Child Vulnerability (Public Services Committee Report) — House of Lords, 2022-07-11
Topic: Social Welfare
Byron Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Pitkeathley. It was a genuine pleasure to serve on this committee during this inquiry, and I pay tribute to my very knowledgeable colleagues on the committee—in particular, our chair, the noble Baroness, Lady Armstrong of Hill Top, who carefully steered us through this—and to the clerks at that time, who, among other things, gave great guidance and worked extremely hard to ensure that we obtained the best evidence. An awful lot of it was available for this inquiry The report is wide-ranging and, as can be seen, covers some important aspects—far too many to mention. Two particular aspects of the inquiry triggered an interest with me: the use of data, and the enormous benefit of family hubs One of the more fundamental aspects of the inquiry, as detailed in the report’s introduction, demonstrated the lack of co-ordination by central government—no news there, you might say—and national regulators, which, we were told, "undermined the ability of local services working with families to collaborate effectively, intervene early and share information to keep vulnerable children safe and improve their lives." Of course, this was not helped by the barriers to sharing data on vulnerable children. For example, we heard from various sources that "if they wanted to access help they would have to go through avenues where their parents would be involved, which could discourage them to share information with services" We heard from the Cabinet Office, which said that public servants faced a complex dilemma about their duty of privacy and how they contrast that with doing the right thing. Witnesses also suggested that the necessity "for parental consent before data could be shared, and uncertainty among frontline professionals about thresholds for sharing data on at-risk children, inhibited the sharing of vital information." The Family Hubs Network supported witnesses’ experiences. It "described how children and families were often ‘bounced from one service to another and have to repeat their story again and again’." We heard evidence that "poor data-sharing between Government departments and local agencies endangered vulnerable children and their families by undermining safeguarding arrangements and preventing referrals for early help." This is quite extraordinary and, frankly, such data barriers are unacceptable in a modern, compassionate society I move on to another highlight of the report, which really caught my attention and which I believe could almost become the panacea for ensuring both the safety of vulnerable children and a guiding hand for parents in need of help. I refer to family hubs, of course. Family hubs aim to strengthen families by providing help with the countless challenges that parents face, especially those that will hamper children’s social, emotional and physical development and their educational progress. They "provide families with a central access point to integrated services." So what did we learn about family hubs in our inquiry? We heard from "Jade from Doncaster, aged 23 and a mother of two, with a three-year-old son and a daughter of eight. Doncaster Borough Council told us that at first they were concerned about Jade’s ability to care for her children. Jade is now able to meet their needs: ‘[she] interacts more readily with professionals, other adults and families and, most importantly, her children, as a more confident parent.’ Doncaster is one of a small number of local authorities in England with an established Family Hub network." It is worth repeating what Jade told us: "I have been attending the Family Hub for some time now. I was having problems when my son’s dad was being abusive to me and smoking skunk … in front of the kids. If it wasn’t for the Family Hub, I wouldn’t have been able to get out of this tough situation. The staff have always been friendly, helpful and reliable. I really enjoyed attending the sessions they directed me to at a local church" This is important, because Jade told us that she "learnt stuff that made me a better mum—like how important it is for kids to eat breakfast, healthy snacks and meals. I also learnt how to read and play with my children." Family hubs can provide a base for communication and support for children in early years as they move through school. Beginning at primary schools, the centres can include early childhood development and parenting activities, home visitation, home-based satellites, and early problem identification and intervention. As family hubs say of themselves, they can also be a place to support parents to facilitate their child’s learning. This can be through the provision of learning and mentoring support to help families provide a positive learning environment, and role models and mentors to support young people’s progress in school However, we learned: "The Government has spent a relatively small amount on Family Hubs, with a focus on trialling new Hubs." Yet the professionals in the field who gave evidence to us advocated a greater spend, comparing it with Sure Start, which "accounted for £1.8 billion of public spending … in 2009/10" by today’s calculations Dame Andrea Leadsom MP’s Early Years Healthy Development Review Report was clear when it said: "It is our vision that all families can expect to be welcomed to their local Family Hub from the moment their pregnancy is confirmed up until their child turns 19 … Family Hubs will be open-access and any parent or carer can ‘drop in’ to their local Hub when they need to. For this reason, we envisage Family Hubs as being baby-friendly, welcoming for families and located in accessible places." I hope that the Government pay serious attention to our committee’s report and that they "commit to introducing a digital Red Book for children and young people aged 0–19", as advocated by Dame Andrea Leadsom, and, referencing my earlier point regarding data: "This health record should be made available to all statutory agencies and voluntary organisations working with vulnerable children and young people." If we fail to join up our thinking in relation to data sharing in this area, we will fail to help the most vulnerable in our society: our children.