In the last month, the All Party Parliamentary Group for Children held two meetings:

• Monday 8 May 2006 – Children’s Workforce.  With presentations from Rt Hon. Baroness Morris of Yardley (Chair, Children’s Workforce Development Council) and Paul Ennals (Chair, Children’s Workforce Network). 
• Wednesday 17 May 2006 – Education and Inspections Bill.  With a presentation by Jim Knight MP, the new Minister for Schools.  

Children’s Workforce

This meeting was an opportunity to discuss progress being made in the development of the children and young people’s workforce.  Baroness Morris of Yardley and Paul Ennals provided an overview of the establishment of the Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) and the Children’s Workforce Network (CWN) respectively, and addressed how these organisations are working to take forward the Government’s Children’s Workforce Strategy. 

Rt Hon Baroness Morris emphasised the importance of all people working with children and young people at what is often their most important age, or at times when they are most vulnerable.  One of the key challenges facing the workforce is poor pay, including little recognition of training and responsibility through pay.  People often enter the workforce because it fits with their family life, but not due to any great ambitions, leading to a casualised workforce with high turnover. There is also a lack of clear career paths for progression or for crossing between areas within the sector.

Over the next 3 years, CWDC will be developing an Integrated Qualifications Framework with common core skills, more specialisation and bridges between careers within the sector.  The Council has published results of its consultation on common induction standards, is consulting on standards for the early years professional, and is working to develop qualifications for foster carers.  One of the difficulties facing the CWDC, according to Baroness Morris, is the fact that the workforce and parents are not actually clamouring for children’s workforce development.  Other challenges include funding, delivering training in smaller settings, and pay and conditions in the sector.  

Paul Ennals informed the Group that CWN was set up to facilitate joining up at every level – especially at the level of training, and to develop paths for career progression, common understanding, and joined up working.  The CWN is made up of national workforce bodies, regulators, and local government.  Paul said that CWDC has the special role of ensuring that the joining up actually works. 

One of the network’s key priorities is to develop the Common Core & National Occupational Standards, and to ensure that these are embedded in training of all members of workforce.  The network will also contribute to the development of the Integrated Qualifications Framework and a children’s workforce diploma for 14-19 year-olds.  Transition Pathways will be developed, mapping out how professionals can move between roles within the sector. 

The CWN will also carry out data analysis, work to remodel roles around the child instead of the professional, and develop leadership and management skills that cut across the sector.  One challenge facing the network is to ensure that the workforce is joined up, but distinctive, and that shared working is core business.  CWN will work to ease professional anxieties, as some members of the workforce will ask, “This was not how I was trained 20 years ago, so how is this going to affect me?”

Education and Inspections Bill

This meeting was an opportunity to discuss the Education and Inspections Bill with the new Minister for Schools, Jim Knight MP.  The Minister made a short presentation, outlining his views on the Bill’s key measures and their impact on children, young people and parents.   He identified the Bill as a real step forward, giving parents and children more of a voice, and forming cohesion with the Every Child Matters programme.  The presentation was followed by questions and discussion.

The Minister outlined the Government’s amendments relating to looked after children. The local authority will decide on a school that is most appropriate for the child’s needs, while the chosen school will have the right to appeal if appropriate.  These measures would also apply to children who move in to care mid-school year. 

It was confirmed that new statutory guidance to be published by DfES in September 2006 will reflect a commitment to giving children a voice within the exclusions process.  The Minister also hopes that guidance on reintegration interviews will recommend the inclusion of children as part of normal practice. 

He confirmed that the Children’s Rights Director’s role would continue to have the same scope when it moves from CSCI to the new Ofsted.   Continuing with children’s rights, attendees expressed concerns that the Bill confers more rights on parents than children, and called for children to have a statutory right to participate in schools.  The Minister was informed that guidance on pupil participation was not known to all local authorities.  DfES is looking to reissue this guidance, to which local authorities must “have regard”, and hope this will address communications issues. 

The Minister confirmed that there was no Government presumption regarding the closure of special schools.  He said that any decision on whether special education needs provision should be within or without mainstream settings should depend on what was the best for the needs of the child. 

The Minister agreed with concerns regarding high vacancy rates for head teachers. He said that the National College for School Leadership (NCSL) is doing good work with the existing head teachers, and also to bring forward the next generation of school leaders.  He added that the disciplinary measures in the Bill will provide needed clarity for head teachers, and that collaboration and federation opportunities will allow for the flexibility required to relieve head teachers of their bureaucratic burdens.

Members of the Group emphasised the importance of welfare as well as education.  Some felt that the fit between the Bill and the Every Child Matters (ECM) programme was not as good as it could be, and there were concerns that schools were being isolated into an education agenda. 

Concerns regarding the disciplinary measures in the Bill were also raised.  The Minister was asked about measures to consult all parents, but only a sample of pupils, on behavioural policies, and about the Bill’s focus on the behaviour of the pupils alone.  He was asked to clarify which staff could enforce penalties and ensure procedures are followed.  Responding to this final point, the Minister said that the head teacher would authorise members of staff to issue penalties, authority would vary with the type of penalty, and that further clarification will come with the publication of the code of practice.

Future Meetings

The following meetings have been arranged for June:

• Tuesday 13 June – Paediatric Medicines: a joint meeting with the APPG for Pharmaceutical Industries.  With speakers: Judith Cope (Chief Pharmacist, Great Ormond Street Hospital); Dr Sheila Shribman (National Clinical Director for Children); Professor Rosalind Smyth (Professor of Paediatric Medicine, University of Liverpool and Director of the Co-ordinating Centre for the UK Medicines for Children Research Network); Kedge Martin (Chief Executive, WellChild).

