New clauses allow the government to introduce the safeguarding targets Lord Laming recommended in his report, and to require local authorities to appoint two members of the public to local safeguarding children boards (LSCBs). The clauses also require LSCBs to publish an annual public report and submit it to their local children's trust.
Children's Secretary Ed Balls said the government would publish the new targets in the autumn following consultation.
Shadow children's minister Tim Loughton said: "Social workers at the sharp end tell us targets prevent them from doing their job, distort their job priorities and make them spend more time with their computers and paperwork than with the vulnerable families and children they want to help." But Balls said the government would remove "targets that get in the way of proper practice".
Liberal Democrat shadow children's minister Annette Brook put forward concerns about the role and status of the public members of the safeguarding boards, and Loughton suggested they would find it difficult to make their voices heard. He said: "We need to open up LSCBs much more. It will probably take more than just the appointment of two laypersons among a cast of thousand to do that."
Balls said the government's forthcoming review of its Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance would include more detail on how the laypersons will be recruited, rewarded, and supported.
The full Children, Apprentices, Skills and Education Bill debate can be viewed here.
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