House of Commons Children, Schools and Families Committee Looked-after Children Third Report of Session 2008–09 Volume II Oral and written evidence Ordered by The House of Commons to be printed 9 March 2009 HC 111-II Incorporating HC 442-i to -x, Session 2007–08 Published on 20 April 2009 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £0.00 The Children, Schools and Families Committee The Children, Schools and Families Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Children, Schools and Families and its associated public bodies. Membership at time Report agreed Mr Barry Sheerman MP (Labour, Huddersfield) (Chairman) Annette Brooke MP (Liberal Democrat, Mid Dorset & Poole North) Mr Douglas Carswell MP (Conservative, Harwich) Mr David Chaytor MP (Labour, Bury North) Mr John Heppell MP (Labour, Nottingham East) Mrs Sharon Hodgson MP (Labour, Gateshead East & Washington West) Paul Holmes MP (Liberal Democrat, Chesterfield) Fiona Mactaggart MP (Labour, Slough) Mr Andrew Pelling MP (Independent, Croydon Central) Mr Andy Slaughter MP (Labour, Ealing, Acton & Shepherd’s Bush) Mr Graham Stuart MP (Conservative, Beverley & Holderness) Mr Edward Timpson MP (Conservative, Crewe & Nantwich) Derek Twigg MP (Labour, Halton) Lynda Waltho MP (Labour, Stourbridge) Powers The Committee is one of the departmental select committees, the powers of which are set out in House of Commons Standing Orders, principally in SO No 152. These are available on the Internet via www.parliament.uk Publications The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the Internet at www.parliament.uk/csf/ Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are Kenneth Fox (Clerk), Sarah Thatcher, (Second Clerk), Emma Wisby (Committee Specialist), Judith Boyce (Committee Specialist), Jenny Nelson (Senior Committee Assistant), Susan Ramsay (Committee Assistant), and Jim Lawford (Committee Support Assistant). Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk of the Children, Schools and Families Committee, House of Commons, 7 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 6181; the Committee’s e- mail address is [email protected] Witnesses Wednesday 19 March 2008 Page Dr Roger Morgan OBE, Children’s Rights Director for England; Maxine Wrigley, Chief Executive, A National Voice; Martin Narey, Chair of the Future of the Care Population Care Matters Working Group and Chief Executive of Barnardo’s; and Pam Hibbert, Assistant Director-Policy, Barnardo’s Ev 6 Wednesday 26 March 2008 Margaret Dillon, Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director of Children’s Services, NCH; Mary MacLeod, Chief Executive, Family and Parenting Institute; Anne Scarborough, Association of Directors of Children’s Services; and Professor Jane Tunstill, Visiting Professor of Social Work at King’s College, London Ev 35 Monday 21 April 2008 Professor Ian Sinclair, Research Professor, Children and Young People’s Social Work Team, University of York; Robert Tapsfield, Chief Executive, The Fostering Network; and Kevin Williams, Chief Executive, The Adolescent Ev 63 and Children’s Trust (TACT) Monday 28 April 2008 Helen Chambers, Principal Officer, Well-being, National Children’s Bureau (NCB); Sue Dunstall, Policy Adviser, National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC); Dr Rita Harris, The Care Matters Partnership; and Dr Catherine M Hill, Chair of the Health Group Advisory Committee at the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) Ev 96 Monday 12 May 2008 Celia Atherton, Director, Research in Practice; Jane Haywood, Chief Executive, Children’s Workforce Development Council; Professor Julian Le Grand, Professor of Social Policy, London School of Economics; and Steve Ev 119 Titcombe, Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council David Crimmens, Principal Lecturer, School of Health and Social Care, University of Lincoln; Jane Haywood, Chief Executive, Children’s Workforce Development Council; and Professor Pat Petrie, Professor of Education, Ev 129 Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London Monday 2 June 2008 Professor Mike Stein, Social Policy Research Unit, University of York; Martin Hazlehurst, Service Manager, National Leaving Care Advisory Service (NLCAS), John Hill, National Manager, What Makes the Difference? Project (WMTD); and Steve Hillman, Policy and Research Manager, The Foyer Federation Ev 147 Monday 23 June 2008 Bob Ashford, Head of Youth Justice Strategy, Youth Justice Board (YJB); Chris Callender, Assistant Director (Legal), Howard League for Penal Reform; and Dr Di Hart, Principal Officer, Youth Justice and Welfare, Ev 173 National Children’s Bureau (NCB) Lisa Nandy, Chair, Refugee Children’s