Forum Brief: Children's Bill
A major overhaul of Britain's child protection laws has been unveiled by the government.
Children's minister Margaret Hodge outlined plans to order local authorities to bring together services for children on Thursday.
Government Response: Department for Educations and Skills
Charles Clarke, secretary of state for education and skills, said: "This Bill is the most far-reaching reform of children's services for 30 years ensuring those improving children's services is given top priority at all levels. We are placing children and their families at the heart of the services we provide.
"We are embarking on a long term programme of change for children. The Children Bill will put in place the legislative steps, but the reforms are about much more than legislative changes. Our response to the consultation on the Children's Green Paper sets out our vision for a new approach in which the needs of children and families are given higher priority both nationally and locally."
Government Response: Department of Health
John Reid, secretary of state for health, said: "The NHS along with education, social services, and the police - has a vital contribution to make to improving the outcomes for children and young people at all stages in their lives.
"The Children's National Service Framework (NSF), published later this year will set standards for improving the delivery of health and social services for children, young people, and maternity services.
"It will cover universal services for children, and address the needs of particular groups such as those with disabilities, mental health problems, and children in hospital. The NSF will help ensure that care services meet children's needs, that the right services can be accessed at the right time and that children and their families play an active part in making decisions about their care.
"Yesterday we announced a major public consultation on improving the nation's health, including that of children. This will look at roles and responsibilities for everyone in exploring how best to tackle a range of health issues, including improving diet and exercise for all children."
Party Response: Liberal Democrats
Annette Brooke, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for children, said: "As this is the first piece of major legislation for children in 30 years, it is vital that we improve the protection of vulnerable children - paying lip service to the problem is not enough.
"The Children's Commissioner must have the power to carry out investigations without interference from the government.
"This Bill is to be welcomed, in particular the appointment of a Children's Commissioner and the drive to ensure fully integrated working between education, social services, health and the police.
"But these proposals must have real teeth in order to effect necessary changes. Detailed scrutiny will be required throughout the Bill to ensure this."
Forum Response: Royal College of Nursing
Beverly Malone, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said: "We have been arguing for some time that a children's commissioner is appointed in England with the power to address the urgent issue of improving protection for children. We welcome the fact that they are independent, while being accountable to parliament, and consequently will have significant power to change old ways of working.
"Nurses in all settings have a huge role to play in detecting signs of abuse or neglect and communicating with their education and social services colleagues to ensure timely and effective intervention.
"We applaud the prime minister's recommendation of a nurse in every school, as they are well placed to open up vital channels of communication with young people. With health staff working closely with teachers and social workers, we believe that the quality of children's lives will be better guarded and terrible tragedies avoided."
Forum Response: General Social Care Council
Rodney Brooke, General Social Care Council chairman, told ePolitix.com: "Children's needs must take centre stage in service design.
"A child in need must have access to a team of different professionals, working together to bring their own unique skills and experience to deliver high quality care. We welcome the recognition of the importance of social work in child protection and believe that the new social work training, that began last October, will equip them better than ever for this vital work.
"Social workers are ideally placed to use their skills in assessment and partnership working to play an extremely effective role in these teams, working with other professions to put the needs of the child first.
"We welcome the bill's focus on driving up the quality of services to protect and support children. The GSCC looks forward to building on the new foundations set out today to improve the life chances of all children and to ensure that services are designed to prevent children falling through the gaps between professionals. Along with our codes of practice for social care workers, the new bill will help to prevent children falling through the net."
Forum Response: National Union of Teachers
Doug McAvoy, NUT general secretary, said: "I welcome the intentions of the Children Bill and the establishment of a Commissioner for Children.
"There must be no more tragedies like the Victoria Climbie case. The government is going to have to be very careful about the potential for confusion and increased bureaucracy in some of its proposals.
"The role of the teacher is to help identify signs of possible abuse. It is for others to take the necessary action.
"Schools need someone at local authority level who has the power to get action taken immediately if teachers suspect neglect or abuse. Local authorities must act fast and effectively.
"I would be concerned if government sought to impose structural change on authorities which had the potential for increased bureaucracy rather than increased support."
Forum Response: National Care Standards Commission
David Behan, chief inspector of the Commission for Social Care Inspection, said: "This Bill is a welcome step towards ensuring that services are built around children, rather than children being fitted around services. The proposals for service developments recognise the necessity of taking a joined-up approach to the provision of services for children.
"The Bill is a good response to the consultation around the Green Paper Every Child Matters. It takes forward many of the recommendations that followed the Victoria Climbie tragedy, which demonstrated the importance of putting social care at the heart of children’s services, for example putting on a statutory footing the Local Safeguarding Children Boards.
"We also welcome the creation of a Children’s Commissioner whose remit is for all children, and look forward to working with that office.
"We hope to see a very thorough debate during the passage of this Bill about the proposals that schools be the primary driving force in developing an integrated approach to children’s services. Looked after children have told us strongly how important it is to protect their confidentiality, and many of them already feel alienated from the school environment. Our concern is that there is a danger that this proposal could lead to further social exclusion."
Forum Response: British Youth Council
Blossom Young, chair of BYC, said: "We fervently welcome the new Children's Bill and in particular the creation of a Children's Commissioner for children and young people in England.
"However we will be calling on MPs and peers to strengthen the legislation as it goes through parliament. The government in the Green Paper Every Child Matters, promised children and young people a champion independent of government, but the legislation only allows the commissioner to carry out formal investigations through the direction of the secretary of state.
"BYC would also argue that the new Children's Commissioner and Children's Trusts need to ensure that over 16's are not forgotten. The Children's Commissioner needs to be an advocate for children and young people and put children and young people at the heart of decision making and of all policy decisions which affect them.
"The Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland commissioners have the general function of safeguarding and promoting the rights of children and young people, but the England Commissioner seems to be confined to promoting the views and interests of children and young people - without the mention of rights."
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