carrying out its inspection functions, the
Commission focuses on using inspection to encourage improvement
in services for children and young people, on the experience of
children and young people themselves, and on the achievement
of outcomes for those receiving provision such as residential
education. It carries out its inspection functions by assessing
each inspected provision against the relevant set of National
Minimum Standards.
These Standards define the safeguarding, care
and welfare practice expected to be met by all services to which.
they relate, and constitute minimum, rather than aspirational,
standards to be met at all times. In some cases, the Standards
define facilities and practice that should be in place; in others
(for example in relation to the expectation that students do
not identify bullying or harassment as a problem) they define
outcomes that should be achieved.
Where welfare issues arise that are not covered
in the National Minimum Standards, the Commission refers both
to the power under section 3 of the Children Act 1989 for those
without parental responsibility, but having the care of persons
aged under 18, to "do what is reasonable in all the circumstances
of the case for the purpose of safeguarding or promoting the child's
welfare", and where relevant legislation and standards are
silent or inapplicable in particular cases, to the articles of
the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The inspection methods currently used by the
Commission in its welfare inspection of residential education
in schools and colleges for those under 18 include: independent
welfare surveys of children and young people accommodated in the
school or college; young-person guided tours of premises, accommodation
and facilities, seeking the accompanying young persons' commentary
on specified standards related issues; tracking the welfare provision
and experience of a sample of individual young people (including
inspection of their relevant: records made in the establishment);
inspection of welfare policies, guidance and records; and standards
based interviews of both senior and child contact staff on welfare
issues, concerns and provision. Inspectors are expected to corroborate
their findings with evidence from more than one source. The Commission
makes statutory notifications where it finds a failure to safeguard
and promote welfare in an inspected residential education establishment,
and publishes its reports.
NATIONAL MINIMUM
STANDARDS FOR
WELFARE OF
YOUNG PEOPLE
AGED 16 AND
17
The National Minimum Standards for welfare used
by the Commission for Social Care Inspection which are likely
to be most applicable to those under 18 in military recruit training
are those for the Accommodation of Students under 18 by Further
Education Colleges. These were issued by the Secretary of State
in March 2002 under section 87 of the Children Act 1989. While
their content and coverage is specifically related to such civilian
establishments, and indeed the standards were developed from input
from staff and students of such establishments, they contain substantial
welfare and care content that the Defence-Committee may consider
relevant, with some adaptation, to the welfare of under 18s resident
in military recruit training establishments.
These Standards cover welfare policies and procedures,
organisation and management of provision for accommodated young
people, welfare support, staffing and residential premises. Below
are summarised some of the principal expectations of the Standards,
to enable the Committee to form a view of their relevance or otherwise
to the provision with which the Committee is concerned, and the
extent to which they may if relevant require adaptation.
The Standards require a college accommodating
young people under 18 to provide a Statement of Principles and
Practice setting out its welfare, accommodation and student support
policies and practice, which is to be available to parents, young
people and staff. This Statement must set out the nature and extent
of specific support. and supervision of those aged under 18, and
the extent of any separation of accommodation between those aged
under and over 18. Practice is then assessed against this Statement
through independent inspection.
Expectations upon staff to respond to an allegation
or suspicion of abuse or other significant harm to a young person
under 18 are set out in the Standards. These include the requirement
for each establishment to implement a written student protection
policy which is consistent with local Area Child Protection Committee
procedures and is known to both staff and young people themselves.
Also required are the appointment and training of a senior member
of staff in each establishment to take responsibility for the
operation of the protection policy, for liaison with local social
services officials, and for co-ordination with social services
and the police in any enquiries in an individual case.
Provision expected under the Standards includes
briefing or training of staff at all levels in contact with those
under 18 on responding to allegations or suspicions of abuse,
similar briefing of any young person given responsibilities over
other young people, and the requirement that establishments explicitly
require all members of staff to report, either to a senior official
of the establishment, or directly to the Commission for Social
Care Inspection as the independent regulator, any concern about
the establishment's practices or the behaviour of other staff
which is likely to put young people aged under 18 at risk of abuse
or other serious harm.
