DfE must serve children, not our sitcom writers

Loughton came armed with some TV drama soundbites from his own youth. Education Secretary Michael Gove was portrayed thus: “Most officials have never met the Secretary of State other than when he will troop out a few chosen people for the New Year party, Mr Grace-like from Grace Brothers [from department store sitcom Are You Being Served?], and tell us we’ve all done terribly well and then disappear.” Culturally, the DfE, he said, suffered an Upstairs, Downstairs mentality, with ministers posted on the (top) 7th floor.

Behind Loughton’s headline-friendly gibes, however, lied a more devastating critique of a government department he claims is inefficient and utterly neglectful of policy on children and families. The Upstairs, Downstairs culture appears to have thwarted decision making: “When I wanted a quick chat with a particular official with a query, it had to be a diarised meeting and that person was summoned,” he said. “Occasionally, I played hooky and actually went to another floor and it was like a state visit.” He recalls how he “literally had to give my private office the slip in order to have a two-minute conversation with an official”. This is the stuff of Yes Minister and The Thick of It rolled into one.

The children’s and families agenda, he said, was a declining priority next to the “bulldozer” that is schools reform, with “one-way traffic” of officials moving from the former to the latter. Specifically, he warned that safeguarding reform appears to have stalled, with the new version of Working Together to Safeguard Children still pending and progress slow in seeing through the Munro child protection reforms. Youth policy, Loughton said, is “not taken seriously enough”, as he claimed he produced the Positive for Youth policy document in spite of the department, rather than with its help. A separate education select committee report on governance and leadership at the department last autumn suggested similar failings on non-schools policy.

Perhaps most worrying is the apparent lack of a strategy. “There was not an opportunity for a strategic discussion of what departmental priorities should be,” he said. “Despite pleading by several of us that ministers need to sit down for a strategic overview with the permanent secretary and others, it virtually never happened.” Here is the key point for Gove: if all children are to be able to thrive under academies and free schools, there has to be an understanding of how non-teaching professionals work with schools to support and protect the most vulnerable.

Since his diatribe, Loughton has been branded a “lazy narcissist” by an anonymous official. One could argue he is bitter and bruised; he revealed that he and Gove have had no communication since the day before the reshuffle. Fellow ousted minister Sarah Teather was far more guarded and diplomatic in her comments to the committee. But actually, Loughton’s comments provide the most authoritative and colourful corroboration possible of several reports and anecdotes that the DfE is placing too little focus on children, young people and families for the country’s good. Just what will it take to change this course?

ravi.chandiramani@markallengroup.com