Consortium (RCC) Ev 185 Monday 30 June 2008 Trevor Jones, National Co-ordinator, Parents Against Injustice (PAIN); and Jean Robinson, Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services Ev 204 (AIMS) Kim Bromley-Derry, Vice President, Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS); David Holmes, Chief Executive, British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF); Caroline Little, Co-Chair, Association of Lawyers for Children; and Mick Lowe, Director of Strategy, General Social Care Council (GSCC) Ev 216 Monday 27 October 2008 Cllr Les Lawrence, Chair of the Children and Young People’s Board, and Caroline Abrahams, Programme Director for Children and Young People, Local Government Association; Marion Davis, Director of Children’s Services, Warwickshire County Council; Steve Goodman, Deputy Director of Children and Young People’s Services, London Borough of Hackney; and Pauline Newman, Director of Children’s Services, Manchester City Council Ev 237 Wednesday 29 October 2008 The Baroness Morgan of Drefelin, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Children, Schools and Families Ev 257 Wednesday 17 December 2008 Colin Green, Safeguarding spokesman, Association of Directors of Children’s Services; Henrietta Heawood, British Association of Social Workers; Professor Judith Masson, Professor of Socio-legal Studies, University of Bristol; and Dr Rosalyn Proops, Officer for Child Protection, Royal College of Ev 276 Paediatrics and Child Health List of written evidence Page 1 Barnardo’s Ev 1: Ev 25 2 Family and Parenting Institute Ev 27 3 Action for Children (formerly NCH) Ev 29: Ev 53 4 The Fostering Network Ev 54 5 Care Matters Partnership Ev 79 6 National Children’s Bureau’s Healthy Care Programme Ev 84 7 NSPCC Ev 90 8 British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) Ev 111 9 Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) Ev 115: Ev 137 10 Research in Practice Ev 117 11 The Foyer Federation Ev 141 12 What Makes the Difference? and National Leaving Care Advisory Service at Rainer (NLCAS) Ev 144 13 Howard League for Penal Reform Ev 161 14 National Children’s Bureau (NCB) Ev 166 15 Youth Justice Board for England and Wales (YJB) Ev 169: Ev 194 16 Refugee Children’s Consortium (RCC) Ev 182 17 The Children’s Society Ev 194 18 Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services (AIMS) Ev 197 19 Parents Against Injustice (PAIN) Ev 201: Ev 209 20 Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) Ev 211: Ev 294 21 The General Social Care Council (GSCC) Ev 213: Ev 229 22 Local Government Association Ev 231 23 London Borough of Hackney Ev 233 24 The Baroness Morgan of Drefelin, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) Ev 271 25 Shared Care Network Ev 295 26 Volunteer Reading Help Ev 298 27 School-Home Support Ev 299 28 Association of Child Psychotherapists (ACP) Ev 302 29 Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) Ev 308 30 Christine Gilbert CBE, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Ofsted Ev 311 31 New Economics Foundation (nef) Ev 318: Ev 322 32 Every Disabled Child Matters campaign (EDCM) Ev 327 33 Family Rights Group Ev 329 34 Save the Children Ev 336 35 Sally Brown, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Assessment, Learning and Teaching; Inder Hunjan, Access and Community Development Manager; and Katrina Kennedy, Widening Participation Project Manager, Leeds Metropolitan University Ev 339 36 National Centre for Excellence in Residential Child Care (NCERCC) Ev 341 List of unprinted written evidence The following memoranda have been reported to the House, but to save printing costs they have not been printed and copies have been placed in the House of Commons Library, where they may be inspected by Members. Other copies are in the Parliamentary Archives, and are available to the public for inspection. Requests for inspection should be addressed to The Parliamentary Archives, Houses of Parliament, London SW1A 0PW (tel. 020 7219 3074). Opening hours are from 9.30 am to 5.00 pm on Mondays to Fridays. False Allegations Support Organisation Analysis toolkit of statistics from Ofsted John Hemming MP Processed: 03-04-2009 18:56:27 Page Layout: COENEW [SO] PPSysB Job: 396025 Unit: PAG1 Children, Schools and Families Committee: Evidence Ev 1 Oral evidence Taken before the Children, Schools and Families Committee on Wednesday 19 March 2008 Members present: Mr Barry Sheerman, in the Chair Annette Brooke Paul Holmes Mr Douglas Carswell Fiona Mactaggart Mr David Chaytor Lynda Waltho Mr John Heppell Memorandum submitted by Barnardo’s 1.ExecutiveSummary 1.1 Barnardo’s would like to see a requirement for robust protocols between local