The Standards require that where an allegation
or suspicion of abuse exists, staff must consider what action
may be necessary to protect any individual young person, avoid
asking leading questions or giving inappropriate guarantees of
confidentiality concerning information they must refer onwards,
and maintain appropriate records. Explicit prohibition of sexual
relations between staff and students under 18 is required. The
Standards require that allegations or suspicions of abuse be referred
outside the establishment, within 24 hours of being made, to the
local social services authority for possible independent child
protection enquiries to be carried out rather than internal investigation
by the establishment.
In relation to bullying, the Standards require
that each establishment should have a policy on both prevention
and response to observed or reported bullying or harassment, which
is known to staff and students, which covers bullying and harassment
between young people, of young people by staff, and of young people
by other adults, which debars any "initiation ceremonies"
intended to cause pain, anxiety or humiliation, and which is found
to be effective in practice. The policy is required to be included
in the induction training of all staff. The expected outcome is
that students do not identify bullying or harassment as a particular
problem, and this is assessed regularly and independently, directly
from young people, by inspectors.
Standards relating to disciplinary policy and
practice include provision for fair investigation, recording,
prohibition of unreasonable or excessive sanctions (and provide
examples of unreasonable or excessive sanctions), prohibition
of students being empowered to administer sanctions to other students,
and both grounds for, and limitations on, use of physical restraint.
The standards stipulate minimum requirements
for a complaints procedure for use by students and parents in
relation to safeguarding and promoting student welfare, including
involvement of an external person in major complaints, requirement
that students and parents are informed of how they may make a
complaint directly to the Commission for Social Care Inspection,
and independent inspection focusing on how complaints are resolved
in practice in a manner which is either satisfactory to the complainant
or which in the view of the inspectorate appropriately balances
the rights and duties of students.
There are requirements for the overall management
and development of welfare provision for those under 18, including
designation of senior staff accountable for the accommodation
and welfare of under 18s, the allocation of appropriate resources
for welfare provision, induction and subsequent training for all
staff with welfare responsibilities towards those under 18, and
regular self assessment of student welfare practice by the establishment.
Standards for welfare support include the requirement
to provide each student under 18 with a personal tutor with a
duty to advise on personal and welfare matters, one or more members
of staff to turn to in private for personal guidance or with a
personal problem, information on helplines available for support,
and at least one person outside the residential or teaching staff
of the establishment (such as a counsellor or other suitable external
person) whom he or she may contact directly with personal problems
or concerns at the establishment. There is a requirement for recording
of, support for, and adaptation of activities necessary for, any
specific medical difficulties, and for a personal care plan in
relation to any health or personal support needs sufficient to
require awareness, support or monitoring. Personal issues specified
in the standards as requiring specific support are homesickness,
times of personal stress such as bereavements or problems at home,
and identified significant risk of suicide.
These standards require consideration, and agreement
with parents, of the extent to which those under 18 are supervised
outside class time, and the extent to which their supervision
differs from that of adults in the same establishment.
Staffing standards include requirements for
those with responsibilities for supervision or the provision of
welfare services for under 18s to have relevant qualifications
or experience, clear job descriptions, induction training, continuing
training opportunities, and regular review of their supervisory
and welfare practice. A staff handbook or similar document is
required, providing guidance on practice in supervising residential
students under 18 and safeguarding and promoting their welfare,
to include supervision practice, child protection, countering
bullying, use of sanctions, tutor support, nature and limitation
of any supervisory roles given to senior students, responding
to students' personal problems, identification and response to
substantial welfare concerns or risks of significant harm, and
handling of complaints. The standards require such staff to receive
basic guidance in identifying and supporting students who may
present a significant risk of suicide. Requirements for staff
recruitment are set out, including requirements for Criminal Records
Bureau disclosures at enhanced level for those recruited to work
with students aged under 18.
