Covid-19: Children — House of Lords, 2021-06-17
Topic: Social Welfare
Manzila Pola Uddin (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, may I say happy birthday to the noble Baroness, Lady Morris of Yardley, and thank her for her powerful and passionate account? I agree that we are a levelled-up generation and we owe a debt of responsibility to future generations. I am immensely grateful to Barnardo’s, the APPG on Homelessness, the Disabled Children’s Partnership, the Child Poverty Action Group and the National Literacy Trust. I commend their outstanding and continued leadership and advocacy on behalf of the children of our country The noble Baroness, Lady Morris, plainly stated what we know all too well and what needs to be done. Sir Kevan Collins warns us that the successful recovery of children’s education is not credible on the £50 per student extra support. Therefore, the Government will knowingly be abandoning children’s future education I was moved by the personal account from the noble Baroness, Lady Wyld. I too witnessed the frustration of my three children who suddenly added teaching to their skill set. I salute all parents, including her, who did everything they could under extreme circumstances Some 4.3 million children experienced poverty prior to the Covid pandemic, which has simply worsened it. Barnardo’s had a coalition of 80 charities to deliver "See, Hear, Respond" programmes, which reached 100,000 children who were hidden and suffered a detrimental impact in the past year during the pandemic but did not qualify for statutory support. The Government know about these gaps and shortfalls. Can the Minister say what is being done to follow up on those children and what has happened to them? Furthermore, during the first six months of the pandemic nearly 300,000 children were referred to children’s social services. If the Minister is unable to respond now, will she write to me and put a copy in the Library about the breakdown of the figures, and the types of services provided to that group of children I accept that there are many pressures that require immediate government attention to remedy inequality and injustice for all families, who are battling on so many fronts, with a lack of adequate finance and with poor mental well-being caused directly by poverty—and then there is the digital divide, homelessness, sexual abuse, domestic violence, drugs, racism and Islamophobia, all of which have reached an endemic level in our society and our educational institutions. We ignore them at our children’s peril Can the Minister say whether there are adequate independent safeguards in place in schools if and when parents muster the courage to complain about racism and Islamophobia, which have some of the most pernicious impacts on black and ethnic minority children’s well-being? Will the Minister and the rest of the Government also review urgently the divisive and dangerous Prevent and Channel policies, which lately have victimised and penalised young children for their shows of solidarity over international conflicts? It is an absolute outrage, and an act of control on our civil liberty and free speech, which we so value in our country Briefly, I want to acknowledge the detailed briefings circulated to us by the Disabled Children’s Partnership. The Government are fully cognisant of the devastating impact of the pandemic on people living with disabilities and autism, as well as on their carers. Pre-pandemic, we had a £434 million deficit in social care for disabled children alone, which has trebled in the past year. I hope that the Minister will heed the wise words and advice of the noble Lord, Lord Shinkwin I urge the Minister to search her own heart and that of the Government, with deepest consciousness, to address the profound pain of families in need of the Government’s urgent attention. Levelling up is impossible without ensuring a fair, just and accountable Government. As the noble Baroness, Lady Morris, said, we can change the narrative if the Government are willing to do so. Does the Minister agree that the shortfall in funding for education is indicative of the Government being willing to fail our children’s future?