• Monday 26 June – Directors of Children’s Services.  An opportunity to learn about local authorities’ approaches to the role, with speakers: David Hawker (Chair, Association of Directors of Education and Children’s Services and DCS at Brighton & Hove); Terry Piggott (DCS at Rochdale); and Andrew Webster (Director of Family Services at Surrey). 

• Tuesday 27 June – Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Bill (rescheduled from early May).  An opportunity to discuss measures in the Bill with the new junior minister with responsibility for children, young people and families, Parmjit Dhanda MP.  

In the last month, the All Party Parliamentary Group for Children has held one meeting:

Monday 24 April 2006 – Children’s Rights in Practice

With presentations from Lotis Bautista and Nisha Wilkinson (representatives of Young NCB), Christine Smart (Children’s Rights Director, CAFCASS), and Dr Roger Morgan (Children’s Rights Director, CSCI), this meeting was an opportunity to discuss how the Children’s Rights principles enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Human Rights Act 1998, are being embedded in practice.

Lotis Bautista and Nisha Wilkinson, St Marylebone School and representatives of Young NCB, told the group how they felt children’s rights principles were being implemented, based on their own personal experiences.  For example, Nisha said that their school was adhering to Article 12 (children have a right to give their opinion, and to be listened to and taken seriously by adults), through the school council, which gives pupils their own voice, and ensures that their views are heard and acted upon.  Through the council the pupils were able to feed into ideas for developing the school, and they now have a new gym, theatre and art rooms thanks to council pressure.  

In another example, Lotis said that Article 42, which says that children have the right to know their rights, and that adults should also know about these rights and help children learn about them, was not being properly implemented.  She and Nisha did not know of the Convention before they began preparation for the meeting.  She stressed that more needs to be done to publicise children’s rights and ensure that children and young people are aware of them. 

Other Articles of the Convention addressed by Lotis and Nisha were: Article 2, (the Convention applies to everyone, whatever their race, religion, abilities etc.); Article 14 (right to choose their own religion and beliefs); Article 17 (right to get information that is important to their well being); and Article 29 (children’s education should help them use and develop their talents and abilities, help them learn to live peacefully, protect the environment and respect other people).  

Christine Smart, Children’s Rights Director, Cafcass, gave an overview of her aims as Director of Children’s Rights at Cafcass, and examples of work already done to involve young people in the development of systems and processes within the organisation. 

Cafcass aims to champion children throughout Cafcass and externally, working with other organisations; to ensure that all its polices and practice models are child-centred; to manage and improve Cafcass’s reputation as a child-centred organisation; and to involve children in all areas and at all levels of Cafcass’s work.  Young people will influence every aspect of processes, from strategy to training of staff.  For example, in the last twelve months, a pilot in the North West involved young people in the recruitment of twenty Family Courts Advisors.   Christine said that participation alone is not enough.  The focus of children’s rights work in this area should be the impact on outcomes. 

Over the last 12 months, Cafcass has consulted young people with experience of family proceedings on:

• What advice they would give to professionals working with children and young people who are going through family proceedings.
• What advice they would give to separating parents.
• What qualities/attitudes professionals should have.
• How they have experienced the care planning system, how it could be improved, and how they would advise other young people on care planning.

Christine concluded by outlining Cafcass’s Charter for Change:

• Facilitate our Young People to tell us what’s important to them
• Find out & get to know how they feel about the situation.
• Involve them in their Care plan.
• Do not contribute to their emotional homelessness.
• Let them disagree.
• Offer them choices and empower them with information.
• Help them make a complaint.
• Support them in planning for tough times.
• Prepare them in keeping safe, not just for now but also for the future 

Roger Morgan, Children’s Rights Director, Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI), consults children and publishes their views, advises on children’s rights within and outside CSCI, and follows up individual cases.  These duties are carried out for children and young people living away from home or supported by Councils’ Social Services.   Roger provided an overview of the sources of children’s rights, namely: UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Human Rights Act 1998, key provisions in legislation (in particular the Children Act 1989), and Regulations and National Minimum Standards. 

Roger told the group that at a children’s rights conference in Legoland with 700 children, the children agreed with the Government’s 5 outcomes for children, but also identified some additional outcomes: family, friends, having enough food and drink, fun, love and respect.

Roger then outlined the consultation duties in the Children Act 1989 and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.  He emphasised: the duty to do something about the views and feelings expressed by children; the importance of a child’s degree of understanding and ability; and the inclusion of “feelings” in the Children’s Act 1989.  Roger also stressed that it is an offence for those running children’s homes or fostering services not to consult children in those services on the quality of the home or service, and the development of the home or service.

The factors that make a good consultation were addressed, and Roger emphasised the importance of reporting back to those consulted, whether positive or negative.  He then listed top messages from children and young people including: “Treat us as an individual who happens to be young – not as part of a mass called ‘children’” and “Listen to the quiet children too”.  This was followed by examples where regulations had been changed in direct response to consultation with young people.

Roger concluded by informing the group that children and young people will be taking part in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Review Process, where the UK’s progress in meeting the Convention will be assessed.  The next children’s rights conference will be devoted to picking up messages from children on how they think the UK is doing, and these views will go to the Government and to the UN, and they will be published. 

The following meetings have been arranged for May:

• Monday 8 May – Children’s Workforce.  With presentations by Baroness Morris of Yardley (Chair, Children’s Workforce Development Council) and Paul Ennals (Chair, Children’s Workforce Network).
• Tuesday 9 May – Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Bill, with a presentation by Maria Eagle MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at DfES and Lead Minister on the Bill.
• Wednesday 17 May – Education and Inspections Bill.  With a presentation by Rt Hon Jacqui Smith MP, Minister for Schools.