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House of Lords
Tuesday, 7 June 2005.
The House met at half-past two of the clock: The LORD CHANCELLOR on the Woolsack.
Prayers—Read by the Lord Bishop of Oxford.
Several Lords—took the Oath.
Missing Children
Lord Roberts of Llandudno asked Her Majesty's Government:
What is their response to reports that 300 boys of African descent aged between four and seven disappeared between July and September 2001 from London schools and that thousands more go missing annually.
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal): My Lords, the Metropolitan Police investigation into the Adam case found that a number of African boys were missing from education. The Government are deeply concerned about any child who is missing from education as it is not just the child's education at risk, but also potentially his safety and welfare. We have been working hard to ensure that more robust systems are in place to protect the welfare of children and that information about children is shared by professionals.
Lord Roberts of Llandudno: My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for that Answer on an immensely serious and very complex problem. In view of the indication that 100 youngsters in the four to seven year-old age group go missing from London schools each month, will the Minister initiate a UK-wide investigation and report back to this House so that we know exactly what is happening?
Baroness Scotland of Asthal: My Lords, I understand the concern that the noble Lord justly expresses in relation to children of this sort. The truth is that it is very difficult to understand where those children go. A number of children simply move from one school to another without the authorities being notified that that has taken place.
As noble Lords will know, we have a transient population. There are more than 600,000 children in primary school education. As such it is important for us to identify whether there is a good or a bad reason why those moves have taken place. The Department for Education and Skills has put in place a system to help to identify where those children are going.
Baroness Buscombe: My Lords, the Minister will know that this is not just a question of children missing from school, they are missing entirely. Does the Minister regret that her Government failed to incorporate into the Children Act 2004 the introduction
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of a system of compulsory registration of all private carers, particularly given that those appalling figures of missing children in London alone came to light as long ago as 2001?
Baroness Scotland of Asthal: My Lords, the Department for Education and Skills has taken this issue very seriously. I hear what the noble Baroness says about incorporating the new provisions, but we feel that we have put in place very robust provisions. For instance, we have improved the tracking by education authorities and local authorities. The National Register of Unaccompanied Children (NRUC) is expected to begin running later this year. The education department has put in place new guidance that states how we should monitor children moving from place to place. Those issues are being addressed very robustly.
Lord Harris of Haringey: My Lords, is one of the factors involved a problem of identification? Of the young people concerned many have reappeared in another school elsewhere in London or in another part of the country, either with the same name or with a slight variant of the name. Is part of the authorities' problem the matching of individuals with their previous identity?
Baroness Scotland of Asthal: My Lords, my noble friend is right. Noble Lords may be aware that Tim Benson, head teacher of Nelson Primary School in East Ham, London, and a National Association of Head Teachers representative, has been quoted by the BBC as saying that most children had probably simply moved to another school. It is the monitoring of that that we must get clear, so that we understand where those children are.
Many of them, thankfully, are safely in another school, but where we identify children who are of concern, it must be right that we have a system in place that alerts the authorities to the fact that those children are missing and that something has to be done about it. It is that cadre of children about whom we have to be very concerned.
Lord Hylton: My Lords, do the Government have any evidence that some of those disappearances could be linked to child abuse and child pornography?
Baroness Scotland of Asthal: My Lords, we do not have definitive evidence, but we have concerns. Noble Lords will know that those concerns have been voiced abroad and that we are taking them very seriously. That is why we have brought in tough penalties to address the whole issue of exploiting children. The Sexual Offences Act 2003 introduced a range of new offences covering the commercial sexual exploitation of a child, which will protect children up to the age of 18. We have to take those issues very seriously and ensure that all the agencies, including schools, and health and criminal justice agencies, are committed to delivering a much tighter protection to make sure those issues are addressed.
Baroness Walmsley: My Lords, is the Minister aware that the End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and
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Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT) organisation pointed out in a recent report entitled Cause for Concern that information on child trafficking is very hard to find? It points out that that information is extremely important in setting up appropriate services.
I am sure that the Minister is aware that the only support for trafficked people is for women who are subject to prostitution. There is very little support, if any, for children. Will the Minister set up a system for collecting information to be shared with appropriate professionals about children who are trafficked so that appropriate services can be set up?
Baroness Scotland of Asthal: My Lords, the multi-agency working we have set in place seeks to address many of those issues. I am sure the noble Baroness will agree that it is only by having a holistic approach to this matter and making sure agencies interlink appropriately with each other to create that safety net that we will get the kind of care that we want. We therefore hope that the multi-agency approach that has been put in place, together with the work that has been done across government with the DfES, will ensure that we have better information and that we are better able to identify if children are being trafficked, by whom and where to.
Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate: My Lords, does not this case highlight the necessity for a national biometric identity card?
Baroness Scotland of Asthal: My Lords, that point has been made by a number of others. Of course I can see its merits.
Lord Mackie of Benshie: My Lords, do the Minister's investigations include a number of churches—so called—in London which believe that children may have been possessed of the devil and that it has to be beaten out of them?
Baroness Scotland of Asthal: My Lords, it is a very difficult issue. I know that there has been a great deal of comment in the press about a number of cases of people who believe that children have been possessed. However, possession of the devil is part of a number of religions and is not confined to a certain section or a certain continent. Many Anglican and Catholic Churches, of course, also believe that the devil is well at work.
NHS: Attacks on Staff
2.44 pm
Baroness Gardner of Parkes asked Her Majesty's Government:
What proposals they have to reduce the number of attacks on National Health Service staff on professional duty; and what proposals they have to deal with those committing the offences.
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Lord Warner): My Lords, violence against NHS staff is wholly unacceptable and will not be tolerated. For the first time, the NHS is putting in place a network of local specialists with the professional skills to tackle this problem. They are supported nationally by the NHS security management service, established in 2003. The indications are that this new approach has delivered a substantial increase in the number of prosecutions and that staff are more confident that action will be taken when they report assaults and verbal abuse.
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