Tag: children in care

Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham speaks on importance of funding for local authorities to support and provide for children in their care

On 18th April 2024, Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham also spoke in the debate on children in local authority care in the UK, on themes of early intervention and support for foster carers, and the need for more funding for local authorities to ensure this:

The Lord Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham: My Lords, I too am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Laming, for bringing this important debate forward and for the very compelling case that he set out in his introduction. I am also grateful for the immensely valuable contributions made by other Members.

It is surely one of the primary tests of a civil society that, where it is necessary for a child or young person to be brought into care, the very best outcomes are made possible through the quality and consistency of that care, whatever financial constraints arise in the economic cycle. So many outcomes later in life are directly related to childhood experience. That is why it should be an all-party commitment that money for children’s services should be ring-fenced, including those that enable vital early help and intervention, as the noble Lord, Lord Laming, the noble Baroness, Lady Benjamin, and other noble Lords expressed so well.

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Bishop of Newcastle calls for greater support for families and kinship carers in debate on children in local authority care

The Bishop of Newcastle spoke in a debate on the number of children in local authority care in the UK on 18th April 2024, highlighting the large numbers of children in care in the North-East of England and the need for stronger support for kinship carers:

The Lord Bishop of Newcastle: My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Laming, for securing this timely debate, and particularly the noble Lord, Lord Meston, for his remarks just now, with which I strongly agree. Yesterday afternoon I attended the launch of the Child of the North APPG’s report, Children in Care in the North of England, and heard the compelling testimony of two young women, Rebekah and Kirsty, whose lives have been impacted by experiences in the care system.

The number of children entering local authority care is increasing nationally, but the north of England persistently records the highest rates of children in care. Local authorities bear the financial burden, with their budgets increasingly directed towards often unregulated private residential care providers, as other noble Lords have referred to, rather than long-term investment supporting families before they reach crisis point; a child in trouble can also be a family in trouble. We have a cycle in which cuts lead to reduced preventive services, resulting in more children entering care and budgets further spent on crisis intervention. As the Child of the North APPG heard yesterday from Amy Van Zyl, CEO of the Newcastle-based charity REFORM, there is a critical need for liberated methods of tackling systemic issues rather than overregulation, which can result in silo working, and a full recognition that deep-rooted issues of poverty are a major factor in the alarming statistics behind which are the lives of real people.

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Bishop of Durham asks about educational attainment for children in the social care system

The Bishop of Durham received the following written answers on 17th October 2023:

The Lord Bishop of Durham asked His Majesty’s Government:

  • further to the Action for Children’s report, The Educational Outcomes of Children Referred to Children’s Social Care: A Revolving Doors Report, published on 22 August, and data from the annual children in need census, what assessment they have made of the gap in educational attainment between children who have interacted with the children’s social care system, and their peers who have not.
  • what steps they are taking to improve the educational attainment and GCSE results of children who interact with the children’s social care system.
  • what steps they are taking, beyond the school gates, to provide support to children who have interacted with the children’s social care system.
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Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham asks about supported housing hosts for children in care

The Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham received the following written answer on 19th July 2023:

The Lord Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham asked His Majesty’s Government:

  • what steps they are taking to recruit more supported lodgings hosts to accommodate 16 and 17 year olds in care.
  • what support they are providing to local authorities (1) to establish new supported lodgings schemes, or (2) to expand existing schemes.

Baroness Barran (Con): The government believes that every child in the care system deserves to live in a high-quality setting that meets their needs and keeps them safe. That is why the department is investing over £140 million to introduce mandatory national standards and Ofsted registration and inspection requirements for providers of supported accommodation for 16 and 17 year old looked after children and care leavers, including supported lodgings. Ofsted began registering providers on 28 April 2023, and registration will become mandatory from 28 October 2023.

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Bishop of Gloucester asks about caring responsibilities and history of local authority care for prisoners

The Bishop of Gloucester received the following written answer on 17th July 2023:

The Lord Bishop of Gloucester asked His Majesty’s Government:

  • following the introduction of the Basic Custody Screening Tool, how many (1) men, and (2) women, currently in custody have been assessed as having primary caring responsibilities; and how many children are affected by their imprisonment.
  • how many women in prison have been identified as having previously been in local authority care in each of the last five years.
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Bishop of Durham asks about EU settlement scheme

The Bishop of Durham received the following written answers on 13th July 2021:

The Lord Bishop of Durham asked Her Majesty’s Government whether European Economic Area nationals who apply late to the EU Settlement Scheme will be permitted to have the right to work and rent while their applications are pending.

Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con, Home Office): From 1 July, right to work and right to rent checks will change and EEA citizens will be required to demonstrate eligibility through evidence of their immigration status, rather than their nationality.

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