NCAS conference: Labour warns of 'exemption clause' privatisation risk

Emma Lewell-Buck, a former frontline child protection worker who was appointed to Labour's education team last month, said the Children and Social Work Bill, in which the proposals are contained, is "the most dangerous pieces of legislation" she has seen in her three years in parliament.

"They say this is to allow local authorities to innovate, yet many local authorities already innovate and have not needed changes in primary legislation to do so," she told delegates at the National Children and Adult Services Conference in Manchester.?

"I remember all too well frustrations in practice, but many of the things social workers find prohibitive, such as excessive case recording, are in secondary legislation, guidance, or part of the custom or practice of their particular local authority. All of this can be changed without primary legislation.

"But so far, despite repeated requests, the government has been unable to say where in the sector this demand to exempt them from legislation came from."

Lewell-Buck said she fears the government has a different agenda, one that is "rooted in rolling back the state's responsibility".

??"As local authority budgets continue to be decimated, outsourcing may seem an option," she said. ??

"But there is no money to be made in good, robust child protection that follows legislation. So, remove the legislation, and the private sector might show some interest, opening up the protection of the most vulnerable children in our country to the market where we all know their protection and welfare will cease to be the overriding concern.

"This is poor legislation at its best, making dangerous and fundamental reforms to children's social work without consultation, without any evidential base, without any robust assessment - and what's worst of all, it's a bill about children and social workers with no input at all from children or social workers.

Lewell-Buck also criticised the government for a lack of progress on improving the child protection system. ??"When I was still in practice, I was deeply concerned about the direction the government was taking," she said.

?"Seeing it up close, this concern has turned to sheer alarm. It is this government, not social workers, not local authorities, that is failing our most vulnerable children."

??She referred to a report published last month by the National Audit Office, which pointed out that although the DfE has taken a number of steps to improve the system since 2010, demand for help is rising.

"I'm the first one to appreciate that getting things right for children and families is far from an easy task," she said.

??"It's difficult and it's complex. Successive governments have battled with how to provide the best and safest social care for children. But there are now hundreds of research reports to go on, so we should be seeing some action and some results, but we are not.

??She said that despite attempts to implemented the Munro report, the introduction of Step Up to Social Work, Frontline, the innovation programme, What Works centres, Partners in Practice, the intervention regime and the publication of the Putting Children First strategy, there are yet to be any positive results for vulnerable children.

"My view is that's because they are missing the absolute basics - what is needed in the social work profession is continuity, stability and confidence," she added.