Examples of other issues covered in the National
Minimum Standards are: recording of individual health care needs
of those under 18, standards of accommodation, specific management
of any particularly onerous demands on under 18s to protect health
and well being and preserve adequate free time, range and choice
of recreational activities outside class time, identification
of, support for and integration of students who do not "fit
in" with the establishment or their peers, and regular consultation
with those under 18 with action taken in response to legitimate
concerns relating to accommodation or welfare.
Risk assessment (and action to minimise unnecessary
risks to health, safety and welfare) is required where under eighteens
and adults are accommodated together, where under eighteens are
involved in high risk activities, and in relation to hazards that
may be accessed without permission (including machinery, plant
and equipment, workshops, and firearms).
Soundness of staff/student relationships is
identified as an issue to be assessed on independent inspections.
The standards expect regular monitoring, by a designated senior
member of staff, of written risk assessments, and of records of
complaints, accidents, and sanctions taken against those under
18, with appropriate action taken against any concentration or
identified trend of concern.
The standards also provide a basic set of requirements
for students under 18 temporarily accommodated off site in field
or camping accommodation. These include requirements for access
to medical services and provision to return in case of accident
or illness, satisfactory and contactable competent adult supervision
of students under 18, and adaptation of activities for any special
needs of an individual student under 18.
While the National Minimum Standards for Further
Education Colleges are likely to be those most relevant to army
recruit training establishments, some of the provisions in the
National Minimum Standards for Children's Homes may also be relevant.
These also cover young people up to the age of 18, but in more
detail for those with particular needs. These standards set out
more detailed requirements for countering bullying, complaints
procedures, and regular monitoring of welfare issues by senior
staff. They also set out a process for individual "placement
planning" to respond to and review the identified care and
welfare needs of individuals. This set of Standards is backed
by statutory Regulations.
SOCIAL SERVICES
AUTHORITY RESPONSIBILITIES
In considering the welfare of young people under
18 in armed services recruit training establishments, an important
question arises regarding the presence—and extent of local
social services authority responsibilities. In relation to the
general population of those aged under 18 in their areas, local
authority social services authorities have various responsibilities
under the Children Act 1989. These include the duty under section
47 of that Act to make enquiries (often referred to as child protection
enquiries) into cases where they have reasonable cause to suspect
that a child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant
harm. They also include wider duties to provide services to children
they consider to be in need in their areas.
The judgement in 2002 by Mr Justice Munby in
relation to young people accommodated in the different setting
of prison establishments, confirmed that local social services
responsibilities under the Children Act 1989 do apply to children
in those establishments. If the same principle were to apply to
young people aged under 18 in armed services establishments in
their areas, then it would follow that local authority social
services authorities would have a duty to provide services under
the Children Act 1989 to those young people, including making
enquiries and taking action to safeguard and promote the child's
welfare where they have reasonable cause to suspect that the child
is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm. This is
an important question to resolve in relation to recruits aged
under 18 in military training, and I am seeking legal advice on
the question given its significance for social services authority
duties which are regulated by the Commission for Social Care
Inspection, although I cannot myself provide the answer.
POTENTIAL INVOLVEMENT
OF THE
COMMISSION FOR
SOCIAL CARE
INSPECTION IN
WELFARE INSPECTIONS
The Commission for Social Care Inspection is
the statutory specialist inspectorate of safeguarding, care and
welfare in residential education establishments in England, and
is currently working in partnership with other inspectorates,
including the Adult Learning Inspectorate, to develop the future
integrated inspection framework for children's services which
is expected under the present Children Bill. The Commission's
inspection of care and welfare issues in residential education
establishments is carried out alongside the inspection of the
quality of education and training by other inspectorates.
Given its specialism in welfare inspection to
national welfare standards, I have been asked by the Commission
for Social Care Inspection to offer through the Defence Committee
the Commission's involvement in the proposed inspections of care
and welfare in armed services training establishments where young
people aged under 18 are involved, in relation both to establishment
or adaptation of appropriate welfare standards and through participation
in inspections themselves. This would be in partnership with the
Adult Learning Inspectorate, and subject to provision of resources.
Dr Roger Morgan, OBE
Children's Rights Director
Commission for Social Care Inspection
September 2004
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