Will new ministers have any new ideas?
Kathy Evans
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
It is still too early to offer any well-informed predictions of what to expect from new Education Secretary Damian Hinds and his ministers at the Department for Education.
Their motivations and potential change agendas are indiscernible from their political CVs, and they may not have any such clear ideas yet, entering their roles "in listening mode".
For the children's sector, the big concern to come out of this reshuffle must surely be the loss of learning and relationship-building that Hinds' predecessor Justine Greening, and more recently former children's minister Robert Goodwill, had been doing in the aim of becoming authoritative political leaders on their huge responsibilities. Like a Men in Blackmemory wipe, the new year brings new leaders with new responsibilities, briefs to learn and relationships to build.
In the immediate glare of this sudden change, we are left to fill in the gaps of what it might mean by reading between the lines. For example, some were worried by the lack of reference to social workers or children in care in Hinds' first statement - was it an oversight, a sign of low priority, or a hint at a bigger change? Is the removal of Greening a sign that grammar school promotion will return to prominence? These kind of anxieties, even if later proven unfounded, destabilise an already worried, and frankly exhausted, children's sector.
Newness can be refreshing; a chance for fresh eyes on old problems. We must hope there is such opportunity here. But this simultaneous newness at both senior and junior ministerial level feels dangerously disruptive. Their steep learning curves feel another major time delay in the decisiveness required on a whole range of deep systemic problems - from financially unviable, "zombie" academies, to rocketing care numbers, chronic secure and mental health placement shortages, and the financial onslaught on community services.
We must also locate this disruption at DfE within the wider Whitehall picture. Children and families are hit, and deeply hurt, by the NHS crisis and the housing crisis, by universal credit, rising costs of living, frozen benefits. Too many children live at risk and neglected in a crumbling prison system.
Across every front of public service the red lights are flashing on the dashboard, yet our politicians and media are obsessed by the political theatre of Brexit. I fear that public services are in freefall and we just can't wait for Brexit deals to be done. That's why, on 8 February, Children England will be debating the future of public services, with social commentators Polly Toynbee and David Walker, and I'll speak on the need for fresh thinking to redesign a child-centred welfare state for the 21st century.
This year demands fresh thinking and ideas - big ones - but that needs to be done by learning from our history, not by wiping our memories clean. We will need our wits and our collective wisdom about us.
- Kathy Evans is chief executive of Children England