House of Lords
Thursday, 21st March 2002.
The House met at three of the clock (Prayers having been read earlier at the Judicial Sitting by the Lord Bishop of Oxford): The LORD CHANCELLOR on the Woolsack.
Children's Fund
Baroness Andrews asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What progress they have made on policy for the Children's Fund.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Skills (Baroness Ashton of Upholland): My Lords, I am pleased to report that we are making good progress on the Children's Fund. The first wave of areas, which includes some of the most deprived communities in England, is beginning to implement increased and better co-ordinated services for children at risk of social exclusion. Second-wave areas have now submitted their proposals, and we are on course for the Children's Fund to reach all parts of England by 2003-04.
Baroness Andrews: My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for that helpful Answer. It is good to know that the Children's Fund is beginning to reach the children at risk for whom it was intended.
My concern is that services for disadvantaged children must be carefully co-ordinated. I would be grateful if the Minister could say what contribution the Children's Fund is making to a more coherent provision. Is the Children and Young People's Unit beginning to make progress in joining up services?
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: My Lords, the Children and Young People's Unit is leading the development of an overarching strategy for children and young people. The unit has consulted widely on a document setting out, for the first time, our vision for all children in the country. The overarching strategy sets out that vision and the principles that, we believe, should apply to all government services. It proposes six key outcomes: health and well-being; achievement and enjoyment; participation and citizenship; protection; responsibility; and inclusion.
Baroness Walmsley: My Lords, does the Minister agree that children in the age range covered by the Children's Fund—5 to 13—and younger children are most vulnerable to physical abuse? How much of the Children's Fund has gone—and is intended to go—into parenting education, including the teaching of disciplining strategies other than physical abuse, so that the repetitive cycle of abuse can be broken?
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: My Lords, the proposals for the Children's Fund are worked out by
local partnerships, as the noble Baroness will know. As for the way in which the money is distributed, it is for local partnerships to come together and build on existing services to develop the strategies that are most applicable to their communities. I cannot give the noble Baroness details of a specific amount of money, but I can point her to the way in which partnerships are developing services to ensure that children are less vulnerable.The process is geared towards protecting children, by recognising when children are about to be at risk and intervening with children and their families as early as possible, to make sure that they remain safe.
Baroness Blatch: My Lords, does the Minister agree that a great deal of the money—£450 million over three years—is being dissipated by the bureaucracy in the bidding process for securing money at local level? That £450 million is yet more money that is being held back at the centre and not going in at school level.
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: My Lords, the figure that I have is £380 million, available over three years. That money is available to the partnerships, and those partnerships will involve the work that goes on in schools. I disagree with the noble Baroness's claim that the money is being used in a way other than being given to schools.
It is important that the money that is built into the services is used to bring together health, social care and education services. For the children concerned, it is crucial that we have integration, early intervention and early recognition. That is a fundamental part of what the Children's Fund is attempting to do. The money is reaching the partnerships; they are coming forward in three waves, and money has gone out, in order to ensure that we achieve the fund's objectives.
Baroness Pitkeathley: My Lords, can the Minister say what use is made of the Children's Fund by children with disabilities and their families? I am sure that she will agree that they are a particularly disadvantaged group.
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: My Lords, I am happy to do so. Children's Fund partnerships are required to carry out an analysis of the need for and gaps in preventive services for children in their area. It must focus on children who are at risk of social exclusion. I understand that a substantial number has identified children with disabilities as a particular priority group in the development of Children's Fund work. There are examples of that in Bristol, Bradford and Birmingham.
Among the services that are being developed are services that are designed to provide additional support directly in schools—that is also relevant to the question asked by the noble Baroness, Lady Blatch—as well as improving access to leisure and cultural activities, additional family support and information services.
Lord Northbourne: My Lords, I may have missed something, in which case I apologise, but can the
Minister say how many partnerships are now in operation and how much money has, so far, been distributed to the partnerships or through them?
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: My Lords, the noble Lord has not missed anything; I had not given those figures. There are 40 partnerships in operation in the first wave. We plan to cover all local authority areas by 2003-04. The average allocation is about £1 million. The largest allocation has been given to Birmingham, which has received about £6 million.
Baroness Massey of Darwen: My Lords, can my noble friend the Minister say whether young people have been consulted, as part of the consultation process for partnerships?
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: My Lords, young people and children have been involved in several ways. Some partnerships have employed participation workers specifically to make sure that they work with children. Other ways have been developed, including fun days for children, festivals, theatre groups and music and talent shows. In some areas, young people are directly involved in steering groups. In some cases, young people have been included in the process of recruiting staff. Young people are involved in various ways.
Disruptive Pupils
3.7 p.m.
Baroness Sharp of Guildford asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Why they have reversed their previous policy of seeking to minimise the exclusion from school of disruptive pupils.
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: My Lords, we have not reversed our policy on exclusions. We no longer have targets for permanent exclusions, but our revised draft guidance restates that, in most cases, before excluding a pupil, a range of alternative strategies should have been tried. However, some incidents may be so serious that permanent exclusion may be appropriate for a first or one-off offence. The new guidance helps to ensure that a balanced approach is taken on this issue.
Baroness Sharp of Guildford: My Lords, I thank the Minister for her reply and am reassured by what she had to say. Does she agree that, at a time when there is concern about rising street crime, it is extremely important that we make sure that young people who are excluded from school—who often come from deeply disturbed backgrounds—are given the chance to have full-time schooling and are not just put into units where they are, perhaps, given only two or three hours' education a week?
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: My Lords, I agree entirely. We must strike a balance between ensuring that children who can be educated in mainstream education are educated in that way and recognising that, for some children, that is impossible. From September, we will work towards the position in which full-time education will be provided for all children who are excluded. The most important part of the strategy, in many ways, is preventing children getting to the stage at which they are excluded.
Lord Elton: My Lords, the Minister said that, in the autumn, we would be working towards a position where we would get all children who are excluded into full-time education. I thought that we had been working towards that for some years. Can she tell us what effective steps have already been taken and what proportion of excluded children are still free to roam the streets without supervision?
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: My Lords, let me make it clear that by September 2002 we expect all children who have been excluded to be in full-time education. We have made that commitment. We are working with local education authorities to ensure that they have the right kind of provision. Noble Lords will be aware that for some children the appropriate provision will be pupil referral units, with the anticipation that children will move back into full-time education. For others it may be simply a different school, with additional support. For yet others, it may the provision of other kinds of educational support. It is a broad range. I did not wish to give the impression that we have not arrived at that point, but rather that we are ensuring that we have in place the breadth of provision that is needed.
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