Election 2017: a battle to ensure children's policies gain attention

If early campaigning is anything to go by, Brexit looks set to dominate most of the debate and media airtime in the upcoming general election campaign.

The impact of Brexit on the UK economy and society is still to be fully understood, and will hinge on the type of deal achieved by the future government in its negotiations with the European Union (EU). The outcome of the general election on 8 June will be key in deciding whether it is a "hard" or "soft" Brexit pursued.

The Conservatives are promising to push for full withdrawal from the customs union, free movement of workers agreement and European single market, while opposition parties are proposing a more cautious approach.

For the children and families sector, Brexit looks set to bring significant change whatever the outcome of the election. Recognising this, leading children's charities have identified a core set of issues that need to be addressed to ensure vulnerable children's rights and welfare are to be protected (see box).

In the current media climate, it will be challenging for children and family welfare issues, and the future of services for them, to get much airtime. However, Children England chief executive Kathy Evans urges politicians to ensure the election campaign does not become too focused on the UK's relationship with the EU at the expense of issues affecting children and families.

"This general election has already been dubbed by some as Brexit Referendum II, but it will still be the election that decides a whole government agenda for the next five years.

"All manifesto commitments and policy debates on council funding, welfare and benefits, the NHS, schools funding, grammar schools and the housing crisis are critical issues for millions of children and families."

With party election manifestos being drawn up and campaigners across a range of sectors developing policy "asks", here is a summary of the issues.

Public health spending

At the 2010 general election, recruiting more health visitors was a key pledge of the Conservatives. A programme of recruitment under the coalition government saw 4,000 more health visitors employed by the NHS by April 2015.

However, since the transfer of public health commissioning to councils in autumn 2015, the workforce has shrunk 10 per cent, with unions blaming public sector funding cuts.

Union Unite, which incorporates the Community Practitioners' and Health Visitors' Association, plans to lobby parliamentary candidates about the need to protect public health spending, which funds early years checks, school nursing and health promotion services.

Lead professional officer Obi Amadi says: "We want to highlight to prospective parliamentary candidates that the progress on health visitor numbers in recent years can't be allowed to slide, otherwise it will be families with young children and babies who will suffer. NHS health visitor numbers have been dropping consistently since October 2015.

"The government needs to secure the future of community nursing by increasing and ringfencing money for these public health professions and the vital work they carry out with families on a daily basis."

Future shape of schools

In March, the government published proposals for a new national funding formula to set school budgets. The formula aims to address historical disparities in levels of funding between some urban and rural areas, but has been criticised for taking money away from areas in the south of England, such as West Sussex, that are already struggling to meet rising demand for school places.

In addition, recent research by the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and Child Poverty Action Group suggest pupils attending schools in the most deprived areas will on average be harder hit by the proposed funding changes than those in the most affluent areas.

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has warned that the shortage of schools funding is resulting in a rise in class sizes, which could affect the quality of education children receive.

Amanda Brown, NUT assistant general secretary, says school funding will be a "huge" issue during campaigning.

"Parents, head teachers and governors have not been fooled by the government's rhetoric on school funding - they have tangible evidence of the havoc insufficient funding is having including reduced staffing levels, dropping arts subjects from the curriculum and even looking at reducing the hours schools are open."

Meanwhile, creating 600,000 additional school places by 2020 to keep pace with the anticipated rise in demand is also likely to be debated. The government wants much of this additional capacity to be created through building 500 new "free schools", while Labour says the ban on councils being allowed to open new schools needs to be lifted.

A report by parliament's public accounts committee has slammed the free schools policy as not delivering value for money and called the government's approach to funding new school places as "increasingly incoherent".

Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, says: "The government must get a grip. It must reinstate local authorities into the planning and provision of school places, and demonstrate that funding will be made available to stop school buildings deteriorating further."

30 hours free childcare

From September, parents of every three- and four-year-old who meet earnings and work eligibility criteria will be entitled to 30 hours of government-funded childcare.

The key policy from the Conservatives' 2015 general election manifesto has been criticised by early years groups for being under-funded. They warn that unless the government raises the amount they pay providers for participating in the scheme, there will be insufficient places for parents come September.

Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association, says the early years sector is not confident about delivering 30 hours, particularly when there is a workforce crisis.

"The danger now, though, is that there will be a fresh bidding war between political parties all intent on grabbing the attention of those hard-working, squeezed-middle families," she says. "We may see new, hastily-drafted promises that would be untenable in practice.

"More free childcare is only good news for anyone if it's properly funded. We have already suggested that the government could delay 30 hours to undertake more consultation and get the funding right. If 8 June provides the opportunity to step back and rethink, so much the better."

Children's social care

Much of the attention in social care will be on how to meet rising demand in adult services and the impact this has on the NHS. Many of the government's priorities in children's social care have been incorporated into the Children and Social Work Bill, set to receive Royal Assent imminently.

However, Maddie Jennings, parliamentary officer at the British Association of Social Workers, says the Conservatives could resurrect proposals to allow councils to be exempt from certain aspects of children's legislation.

"There might be something around the ‘exemption clause' put in [to the manifesto]," Jennings says. "There are people in the DfE who would like to see that happen, and it is an easy thing to put in a manifesto as it is nebulous. It may be written in language like ‘guaranteeing high quality services through innovation'."

Meanwhile, the Association of Directors of Children's Services wants the political parties to put forward ideas for how vulnerable children and families will be supported.

Alison Michalska, association president, says: "Our services do not look like they did a decade ago as a result of significant funding reductions from central government, and - despite local authorities having worked hard to minimise the impact of these cuts on our communities by innovating and collaborating - children's services face a £1.9bn funding gap by 2020.

"We have to have a realistic picture of what the impact of these cuts has been and will be in the future. We cannot allow this election to overshadow the ever-deepening pressures on children's social care and in our schools."

Young people's views

As young people's views were largely absent from the Brexit debate, the British Youth Council (BYC) has urged the main parties to give young people an opportunity to influence general election discussions.

In an open letter, BYC has called on the main party leaders to make an explicit commitment to represent young people's demands in their manifestos. Particular issues it wants addressed include improving child mental health provision, creating a "real living wage" and reversing cuts to council youth services.

The letter states: "We can show you that younger generations are united on the big issues that will shape their future. Now more than ever, their overwhelming demand to be part of the political process must be acted upon.

"As the generation that will live longest with the outcome of Britain's withdrawal from the EU, we ask you to recognise that young people can have a positive impact on the Brexit negotiations and give real legitimacy to the process."

CHILDREN AND BREXIT

The Children's Society and National Children's Bureau are calling on political parties to adopt three policies relating to Brexit and its impact on children during election campaigning and in negotiations with the EU. These are:

• Ensure the residence rights of children from EU countries are made in the best interests of the child, rather than based on the employment history of parents
• Ensure the UK has continued membership of Europol and Eurojust, or that an agreement is in place for cooperation with these bodies to maintain and improve safeguarding for children
• Commit to retain or replace provision for children in disadvantaged communities currently paid for through the European Social Fund