Answering questions from the Education Select Committee, Ford said that during this “unprecedented time” there would be “focus on giving flexibility to lower risk areas, so that local authorities can focus on core safeguarding areas”.
The minister said, during the first-ever Education Select Committee meeting to be held remotely, that new guidance on the legislation is set to be released “shortly” yet did not give a specific timeframe for this.
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She added that supporting care leavers was a “priority” for the government, noting that on Sunday, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announced that looked-after children turning 18 during the crisis would not be forced to leave their placement immediately.
Ford added that said that councils had been asked to follow up on safeguarding issues as normal and prioritise “the most vulnerable”, including looked-after children, at-risk children and those under child protection plans.
The minister did not specify which “low-risk areas” would receive “flexible” treatment during the pandemic.
Ian Mearns, MP for Gateshead, said local authorities' capacity has been “hollowed out” and asked Ford what was being done to “ensure that councils are receiving resources to cope with the pandemic”.
She said: “Local authorities have received a funding boost for both adult and children's services with a focus on certain groups, including care leavers.”
The minister was also questioned on relaxed rules around EHC plans, which parents have been told may take longer to come into force during the pandemic, to which she said she “understood” parents' concerns but did not reveal plans to speed up the process amid the crisis.
She was further quizzed on new Department for Education statistics that reveal just five per cent of children classed as vulnerable by the government had attended school over Easter.
Asked whether this should be made compulsory, Ford replied: “Children with a social worker are expected to attend school, and if they do not then social workers are expected to work with schools to keep 'eyes' on them.”
The questions come just days after a coalition of children’s charities and organisations, led by Just for Kids Law, wrote to Williamson calling for “misleading guidance” on council’s responsibilities to vulnerable groups of young people, including care leavers and looked-after children, to be changed, warning that they “need more support, not less” during the crisis.
The group brands government advice to councils to “do their best to meet statutory duties” for care leavers, including providing personal advisers and preparing or reviewing pathway plans, as “unacceptable”.
Carolyne Willow, director of children’s rights charity Article 39, who signed the letter, said: “It’s completely understandable that services have had to adapt to the extenuating circumstances of this pandemic. But it is also vital that the government puts out accurate information about the law and the rights and entitlements of those who rely on children’s social care services.
“Government guidance cannot be used to remove legal protections when there has been no change to legislation.”
